Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Troubles cover art

Troubles

By: J. G. Farrell
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £11.99

Buy Now for £11.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Troubles cover art
Tall Chimneys cover art
The Untouchable cover art
Staying On cover art
The Captain's Table cover art
So Late in the Day cover art
The Captains and the Kings: A Novel cover art
Exit Unicorns cover art
The Great Fortune cover art
Marriage Can Be Murder cover art
The Secret River cover art
Dead I Well May Be cover art
The Cold, Cold Ground cover art
The Travelling Grave and Other Stories cover art
Ink cover art
Black December cover art

Summary

J. G. Farrell was born in England and moved to Ireland around the age of 12. Often mistaken for an Irish-born writer, this is mainly because Troubles, the first book of his Empire Trilogy (also including The Siege of Krishnapur and The Singapore Grip) takes a comical yet political and personal look at the realities of the Irish fight for independence against the might of the British Empire.

A listener follows Brendan Archer, a major in the British Army, to County Wicklow in Ireland, where he is supposed to meet the woman he thinks he will marry. When his plans do not turn out quite as he imagined, he decides to stay on at The Majestic - a crumbling coastal hotel - which holds a strange charm and many eccentric, often amusing, inhabitants.

Made into a film for television in 1988, Troubles is an involving and interesting listen, both touching and enthralling.

©1970 CSA Word (P)2008 CSA Word

Critic reviews

"It's humorously and, above all, intelligently read by the peerless Sean Barrett. I'm so grateful to have it... if you've never read Farrell, you're in for a rare treat." ( The Guardian)

What listeners say about Troubles

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

An excellent book wonderfully read

I thoroughly enjoyed this book when I first read it more than 20 years ago but didn't expect to be as impressed as I was by this reading of it. Sean Barrett captures beautifully the crumbling world J. G Farrell creates, but behind the the gentle humour he also reveals the twisted loyalties and tragedies that affected so many lives in the Ireland of the 'Troubles' of 1916/1922.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Author, Great Narrator

I came to this book after watching the Culture show on BBC2 recently where they had a ?Best of the Bookers? spot on the show. Their favourite book (The Siege of Krishnapur) was written in 1973 by J. G Farrell and it filled me with the desire to try him out as soon as possible as I liked the idea of trying an author completely unknown to me. Unfortunately this title was abridged but thankfully it didn?t dissuade me as I thought at could least I get an intro into his style.

I really enjoyed ?Troubles? and it has certainly left me wanting to listen to more of his work. It has a somewhat eccentric and humorous style to it and its set in the period on unrest in Ireland shortly after WW1, so gives you an interesting insight into that era at the same time.

I really liked the main character Brendon Archer and he and all the characters were wonderfully portrayed by the narrator Sean Barrett.

All I need now is some more of his titles on the site, unabridged though of course!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great writing and subtle, intelligent reading but...

...whose idea was it to interrupt the above with a tedious rendition of, and I’m guessing here, an Elgar piece. This repeated ‘theme music’ was thrown in at almost any opportunity with no concern for the writer or the narrator.
A mistake. Luckily the talent elsewhere survived this.
I’ve downloaded another by the same author and am filled with a mixture of anticipation of the writing mingled with trepidation as to the production.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent Novel with Some Losses Due to Being Abridged

As with all abridged novels, something is oust in this recording. In this case, it's the poetry and humour of the original novel. However, Sean Barrett's reading is ideally suited to this novel, which has a characteristic Irish dryness and absurdity.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Book club selection

An interesting insight into Ireland just after the war in the eyes of the Major.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

beautifully written story

Would you try another book written by J. G. Farrell or narrated by Sean Barrett?

yes

Who was your favorite character and why?

the main character is a good person and very human

What does Sean Barrett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

much more entertaining and dramatic

Was Troubles worth the listening time?

yes good for relaxing on holiday

Any additional comments?

great story read it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!