Four Fires

By: Bryce Courtenay

Narrated by: Humphrey Bower

Length: 29 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

The four fires in this story are passion, religion, warfare, and fire itself. While there are many more fires that drive the human spirit, love being perhaps the brightest flame of all, it is these four that have moulded us most as Australian people. The four fires give us our sense of place and, for better or for worse, shape our national character.

©2013 Christine Courtenay; 2010 Bryce Courtenay (P)2008 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"Humphrey Bower, speaking as Mole, delivers every possible nuance and emotion of his character’s story, and shows a startling aptitude for other dialects as well. Close family friends and enemies include surviving Polish Jews, an East Indian healer, an Irish Catholic priest, Japanese prison camp soldiers, and many others. All of them, young and old, male and female, spring to vivid life in Bower’s versatile voice. Narrative passages and dialogue elicit tears and laughter by turns, without a minute of boredom in the 30-hour production." ( AudioFile magazine)

Wonderful!

This book was amazing in so many different ways! I love this author always hate to hear his books come to an end. The narrator is equally amazing, making the book come to life! I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this book! I strongly recommend it!

Most Favorite of Courtenay's!

I was impressed with The Power of One years ago and have since read most of his books. Humphrey Bowers make you fell as if you were right there in each book. Four Fires is my favorite with Brother Fish running a close second. His characters seem so real, the stories are historical ,educational and in some, quite humorous.
Through Bryce, I learned to appreciate the sport of boxing and why some are drawn to it; admire and thank all men who have been to war especially those who experienced prisoner of war camps. Bryce is a positive spirited writer about humanity!

Touching Story of family & love

Any additional comments?

Love Courtney's work, and this story does not disappoint. Humphrey Bower, as always, is fantastic! Enjoyed this story even more than the Australia trilogy (which is surprising since I loved those three books). Touching, funny, and so well written and read.

Just Wonderful

When I read the reviews of For Fires I was a bit surprised to find that many people thought that this was Bryce Courtnay's best book. After all, I have always felt that The Power of One and Tandia were among the best books I have ever listen to. This book is absolutely excellent but in a different way. While those first two had a backdrop of South Africa's efforts to rid itself of apartheid, this book did not have a central theme other than following the Maloney family from an early time through their lives. To put it simply it was a wonderful read. I honestly could not find fault with any part of it. It was funny and poignant and sadly historically informative. A word must be said about Humphrey bowers. Without question he is far and away the most wonderful narrator I have ever heard. His ability to capture the accents and the voices of so many different characters or a large part of what makes all of these books so phenomenal. I guess I am said that this book is over, but I know there are other ones waiting to be heard.

Great

Good listen with interesting info on Australia and WW2. Humphrey Bower's is a great narrator

Amazing story!!!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely, This is an amazing story about life in the mid 1900's for a family in Australia. I was captivated by the story and the narrator. He did a wonderful job portraying the characters in the novel.

Which character – as performed by Humphrey Bower – was your favorite?

Mole, Bozo, and Sarah. I could feel the struggles of each of the characters.

Any additional comments?

The story did drag along at some points but not enough for me to regret one minute of listening. I cannot wait to read and listen to another book by this author and narrator.

terrific amazing book

i loved every minute of this book. it might be his best. such a wonderful story.

An all time,all time favorite.

Would you listen to Four Fires again? Why?

Great story juiced by a superlative narrator

What other book might you compare Four Fires to and why?

Any of Cornwell's Sharpe's series

Which scene was your favorite?

Too hard to answer

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

My wife cried (also laughed)

Any additional comments?

Got to find more

Really enjoyed it

Where does Four Fires rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Up there!

What about Humphrey Bower’s performance did you like?

He is the best narrator I've come across so far - really makes it!

This book captured my heart

A book about family and life lessons. It is my favorite Bryce Courtney book and is a piece of my soul.