Venetia (Abridged) – Georgette Heyer Free Audiobook

Written by Georgette Heyer
Read by Richard Armitage
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Abridged

Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks
Edition:
Awards: Audie Award Nominee
Release date: June 23, 2010
Duration: 04:48:15

Another marvelous Georgette Heyer tale of the beautiful maiden and the debauched rake. This tale of redemption and humor is told within the context of Regency England. For those who love Regency Romances, this is the author who started the genre and against whom all others pale.

Venetia Lanyon, beautiful, intelligent and independent, lives in comfortable seclusion in rural Yorkshire with her precocious brother Aubrey. Her future seems safe and predictable: either marriage to the respectable but dull Edward Yardley, or a life of peaceful spinsterhood. But when she meets the dashing, dangerous rake Lord Damerel, her well-ordered life is turned upside down, and she embarks upon a relationship with him that scandalises and horrifies the whole community. Has she found her soul-mate, or is she playing with fire?

Heyer’s elegant story of a country girl who falls for a rakish peer of the realm will enchant listeners. Venetia’s chance meeting with Damerel turns into a romantic dilemma as she tries to convince him their relationship won’t turn her into a social outcast. Richard Armitage’s voice aptly conveys the attraction between Venetia and Damerel, making the most of the novel’s rich dialogue and clever turns of phrase. Armitage manages to express all of Heyer’s opinions about her characters with a subtle sense of the ridiculous. Exchanges between Venetia and Damerel emerge as especially intimate and wonderful. While the abridgment is gracefully handled, it’s a pity listeners won’t have the pleasure of hearing Armitage narrate the entire novel. C.A. (c) AudioFile 2010,

Although this is an abridged book it is carefully done chapter by chapter and each is labled. With appropriate music ending chapters or disks.

Sellections from NAXOS Catalogue are:
BELLA STRING QUARTETS 8.223839 Moyzes Quartet
MENDELSSOHN STRING QUARTETS NOS. 2 AND 5 / 8.550863
SCHERZO OP. 81, NO. 2 Aurora String Quartet
MENDELSSOHN STRING QUARTETS NOS. 3 AND 6 / 8.550861
CAPRICCIO OP. 81, NO. 3 Aurora String Quartet
BEETHOVEN BAGATELLES AND DANCES, VOL. 1 8.553795 Jeno˝ Jandó, piano FIELD PIANO MUSIC, VOL. 1 8.550761 Benjamin Frith, piano

Music programming by Mike Shah
The music works well with this charming book