Fatherland (Dramatized)

By: Robert Harris

Narrated by: Anton Lesser, Full Cast

Length: 1 hr and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

The year is 1964, and it's a week before Hitler's 75th birthday. Nazi Germany won the Second World War, Churchill is living in exile in Canada, Joseph Kennedy is President of the United States, and King Edward and Queen Wallis are puppet monarchs of the United Kingdom. In this dimension, history took a very different turn in 1942 to the one we are familiar with.

Berlin detective Xavier March is called in to investigate the suspicious death of a retired German senior civil servant. His enquiries lead him to inadvertently uncover a terrifying secret that has so far been hidden from the world, a secret so shocking that it must never be revealed.

©2003 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2003 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Critic reviews

"Riveting adaptation...the drama is compelling from its opening sequence." (The Times)

Can’t Hear It

Low audio volume and some dialog in hushed tones makes much of this story inaudible on iPhone with Quiet Comfort headset. Very frustrating👎

An interesting adaptation of a long novel

The novel was quite long, but I enjoyed the BBC radio adaptation. The use of radio news in the background of some scenes allowed the pace to go much faster than the novel.

Excellent story and performances to match

An excellent alternate history story, with equally good performances by the cast. They really brought the story to life. Highly recommended.

As good as the book.

A well done radio drama of a great book. Anton Lesser is the only cast member I recognized, but the others were all excellent, especially the actor playing Globus, I think that was his nickname.

Counter factual history fictionalised

Counter factual history fictionalised to great effect, while the moral that nothing stays buried forever is a moment of hope in a bleak retelling of 'what if' around WWII and Hitler's Germany

Difficult to hear/understand

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

If you're not mobile, and you have a good at-home system in a quiet room, this recording might work.

What was most disappointing about Robert Harris’s story?

Never got far enough into the story to comment. I like the premise, but could not get past the production

Any additional comments?

I think a play is a very difficult thing to listen to, with added background sounds for 'ambience' competing with the dialog. I much prefer a single narrator reading.

Poor Quality

This appears to be a recording of a stage play. The characters are diffucult to understand and it is difficult to tell which character is talking. The plot is very interesting but the format is not appropriate for audio books. This book appears best read in hard copy or presented differently. Frankly, this is the worst presentation I have gotten from Audible.

butchered beyond comprehension

Pass this one by. I read the book a few years ago and thought it was great but this is a 2 hour hatchet job radio play. There are too many voices that come and go with no identification and the whole production is incomprehensible. Whoever did this should have listened to some old radio shows to see how it should be done. But the most annoying aspect of this production is the constant rise and fall in the audio level. If you turn up the volume to be able to hear the many whispered conversations then the normal tones that jump in are deafing. Read the book and forget about this botched attempt at dramatization.