Kept in the Dark

By: Anthony Trollope

Narrated by: Jill Masters

Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

Completed only a few months before his death, Kept in the Dark is one of Trollope's most captivating novels. Yet unlike Trollope's other major novels - the Palliser series, The Claverings, the Barsetshire novels - Kept in the Dark succeeds without the use of considerable length or legions of characters that many thought were essential to his fictional world.

Kept in the Dark is a probing psychological portrait of the near destruction of a marriage - a novel that combines keen insights with vigorous emotional strength. Jealousy, guilt, excessive pride, and compulsion all sweep across its surface: in George Western, the self-willed and fatally-proud husband, who would rather destroy his own happiness than admit to any moral strain in his character; in Cecilia Western, whose peculiar mixture of pride and submissiveness forces her inexorably toward deceit; in the grinding hypocrisy of Cecilia's friend, Miss Altifiorla; in the overwhelming egotism of the rejected suitor, Sir Francis Geraldine. Trollope gives us a distinctive portrait of the Victorian world. 

This excellent reading was originally recorded in 1986 in the days of reel-to-reel tape. Although the sound is not quite up to today’s digital standards, every effort has been made to enhance the recording. However, you may hear a slight "echo effect" in some places. This should not interfere significantly with your enjoyment of the story but, just to be sure, you may want to listen to a sample before purchasing. 

Public Domain (P)1986 Jimcin Recordings

interesting psychological profile

This book is an interesting psychological study. It reminds me a bit of Jane Bronte's Villette. I very much enjoyed the story. The narrator is also excellent. This tale is told from the heroine's perspective, and so a female narrator is quite fitting. I will search out other books by this narrator. Good story, good narration, five stars.

I am on a quest to read, and/or listen to, all of the authors recommended/enjoyed by C.S. Lewis, and so books by Anthony Trollope are on my list.

32 of 33 people found this review helpful

Two A's and a B

I give an A to the story and an A to the reader but just a B to the audio. It was clear enough but obviously done during pre-digital days since there was some "print-through," a slight echo effect that books done ten years or more ago have.
However...I soon stopped noticing that and was caught up in the book. So..if less than perfect audio bothers you, I suggest you listen to the sample first. If you don't mind an older recording...it's a wonderful story and well read.

15 of 15 people found this review helpful

Fascinating Story

Wonderful story which was beautifully narrated and kept me absorbed. I could not stop listening to it. Tight story without one wasted word. Gives interesting psychological and historical perspective. Well worth a listen.

25 of 26 people found this review helpful

A Thin Story

A story read with little expression in which one event is stretched, and stretched, and stretched until it is so thin as to be barely perceptible. The most interesting characters are the 2 antagonists. The hero and heroine are too dull to notice.

Bad feedback

While this was a typical Trollope story it was the audio that must be addressed. The feedback was horrible. There was an echo like the narrator was reading through a tube. There was even conversations that could be heard during the reading like it was taking place in a public area. While I like and even take advantage of LibriVox I expect Audible to be higher quality due to it being a paid service. Very disappointing.

PERFECT STORM FOR A HORRIBLE LISTEN

Everything about an audiobook which makes it not worth buying has gathered here for a perfect storm. First, WHY is this even an interesting subject matter? Anthony Trollope obviously has issues with women or why write such a nonsensical story? I've read and enjoyed other books by this author. But this one is a waste of time! No self-respecting female author would have wasted her time writing this mess. Why? Because it is science fiction!! Seven and a half hours about a neurotic woman ruminating about a jilted romance. Trollope wants us to believe that a town has come to a full stop while speculating, gossiping, lying, back-stabbing, and being outraged just because a woman decides not to marry a cold, cruel-hearted older man? Are we to believe also that this woman is now "ruined" as if she slept with every man in Europe when the most scandalous thing she shared with a man is a chaste kiss on the cheek. That no other man would have her due to this "indiscretion"? That, by not taking out a front-page advertisement about her broken engagement, she is now guilty of "premeditated fraud"? What a small-minded bunch of people, with nothing else to do except pass stories and, even worse, pass judgment against a young woman who made the step to control her own life. No wonder the British got nothing done back then! REEE-DICK-A-LUSS!!!!

To compound this stupid tale is probably the worst narrator in Audible history - i should know, since I own over 425 audiobooks. Did anyone LISTEN to this book after the recording session. Jill Masters never changes the inflection in her voice for 7 hours. She just drones on and on and on! After 4 hours I felt like I was in the middle of a long hard labor with a stillborn baby!!! Painful for the mere fact of being in pain. Then to make all of the above worse, the audio quality is very poor, as if the book was recorded in an all porcelain bathroom. That "reverb" effect is great when one is singing in the shower but is extremely irritating in an audiobook.

I've listened to many books where the story is too simple or too dark or too inconsequential, yet a good narrator using innovative voice effects makes the ride worthwhile. Not so here. This narrator totally ruined a ruined a book which is hanging on a very thin literary thread. Jill Masters sounds as if she is bored to death and, in turn, she bores the listener. Try as I might, I couldn't finish this one. Anthony Trollope, Jill Masters, Jimcin Recordings and Audible.com are co-conspirators in an coup d'??tat of aural pain!

9 of 18 people found this review helpful

a Dark tale

What did you love best about Kept in the Dark?

Trollope is a master

Any additional comments?

There was a blurry section towards the end that was not due to my equipment, and really made it hard to listen to the book.

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

Really 2.5 stars

Slow, repetitive, the least interesting Trollope I've ever read (or listened to). As others have commented, the audio quality is abysmal; it seems to be a copy of an old Books on Tape analog recording, with that telltale faint back dialogue those of us who have been with audio books since the old days of worn library cassettes will recognize.

3 of 6 people found this review helpful

stinks on ice

What disappointed you about Kept in the Dark?

story was ridiculous - recording so bad i'd like to get my money back - how can you sell this - there's so much background noise on this recording like there's a party going on in the background

Would you ever listen to anything by Anthony Trollope again?

I love at but this has got to be one of his worst

How could the performance have been better?

have no idea

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

no

Any additional comments?

who do I see about getting a refund -

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Horrible recording

Good example of a Trollope story, but unfortunately the recording quality renders it almost unlistenable.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Dreadful recording

Not Trollope's best - but I was looking forward to hearing it. However the narration was dull and lifeless. Worse than that even is the quality of the recording which at times made it really difficult to listen to.
What a disappointment!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not one of Trollope's best

I'm sorry to say that I totally agree with Josephine, the reading was almost unbearable to listen to. But contrary to Josephine, I think the story was weak as well, absolutely not on a par with the Barset Chronicles or the Palliser novels, magnificent novels, brilliantly read by Timothy West. And not only was the reading bad, the sound of the recording was of very poor quality, not worthy of Audible.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great story, pancake flat reading

It's a great story for all Trollope lovers, unfortunately Masters reading is too painful for me to persevere more than once. She reads as if each sentence were mysteriously unrelated to any other in the book, with a constant tone to match. Deserves better treatment.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

UTTERELY RUINED BY NARRATOR

How this narrater has got work in this profession is beyond belief. This woman is terrible with no compassion for what she is reading. She reads just like any woman sat by her grannies bedside, bland & completely no voice variance. She has destroyed a good audiobook. After listening for 4 minutes I switched off. I adore audiobooks. I have about 500 which get listened to day & night 24/7. This is one of the worst.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful