The Forsyte Saga cover art

The Forsyte Saga

The Man of Property

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Forsyte Saga

By: John Galsworthy
Narrated by: Neil Hunt
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.13

Buy Now for £15.13

Season's Savings | £0.99/mo for 3 months

£5.99/mo after 3 months - terms apply. Cancel monthly

The three novels that make up this trilogy have long been recognized as masterpieces of 20th-century literature, and Galsworthy as one of its leading exponents. But don’t let that be the reason you put off listening to this wonderful work. There are passion and lust in these pages, high art and low comedy, and unthinking violence that ride alongside ever-correct manners. Scandal, tragedy, despair, rape, accidental death, marriage, remarriage and a healthy leavening of births all unfold against a rolling backdrop of a world war.

Public Domain (P)1988 Recorded Books Classics Linguistics Social Sciences
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most relevant
Neil Hunt brilliantly brings the Forsytes to life. A fantastic and touching story with unforgettable characters.

Excellent reading of a fantastic book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great writing, and a fascinating insight into the society of the time. Characters are complex and the story touches on a number of difficult issues, with subtle and wise moments. Real classic. A very old tv serial my parents used to watch really didn’t do the book any favours.
Recommend

Great writing, and a fascinating insight into the society of the time

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would wholeheartedly recommend this book. It is a nearly contemporaneous account of the attitudes of a sector of Victorian society which has strong parallels in our own times. We are familiar with dramas of the "upstairs, downstairs" style, involving the upper classes and their servants, or Dickensian explorations of the injustices of the age. This story is of the upper middle classes, lawyers, architects, landlords and auctioneers. The authenticity rings through, and links those times with our own.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Old Jolyon Forsyte, whose humanity and love for his son win out in the end over the judgementalism od his peers.

What about Neil Hunt’s performance did you like?

Neil gives a dry, quite clipped performance. I could see that it might not be to everyones taste, but it was definitely to mine. The book is written in a very concise way, such that every word counts, and yet invites the reader to consider the values on display by the Forsytes. Neil conveys this, and ultimately his performance is all the more moving because of this.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Ownership or Love

Any additional comments?

I found it hard to get into the book, and ended up listening to the first chapter several times over. Every detail needs to be listened to and absorbed. Once the details of the cast of characters sank in and I knew who was who, I was then firmly hooked.

A wonderful and engrossing story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Why did nobody ever tell me how good this book was. I wish I'd read it years ago. In terms of the audio book itself, the narration was spot on, clear, expressive with a convincing range of voices. A few times there was an American pronunciation (eg vase and leisure) but as it was only may be 5 times over the whole book, I can't really complain.

as well as "a man of property", the book includes "an Indian summer" so don't go searching for a separate download for that. There's no other way to describe "an Indian summer" other than beautiful.

Much better than expected

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Galsworthy’s writing is so detailed and Hunt’s reading so expressive and fluent that I felt involved in the Forster family saga.

Deeply satisfying

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews