The Pursuit of William Abbey

By: Claire North

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

From the award-winning and best-selling author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and 84K comes a powerful new novel that examines how the choices we make can haunt us forever.... 

South Africa, 1884. A young and naive English doctor by the name of William Abbey witnesses the lynching of a local boy by white colonists. He's guilt-struck but too cowardly to stand up against this horrific act. And as the child dies, his mother curses William. 

William begins to understand what the curse means when the shadow of the dead boy starts following him across the world. It never stops, never rests. It can cross oceans and mountains. And if it catches him, the person he loves most in the world will die.... 

Moving, thought-provoking and utterly gripping, Claire North's extraordinary new novel proves again that she is one of the most original and innovative voices in modern fiction. 

©2019 Claire North (P)2019 Hachette Audio UK

Another Claire North winner

Is Peter Kenny the best narrator ever. Hard to think there could be someone else as good.
Live Claire North novels. This one takes a little longer to rev up but it’s underlying question (as with all her books), gets under your skin and stays long after the book finishes.

Always waiting for her latest book but this time..

I love Clair North and her books, always have and always will. This one, however, has one significant flaw. Peter Kenny her trusted narrator now for a while has run off with the script and turned it into an audible experiment, which is not only excruciating to listen too but also unnecessary. Yes, technology is a good thing, but to use synthesized voices that just sound like badly synthesized voices no matter what speed you listen to made almost half of this book a dread to listen to.
And what is this nurse for btw?
I don't know, when and why Clair got hung up with unfinished sentences, uttered in machine-gun fashion that drive one nuts in their plainest form, but which now have been made ten times worse (sound mad as a hatter) by a sound engineering narrator too fond of his equipment. Yeah, and how beautiful he can make African guttural clicking noises when pronouncing the name of the shadow 'Langa'. Sorry Peter, but the next book with similar gimmicks I will just skip as an audiobook.

Happy New Year! to all of you guys.

Another fantastic book from Claire North

I'm a huge fan of Claire North and was very excited to listen to this book. Another great concept, thoroughly developed, beautifully written... I don't think I have much else to say!

I must say, I'm quite surprised at the relatively low average star rating (3.7 out of 5 in August 2020). I'm not sure why this would be. I think the tone of this book may be slightly darker than others... although, thinking of it now, The Sudden fo Appearance of Hope has some pretty horrific scenes in it. I found this book to be more chilling than some of her others... perhaps people didn't like that? I loved it.

Very Enjoyable

Peter Kenny's performance was really quite enjoyable. The nature of the story allowed for some interesting performances in some scenes which I found very entertaining to listen to; I thought William himself to be a very engaging and interesting character.

Very hard hitting story with some very heavy themes. This is not an easy listen, and the story is a long one and takes a little while to get going, but the climax and resolution make it all worth it. So so worth it.

Highly recommend this audiobook if you're partial to dark themes, moral quandaries and some rich and three dimensional characters.

Another prize worthy piece

Yet another great partnership of Claire North and Peter Kenny. I look forward to each new book with excitement. And this one does not disappoint. Beautifully written and stunningly performed, this relentless story had me enthralled right to the end. Also such depth of philosophy and historical interest. Thank you both.

Loved it

I'd seen a few negative comments on this book, which almost put me off getting it.
So glad I ignored them. I haven't read all of North's books, but this is my favourite so far.

ruined by the editing

I love Claire's books, It reminds me of Harry August. Good idea, well narrated with a decent twist

Fourth best

Sure, I'd rather re-live The first lives of Harry, and this book can't really touch Touched, but I do think this is on par with that book I'm sure I've read, but can't remember. It had a curious and wonderful special power to engage with, and it has that epic travel through time and space giving you a grand look at history. And, a great and twisted enemy.

all in all, I fully enjoyed the book! A tad slow at times but that is the way of Claire...

I missed a lot due to the whispering

Great story, but it was marred for me by the narration. I realise I'm in a minority here, but if you're listening in the car when Peter Kenny drops to a dramatic whisper, then essential parts of the story are lost in the wind. Yes, I agree he's an exciting narrator, but I was deeply disappointed that he couldn't produce that excitement without descending into inaudibility.

The bits of the story that I heard were great and overall I loved it. Maybe next time I need to check who the narrator is and save it for a quiet room or use noise cancelling headphones.

Nothing "clicks"

I was so disappointed, the story didn't ever seem to 'take off' for me; an intriguing idea and a great narrator but it didn't ever gain momentum.....sorry.