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Apprentice - Scarlet City - Part I
- An Audible Original Drama
- Narrated by: Douglas Booth, Miriam Margolyes, Alison Steadman, Finty Williams, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Raymond Coulthard
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
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Apprentice - Scarlet City - Part I
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Summary
Please note: This title contains explicit language and scenes of a graphic sexual nature.
This Original multicast drama blends history with fiction to tell the story of Jonah, a young apprentice from London who raises himself from poverty by wit and luck to become one of the most powerful merchants of the age.
A rags-to-riches tale, Jonah's journey spans the breadth of human experience, from the intricacies of Edward III's political intrigues to the cutthroat world of international trade, from the triumphs of war to the agonies of personal loss - love, friendship, joy, heartbreak and glory. Set largely in London, the Scarlet City, the centre of medieval England, the Scarlet City trilogy is a thrilling portrait of the age and the people who made it so rich, colourful and extraordinary.
London, 1330. Jonah Durham grows up in the household of his tyrannical cousin Rupert, and only his grandmother, the calculating Cecilia Hillock, recognizes his talent and intelligence. After her death he inherits a handsome fortune, bestowing him with both wealth and independence but also the wrath of his increasingly dangerous cousin. However, a fateful encounter with the young King Edward III is set to radically change Jonah's life and the future of English cloth production.
Told in three parts, hear Medieval London come to life in this historical epic, Audible Original's most ambitious production to date. Narrated by Miriam Margolyes, OBE (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Romeo + Juliet, Mulan) and starring Douglas Booth (Riot Club, Loving Vincent, Shelley) as Jonah, and Alison Steadman, OBE (Gavin and Stacey, Orphan Black, Shirley Valentine) as Cecilia Hillock.
Also featuring: Daniel Anthony, Josephine Arden, John Banks, Timothy Bentinck, Clare Buckfield, Beth Chalmers, Elliot Chapman, Trevor Cooper, Oliver Coopersmith, Raymond Coulthard, Gareth David-Lloyd, Richard Earl, Andrew French, Helen Goldwyn, James Joyce, Olly McCauley, Tony Millan, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Katarina Olsson, Steven Pacey, Nicholas Pegg, Nigel Planer, Siobhán Redmond, Christopher Ryan, David Schofield, Dan Starkey, Sarah Sutton, Alexander Vlahos, Niky Wardley, Finty Williams, Claire Wyatt.
What listeners say about Apprentice - Scarlet City - Part I
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Simon
- 06-12-17
Perfectly Formed Tale Hits the Sweet Spot
The short version of this review is that I have pre-ordered part two of this series already . . .
In slightly more words this is a sumptuous production of a very decent story. It's not quite my usual fayre but boy did this chase away the M25 blues on a long drive. You only have to look at the quality of the cast involved to guess how good some of the acting is. More than that it's the form of presentation that really seals the deal though. Having a narrator to push the story along makes such a positive difference compared to an out and out radio play where too often the dialogue is burdened by the need to carry the story and set the scene and so ends up sounding unnatural and stilted. Here the actors are left to play their parts with much greater authenticity. The music adds texture, the sound affects ambience and I even enjoyed the longer gaps between chapters which allowed key points of the story time to sink in - though I suspect they will possibly irritate some.
The story itself is an Edwardian Alan Sugar rags to riches tale and Jonah the lead really does have credulity-stretching luck in being in the right place at the right time which is key to his progress. It's an enjoyable romp and if you're willing to grant the author some license quite exciting too.
I'm very much looking forwards to this one continuing. It's a top quality production and it really does show in that the time spent listening to it passes very, very quickly. Audible should have a real hit on their hands with this one!
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138 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nigel
- 07-12-17
Part 1 of 3: An epic masterpiece ** fantastic **
You know when you’ve enjoyed something as you want more, and Scarlet City got me hooked with its fantastic story, voice acting and Miriam Margolyes as the narrator is faultless. Just like reading a great book, these ten hours flew by. It all adds up to a masterpiece, such a shame we’ve now got to wait until February ‘18 for the next part - please Audible bring the release date forward :(
Set in the 1330’s, but with modern language this audio drama has a perfect split between narration and audio play.
It really is completely brilliant!
Massive to all involved with making it. I loved it.
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55 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Brian
- 19-03-19
Content Warning needed
CW: Rape
I’m all for graphic stories, but it’s really boring when a novel introduces an outgoing and extroverted female character in the first hour of a book and then corners her in a powerless situation that leads to rape. I’m not sensitive, but I want to know what I’m signing up for when I buy a book. Shit like this turns my stomach.
Spoiler: when she gives birth later in the book, she sounds like she's having an orgasm, not writhing in agony.
Overall production of the audiobook is very well done. Good voice acting and ambient sound.
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45 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daniel
- 09-12-17
Amazing!!
Impressive performances and direction. Waiting for the continuing series.
Also Expect more of these kinds books from audible!
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42 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Liz
- 14-12-17
Loved it
I Can’t wait for the next book, this was beautifully narrated by Miriam and wonderful actors.
