Adam of the Road

By: Elizabeth Janet Gray

Narrated by: Stuart Blinder

Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Eleven-year-old Adam loved to travel throughout 13th-century England with his father, a wandering minstrel, and his dog, Nick. But when Nick is stolen and his father disappears, Adam suddenly finds himself alone.

©1943, 2006 Elizabeth Janet Gray (P)2018 Listening Library

Very Good Introduction to Daily Life in Medieval England

The story moves along and maintains interest. But, seemingly in the background, Gray has provided a well constructed introduction to the social customs, food, clothing, economy, and professions of the High Middle Ages in England. Monks, knights, squires, scholars, ladies, but also plowmen, innkeepers, ferrymen, robber knights, yeomen, traders, sherrifs, and of course the various sorts of minstrels show up. The monastery school of St. Albans, the young University of Oxford, a shrine cathedral, the city house and country houses of a great lord, the annual fair of St. Giles, a great description of a miracle play all weave a rich background tapestry as Adam travels the truly ancient Roman roads of Southern England through the course of a year. What would normally be thought of as “historical events” (e.g. Magna Charta, fighting in Wales, and the first calling of the Commons to Parliament) are pressed into the background, as they WOULD have been for most of the common folk at the time, matter for tavern talk over bread and cheese and ale (perhaps a capon if you had an extra few silver pennies to spare).

Great historical fiction story

We were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed this story....highly recommend....a great addition to any historical studies for 10-13 year olds.

Book for Kids School

Was a book one of my kids had for school, so wasn't using it for entertainment. It was solid if not amazing.

Good reader, but it skips all the time!!

This would have been great, but it constantly skips in the second half. It was really frustrating.

PERFECT

great reader, give him a raise ❤ great book too! THANK YOU AUDIBLE YOU'VE MADE MY LIFE SO MUCH BETTER!

It was pretty good, it could get better.

I liked the story overall. But the pacing was a little bit hard to sit through without falling asleep. I listened to this on a plane ride to Europe. I did think that the plane ride had a part in it, but after I got over the jet lag in Europe, I tried to listen to it again and it just put me to sleep. It could benefit from some editing.

The author, Elizabeth Janet Gray, is a very good author. I just think that the pacing of the reading needed a little work. Stuart Blinder has a good voice, but the slowness of the reading would just put me to sleep.

I am relatively new to audible, so I don’t have much experience to these audio books. So maybe I am just used to reading at my own pace. But in all I did very much like the book.

Very slow

It took awhile to get into this story, but we are glad we stuck it out.

Great book!

Loved it! My child enjoyed the reader very much! Thank you Audible Books for making reading easier!

Boring

I was very very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very so incredibly, unmistakably bored

Nice and fun

Did the book for school and loved it. It’s a little slow in some parts but other than that it was great