The Crimson Petal and the White

By: Michel Faber

Narrated by: Jill Tanner

Length: 41 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

NOW A MAJOR BBC DRAMA starring Romola Garai, Chris O'Dowd, Gillian Anderson, Richard E. Grant, Shirley Henderson, and Mark Gatiss.

'Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them....' So begins this irresistible voyage into the dark side of Victorian London. Amongst an unforgettable cast of low-lifes, physicians, businessmen, and prostitutes, meet our heroine Sugar, a young woman trying to drag herself up from the gutter any way she can. Be prepared for a mesmerising tale of passion, intrigue, ambition, and revenge.

©2011 Michel Faber (P)2011 W.F. Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"A big, sexy, bravura novel...wildly entertaining." (The New York Times)

"Irresistibly readable." (Ruth Rendell)

"Faber is the master of the spine-tingling page-turner, while creating a wholly believable universe." (Dazed and Confused)

Interesting listen with a sudden stop

I enjoyed this book until it came to an abrupt end with no resolution to the story. To describe it in the terms of a three act play, it has an overly-long second act and stops just as the third act is warming up - like a student running out of "blue-book" space while answering an essay question.

If you don't mind drawing your own conclusions, the rest of the book is well written and very well narrated.

great story but the ending? seriously?

enjoyed the story and characters. couldn't wait to find out how it would all end and then..... nothing. it just cuts off without conclusion of any kind. I searched for a sequel thinking there must be one but, no. I want to know what happens!! very frustrated!

So wonderful

The story, a long Victorian tale of the life and times of the teenaged prostitute Sugar--tho you lose track of how heartbreakingly young she is because her intelligence and sagacity make her seem much older--is wonderful. Faber really can write vividly. Narration simply excellent. If fearless, plot-embedded explicit sex is also something you enjoy, then there's the third reason to listen. Recommended most highly.

Everything a Story Should Be!

If you could sum up The Crimson Petal and the White in three words, what would they be?

Exciting, Intriguing, Unexpected

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Crimson Petal and the White?

Description of the brothels, what the prostitutes would & would not do.

Which character – as performed by Jill Tanner – was your favorite?

Sugar was my favorite character. I was drawn to her background, her reasoning, the circumstances that brought her to do what she felt she had to do.

Who was the most memorable character of The Crimson Petal and the White and why?

On the opposite end, William Rackham, such a pompous, self-righteous person.

Any additional comments?

Truly what Charles Dickens would have written had the times been different. A compelling story with a fitting ending, I was sorry to leave the characters behind.

The Best Historical Fiction of Victorian England

I've read hundreds of historical fiction focused on England, from legends of King Arthur throughQueen Victoria and beyond.

This is by far the best book of the genre I have ever read. If you can take an unflinching look at life among the various classes, you too will find it a favorite.

loved the book as a whole, hated the ending

It's a long story but a very interesting one I couldn't stop listening because it kept me entertained the whole time. What I can't get over was how many loose ends were left at the ending I'm sure there has to be a sequel because ....... why did it end like that?

Can't Put It Down

While I freely admit, I am not finished with this book......not even finished with part one of the five, I have to say I LOVE IT. I wanted to counter the few less than stellar reviews given by previous reviewers. Yes, it is rather long-winded and probably could have used a more scissor-happy editor; however, this is one thing I love about the book. The author is indeed verbose, using many words to describe people, places, and things, but this has always helped me to more easily visualize settings and characters. I detest authors who are skimpy with descriptors (I guess I just don't have a vivid enough imagination). This author is excellent and I will be looking forward to more from her.

Believe it or not, the characters come across as likeable (more or less), even when they are obviously toffee-nosed snobs. The book is definitely adult. If you are squeamish about sex, coarse language, and the seedier side of life, do give it a miss. BUT if you, as well as I, enjoy reading about lives lived completely differently than your own, buy it. You just might find yourself being transported to a different place and time. And you WON'T want to leave. I actually can't wait to finish this review so I can turn on my iPod again to be sent back to London, circa 1874. I'm anxious to see how Sugar is getting along; how William will manage his serious "issues", and to meet the other interesting and complex characters created by Ms. Faber.

Apparently this book has been made into a major BBC drama now starring Romola Garai, a terrific, young, English actress. I'd love to see it sometime. It'd be interesting to see how they "clean it up" for airing on public television.

Good writing, unlikeable characters

The author describes Victorian London and Victorian life with great detail that must have taken a great deal of research. The way people dressed and lived, even the lives of prostitutes and businessmen, are described in eloquent language that engaged me. The story was interesting and unique, and I listened to the entire thing. My main problem is my own wish for one character to really like. Sugar, the main character, was forced into prostitution as a child by her mother, and she wants to be a writer. Her stories' main theme was revenge on men--she killed them off in gruesome ways. She falls in love, or allows herself to be loved, by a wealthy man whose wife is mentally ill and who completely neglects his young child by that wife. He removes Sugar from the brothel and installs her as his concubine because he wants her all to himself. The main character becomes more and more entwined in his life, hoping to somehow raise herself into a higher class. In the end, he is no better than any of the other men in her life, and she then manages to get great revenge on him and flee, but the story ends there and we don't know what really becomes of her.. By this time she has become someone that I could not root for, and all of the other characters are twisted and revolting as well. I think the author tries to say that all women were demeaned by that society, and perhaps all men were as well. There seems to be a fad among modern authors now to revisit Victorian England and explore its facets that were not discussed during that era--perversions, homosexuality, moral dishonesty, child exploitation, degradation of women. I think that is fine, but I am still so old-fashioned that I want one character that I admire and applaud, and I didn't find that character. Perhaps you will enjoy this story more than I did.

Jane Austen's England never sounded like this!!!

It was a brilliant historical fiction novel describing the underbelly world of London in the 1870's. Few novell I have read have the courage to describe the hidden world of London beyond St James, Hyde Park and Whitehall. As an avid Jane Austen fan, I could not help thinking that this is how she would have written about her own time if propriety had allowed her to do so.

A bit raunchy but so gripping

I loved the narrator. The editing wasn't perfect but the narrator was so good as to make up for it. The story was intriguing and in a style that left you wanting more with every sentence, every chapter. Truly enjoyed this story of prostitutes and wealthy men in a time when money was right and no matter what women had basically no rights.