The Witches

By: Roald Dahl

Narrated by: Miranda Richardson

Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, and Chris Rock!

This is not a fairy tale. This is about real witches.

Grandmamma loves to tell about witches. Real witches are the most dangerous of all living creatures on Earth. There's nothing they hate so much as children, and they work all kinds of terrifying spells to get rid of them. Her grandson listens closely to Grandmamma's stories - but nothing can prepare him for the day he comes face-to-face with The Grand High Witch herself!

©2007 Roald Dahl (P)2007 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Dahl's stories work better in audio than in print.... The best of the lot, I think, is Miranda Richardson's The Witches. In her voice, the main witch, a kind of demented Lady Hitler with a hoarse Teutonic caw, rolls her rrr's like a machine gun. She gives a musical delivery that can turn the word 'cheese' into a five-syllable delicacy spilled in a descending glissando of notes. My middle-school children could hardly understand this character, partly because whenever she started speaking they screamed with laughter.... Richardson's élan and glee at The Witches, well, bewitched me." (Gregory Maguire, The New York Times Book Review)

“Roald Dahl sometimes shared a tonal kinship with Ogden Nash, and he could demonstrate a verbal inventiveness nearly Seussian...[His] stories work better in audio than in print.” (The New York Times)

poor character voice

How could the performance have been better?

The voice performed for the Grand High Witch is almost impossible to understand. It's too much. My kids and I were all confused as we listened on our commutes to school. Other than that, it was great.

my kid loves it

I'm not as big a fan of this one as Matilda, but my kid loves it. Thumbs up.

THE WITCHES

LOVE THIS BOOK!!! I already read some of the other roald dahl books like Matilda, The Witches, And The BFG (the big friendly giant) and loved them all.

Pretty good

Miranda Richardson's narration of this classic tale is mostly very good. Unfortunately, the sound effects mainly detract, and her representation of The Grand High Witch is painful; she yells and shrieks, and it is often difficult to even understand what she's saying.

Wow

Very imaginative, though a little frightening for some younger listeners (good for 7 and above).

Good but the voice

Great story but the voice of the Grand High Witch was so pitchy and loud it made me want to smash my iPad in spite of the screechy voice I loved this book and highly recommended it to people five and up

Great story, awful performance

Over the top shrieking and yelling. The volume also goes from very soft to full blown. I look forward to listening to an audiobook before bed. This book is not one of them.

Great to listen along while reading

My 9yo was interested in reading the book before watching the film. So I ordered the book then noticed it was also on Audible. So he read along while listening. I got enthralled listening as well! I love the sound effects. I am surprised to read all the bad reviews about the voices because that was one of things that impressed me. It's not easy to read out loud!

Classic

I love the story it’s so creepy and fun! I was very annoyed with the narrators voice for the witch, it was almost unintelligible! Other than that- so great from start to finish

A favorite book but...

The narrator is very talented, however the accent of the Grand High Witch is so over done that much of her dialogue is unintelligible. I feel like my son and I missed a great deal of the story because we couldn't understand her.