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Pavane cover art

Pavane

By: Keith Roberts
Narrated by: Steven Crossley
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Summary

Award-winning author, narrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman personally selected this book, and, using the tools of the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), cast the narrator and produced this work for his audiobook label, Neil Gaiman Presents.

A few words from Neil on Pavane: "When Old Earth Books told me they are reissuing Pavane, which was originally published in 1968, I told them: 'I read one story from Pavane when I was nine, and it scarred me…. I read the whole book as a teenager and learned where that story had come from, and the shape of the whole story and I felt the scars heal….' Pavane was Keith Roberts' masterpiece: profound and still remarkable."

Considered Keith Roberts' masterwork, this novel consists of linked short stories (six measures and a coda) of a 20th century in which the Roman Catholic Church controls the Western world, and has done so since Queen Elizabeth of England was assassinated in 1588. The Protestant Reformation never happened, and the world is kept in a Dark Age of steam-power transportation, with no allowance for electrical power, by a tyrannical Rome. Pavane shows the harshness of life in this society and details the generational struggle for independence by the citizens of Dorset, England. It's through this series of moving tales that Roberts interweaves a discussion of Destiny and History that take the book out of the ordinary. And the authors great love of his native country makes this the most English of novels, and one of the finest in fantastic literature.

To hear more from Neil Gaiman on Pavane, click here, or listen to the introduction at the beginning of the book itself.

Learn more about Neil Gaiman Presents and Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX).

©1968 Keith Roberts (P)2011 Wildside Press LLC

Critic reviews

"Roberts's vivid depiction of the day-to-day lives of the common folk gives these stories a tangible reality. Steven Crossley's gentle voice, embedded with a regional accent, enhances the characters and places them solidly in their milieu." ( AudioFile)

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Pavan an excellent book

I read this book many years ago and it was fantastic to go back to it and remind myself of the end. The traction engine parts are so correct I could smell the steam and hot metal. The narator is excellent. I would highly recommend this book.

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Slow and understated, but beautifully rendered

Focussing on great detail on a few brief points in an alternate timeline made this book something to be felt, like leafing through a book of watercolours, rather than gripped by. Melancholy, but enjoyable.

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Wonderful imagination

First read "Pavane" more years ago than I care to think about, and never forgot the alternative reality the author created. Excellent reading, great characterisation, thoroughly enjoyed this performance of a superbly realised possibility of a vastly different reality. Thank goodness the Armada was defeated!

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sad and haunting sci-fi

this is evocative writing and beautifully performed. great intro by Neil Gaiman. i highly recommend it.

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