Four Fires cover art

Four Fires

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Four Fires

By: Bryce Courtenay
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

 The four fires in this story are passion, religion, warfare and fire itself. While there are many more fires that drive the human spirit, love being perhaps the brightest flame of all, it is these four that have moulded us most as Australian people. The four fires give us our sense of place and, for better or for worse, shape our national character.©2001 Christine Courtenay, a recording of the book published by PenguinBooks Australia Ltd. (P)2001 Bolinda Publishing Historical Fiction Fiction Heartfelt Inspiring Scary Thought-Provoking Tear-jerking

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Brother Fish cover art
Jessica cover art
The Potato Factory cover art
The Story of Danny Dunn cover art
Jack of Diamonds cover art
The Persimmon Tree cover art
The Power of One cover art
Fortune Cookie cover art
April Fool's Day cover art
Matthew Flinder's Cat cover art
The Family Frying Pan cover art
Tell Me It's Not True cover art
Beach Music cover art
The Poisonwood Bible cover art
Outback cover art
The Zelmenyaners cover art

Critic reviews

"A superb storyteller." (The Times)
"Humphrey Bower, speaking as Mole, delivers every possible nuance and emotion of his character's story, and shows a startling aptitude for other dialects as well. Close family friends and enemies include surviving Polish Jews, an East Indian healer, an Irish Catholic priest, Japanese prison camp soldiers, and many others. All of them, young and old, male and female, spring to vivid life in Bower's versatile voice. Narrative passages and dialogue elicit tears and laughter by turns, without a minute of boredom in the 30-hour production." (AudioFile Magazine)
All stars
Most relevant

What did you like most about Four Fires?

The story of a family in a small rural town, living through war, prejudice, struggles, success - Courtenays ability to bring characters to life is outstanding. In the end, I felt like a part of the family! The story moves at perfect pace throughout, even though it spans decades. It also helps that Humphrey Bower's narrations is completely engaging.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Four Fires?

Difficult to say, but the first few chapters - where all the characters are introduced - stuck with me right to the end, and that doesn't happen very often.

Which character – as performed by Humphrey Bower – was your favourite?

All of them - he makes them all individuals, and it is difficult to pick one. Mole as the storyteller is brilliant, but his performance as Mrs Rika Ray made me smile!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Definitely - but I also wanted it to never end!

Brilliant story, brilliant narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great listen did not want it to end caused many reared and much laughter just wonderful

I am never disappointed with Bryce Coutenay books

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

Would you consider the audio edition of Four Fires to be better than the print version?

Not having read the print version, nevertheless I can only estimate that Humphrey Bower's performance brings an authentic realism that my imagination would be unable to create by itself.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tommy, so broken, the poor sod.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The penultimate chapter, where the book is reframed as a retrospective memoir of the protagonist, was a very nice touch.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes of course, although that's impossible, it's about 30 hours.

Any additional comments?

Following the life and coming of age of a poor Irish-Australian family... I never could have expected it to be so captivating.

Bower brings this Courtenay epic to life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
what a superb kaleidoscope of feeling this book covers - laughter, tears, anger, horror and 'awww'. a marvellous depiction of the Irish Catholic church influence on poor lives, the horrors of war, the struggle to improve - the human determination to survive. the performance was fitting for such an epic tale.

all the emotions

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A brilliant listen. This book is gripping from start to finish. Informative, detailed, heartwarming, funny, sometimes horrifying, you get to know the principal characters so well that you could be part of the family. It covers so many events and experiences in gripping detail. This is not a book you are likely to nod off to

Four Fires by Bryce Courtenay

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