Alan Bennett: Single Spies: An Englishman Abroad & A Question of Attribution

Sunday, July 27th, 2008 by Book Guy | No Comments »

Alan Bennett: Single Spies: An Englishman Abroad & A Question of Attribution

A critically-acclaimed double bill of Alan Bennett plays, originally performed at the National Theatre and adapted for BBC Radio 4.

An Englishman Abroad: It is 1958, and in a squalid flat in Moscow, double-agent Guy Burgess is hiding from the world.

When he is visited by actress Coral Browne, he is overjoyed to see someone from his former life in England. Starved for information, Burgess interrogates her about English society gossip, and cajoles her into taking home measurements for a new pinstripe suit from his London tailor…

A Question of Attribution: In 1956, Sir Anthony Blunt – pillar of the Establishment and respected Knight of the Realm – is working as Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures.

Perfectly at home in the corridors of Buckingham Palace, he frequently encounters Her Majesty as he works on her paintings, and has a special fondness for one particular Titian.

However, there is one small problem: the painting, like Blunt himself, is a fake. Is the Queen aware that her enigmatic servant might also be other than he seems?

Poignant and moving, these two brand new adaptations feature household names Simon Callow, Brigit Forsyth, Edward Petherbridge and Prunella Scales.

Publisher: BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Author: Alan Bennett
Narrator: Various
ISBN: 1405679204
Download Price: $18.99

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Tags: Alan Bennett, Attribution, Bbc Radio, Brigit Forsyth, Buckingham Palace, Coral Browne, Double Agent, Edward Petherbridge, Englishman, Fondness, Guy Burgess, Hiding From The World, Household Names, Life In England, Pinstripe Suit, Prunella Scales, Rsquo, Simon Callow, Sir Anthony Blunt, Titian

John Bull’s Other Island

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 by Book Guy | No Comments »

John Bull’s Other Island

When Thomas Broadbent, an Englishman, visits Ireland for the first time, he is accompanied by his friend Larry Doyle, an Irishman who is returning to his homeland after being away for many years.

Through the two men’s differing responses to the country and also the Irish people’s reactions to their two visitors, Shaw is able to explore the misunderstandings and misconceptions that have characterised relations between England and Ireland for centuries.

According to Shaw, ‘John Bull’s Other Island’ was written in 1904 at the request of W.B.Yeats ‘as a patriotic contribution to the repertory of the Irish Literary Theatre’, but when Mr Yeats read the script he rejected it, claiming that it was beyond the resources of the Abbey Theatre.

In fact, for Yeats, a play which was ‘uncongenial to the whole spirit of the neo-Gaelic movement’ must have made uncomfortable reading, and for us today, in the light of all that has happened in the intervening years, the issues raised by the play have lost none of their urgency.

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Narrator: Christopher Benjamin, Patrick Duggan and cast
ISBN: 0-00-712480-5
Download Price: $13.25

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Tags: Abbey Theatre, Author George, Bernard Shaw, Christopher Benjamin, Duggan, Englishman, Friend Larry, George Bernard Shaw, Harpercollins Publishers, Irish Literary Theatre, Irish People, Irishman, Larry Doyle, Misconceptions, Misunderstandings, Narrator, Repertory, Thomas Broadbent, Urgency, W B Yeats

Daniel Deronda

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 by Book Guy | No Comments »

"Daniel Deronda is a startling and unexpected novel it is a cosmic myth, a world
history, and a morality play."–A. S. Byatt

"Nadia May meets the strenuous demands of Eliot’s narration with easy assurance."–Library Journal

One of the masterpieces of English fiction, Daniel Deronda tells the intertwined stories of two different
characters as they each come to discover of the truth of their natures. Gwendolen Harleth is the high-spirited
beauty of an impoverished upper-class family. In order to restore their fortunes, she unwittingly traps herself
in an oppressive marriage. Humbled, she turns for solace and guidance to the high-minded Daniel Deronda, an
adopted son of an aristocratic Englishman who is searching for his path in life. But when Deronda rescues a poor
Jewish girl from drowning, he discovers a world of Jewish experience previously unknown to himor to the
Victorian novel. Dismayed by the anti-Semitism around him, the tragedy of the lovely Gwendolen begins
to fade for Deronda. When he finally uncovers the long-hidden secret of his own parentage, he must confront his
true identity and destiny.

Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
Author: George Eliot
Narrator: Nadia May
ISBN: 0-7861-1327-8
Download Price: $49.95 Find out more…

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Tags: Anti Semitism, Author George, Blackstone, Byatt, Cosmic Myth, Daniel Deronda, English Fiction, Englishman, George Eliot, Jewish Experience, Jewish Girl, Library Journal, Morality Play, Nadia, Narration, Parentage, Solace, Strenuous Demands, True Identity, Victorian Novel