A Place of Greater Safety

De: Hilary Mantel

Narrado por: Jonathan Keeble

It is 1789, and three young provincials have come to Paris to make their way. Georges-Jacques Danton, an ambitious young lawyer, is energetic, pragmatic, debt-ridden - and hugely but erotically ugly. Maximilien Robespierre, also a lawyer, is slight, diligent, and terrified of violence. His dearest friend, Camille Desmoulins, is a conspirator and pamphleteer of genius. A charming gadfly, erratic and untrustworthy, bisexual and beautiful, Camille is obsessed by one woman and engaged to marry another, her daughter. In the swells of revolution, they each taste the addictive delights of power, and the price that must be paid for it.

©1992 Hilary Mantel (P)2013 W.F. Howes

French Revolution

What a fantastic job Hilary Mantel did on this book and the readers were great,

Ignores basics of audiobook production

This recording ignores the basic principle that the narration should all be within a constrained dynamic range. this is not a stage production. at times it seems that some sections of the story have been recorded at different times and studios than others with very different volume levels. and it is not clear why it was decided that some of the content required or would be served best by the more histrionic high volume delivery. very disappointing.

Less a novel

than an attempt to encompass the whole history of the Revolution in the love triangle of three men. It’s wonderful, and never boring, but is a bit exhausting.

The narrator goes in for voices. Working class characters have cockney accents, which is a bit odd but gets the point across. He gives some of the women shrill and unpleasant accents which is too bad and ruins some passages. His voice for Camille has the stutter which Mantel refers to but does not indicate directly in his speech. At first, I found that hard to listen to, but over time it became my favorite part of the performance.

Phenomenal

In-depth and riveting, this novel provides a glimpse into the French Revolution from the perspective of the revolutionaries themselves. The performance is superb and leaves nothing to be desired.

Excellent

I loved this book. Listened to it multiple times. I prefer it to the Wolf Hall books. The characters were fascinating and surprisingly relatable (Oh Camille!). The narrator was absolutely top notch. This is one of those books that leaks out into your real life, especially, and alarmingly, when watching the news (Oh dear!).


If this book doesn’t engage you, immediately make an appointment with a cardiologist because you might not have a pulse.

Not her best, but still excellent

Overall, it is challenging to keep track of all the many many characters, and this book is not as enthralling or good as Mantel's later books Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Just A Wonderful Trip Of The French Revolution

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

yes, anyone who is serious about the French Revolution and wants a fictional journey of the highlights, it doesn't get better then this.

What did you like best about this story?

The inner world of Danton, Robespierre, and the Desmoulins is so finely presented you feel like it's not two hundred some years ago.

Which character – as performed by Jonathan Keeble – was your favorite?

Camille Desmoulins but it's fair to state everyone is so crafted the audio performance is outstanding.

Any additional comments?

This is a masterpiece of the French Revolution anyone who wants to enter this period needs to experience this.

What a great history

Phenomenal book, can’t recommend enough if you’ve got the time. Learned a lot and was very entertaining

Stunning work —- again

You may have to work at following the times and characters but that makes it so real. Aren’t we all following the same kind of non-linear path? And the events become so clear with the extraordinary construction of the main cast. I can’t say enough high praise for Mantel’s retelling of history’s most compelling era.

Puts a human face on the French Revolution

The great strength of this book is how personal it makes the French Revolution, which makes it easier to understand and follow the dizzying series of events amid the chaos of this confusing period in history. Mantel brings her powerful imaginative and research skills to put flesh on the bones of three key authors of the revolution. She also takes the traditional focus off poor Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, in so far over their heads, and focuses instead on the massive economic inequality and starvation that drove the mob. Mantel shows how the mob provided the brute force that backed the architects of the revolution in cracking the absolute power of the monarchy, and then how the same mob power backfired against them. She also breathes fallible humanity into each of these characters, with their appetites for fame or just plain appetites.

As she conjures the "great men" of the revolution, she faithfully brings us the women who came along with them, and reveals how few choices their society left women, even as the rules were changing at such a grand scale.