A Place of Greater Safety

By: Hilary Mantel

Narrated by: 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.

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.

Stunning performance

A Place of Greater Safety is a hurricane of a book, much like the French Revolution itself. And, just like the Revolution, not every chapter is a July 14 or August 10 or 9 Thermidor—there are many moments of quietness interspersed that are just as important to the story as the sequences of action. It’s one of the those books where the very process of reading contributes to the atmosphere—the moments of confusion, the length, the inconsistent pacing—and it’s absolutely glorious.

I might recommend reading her Cromwell series first, only because Mantel is an author unlike no other and A Place of Greater Safety is Mantel at her most unique. If you think Wolf Hall is difficult to follow, come to this book mentally prepared.

I’d also recommend reading the print book first, or alongside the audiobook, because some of the stylistic choices are easier to follow visually vs audibly (e.g “Danton” vs “D’Anton”). HOWEVER, you should still DEFINITELY listen to Keeble’s incredible performance! I’ve never heard a world brought to life in such a riveting way. He doesn’t overdo it with the voices, and yet each somehow manages to be a completely different person with unique energies and passions. The real reason I listened to the audiobook is for his portrayal of Camille. Keeble’s decision to voice Camille’s stutter was inspired, and he manages to do it in a way that is not at all distracting, but instead *makes* the character. I loved the Camille when I read the book, but now I feel like I know him.

Mantel’s best book

Told through the lives of the three lawyers who fomented the French Revolution. Mantel transports you to the moment it erupted, and moves you through the triumphs, foibles, and failures of its architects. A masterpiece on the fragility of democracy. A cautionary tale on the nature of power. Engrossing, hard to put down, and worth reading more than once for the provocative insight it offers. The audio version does justice to the book. I’ve read the book twice and listened to the audio twice… The way that one reads Hamlet more than once, because there’s so much there. Way more accessible, but a similarly lasting work.

Spectacular

Absolutely loved every minute of A Place of Greater Safety! I am a huge Mantel fan because of the Thomas Cromwell series and this book just further proves what a great writer Ms Mantel is! And, Jonathan Keeble does an outstanding job narrating, that he is now on my top ten narrator list!!!

Amazingly brilliant!!

I felt as though I were aquainted with Danton, Robespierre and the Demoulin family. The research and development f this novel is akin only to Tolstoy!!