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Sarum
- The Novel of England
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 45 hrs and 37 mins
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London
- Written by: Edward Rutherfurd
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
- Length: 49 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is Edward Rutherfurd's classic novel of London, a glorious pageant spanning 2,000 years. He brings this vibrant city's long and noble history alive through the ever-shifting fortunes, fates, and intrigues of half-a-dozen families, from the age of Julius Caesar to the 20th century. Generation after generation, these families embody the passion, struggle, wealth, and verve of the greatest city in the world.
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Love the story but the narrator ???
- By Mrs. Joan Braunberger on 2019-06-21
Written by: Edward Rutherfurd
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Peter the Great
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This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.
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Well Done
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The Physician
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A child holds the hand of his dying mother and is terrified, aware something is taking her. Orphaned and given to an itinerant barber-surgeon, Rob Cole becomes a fast-talking swindler, peddling a worthless medicine. But as he matures, his strange gift - an acute sensitivity to impending death - never leaves him, and he yearns to become a healer. Arab madrassas are the only authentic medical schools, and he makes his perilous way to Persia.
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Captivating Story
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Joseph Armagh was 13 when he first saw America through a dirty porthole on the steerage deck of The Irish Queen. It was the early 1850s, and he was a penniless orphan cast on a hostile shore to make a home for himself and his younger brother and infant sister. Some 70 years later, from his deathbed, Joseph Armagh last glimpsed his adopted land from the gleaming windows of a palatial estate. A multimillionaire, one of the most powerful and feared men, Joseph Armagh had indeed found a home.
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A stupendous book
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Brothers York
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The Brothers York is the story of three remarkable brothers, two of whom were crowned kings of England and the other an heir presumptive, whose antagonism was fueled by the mistrust and vendettas of the age that brought their family to power. The house of York should have been the dynasty that the Tudors became. Its tragedy was that it devoured itself.
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The Spartans
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The Spartans of ancient Greece were a powerful and unique people, radically different from any civilization before or since. A society of warrior-heroes, they were living exemplars of self-sacrifice, community endeavor, and achievement against all odds, qualities that today signify the ultimate in heroism. Scholars even believe that Thomas More had Sparta specifically in mind when he coined the term "Utopia".
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London
- Written by: Edward Rutherfurd
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
- Length: 49 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Here is Edward Rutherfurd's classic novel of London, a glorious pageant spanning 2,000 years. He brings this vibrant city's long and noble history alive through the ever-shifting fortunes, fates, and intrigues of half-a-dozen families, from the age of Julius Caesar to the 20th century. Generation after generation, these families embody the passion, struggle, wealth, and verve of the greatest city in the world.
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Love the story but the narrator ???
- By Mrs. Joan Braunberger on 2019-06-21
Written by: Edward Rutherfurd
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Peter the Great
- His Life and World
- Written by: Robert K. Massie
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 43 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.
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Well Done
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Written by: Robert K. Massie
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The Physician
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- Length: 24 hrs and 41 mins
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A child holds the hand of his dying mother and is terrified, aware something is taking her. Orphaned and given to an itinerant barber-surgeon, Rob Cole becomes a fast-talking swindler, peddling a worthless medicine. But as he matures, his strange gift - an acute sensitivity to impending death - never leaves him, and he yearns to become a healer. Arab madrassas are the only authentic medical schools, and he makes his perilous way to Persia.
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Captivating Story
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Written by: Noah Gordon
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Captains and the Kings
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Overall
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Joseph Armagh was 13 when he first saw America through a dirty porthole on the steerage deck of The Irish Queen. It was the early 1850s, and he was a penniless orphan cast on a hostile shore to make a home for himself and his younger brother and infant sister. Some 70 years later, from his deathbed, Joseph Armagh last glimpsed his adopted land from the gleaming windows of a palatial estate. A multimillionaire, one of the most powerful and feared men, Joseph Armagh had indeed found a home.
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A stupendous book
- By Anonymous User on 2022-02-12
Written by: Taylor Caldwell
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Brothers York
- A Royal Tragedy
- Written by: Thomas Penn
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 23 hrs and 13 mins
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Overall
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The Brothers York is the story of three remarkable brothers, two of whom were crowned kings of England and the other an heir presumptive, whose antagonism was fueled by the mistrust and vendettas of the age that brought their family to power. The house of York should have been the dynasty that the Tudors became. Its tragedy was that it devoured itself.
