The Go-Between

By: L. P. Hartley

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

Haunting, moving, evocative, The Go-Between is L. P. Hartley's heartbreaking novel about social constraints and childhood innocence.

During the long, hot summer of 1900, young Leo Colston is invited to stay for a month at a lordly, aristocratic manor in Norfolk. There he falls in love with his friend's older sister, who commissions him to ferry secret messages to the local farmer, her lover. His naiveté sustains their affair until ultimately leading to an event that will change their lives irrevocably.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©1953 L.P. Hartley (P)2016 Naxos AudioBooks

Great walk back in time.

Would you listen to The Go-Between again? Why?

This story keep me listening! Was get story!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Leo

What about Sean Barrett’s performance did you like?

Brought each character alive!

If you could take any character from The Go-Between out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Leo

Any additional comments?

I love listening to this story!!!

A modern classic

Wonderfully evocative novel of class struggle in England, characters you care deeply about, a terrific plot line.

Evocative and a little heart breaking

A beautiful opening line leads to a rather heartbreaking story, of lies and misunderstandings and class divides in pre-WWI England. The book must be better known in Britain than in the U.S. because I had only heard of it recently, even though I tend to be read a lot of British literature.

The reading was quite good, and managed to get me through a key plot point about cricket even though I know almost nothing about it.

Heartwarming

Great writing, very moving. Easy to relate to. I’ve listened twice. Both predictable outcome, yet unexpected also.

Wonderful!

I had enjoyed this book back in the ‘70s and often thought about it since. In recent years I mostly “read” audio books and I realize that I am at the mercy of the narrator. Even a great book can be ruined by poor narration. So I was hesitant about this recording as I was fearful it might spoil the good opinion I had of it. To my great surprise, it did the opposite. Sean Barrett’s narration was perfect and left me with even more admiration for this great classic. I could hardly take a break from listening. I could not recommend it more.