Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Law of Dreams: A Novel  By  cover art

The Law of Dreams: A Novel

By: Peter Behrens
Narrated by: Jonathan Waters
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Driven from the only home he has known during Ireland's Great Hunger of 1847, Fergus O'Brien makes the harrowing journey from County Clare to America, traveling with bold girls, pearl boys, navvies, and highwaymen. Along the way, Fergus meets his three passionate loves: Phoebe, Luke, and Molly. They are vivid, unforgettable characters, fresh and willful.

Based on Peter Behrens's own family history, The Law of Dreams is lyrical, emotional, and thoroughly extraordinary, a searing tale of ardent struggle and ultimate perseverance.

©2006 Peter Behrens (P)2011 Peter Behrens

Critic reviews

"Behrens's impressive, swiftly paced saga tracks the life of an Irish boy after his family dies during the Great Potato Famine.... Behrens's language... has a visceral rhythm, and his similes meld the humble with the lyrical: whales rise 'hissing' in a river, light 'stutters' off an iron roof." ( The New Yorker)
"What Behrens knows, what he teaches us again in this masterly novel, is that the past was indeed wondrous, and terrible and strange, but that it was a very real place." ( The New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about The Law of Dreams: A Novel

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Save your credit

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I might recommend the book to a friend, but I would not recommend this recording.

What didn’t you like about Jonathan Waters’s performance?

This reading is on par with performances I have seen at high school plays. The accents and voices are uneven, and the reader's attempts at emotional dialogue are just plain irritating.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Entrancing story marred by production flaws

Very well written and fascinating account that puts you into the suffering and struggle of those who lived the famine.

My enjoyment was marred by sloppy audio editing, especially in the last few chapters, where the editor left in the narrator's false starts and stumbles. Also strange inconsistent audio gaps between chapters. This title deserves better editing.
I

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!