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The Spartans
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The Spartans of ancient Greece were a powerful and unique people, radically different from any civilization before or since. A society of warrior-heroes, they were living exemplars of self-sacrifice, community endeavor, and achievement against all odds, qualities that today signify the ultimate in heroism. Scholars even believe that Thomas More had Sparta specifically in mind when he coined the term "Utopia".
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The British Empire was the largest in all history: the nearest thing to global domination ever achieved. The world we know today is in large measure the product of Britain's age of empire. The global spread of capitalism, telecommunications, the English language, and the institutions of representative government - all these can be traced back to the extraordinary expansion of Britain's economy, population, and culture from the 17th century until the mid-20th. On a vast and vividly colored canvas, Empire shows how the British Empire acted as midwife to modernity.
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great education on British colonialism
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Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
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Almost a decade in the making, this much-anticipated grand history of postwar Europe from one of the world’s most esteemed historians and intellectuals is a singular achievement. Postwar is the first modern history that covers all of Europe, both east and west, drawing on research in six languages to sweep readers through 34 nations and 60 years of political and cultural change—all in one integrated, enthralling narrative.
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Good content; terrible narrator
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Amid the shadows of war, one family faces an impossible choice that will change their lives forever. From best seller Mario Escobar comes a 20th-century historical novel of sacrifice and resilience inspired by Spain’s famed Children of Morelia and the true events that shaped their lives.
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Amazing
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For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why - and how - it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma.
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Children of Earth and Sky: International Edition
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From the small coastal town of Senjan, notorious for its pirates, a young woman sets out to find vengeance for her lost family. That same spring, from the wealthy city-state of Seressa, famous for its canals and lagoon, come two very different people: a young artist traveling to the dangerous east to paint the grand khalif at his request - and possibly to do more - and a fiercely intelligent, angry woman, posing as a doctor's wife, but sent by Seressa as a spy.
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Very Enjoyable
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In a remote Newfoundland outpost at the onset of the Second World War, the young Catholic Wish Furey meets the passionate, independent 16-year-old Protestant Sadie Parsons. They begin an intense affair that is cut short as prejudice and mistrust drive Wish away, into the British Army and the war. At home in Newfoundland, Sadie turns her back on her family and moves to St. John's to wait for Wish - until she receives word that he is dead. Fifty years later, Sadie returns to Newfoundland to scatter her American husband's ashes and to face her past.
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Great performance
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Glamour Girls
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Ever since she was 10 years old, Rosalie Wright's eyes have been on the skies. But at the age of 18, on the verge of earning her pilot's license, the English farmer's daughter watches her dreams of becoming an aviatrix fly away without her. Britain's entry into World War II brings civilian aviation to a standstill. Then, Rosalie's father dies, leaving her, her mother, and her brothers to run the farm. Everything changes when she learns that the Air Transport Authority is recruiting women pilots to ferry warplanes across Britain to RAF bases.
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Interesting story
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The Secret Scripture
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Roseanne McNulty, once one of the most beautiful and beguiling girls in County Sligo, Ireland, is now an elderly patient at Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital. As her 100th year draws near, she decides to record the events of her life, hiding the manuscript beneath the floorboards. Dr. Grene, Roseanne's caretaker, takes a special interest in her case. In his research, he discovers a document written by a local priest that tells a very different story of Roseanne's life than what she recalls.
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A lyrical, brilliant onion peel
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The Crimson Petal and the White meets Fight Club in this pause-resistant novel set in the world of female pugilists and their patrons in late-18th-century England. Moving from a filthy brothel to a fine manor house, from the world of street fighters to the world of champions, The Fair Fight is a vivid, propulsive historical novel announcing the arrival of a dynamic new talent.
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New York
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- Unabridged
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New York is the book that millions of Rutherfurd's American fans have been waiting for. A brilliant mix of romance, war, family drama, and personal triumphs, it gloriously captures the search for freedom and prosperity at the heart of our nation's history.
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History through Storytelling
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Written by: Edward Rutherfurd
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The Things We Cherished
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An ambitious novel that spans decades and continents, The Things We Cherished tells the story of Charlotte Gold and Jack Harrington, two fiercely independent attorneys who find themselves slowly falling for one another while working to defend the brother of a Holocaust hero against allegations of World War II-era war crimes. The defendant, wealthy financier Roger Dykmans, mysteriously refuses to help in his own defense, revealing only that proof of his innocence lies within an intricate timepiece last seen in Nazi Germany.
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Unmentionable
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- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Have you ever wished you could live in an earlier, more romantic era? Ladies, welcome to the 19th century, where there's arsenic in your face cream, a pot of cold pee sits under your bed, and all of your underwear is crotchless. (Why? Shush, dear. A lady doesn't question.) Unmentionable is your hilarious, scandalously honest (yet never crass) guide to the secrets of Victorian womanhood.
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Waist of my time
- By Robert Hoskins on 2023-05-20
Written by: Therese Oneill
Publisher's Summary
In Sarum, Edward Rutherfurd weaves a compelling saga of five English families whose fates become intertwined over the course of centuries. While each family has its own distinct characteristics, the successive generations reflect the changing character of Britain. We become drawn not only into the fortunes of the individual family members, but also the larger destinies of each family line.
Meticulously researched and epic in scope, Sarum covers the entire sweep of English civilization: from the early hunters and farmers, the creation of Stonehenge, the dawn of Christianity, and the Black Death; through the Reformation, the wars in America, the Industrial Age, and the Victorian social reforms; up through the World War II invasion of Normandy and the modern-day concerns of a once-preeminent empire.
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- Nomis
- 2020-02-06
Brilliant Story
I could not stop listening to this story. It is so engaging that I managed to cope with the hopelessly bad recording and irritating narration
Surely, it's possible to step away from the mic if you're about to swallow etc and was it recorded in many different locations? The volume and background change every few hours and are distracting.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 2022-08-26
Where historical fiction meets historical reality
It's a very long book. It's quite good but it does tend to drag on at some points. It's a book about a geographical location throughout the ages and the family trees as they go. Worth a read
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- Alcab
- 2021-06-20
Storytelling at its best
An epic blend of history and fiction flowing through generational families as time moves over the evolution of England.
Absolutely enthralling story and very well narrated. A long listen but well worth the time. Rutherfurd is a master of fiction, interwoven with historical fact that makes for an overall excellent audible book. Six stars!!
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- David
- 2013-11-28
One big fat sweet historical epic
Sarum tells the entire history of England, from its ice-age prehistory when the first men arrived on the island to the 1980s, by focusing the passing of ages on the city of Salisbury, once known as "Sarum." Located on the edge of Salisbury Plain, at the juncture of five rivers, archeological evidence tells us it's been a trading settlement since prehistoric times (and of course, it is located only a few miles from Stonehenge). Rutherfurd uses a mixture of archeology and recorded history to tell us the complete history of Sarum from the arrival of Hwll the Hunter, seeking high ground as the ice melts, to the last in the line of the Shockleys and Masons, who have entertained us with their family dramas for centuries, trying to restore Salisbury Cathedral in 1985.
How historically accurate is this book? It would take a historian to criticize that aspect of Rutherfurd's storytelling, though obviously everything involving the neolithic settlers, followed by the bronze age settlers, ancestors of the Celts, and pretty much everything up to Roman times, has to be more speculation than known fact. To this day, we don't know for sure exactly when Stonehenge was built or for what purpose, and I remember an Irish history professor in college telling me "Don't believe anything anyone writes about druids - crazy people write about druids." So Rutherfurd's take on the bloodthirsty rites of these Bronze Age tribesmen is probably as likely as any other.
This is not primarily a history book, though, but a multi-generational (many, many, many generations) soap opera, through which history is told. Of the many families living around Sarum, Rutherfurd invents several — the Wilsons (descended from "Will's son" though actually present as fisher-folk living on Sarum's rivers since the Ice Age), the Masons (descended from a medieval mason, who was himself descended from an old Celtic craftsman who learned architecture from the Romans, who was himself descended from the architect of Stonehenge), the Porters (descended from a Roman officer named Porteus), the Godfreys (descended from a Norman knight), the Shockleys, the Forests (a branch of the Wilsons that renamed themselves something more noble once they got money) — who frequently change names and reverse fortunes and have interwoven lives, feuds, and marriages with the passing of centuries. The family that ruled Sarum in Roman times becomes in the 19th century the tenant farmers living on land owned by another family that were Anglo-Saxon peasants in the 11th, and so on. Naturally they don't know their ancient noble (or common) origins the way the reader does, other than as family tales passed down which they believe to be largely fictitious, like Doctor Barnagel, who laughs at his family's legend of being descended from a Danish invader known for crying "Bairn nae gel!" ("Don't kill the children!"), not knowing that it's actually true.
