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War and Peace

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War and Peace

By: Leo Tolstoy, Louise Maude - translator, Aylmer Maude - translator
Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton
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About this listen

Tolstoy’s epic novel of love and war, in an unabridged performance by Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning actress Thandiwe Newton.

Some call it the greatest novel ever written. Whether it’s your first time, or you’re ready to dive back in, what better way to experience this epic novel than in this exquisite unabridged reading by Thandiwe Newton?

War and Peace is at once an epic war chronicle and an exploration of everything that make us all human: love and hate, ambition and despair, life and death. Allow yourself to get lost in the lives of three Russian aristocratic families, whose triumphs and challenges are every bit as resonant to today’s listener as they were to original readers. Thandiwe Newton inhabits each character with such flair that it is easy to forget that you are listening to one voice.

So cancel all plans, sit back, and let Thandiwe transport you to 19th-century Saint Petersburg....

Public Domain (P)2021 Audible, Ltd Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction War & Military War Military Thought-Provoking Funny Russia

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Featured article: 6 Must-listen classic audiobooks


When you finally get a break from the day-to-day it's the perfect time to get stuck into a classic story. We asked the greatest fan of classic literature in the Audible HQ building for his top picks.

Featured article 6 Must-listen classic audiobooks
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A fantastic book that I’ve reviewed slightly more thoroughly on good reads, but just here to say Thandiwe Newton has done an absolutely incredible job narrating this, phenomenal work.

Superb.

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Thank you - really enjoyed listening to this, although I found it helpful to have the book too and read along. Without this, I got confused at times when characters reappeared after a long gap. I also used the Wikipedia entry on ‘War and Peace’ to try to remember who was who.

Excellent

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I'm a busy man...lots of family stuff, responsible job, dogs to walk, interests to follow; but I also love literature. War and Peace has been on my radar for some time, but with the best will in the world, I simply don't have the time to indulge yourself in a work this long. So, I took to Audible.
From page one, I was hooked. The actress who reads it is absolutely superb. She has a lovely voice which holds the attention, and she changes her voice for each character in a consistent way. For example, you always know when Natasha or Pierre are talking. I think this actress is fantastic at bringing this work alive and I can't praise her highly enough for her emotional expression, her energy, her characterisation. It is excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even a machi man like me was bordering on tears as I drove home from work when Natasha is fooled and ashamed.
If, like me, you enjoy listening to the classics read to you by expert actresses/actors as you do the commute to work, you couldn't get a better version of War and Peace than this.
Unreservedly recommended. I felt a significant episode in my life had passed when the end credits arrived.
Thank you, Audible. And thank you Thandiwe Newton for bringing this so alive in my imagination. Reading a long novel, maintaining interest and consistently staying true to character is an art form which you exemplify in my opinion

I think this is a fantastic production

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Fantastic narration, extremely poetic, mixture of ballroom drama and a tragic war.
Takes a bit of time to get used to his writing style, as he spends a great deal of time using analogies to explain ideas which are familiar to a modern reader/listener, but may have been foreign to a contemporary reader.

Good for long journeys or long jobs

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Well it was everything I ever heard about over the year, a story once heard never forgotten. Thandewe did a brilliant job, the characters reslly came to life, well done.

Wow

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