"[Simon Vance's] narration allows listeners to recognize how much Dickens wrote for the ear. Whitfield reads these stories like he is telling them beside a winter fire. His voice rises and falls with Dickens' rhythms, and it's easy to imagine Dickens acting out the eccentric and vivid characters that fill every story." AudioFile
Description
No writer is more identified with the modern idea of Christmas than Charles Dickens. In some ways, Dickens helped define the holiday that we now celebrate by immortalizing it as a time of warmth and sharing, with an emphasis on family and friends.
Dickens wrote all the stories presented here during the 1850s as contributions to the special Christmas issues of Household Words, the weekly magazine he founded and edited. Included are fictional sketches verging on the autobiographical, recollections of childhood, reflections on past holidays and old friends, as well as tales of misunderstandings and lost opportunities. They reaffirm the virtue of nurturing our traditions and offer a master storyteller's vision of the real meaning of Christmas.
Praise
"[Simon Vance's] narration allows listeners to recognize how much Dickens wrote for the ear. Whitfield reads these stories like he is telling them beside a winter fire. His voice rises and falls with Dickens' rhythms, and it's easy to imagine Dickens acting out the eccentric and vivid characters that fill every story." AudioFile
"These stories portray the richness and traditions of a bygone era…The reader effectively creates a tone that delights the ear and enhances the sterling narration.” Kliatt
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Nov 30, 2001 |
| Release Date | December 1, 2001 |
| Release Date Machine | 1007164800 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Literature & Fiction, Classics, Classics, Classics, Evergreen Classics, Evergreen Classics, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult |
Author Bio
Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was born in Landport, Portsmouth, England, the second of eight children in a family continually plagued by debt. A legacy brought release from the nightmare of debtors’ prison and child labor and afforded him a few years of formal schooling. He worked as an attorney’s clerk and newspaper reporter until his early writings brought him the amazing success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. He was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and he remains popular, responsible for some of English literature’s most iconic characters.
Narrator Bio
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.
Overview
No writer is more identified with the modern idea of Christmas than Charles Dickens. In some ways, Dickens helped define the holiday that we now celebrate by immortalizing it as a time of warmth and sharing, with an emphasis on family and friends.
Dickens wrote all the stories presented here during the 1850s as contributions to the special Christmas issues of Household Words, the weekly magazine he founded and edited. Included are fictional sketches verging on the autobiographical, recollections of childhood, reflections on past holidays and old friends, as well as tales of misunderstandings and lost opportunities. They reaffirm the virtue of nurturing our traditions and offer a master storyteller's vision of the real meaning of Christmas.
Reviews
Write Your Own Review