This is a historical epic told through the eyes of everyday people. Rutherfurd has each of his families passing down physical and personality traits through the generations that are more fanciful than genetic, but there is something pleasing and familiar in seeing what the scheming, "spider-like" Wilsons are up to in each century, or what form the next generation's incarnation of a buxom, Amazonish Shockley girl will take.
It sprawls across all of history. How are these families affected by the Roman invasion? The Anglo-Saxon invasion? The Danish invasion? The Norman invasion? The Black Death? The Reformation? The English Civil War? The New World? The Napoleonic Wars? All the way into the 20th century, where things became a bit rushed, covering the passing of time from World War I to 1985 in as many pages as earlier were spent on a single generation in the medieval era.
Stylistically, Edward Rutherfurd is a plain and unembellished writer and he often relies on cliches and tropes, particularly all the women with their "firm young bodies" from paleolithic times onward, and the aforementioned repetition of family traits, from the Wilsons' "long-toed feet," dating back to the Ice Age, to the precise fussiness of the Porters, dating back to their Roman ancestor. Chapters begin with a lot of historical exposition explaining what's going on in this era, then zooming into what our families are up to and which side they're taking. But none of this was a detriment to me; it was a long, long listen and very satisfying. The time spent to research and write an epic spanning over 10,000 years and yet get us personally invested in the lives of individual people made it well worth it.
I liked it enough that I am pushing Rutherfurd's New York epic higher on my TBR list. This is a big fat historical epic to satisfy anyone who likes these kinds of books. Wanda McCaddon's narration was steady and professional throughout - there were a few times when her voice sounded a little shrill, but she handled male and female roles with the perfect British accent. The only place she fell flat was, predictably, the American characters (hardly any Brits can drawl Yank believably), and they only show up briefly in the very last chapters.
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73 people found this helpful
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- Flip
- 2012-03-09
Agreed...There are production issues.
The performance and the story are wonderful. I think Wanda McCaddon does a fine job changing her voice around for each character. However, the skips in the tracks where the audio seems to jump forward leaves much to be desired. I hope Audible can get fixed tracks soon.
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64 people found this helpful
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- connie
- 2011-11-12
must love Wanda
(aka Doneda Peters and Nadia May) because you'll be listening to so much of her here - and from reading reviews of other books she's narrated, listeners usually have a love or hate relationship with her. She has an older-style narration (Talking Books) and she shines in classics with multiple-claused sentences and in nonfiction. I love her, and that was the tipping point for this download for me -- because although I love historical fiction, I usually can't stand anything earlier than early a 19th century setting.
I really didn't expect to like this novel - I thought it a good value for listening and learning while I did chores, etc.- but I VERY much enoyed the listen too. It's not a Ken Follet page turner, but I think the details will linger in a listener's mind more than those from a potboiler. Rutherford knits together a unique novel-docudrama
He does take century long leaps in time and in conjecture, but after about ten hours of listening, this starts to seem natural! I did not experience the technical glitches mentioned by other reviewers, BUT it does sound like an older quality recording (back when Wanda was getting paid about $15 a hour).
So know what you're getting before you hit "cart" -- or like me, if you have days to fill with listening, take a chance in case you too will be pleasantly surprised.
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58 people found this helpful
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- Marie L Walker
- 2012-01-06
Love Rutherfurd...Loved Sarum
If you love history, if you love long books, you will love Sarum. It was the first Rutherfurd book I read and have since read everything he has written. I absolutely do not have a problem with Wanda McCaddon's narration, I think she did a phenomenal job of reading and you must remember she was reading the book. If you get bored with long books of history this one is probably not for you, however, I listened to it twice, and found it was easier to keep the families straight through the name changes, on the second listen.
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44 people found this helpful
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- Stephen
- 2011-09-03
Production Issues
Rutherford performs at his usual high standard. I'm always entertained and informed by his work. Unfortunately, the narrator/production crew fell short. Although the narrator has a soothing but authoritative voice (to me), there are numerous odd pauses that could have been edited, as well as deficiencies in the audio file (skips, gaps). Perhaps minor quibbles, but annoying nonetheless.
