Great story, beautfully read.

Although a Dickens fan, I knew nothing about this story and found it unexpectedly moving as well as exciting. Beautifully read.

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4 people found this helpful

Brilliant reading, brilliant book

Was prompted to try this audiobook having listened to a programme about the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780, which is the setting for this novel. And what a brilliant work it is, Dickens at his very best, establishing a strange but believable world of English characters from a previous century.

Clearly, Dickens was not a fan of the Gordon uprising which apparently caused more damage to property in London in a week than was caused in Paris throughout the French Revolution. And central within the plot is the likeable and distinguished Catholic landowner, Haredale, who suffers at the hands of the rioters and his devious arch enemy, Lord Chester.

As many other reviewers have noted, this audiobook is also much distinguished by the brilliant reading of Sean Barrett. To my mind nothing shows off more readily the skill of an actor than their ability to voice a variety of characters. And Barrett's performance is a sublime tour de force, skipping seamlessly from one character to another, whether its Barnaby himself and his raven Grip, the whining servant girl Migs, the oily Chester, Dennis the hangman or any of the other many characters Dickens portrays.

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Excellent performance and story

I wasnt familiar with this book but the narration brought it alive and it was very interesting and pacy.

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Spellbinding

Informative, entertaining and enthralling. Funny and sad, poignant and comic - a great read. Superb narration. I was only sorry it ended ... or that I have come to some of Dickens’ works so late. He has so much to teach us still.

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1 person found this helpful

one of his best

Beautifully read and for me one of Dickens best and most interesting novels. Highly recommended and certainly a good place to start if looking to get into Dickens

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Fine performances of Dicken's characters

The listening of this interminably long book is eased by Dicken’s fine prose and Sean Barrett’s superb performance (rather than mere narration) making it impossible for me to give anything under a 5 star rating. It is also very interesting historically and rather chilling, to compare these riots which occurred in 1780 with those of 2011 and find that there is virtually no difference in the mindless rule of the mob.

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10 people found this helpful

What the Dickens

I had been put off reading this because of the length but when I heard that Sean Barrett's narration was nothing less than brilliant I just had to start listening. I was delighted at his rendering of this book, his voices seemed to take on each character perfectly and it was just such a pleasure to use the new app I'd downloaded and transport myself to Dickensian England peopled by Sean's wonderful cast of characters.

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2 people found this helpful

Brilliant!

A fantastic story brought to life by a truly great performance. thank you very much.

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A book that grows on you very well read

Though a great enthusiast for Dickens t first I thought I was not going to like this. But everything in the early chapters makes total sense later. It is a book that makes you think. To set a novel for the most part in mob riotiing means loads of characters. Sean Barrett captures their variety wondefully and well distingyises between the caricatred characters and the others

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Well worth reading.

this novel deserves to be better known. I loved the historical context and rich story telling. having spent my working life in the area of education for people with learning disabilities I was particularly interested in the experiences of Barnaby and the way he is treated by his community and wider society. it is sad to think that exploitation of vulnerable people by unscrupulous people has not changed much since Dicken's time.

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