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25 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dog Walker Sussex
- 13-12-17
dog walker sussex
Absolutely brilliant. The story brought to life in my living room . More dramas please.
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22 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
- swheelie
- 02-07-18
Very badly written, full of cliches and one-dimensional characters
I thought this would be a bit of light historical fiction to listen to in the car. The cast looked good,and the general synopsis looked interesting. However, it started poorly (seriously, a 'dark and stormy night'?) and became progressively worse. Written for adults with a reading age of ten. I did actually wonder whether I'd mistakenly bought a children's book, that is until the rape scene (again, cliche ridden). Avoid if you value even half-decent writing and storytelling.
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- AB
- 14-02-18
Absolutely fantastic....!
Having read the various reviews on this, I decided to give it a try... Wow, I'm glad I did. A super story, along with some first class performances, a great accompanying soundtrack and great direction given by the narrator.
I really like what Audible have created here, and even ordered part 2 when I was half way through part 1!
Great effort all round, and well worth anyone's time spent listening to the first part of this masterpiece in the making...
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rebecca
- 16-12-17
Can't wait to hear Part 2
Beautifully done. I enjoyed this so much I felt at a loss when I got to the end! When can we hear Part 2?
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- OT
- 06-01-18
Overacted and obvious
Any additional comments?
Judging by the other reviews, I may be in the minority on this, but I found this very poor. The story, at least as far as I could stand it, is commonplace, the writing is clunky and the performances are overacted and unconvincing. Not recommended.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- UNCHMSUW
- 01-01-18
Well played but too much gratuitous sex and abuse
The narration and acting is lovely. The main story is very engaging. There however is too much detailed description of sexual violence, seduction and physical violence. I don’t have a problem with addressing real subjects but the descriptions seem to place too much titillating emphasis on prurient subjects especially when read aloud. Some may not be bothered but I wanted to point this out as I did not see it in other reviews. Very uncomfortable to listen to in the car with young teenagers.
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36 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Needles
- 05-01-18
Ludicrous plot delivered by dodgy actors
Seems like someone couldn’t quite finish their Master’s thesis on the history of the 14th century cloth trade in Europe, so rather than waste their research material, opted to write a novel that reads as part Medieval Menu Plan by way of End Blyton’s Famous Five (substitute “lashings of delicious sauces!” for “lashings of ginger ale!”), part Chivalric Fantasy (Medieval Bastard has life saved by King who just happened to be passing by, then goes on to save life of Queen and Queen’s Best Friend; garners Royal Favours allowing unprecedented class-jumping! the headline would read).
If you can manage to suspend disbelief and go along with this unrelenting ludicrosity, you may also enjoy the delights of some very mixed casting for this dramatisation. Douglas Booth in the lead role, has clearly been cast for his sleepy baritone, but a good actor he ain’t. Sadly Alison Steadman’s character dies off too quickly, and Miriam Margolyes at least adds some warmth and charm to the mess. The rest of the cast struggle along variously with some very dodgy “Dutch” accents and truly woeful fake-laughter (cringe!)
All in all, pretty B-grade stuff.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- D. R. H.
- 17-12-17
Great
This production was amazing! It was like listening to a play. All of the narrators were very good. I was deeply sorry when it was over. The story line is very well done. I can’t wait for Part 2 to emerge into our libraries.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Raymond Higgins
- 05-03-19
Painfully slow
The dramatic performance was outstanding, but the pace of the story was one step above watching grass grow.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mayrelou Stamps
- 04-01-18
Attention grabber and keeper.
I found the characters fascinating and entertaining. I will be interested to listen to the next part of the story.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Classy n Sassy
- 18-12-17
A must listen
Outstanding performance, great story and I cant wait for the next one to come out, this is how they should all be done!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- GGS Engineering
- 12-03-19
Excellet. Wonderful performance.
I participated in setting up a technical school for apprentices, thus the title caught my attention. The three parts were excellent, with vivid characters, twists, turns and a lot of medieval English history. The performance, using various actors for each character, plus sound effects of the scene, made for a new dimension in audio book listening. Very realistic, much like the very popular radio theaters half a century ago. I have 300 books in my Audible library. These three are the best performed. This is how all audio books should be recorded.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Cosmocitygrl
- 07-03-19
Not My Cup of English Tea
I love these books that are acted out with multiple actors. I even liked that they had a person reading the backstory. Everything seemed to be going great with this until the rape scene. It's one thing having it read to you by one narrator, it's whole other thing to have it acted out. Creeped me out big time. especially because I had a feeling there would be more scenes like that. So I'm tapping out.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hildy Karev
- 20-01-18
Wonderful presentation
I loved this book and could not put it down. It was like being at the theater for the full length of the book. Can’t wait for the next part of the story. Thank you Audible for this production.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- brandon
- 10-12-17
Wow, these will be the best audible has to offer.
I have listened to full cast and audio dramatizations but this is supreme. The story, performance all of it was just wow amazing. I can't wait till the next part is released. Trust me you want to experience this! whooohooo!
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1 person found this helpful