Fludd

De: Hilary Mantel

Narrado por: Gordon Griffin

Fetherhoughton is a dreary town in 1950s northern England. Father Angwin has lost his faith. Sister Philomena strains against convent life. The inhabitants of the town go about their lives in a haze. Then a stranger appears, bringing with him the hint of something new. But who is Fludd? An angel come to shake the dwellers from their stupor, or is he the devil himself, a wanderer of the darkest places in the human heart?

©1989 Hilary Mantel (P)2011 WF Howes Ltd

A strange little gem

Where does Fludd rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's among the best.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It would be hard to pick a favourite among half a dozen sympathetic characters. I think perhaps the old priest, because he is so clever, kind and flawed.

What about Gordon Griffin’s performance did you like?

In the dialogue, he differentiated among the various characters without caricaturing them. His reading was very sensitive and seemed to reveal things about the story and characters I had missed when I read the book myself a few years ago.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Alchemy meets Catholicism in the north of England ... but I don't think that would sell the movie very well.

Any additional comments?

Hilary Mantel is a wonderful writer.

"I am, by nature nature, mostly an onlooker."

Fludd is a beautifully crafted teardrop of time which encloses and displays the small northern town of Featherhoughton in the 1950s, focusing on the convent and It's inhabitants, the house and person of the parish priest, Father Angwin, and the arrival of Fludd. The dreary little town is displayed in all of It's grey banality and superstition, the author sweeping through the cracks and crannies to open it up to the reader.

The narrator is Gordon Griffin, his reading crafted to fit the text, his voicing s of the various characters individual and appropriate. A fine performance of an outstanding novel.
"It's a wise man who can tell a firefighter from an arsonist."
Stunning.