The Sanctuary Sparrow

The Seventh Chronicle of Brother Cadfael

By: Ellis Peters

Narrated by: Vanessa Benjamin

Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

On a spring evening in 1140 Shrewsbury, the midnight matins at the Benedictine abbey suddenly reverberate with an unholy sound—a hunt in full cry. Pursued by a drunken mob, the quarry is running for its life. When the frantic creature bursts in to claim sanctuary, Brother Cadfael finds himself fighting off armed townsmen to save a terrified young man.

Accused of robbery and murder is Liliwin, a wandering minstrel who performed at the wedding of a local goldsmith’s son. The cold light of morning, however, will show his supposed victim still lives, although a strongbox lies empty. Brother Cadfael believes Liliwin is innocent, but finding the truth and the treasure before Liliwin’s respite in sanctuary runs out may uncover a deadlier sin than thievery—a desperate love that not even the threat of hanging can stop.

©1983 Ellis Peters (P)1998 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Murderous though they be, the Ellis Peters books set in twelfth-century Britain have the freshness of a new world at dawn…Peters weaves a complex, colorful, and at times quite beautiful tapestry. Medieval of course.” ( Houston Post)

“Medieval England comes marvelously alive.” ( Washington Post)

Disappointing

Would you try another book from Ellis Peters and/or Vanessa Benjamin?

Yes Ellis Peters is a first rate story teller. Yes I have enjoyed Vanessa Benjamin when the story fits her vocal range.

What didn’t you like about Vanessa Benjamin’s performance?

Females sound like children imitating grownups when attempting to reproduce male voices. The storyline is too masculine for a female narrator. Predominantly male characters.

Was The Sanctuary Sparrow worth the listening time?

No

Any additional comments?

To be fair males also fare poorly when attempting to voice female characters.

Love Brother Cadfael

Another in the series, showing glimpses of this medieval life. As always, the story is great. Sadly, not a fan of the narration. When she does the voices, they are way too portentous and overdone.

Lots of audio feedback in 2nd half of book

This is really annoying. The scrambled feedback made many of the sentences and words unintelligible. Unfortunate.

Damaged distorted audio in second half !

Really enjoy this series however The listening experience was ruined by harsh distortion intermittent in the second half.

Different reader for this installment

I love this series, but there is a different reader for this book. Unfortunately she isn’t to my taste, but I am not sure any woman reader would suit me for this series. I feel that in trying to imitate a masculine voice, the characters (especially the monks) end up sounding pretentious and aggressive rather than humble and helpful. It is hard for me to be fully engaged with the plot when I find the reader doesn’t meet my expectations.

I really enjoyed it

It Is an excellent rendition of olden times. The voices show great emotion. Thanks

Not the cleanest recording

I was disappointed in the static and other sounds that appeared in the second half of the recording.

Annoying disturbances

I love this series, and found this story interesting and unpredictable. Unfortunately the enjoyment of this story was marred by disturbing noises that often made understanding difficult.

Using Audible Ruins My Reading Pleasure!

The reason for my giving a low rating to this book is because this is the 5th Audible book in this wonderful series where the Audible doesn't match with the Kindle written version. I couldn't read along as I like on my Kindle Fire. The recording would stop everytime I attempted to read.. So now I will check my library or do without the Audible. The reader was excellent; I just couldn't follow along.