Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Beren and Lúthien
- Narrated by: Timothy West, Samuel West
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
99p for the first 3 months
Beren and Lúthien
Buy Now for £14.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
Summary
Presented for the first time on audio, the epic tale of Beren and Lúthien will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves, Men and Orcs and the rich landscape unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth in this unabridged recording read by critically acclaimed father and son, Timothy and Samuel West.
Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, was deeply opposed to Beren, and imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. Undaunted by Lord Thingol’s challenge, Beren and Lúthien embark on the supremely heroic attempt to rob Morgoth, the greatest of all evil beings, of a Silmaril, one of the hallowed jewels that adorn the Black Enemy’s crown. The tale of Beren and Lúthien, which was written shortly after J.R.R. Tolkien returned from the Battle of the Somme in 1916, was an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion.
In this book Christopher Tolkien has extracted the various versions of Beren and Lúthien from the comprehensive work in which they are embedded. To show something of the process whereby this Great Tale of Middle-earth evolved over the years, he tells the story in his father's own words by giving, first, its original form, and then passages in prose and verse from later texts that illustrate the narrative as it changed. Presented together for the first time, they reveal aspects of the story, both in event and in narrative immediacy, that were afterwards lost.
Critic reviews
"A seamless editorial construct, the capstone to a job Christopher Tolkien began with The Silmarillion." (New Statesman)
More from the same
Author
What listeners say about Beren and Lúthien
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 09-02-21
A Touching Legacy
Having the father and son team of the Wests read a book that began with JRR Tolkien and finished and edited by his son Christopher begins a key work in Tolkien's work to touching conclusion.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- andrew
- 05-08-21
Wonderful Story
The world of the first and Second age of Middle Earth is so rich with characters and wonder and Beren and Luthien is no exception. The story is beautifully read by father and son-West and really well laid out in book structure by Christopher Tokkien who have the arduous job of working through literally hundreds of papers, notes and drawings by his late father. l will say though to get full enjoyment for listener's it maybe need to familiarise themselves with Tolkien other great work The Silmarillion. Overall 5 stars Andrew R
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 18-04-21
entancing ancient tale
updated in the most scho;arly and readable fashion by famed professor and son. dont miss this
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 13-12-22
Best love story ever Beren and Luthien ❤️🙌🙌
It was Great i enjoyed it to the end i will listen to it again someday ❤️
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Asher Girling
- 02-02-23
A great dive into Middle Earth and Tolkien's works
This was an amazing book, combining the various iterations of Beren and Luthiens story as Tolkien wrote them. I particularly liked the insight offered by Christopher Tolkien in how and when he assembled his father's disparate works into the final version.
it offers great insight into how scattered Tolkien's writing was, and how the tale was edited and changed over the years.
It goes without saying the poetry and writing is flawless
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nigel C. Cox
- 28-02-21
Wonderful insight to a beautiful fable
Truly this is an excellent work.
I followed the performance of the poems in the written text and am impressed.
West Snr does a chronicle course weave the words of these Tolkiens.
And of the works that speak direct of Beren and his Lúthien, does West Jnr do more justice than
seemed possible before the start.
By these three hands does spring to life, a joy to read and better hear, so sad a story of ill fate.
A broken song, many times revised, was a hard subject to device
A book, a narrative that is partly lost.
And yet, tis done.
And marvellous.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- David J. Smith
- 24-08-21
Worked and reworked to perfection
A fairy-story (in Tolkien's sense) that he told many times in different registers, like a maestro modulating the key of a piece of music. The result is not merely one tale or lay or poem, therefore, but a collection of varied texts each with a very distinctive mood and atmosphere of its own. Well worth the listen. The performance is a little uninspiring in places but the author's love of language.shines through to redeem all.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joe Rowledge
- 09-09-20
loved it
loved all the ways the story was read all the diffrent versions and the poems beren and lúthien was a brilliant story and I intend to.listen to all the others both readers had me emersed completely
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Adam
- 13-03-21
Wonderful companion to the book
This audio-book is narrated by father and son acting troupe Timothy West and Samuel West. This is wonderful, as it echoes the dynamic of J.R.R and Christopher Tolkien that underpins this book. West senior reads the interlinking narrative detailing the evolution of the story, often speaking as Christopher, whilst West Junior narrates the story with real poetic grace and gravitas. He gets the metred verse beautifully, and you are swept up in the dramatic power of poem and prose. He is a great character actor, vividly capturing, for example, the menace of Morgoth, the sinuous, hissing predation of Tevildo, and the grit and suffering of the heroes.
A wonderful companion to the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- j d rowley
- 20-05-21
Could be scored higher
The actual story of beren and luthien was great. But all the extras should be in an appendices, not In front and behind. Just after in an appendix. So the story can be read as a sole item.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful