Gudrun: Series 1-4

A Viking Epic Inspired by the Icelandic Sagas

By: Lucy Catherine

Narrated by: full cast, Kate Phillips

Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

An 11th-century Viking epic of love, revenge and faith, set in Iceland and starring the original Nordic Noir heroine, Gudrun.

As a young woman growing up in 11th-century Iceland, Gudrun must forge her path through a world of unearthly beauty yet uncompromising harshness. The tale begins in her youth, with her childhood friends Kjartan and Bolli - but the love the two boys have for Gudrun causes a deathly enmity between them that leaves her reeling.

Suspicious of how power and ambition are wielded by men, Gudrun is left feeling increasingly isolated. She longs for the freedom to live her life according to her own rules, beholden to no-one. This epic saga takes her on a journey away from her beloved homeland, risking everything to save her daughter. 

An avenging angel forged from violence, Gudrun has all the complexity, vulnerability and single-mindedness of her successors, Lisbeth Salander and Saga Noren. In the ruthless world she inhabits, her steely determination and willingness to manipulate others in the manner of Borgen's Birgitte Nyborg is what keeps her alive.

Gudrun is based on the famous Icelanders' saga known as The Laxdoela Saga. Written in the 13th century, it tells of people in the Breiðafjörður area of Iceland from the late 9th century to the early 11th century.

Starring Kate Phillips (Peaky Blinders, War and Peace) as Gudrun.
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko (series 1) and Gemma Jenkins (series 2-4).

Please note: audio replaced 15 Nov 2019.

©2018 Lucy Catherine (P)2018 BBC Audiobooks Ltd.

Good but feminism much?

Love the Vikings, love the performance and the full cast was great. The overall story was good but seemed like a lot of a woman who hated her father and then she kills every single man she ever has loved just set in the Viking age . Then the story just stops. Like this review.

Fun storyline that somewhat follows Icelandic Saga

The only complaint is very poor editing and repeated chapters within the next volume, errors made in production process.

Marvelous in every sense!

I never thought that a Norse-Icelandic audio book would ever capture my attention as Gudrun did. I never really liked fantasy, folk tales or viking stories but this narration absolutely changed my mind. The story, characters, voices, sound effects and even the music is outstanding.
I truly recommend it! Give it a try and you won't be disappointed!

Great story and wonderful acting!

This is a great story and even better acting. Shame it’s so short, I wish it was longer.

Note to administrators, the last chapter 25 should have not been there, it’s a middle of the story, there’s also a short radio conversation embedded into it that doesn’t fit.

Poor editing for audiobook format

This is a good radio drama, written by a talented author and performed by effective actors. Unfortunately it is a poor audiobook: there are clearly missing segments, gaps in continuity that are utterly confusing, chapter 25 (at the end) is obviously in completely the wrong place and - to crown it all - there is an unwanted segment of audio left in at the start of chapter 25 from a completely different Radio 4 programme! All of this points to lazy editing and a total absence of quality control. Did anyone actually listen to it from start to finish before releasing it? The author, actors and audience deserve better.

the final "chapter" was in the wrong order!

seems like a great storyline but frustrating and confusing to have an episode that should've been played earlier on appearing only at the very end. this has been poorly edited.

Excellent but...

This series is captivating and beautifully brought to life.
But... when you have finished chapter 19, skip to chapter 25. There is a 30 second snippet of discussion about the story first but the story then picks up where chapter 19 left off. after that, everything continues in order from chapter 20.
Despite this editing snafoo, this is a really entertaining listen. I'd love to hear more of Gudrun's story.

chapters out of sync

this was great until the last few chapters when it was interrupted by some other BBC programme talking about a play and then the last chapter was clearly out of sync since they appeared to be back on the boat and her husband was still alive. ruined it

A great story but episode 25 is out of sequence.

Where is series 5 and 6? Really enjoyed the story of Gudrun the hard as nails Icelander.

top books

listed to all the episodes while traveling through Slovakia by train. made a 5 hour journey Pas quickly.

Loved this!

Great story and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Looking forward to listening to the next chapters.

As per some other reviews - what’s with chapter 25?? It appears to be part of the story that should have been elsewhere in the chronology. Audible, please sort it out!!

Began Listening on Radio Four....

Thoroughly enjoyed this series and the one that followed, I think the narration actually made the story more real. Well worth a listen.

Really enjoyed it wish there was more Unfinished

This is a very engaging and immersive icelandic tale of a strong heroin that is well acted and produced and thoroughly enjoyable

Note that the last two chapters are mixed up which is very confusing and there is a corruption in which radio announcers are having a discussion in the penultimate chapter that is listed as the last chapter - hence the confusion

It is series 1-4 and ends without a conclusion on a journey back to iceland
The next series is not available