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The Raven in the Foregate

The Twelfth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael

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The Raven in the Foregate

By: Ellis Peters
Narrated by: Vanessa Benjamin
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About this listen

 Christmas, 1141 A.D. Abbot Radulfus returns from London, bringing with him a priest for the vacant living of Holy Cross (known as the Foregate), a man of presence, scholarship and discipline, but neither humility nor the common touch. When he is found drowned in the mill-pond, suspicion is cast in many directions, not least toward a young man who came in the priest's train, sent to work in Brother Cadfael's garden. For he has little obvious priestly calling. Indeed, he soon attracts the friendship of a girl both beautiful and formidable.
To Brother Cadfael, once wordly, now dedicated, if gently cynical, is left the familiar task of sorting the complicated strands which define guilt and innocence.©1986 by Ellis Peters (P)1998 by Blackstone Audiobooks Mystery Traditional Detectives
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I have read many of the Cadfael books, listened to the radio plays, and watched the TV adaptations. The plots are always good. Philip Madoc and Derek Jacobi as Cadfael are superb. What a pity neither of them narrated this book. The female voice was irritating and just wrong. Most of the characters are male so why opt for a female narrator? I tried, but I finally had to give up listening.

Did not like a female narrator

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Vanessa Benjamin has such a good, clear voice and is a pleasure to listen to.

Very enjoyable listen

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Really enjoyable book, Brother Cadfael is a wise monk who ministers healing balms and potions to the townspeople and in doing so, plays detective.

A 'winter's tale' of intrigue and mishap

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There appeared, maybe that should be "it sounded", as if the recording was made in a studio that wasn't sound proof. Or maybe it was recorded on an old tape using a poor quality recorder. I found the characterisation of Cadfael rather odd: he's Welsh but sounded very upper class English. Story is good, as usual from Ellis Peters.

Audio problem

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I love Ellis Peters' Cadfael books. But to have them narrated by a female narrator is a bit much. The main speakers are all male, so she has to strain her voice - I wouldn't be surprised if she had a painful throat after these performances! And particularly in this recording, it often sounds like she is recording in the backroom of a busy pub, while at other times her voice echos in the background, but sounding really low, like a man's voice. Just strange.

Of course these recordings are 25 years old and they deserve to be redone, just like the first three unabridged versions narrated by Stephen Thorne. Those are a joy to listen to because Mr Thorne does an excellent Welsh accent and he really places the stories beautifully. Sadly there also are a lot of abridged versions of these books, no doubt excellently narrated by Derek Jacobi, who played Cadfael in the TV series, but I want the whole books, not the abridged versions! So please, Audible, give us more of the unabridged Cadfael books! There are 20 of them in all, so plenty of work for the narrator you choose - Stephen Thorne for choice, or a(nother) Welsh speaker please!

Poor female narrator!

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