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Pied Piper  By  cover art

Pied Piper

By: Nevil Shute
Narrated by: David Rintoul
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Publisher's summary

John Howard is determined to brighten up his old age by taking a fishing trip to France, but during his stay the Nazis invade. Howard must try to escape back to England with the two small children of some friends who are forced to stay behind in order to help the Allied war effort. As the conflict grows closer, the roads become impassable and Howard also comes across five more children who need his help. He ends up leading this motley group of youngsters through the French countryside, constantly beset by danger yet heroically protecting his charges.

Pied Piper has twice been adapted for feature film, with Peter O’Toole playing Howard in the 1990 version and Monty Woolley in the 1942 version.

Public Domain (P)2012 Audible Ltd

Critic reviews

"Mr Shute not only writes vividly and excitingly of occupied France, but with a delightful understanding of children" ( Sunday Times)
"A small masterpiece...a book about frail but indomitable old age, simple kindness, childhood, and courage in dark confusing danger. It is not sentimental but prosaic and suspenseful on every page." (Libby Purves)
"A brilliantly descriptive writer, a master of suspense." (David Holloway)

What listeners say about Pied Piper

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One of My All Time Favorires

I have long been a fan of Nevil Shute's books. I had read Pied Piper over 40 years ago, and though I enjoyed it then, I wouldn't have listed Pied Piper in my all-time top 10 favorite books. Oh what a difference a few decades can make!
The main character, John Howard, is an elderly Englishman on a fishing holiday in France. The story takes place at the beginning of WWII, before Germany invades France. Though he is not totally thrilled to do so, John Howard agrees to take two young English children back to England when he returns. Thus the story begins.
The author weaves together smaller story lines throughout the book. I particularly enjoyed how Nevil Shute developed John Howard into a selfless man, a true hero. I could almost see Mr. Howard's heart grow as the story was told.
The narrator, David Rintoul, did a fine job. The author begins the Pied Piper as if a man in a pub was telling others what John Howard had done. The narrator captures that feeling and makes you want to pull your bar stool closer to hear this amazing tale.
The Pied Piper is one of my favorite audiobooks. I'm glad I rediscovered this great story.

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21 people found this helpful

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An All Time Favorite.

I have loved Nevil Shutes books for years.His books are the real old fashioned QUALITY writing you dont see much any more. Listening to them adds another layer of enjoyment to an already familiar story. The Pied Piper is a classic story with wonderful character development that draws you right into the perils of WW2 in France.. Any one that loves a good WW2 story will really like this one! Thanks audible for getting so many of Shutes books on audible.

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15 people found this helpful

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My favourite Nevil Shute book

I read the book many years ago and as soon as Audible provided it, I bought it. It is an amazing story and I would highly recommend it to listeners. It is well read. I also recommend all the other books by Nevil Shute.

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13 people found this helpful

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A little gentle gem...

I love Nevil Shute! I so enjoyed "A Town Like Alice" and "Trustee from the Toolroom," but I think in its own understated way I like this little gem even better. Like "Trustee.." the hero is a gentle, older man who steps up to do what needs done. Set in the early stages of the French occupation during WWII, it opened that history to me in a way I had never understood. It is not woven or thrilling like "Code Name Verity," more along the lines of "Major Pettigrews Last Stand" if set during the war with a goal of great importance. I have already recommended to several friends and will read again.

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10 people found this helpful

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Great story, gently told

I enjoyed this book very much, though I didn't find it quite as emotionally compelling as "A Town Like Alice".

This was a very good story, and the thing I like about Shute is his ability to handle very difficult issues and topics with grace and emotion without sinking into darkness.

I came to really care about the main character as well as the other characters he is trying to help.

I enjoy Shute's books very much and so far, have felt very safe reading them and recommending them to others. He writes like the gentleman he seems to be.

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9 people found this helpful

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Adored it

I don't think I've read a Nevil Shute book I didn't love but this one simply transported me to a time and place where I could just about forget my real world. The central character is so understated yet strong. gorgeous delivery of the story too. Aces.

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6 people found this helpful

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Loved this book!

I have discovered (or rediscovered perhaps) Nevil Shute, and I am enthralled. First was A Town Like Alice and now Pied Piper. It is hard to express the mix of emotions, pleasure, laughter, exquisite heartache and tears that you will experience while listening to this truly wonderful story. (Note: It does help to know French for this book.) Shute was an engineer and an amazing, creative, and masterful story teller. David Rintoul's narration is perfect. The characters are ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances, and at the heart of it all is the beauty and strength and the very best of human nature. What an uplifting message these days! Thank you Audible for making these wonderful stories available. And now on to Trustee From The Toolroom. Can't wait!

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5 people found this helpful

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A Good Man in France

Another wonderful adventure by Nevil Shute. His stories feature decent people behaving in quiet, heroic ways. It's a pleasure to read / listen to a book with such worthy characters. The narrator here was excellent.

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4 people found this helpful

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A moving novel, wonderfully narrated

Nevil Shute's "Pied Piper" is a touching, very moving story, expertly written and wonderfully narrated. If you have not sampled this writer's novels, you are in for a glorious treat.

First, the characters, especially the hero, are vividly presented in a naturalistic, unfolding way. Second, the era covered by the novel -- the collapse of France in spring 1940 and the London Blitz of 1940-41 -- are well enough known so that we are well aware of the great events that will shape the story. Of course, the characters are completely innocent of the calamities they face. In fact, because the novel was written while Britain was still losing the war with Germany, even the author did not know the ultimate outcome of the terrible struggle he describes. Third, the particular story that we hear is only a tiny sliver of a gigantic tapestry that will ultimately affect the lives of all but a handful of Europeans and Americans. Still, that tiny sliver carries an enormous emotional wallop.

An aging English gentleman recklessly takes a fishing holiday in eastern France, after the fall of Poland and the Baltic states but before the Spring 1940 invasion of France and the Low Countries. His holiday is interrupted by the great invasion, and he wishes to return to Britain before it is too late. A couple begs him to take their two young children with him back to England. At that point, his sometimes comic but usually terrible adventures begin. Shute is a humane and honest observer. Not all of the English and French people whom our hero meets are noble, and not all of the Germans are awful. The hero, however, is a hero in every sense of that word, though in a most understated and quiet way. The individual incidents seem plausible, and they are certainly artfully described. The narration by David Rintoul is outstanding.

Other Nevil Shute novels are well worth seeking out. I have especially admired "A Town Like Alice" (narrated by Neil Hunt) and "Trustee from the Toolroom" (narrated by the incomparable Frank Muller). I look forward to reading others. Fortunately, Audible has a lengthy list of them.

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3 people found this helpful

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Typical, Wonderful Novel by Nevile Shute

I really love all of the books I've read by this author. He captures times that are gone forever. His style is understated and his novels, this one included, are peopled with decent, ordinary characters who are simply leading their lives according to a set of values. Even the invading, occupying Germans in are portrayed as human beings with families and loved ones they want to protect from the horrors of war; they are NOT sympathetic characters, merely complex as we all are.

Pied Piper began slowly and built gradually which typical is Shute's style. I definitely plan to find more books by this author. They cause me to feel less jaded when I finish them. Quite the opposite of novels like Gone Girl where I felt I needed a shower from contact with those characters. The plot of this book is certainly as plausible as that one and far more encouraging to read.

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