Maid in Waiting

The Forsyte Chronicles, Book 7

By: John Galsworthy

Narrated by: David Case

Length: 10 hrs

Publisher's summary

Maid in Waiting is the beginning novel in the last trilogy of John Galsworthy's Forsyte Chronicles. In this seventh installment, the story continues of the lives and times, loves and losses, fortunes and deaths of the fictional but entirely representative family of propertied Victorians, the Forsytes.

The Forsyte Chronicles has become established as one of the most popular and enduring works of 20th century literature, described by the New York Times as "A social satire of epic proportions and one that does not suffer by comparison with Thackeray's Vanity Fair...[a] whole comedy of manners, convincing both in its fidelity to life and as a work of art."

John Galsworthy received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1932.

Family matters: don't miss our other titles in The Forsyte Chronicles.

©1998 Phoenix Recordings (P)1998 Phoenix Recordings

Critic reviews

"[Galsworthy] has carried the history of his time through three generations, and his success in mastering so excellently his enormously difficult material, both in its scope and in its depth, remains an extremely memorable feat in English literature." (Anders Osterling, Nobel Prize presentation speech, 1932)

Finally happiness in the family

I think anyone who loves a good tale well told will love this novel with one foot in the Victorian era and the other well planted in modernity"
The concerns I have with Galsworthy's earlier novels as being overly self-conciously satyrical, seem to be able to allow the characters to tell the story themselves instead of following the heavy hand of the author" I did not find the reader's highly dramatic interpretation of the story of love of place and family to get in the way as much as it did in the earlier novels.
Dinny is a strong and appealing character as she embodies the most positive of English traits. Read this book and disappear in to it. Have fun in there. I did.

Couldn’t connect

This book is well written but I never really connected with the char so the way I did with the Forsytes, flawed as they were. Not bothering with the next one.

This One Will Hook You

A very catchy story with an adept narrator, surprising spots of wit which may make you laugh out loud. although what appears to be a classic English drawl in delivery is a bit much for this American, the narrator is very effective in his characters, even those which are female.

Excellent!

The Forsyte Chronicles, books 1-9 are currently available on Audible Plus. This is number 7. Each book is so well written, and I have enjoyed each one so far. They are fine examples of great writing such as you just don’t see today.

This particular book has quite a feminist bent (without the author saying so, of course). Very strong female characters, and some existential themes as well.

The narration is superb!

Great writing but bizarre pivot in story focus

I love the way Galsworthy writes, but why he suddenly wrote about a bunch of characters we hadn't been introduced to yet is beyond me. it is call The Forsyte Saga, after all. I hope he gets the Forsytes in the next 2 books.

Excellent

Galsworthy never disappoints, and I enjoyed the theatrical read by the narrator. Highly recommend this.

good, but....

Wonderful writing and narration, though the use of
the n-word became very tiring- knowing that in the time of the writing of the book this was the way many white people spoke doesn’t make it any more disheartening to a person of color, it’s just the sad state of the history of nations and racism.

Amazing narration and exquisite language

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

John Galsworthy is well deserving of a Nobel prize in literature. And David Case brings these books alive in a way that I could no do by reading them myself. The language is exquisite, and the narration is perfect. I've read all the books in the series up to now. Highly recommended.