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The Betrothed

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About this listen

After the jealous tyrant Don Rodrigo foils their wedding, young Lombardian peasants Lucia and Lorenzo must separate and flee for their safety. Their difficult path to matrimony takes place against the turbulent backdrop of the Thirty Years War, where lawlessness and exploitation are at their height. Lucia takes refuge in a convent, where she is later abducted and taken on a nightmarish journey to a sinister castle, while Lorenzo goes to Milan, where he witnesses famine, riots, and plague - all evoked through meticulous description and with stunning immediacy. The Betrothed is a masterful example of historical fiction and remains one of the most famous novels in Italian literature.

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Public Domain (P)2019 Naxos Audiobooks Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction
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I am a native English speaker who also knows Italian. I thought the narration was excellent with many different and appropriate voices to suit the story. I enjoyed the style of this translation; it sits comfortably with the age and form of the original. Bravo!

a great tale, well told

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This is one of the great classics of European literature. Manzoni is in the first division of 19th Century writers and The Betrothed is on any top 10 list of works. That said this particular translation is weak and shows little understanding of Catholicism, a subject which is crucial to the story. Two obvious examples are the use of 'temple' instead of 'church' as a translation of the Italian 'templo.' No one who speaks English calls a church a temple. The same goes for 'curato'. The English word, curate, which is used, is an assistant priest but in Italian the word means a senior priest, a parish priest and the assistant is a vicario.
Both these obvious mistakes aren't made in the Penman translation used by Penguin.

Outstanding story disappointing translation.

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