Romola cover art

Romola

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Romola

By: George Eliot
Narrated by: Lucy Scott
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About this listen

Set in the turbulent years following the death of Lorenzo de' Medici, George Eliot's fourth novel, Romola, moves the stage from the English countryside of the 19th century to an Italy four centuries before her time. It tells the tale of a young Florentine woman, Romola de' Bardi, and her coming of age through her troubled marriage to the suave and self-absorbed Greek Tito. Slowly Tito's true character begins to unfurl, and his lies and treachery push Romola toward a more spiritual path, where she transcends into a majestic, Madonna-like role, while Tito descends further into corruption and villainy....

Impeccably researched, the novel features a cast of historical characters, including Girolamo Savonarola, Piero di Cosimo, and Niccolò Machiavelli, and draws parallels between the Republic of Rome of Eliot's day and the Republic of Florence ruled by Savonarola, most famous for its Bonfire of the Vanities, depicted here in vivid detail.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2020 Naxos AudioBooks Historical Fiction Fiction Rome

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I can see why her fans found this hard to read. This novel is weighty but my goodness it is fabulously researched and brilliantly written. I rate Eliot’s ability to delve beneath the skin as greater than Tolstoy’s (and that is saying something as he is so skilled at understanding human foibles). Having listened to Anna Karenina - the influences of Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda are obvious.
This novel really works well on Audible. Listening to the very competent narrator, transported me to fifteenth century Florence. Eliot’s research is meticulous, I really felt I learned something about the politics of that period in Italy (which in turn helped me understand our Henry VIII relationship with Rome). But best of all was Eliot’s extraordinary understanding of human nature. Her ‘baddies’’s are never all bad and her ‘goodies’ are not saints. All her characters are nuanced and have depth. The plot is exciting and based on real events.
If George Eliot really had been a man, I’m sure we’d be celebrating her as much as Dickens!
I highly recommend listening to this novel (but don’t try to read it!)

Brilliant to listen to - hard to read!

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'Romola' is one of those huge Victorian novels that put some people off (personally I love them - if the book's good, then the longer the better!). George Eliot's recreation of 15th-century Florence is anazingly detailed. She brings in the extreme characters of the period, such as Savonarola and Macchiavelli, as well as Romola, her bright and noble-hearted (but naive) heroine, and Romola's charming, selfish husband. Like 'Middlemarch', this a story of an entire place, told through characters we care about.

A great novel, well read

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I couldn't stopped listening, so well written ,the knowledge of Florence and history so great
the narrator did beautiful job

the performance is one the best I ever had

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Took a long time to get going. However it is a great story set in interesting renaissance Florence with many famous historical characters of the times. Better on audible than reading in print form I would venture!

Many twists and turns in the story. Interesting complex characters of Romola and Tito, also Baldassari

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Just as Hardy was (deservedly) besotted with his heroine, Tess; George Eliot is equally besotted with her creation, Romola. I found Romola herself quite hard to take to, perfect appearance, flawless sanctity, making mountains out of the minutiae of her still, calm life. This is in contrast to the little 'peasant' girl, Tessa, who is empty headed, and Eliot constantly refers to her a a 'thing' which made me wince, every time I heard it. However, this book is saved by its epic scope. Titanic figures such as Machiavelli, and Savonarola are expertly woven into the plot - and this book works as quite the history lesson!

Lucy Scott's narration is really good, bar the histrionic high pitched voice used for Tessa, although it would be hard to know how to voice such a shallow, and half realised character as this. In general though, Lucy's narration is just as good as that of her award winning performance as 'Clarissa'. Now that is a book to be highly recommended. It's just sad that Samuel Richardson saw female characters as more nuanced that did George Eliot, who in my view, is as bad as Dickens for dividing women into plaster saints, idiots or harpies. Overall, I think this is an important book - and Hardy fans will enjoy recognising shades of 'Tess' in this heavyweight tome.

An important book ....

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