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The Bloody Chamber

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The Bloody Chamber

By: Angela Carter
Narrated by: Richard Armitage, Emilia Fox
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A collection of short stories, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories was first published in 1979 and awarded the Cheltenham Festival Literary Prize.

This Audible exclusive adaptation is narrated by legendary actors, Richard Armitage and Emilia Fox, who take on different chapters of the audiobook. Among these are 'The Bloody Chamber', 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon', 'The Tiger's Bride', 'Puss in Boots', 'The Erl-King', 'The Snow Child', 'The Lady of the House of Love', 'The Werewolf', 'The Company of Wolves' and 'Wolf-Alice'.

About the book

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories is a titillating series of dark, sensual and fantastical stories, inspired by well-known fairy tales and folklore.

Dissatisfied with the unrealistic portrayal of women in these legendary fables, Carter turns them on their head, introducing subversively dark, sensual and gothic narratives.

Breathing new and unexpected life into favourite childhood characters such as Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard and Beauty and the Beast, Carter shocks, seduces and amuses the listener with her unique, iconic and surrealist reimagining.

About the author

Angela Carter was born in 1940, in Sussex. She grew up in the shabbily respectable south London district of Balham, the second child of an eccentric journalist father and a neurotic housewife mother.

She studied English at Bristol University before travelling, teaching and writing numerous best-selling novels. They have all received critical acclaim and remain firm favourites of modern English literature.

Angela was a feminist throughout her life, wrote for Spare Rib magazine and voted Labour. Her novels are wholly reflective of her world views and continue to inspire new generations of men and women worldwide.

About the narrator

Best known for his roles in The Hobbit, Hannibal, Captain America, Robin Hood, Spooks and North and South, Richard Armitage has established himself as one of the greatest British actors of our time.

With 14 audiobooks under his belt, including David Hewson's Romeo and Juliet: A Novel and Georgette Heyer's Venetia, Richard's story telling abilities have not gone unnoticed. In 2014, he was merited with having narrated the Audiobook of the Year, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel.

Emilia Fox is an English actress who has starred as Dr Nikki Alexander on BBC Crime drama, Silent Witness, since 2004. Her other TV and film credits include Merlin, Pride and Prejudice, The Pianist, The Casual Vacancy and Inside No. 9.

Also no stranger to audiobook productions, Emilia delivers a myriad of powerhouse performances such as in Philippa Gregory's The White Queen, Muriel Spark's The Complete Short Stories, and Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey.

©1979 Angela Carter (P)2018 Audible, Ltd
Anthologies & Short Stories Classics Dragons & Mythical Creatures Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Gothic Historical Horror Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Magic Music Short Stories Wolf Heartfelt Werewolf
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Most relevant

What made the experience of listening to The Bloody Chamber the most enjoyable?

The two well-known voices of the narrators, though Armitage did an excellent job of playing roles that totally disguised his voice.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The wife in The Bloody Chamber, recognisable from the originals but almost Wife Number Two from a very much darker Rebecca!

Have you listened to any of Richard Armitage and Emilia Fox ’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I listen to Emilia Fox read 'Pride and Prejudice' almost every December, she is the perfect embodiment of the lead character, and her clear and precise accent brings class to her performances.

While that is, for me, the epitome of audiobooks, her work here is also wonderful, though she does not get a chance to go deeply into any one character.

Any additional comments?

I loved listening to these on Audible. Fairy tales were traditionally tales that were spread via tellings, person to person, so to listen to someone reading them took me back to childhood but in a weird way.

These are NOT Disney fairy tales. In fact, there is some rather adult content in them, as warning for you.

There is a retelling of Bluebeard, two (confusingly, to a listener) back-to-back Beauty and the Beasts, with different plots and twists, Puss in Boots, The Earl King, Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood (three versions of this). Expanding from the original structure of known tales, there is a lot more description, very beautifully written, and a lot more is given to the characters to both say and think. My favourite was the Bluebeard story, The Bloody Chamber.

I found the morals a lot deeper than those you think of from the originals, and loved the new turns Carter came up with for the tales, especially as some tales were rewritten multiple times and from different perspectives.

Emilia Fox has a beautifully clear voice and narrated excellently. Richard Armitage was also superb, and you wouldn't have known it was him through some of the voices he put on. A great pairing and very easy to listen to.

An essential read for anyone studying traditional tales or interested in modern versions and interpretations.

With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy for review purposes.

Modern/feminist twists on well-known fairy tales

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I cannot praise this audiobook enough. This is one of my all-time favourite books: the stories are brilliantly re-imagined and the language is exquisite. I was, therefore, delighted to find that the narrators handled the material beautifully, their voices perfectly pitched to the various tones of the texts and narrators. This audiobook was a joy to listen to, and a thoroughly enjoyable way of re-"reading" one of my favourite books.

Fabulous!

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I haven't heard such beautifully crafted English prose for a long, long time. There are times when it's like listening to poetry. Most modern writers can't write in this way, it's something from the times of Byron, Shelley, Keats and Wilde. The stories are well observed too, even the re-imaginings of the classics are sympathetically handled and given the deserved gravitas by the respectful readings of Richard Armitage and Emilia Fox. Audiobooks of absolute joy and beauty, and probably ones I'll not encounter for a long time.

Beautifully poetic writing

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This books is a masterpiece. The stories are sublimely written, the narrators are the perfect matches for each of them; these are fairy tales worth listening to and they are terrifying, funny, subversive. They are all of them unique and fantastically told. I found myself gasping at certain parts of certain stories.

My favourites have got to be:
The titular story, The Bloody Chamber, The Tiger’s Bride, Puss in Boots, The Lady of the House of Love, and The Company of Wolves.

I highly recommend anyone to listen to this book. It is Carter’s masterpiece and it deserves all the approbation it receives.

Enter the Bloody Chamber

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Read many years ago and very impressed with this two hander by such wonderful actors. Brought out all the gothic horror and magic realism with a strong feminist message

Still shocking

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