Freedom at Midnight

By: Dominique Lapierre, Larry Collins

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

This is the story of the eclipse of the British Raj and the birth of an independent India and Pakistan. The fabled India of the maharajas, with their palaces and harems, their gold-caparisoned elephants and their glittering private armies—the India of Kipling’s legendary army, with its young British officers commanding troops of a dozen races, religions, and castes—the India of tiger hunts and pigsticking, of sadhus and holy men— the India that was the heart and soul of an empire—underwent a violent transformation into the new India of Gandhi and Nehru, precursor of the Third World. At the center of this drama are Nehru, Jinnah, Mountbatten and, of course, Gandhi, the gentle prophet of revolution, who stirred the masses of the most populous area on earth without raising his voice.

©1975 Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre (P)1993 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“The song of India...illuminated like scenes in a pageant.” ( Time)

“Thrilling...staggers the imagination.” ( Daily Mail)

“Davidson sounds like a whole cast of characters himself.” ( Kliatt)

My man crush on Frederick Davidson continues!

In this reading, Frederick Davidson uses his velvet British accent and it is the best!

Great history of an important story

They require at least 15 words. Here they are. Oops. I need six more. Done now.

Engaging History

Amazing research told with an engaging narrative focused on the the human stories. Excellent narration.

Good book

This is a good book . I'm conflicted in regards to the narrator. His accents are pretty good, but on the verge of being over the top. The British accent is very heavy with a certain tint of flamboyancy. The Indian accents are pretty accurate, but again a little bit overdone. I kept thinking of the 7-11 owner in the Simpsons. I have Indian friends and their accents seem more natural. The author does a good job weaving together the different characters.

Deeply moving

It was a compelling story about how truth and nonviolence can be practiced in everyday life. The unwavering dedication to these principles, even in the face of potential death, was powerful enough to inspire an entire subcontinent to reevaluate their beliefs that justice can only be achieved through violence, hatred, and revenge which can turn into a never-ending cycle of self destruction

racist to it's core

this book has been quoted several times in documentaries.. I can't believe such medieval racist book is still sold..

For the true history buff

This book is super detailed. The narrative framework and construct is well done but I could have gone with an abridged version because the author gives every single detail for every story

Good book , Bad narration

This is a classic !! BUT The pronunciations are atrocious I wish they had researched the text and languages

Awful - Need for diversity

Audible continues to display the callous disregard for diverse voices. As an Indian I find the delivery an accent of the narrator almost insulting. For a topic that was so fraught with conflicting emotions and events, having a British accent which has overtones of privilege rather than a neutral continental accent seems almost intolerable.

biased retelling of events around independence

narrator doesn't pronounce Hindi words correctly, given that it's an audio book it's appalling.
the story of partition and role of the leaders in it is very engaging