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40 people found this helpful
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- Gordon
- 2011-11-27
Most enjoyable
Rutherfurd has authored a captivating tale that chronicles the fortunes of several families as the story weaves through significant periods in English history. The story lines of the individual families remain true to historical events and, in some small way, allow us to experience what life in those times may have really been like.
I had some initial trepidation on the choice of Wanda McCaddon as narrator. However! Twenty minutes into the book and I was sold and thereafter thoroughly enjoyed her rendition.
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35 people found this helpful
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- Karen
- 2011-12-16
If you liked 'Pillars of the Earth'....
What made the experience of listening to Sarum the most enjoyable?
you will probably enjoy this book. Indeed,I think I enjoyed Sarum more because I had listened to Pillars first. Pillars covered a smaller time period in more detail. Sarum covered more time in less detail.
Starting in pre-historic times, the book is a series of short stories, following a family through thousands of years and showcasing many historic events.
Although this is already a very long book, it seems that, just about the time I am really enjoying the characters and story, it abruptly ends. Then you are moved forward hundreds or thousands of years to find the family's descendants involved in another historical event.
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is how Rutherford shows which people are related to whom in each prior story through physical characteristics, personality and surname evolution.
If you like history, genealogy, England - you will enjoy this story.
What other book might you compare Sarum to and why?
Pillars of the Earth
Have you listened to any of Wanda McCaddon’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No, but I enjoyed this one.
If you could rename Sarum, what would you call it?
I would not rename it. The name is perfect.
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24 people found this helpful
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- Florence
- 2012-12-28
Mostly Brilliant
I listened with a sigh. oh blast! I thought; I'm now definitely going to maintain my reputation for fussiness over pronunciation.
First, Wanda McCaddon aka Doneda Peters; is a well known reader to me. I've listened to many of her performances, and like her voice very much. She adds character without over doing it; and rarely lets one down.
This performance is mostly brilliant.
Only one tiny (but teeth grinding) problem. Nobody explained to her, the all important rules of Celtic pronunciation.
No soft C's....F is pronounced like V, no soft G's.
So when she said "Selt" rather than "Kelt" in virtually the first line, I was a little dismayed.
When she went on to say "Affon" rather than "Avon" (at least she pronounced the "A" correctly) I actually chuckled, as the sentence read something like
"The Roman's pronunciation sounded strange to the Celts' ears" Actually, the Roman pronounced Afon correctly, the Celtic way.
I know, we've established that I am an irritating fusspot....but...in a reading of a book, these little things can make or mar the telling.
Luckily, Wanda's overall performance is up to her usual star turn. I hold the researchers and producers responsible for these slips.
The book itself is extraordinary. Rutherfurd brings us an history of a part of England; that is rich and compelling.
If you happen to know the area well (as I am lucky to do) the story becomes even more fascinating, as you feel the development and changes over the centuries.
I have read other Rutherfurd books, his "London" remains locked in my memory.
I love the way that Rutherfurd gives his characters small identifiable physical characteristics, so that one may recognise the line of descendants over the story.
Wonderful story for lovers of England, British history, and particularly Salisbury and Wiltshire.
Overall brilliant....how does one describe an audio equivalent of a page turner?
I couldn't bear to take out my earbuds......I worked happily on cleaning /sorting tasks for hours allowing the story to transport me.
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- Marilyn
- 2011-11-14
Great epic historical fiction!
I'm not sure if I have read every book by Edward Rutherfurd, but if I haven't it's merely an oversight. This author has never written anything I didn't like, but this is one of his great ones. Not his ONLY great one, but one of them. It is the first one I read and I've been hooked since. It's the story of the Salisbury plain, but it is, in a way, the story of humankind. It is rich, it is a tapestry that is both broad and intimate. It is everything you could possibly want in this kind of fiction. I have read it in print, but listening to it may be even better.
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- Angelyn S. Furst
- 2011-08-24
Love Rutherfurd's Books
I love reading Rutherfurd's books. I love following families and seeing how historical events in history shape the lives and fortunes of succeeding generations. Anyone who enjoys history will enjoy this as well as all of Rutherfurd's books. Details of historical events are accurate and seeing them through the eyes of the characters brings them alive.
My only disappointment is the narrator. In the Ireland series the narrator was perfect and I was somewhat disappointed in the reader of this book. While she has a lovely voice, the constant swallowing bothered me. Her voice sounds old. Otherwise, I loved the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in historical novels.
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