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English Passengers

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English Passengers

By: Matthew Kneale
Narrated by: Ron Keith, Simon Prebble, Gerard Doyle, Gianfranco Negroponte, Jenny Sterlin, Patrick Tull, Davina Porter
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About this listen

It is 1857, and Reverend Geoffrey Wilson has departed England to prove the literal truth of the Bible. The expedition heads towards Tasmania, where he is convinced he will find the real Garden of Eden. But the other passengers have their own agendas.

Dr Potter is developing a sinister thesis, and the ship is crewed by smugglers of contraband brandy and tobacco. As the English passengers near Peevay's land, their bizarre notions become painfully at odds with reality. Their destination is no Eden but a world of hunting parties and colonial ethnic cleansing. A mighty collision is approaching....

©2000 Matthew Kneale (P)2001 W. F. Howes Ltd Fiction Historical Fiction Funny Witty Tobacco

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Such superb storytelling! Hats off to Matthew Kneale on his brilliantly written and well researched novel. I love the fact that every character has their own narrator. What makes this book so very good is that each character tells their own story in first person. It doesn't come across as some dreary old history book either. Obviously the awful subject matter is hard to stomach but we should all be made to read this book.

Utterly enthralling from start to finish.

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Not since listening to The Barchester Chronicles by Anthony Trollope have I enjoyed an audio book so much. This is utterly brilliant and wonderfully performed. All the characters which weave throughout the narrative are so skilfully handled, in fact this marvellous book benefits from being listened to, rather than read. I cant recommend this book highly enough and was so sorry to finish it. I am sure I will listen again in the future.

A brilliant listen

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I was dreading the depressing theme of this book but it turned out to be a really entertaining listen. The Tasmanian situation was atrocious & this was a clever way to describe the factors involved. The performances by all the different characters were great, giving all the different perspectives in such an amusing way.
A really excellent listen.

Great listen. Funny despite the subject matter!

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The narration of English Passengers is pitch perfect and brings the characters of Peevay Potter and the others vividly alive. I was disappointed that it had to end.

A great novel improved

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I loved this; fascinating, tragic and funny in equal measures it tells such a vivid story covering Victorian religious and scientific morals and views, the lives and ultimate fate of the native people and much more. The characters are rich and well performed- I devoured it!

Gloriously told Tasmanian historical fiction

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Loved this story of the illl fated Captain and his ship. As disasters befall him, he tries to salvage what he can from the situation, heaping more bad luck upon them all.
The description of the Aboriginal peoples woes are no less well written and the dreadful things done to them in the name of improvement are really well portrayed.

Well written and performed

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Having revisited Kneale’s ‘English Passengers’ after sixteen years absence, I bought the audiobook digital version having listened to Simon Callow’s excellent, but abridged version, on cassette in 2004, I was not disappointed to re-aquaint myself with Captain Kewley, Peevay and the Revd. Wilson amongst many others after such a long lay-off. The richness of the narrative and the fact that much was based on real events...and characters from that period made this story an absolute pleasure to listen to again. Top marks to all the narrators and production team...and many, many thanks to Matthew Kneale for his huge efforts in bringing this period of our colonial history to life.

Captivating and extraordinarily absorbing

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I highly recommend this book. The many narrators added value by their characterful reading. Each narrator is quite different in their style and for me this added to my enjoyment of the book. I feel this book lends itself well to audio book presentation and has been very well performed. The subject matter of the book is interesting and has provoked me to read more on the history. The book narrates a captivating story in an unusual and interesting way with several characters who the listener will find themselves caring about. I highly recommend this book.

Exciting, moving, funny, thought provoking

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very funny, pretty sad, not preachy.
the stylised sections of Peevay & Potter get tired very quickly. Just speed up or skip them, the other sections are marvelous

a real jape

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This is a devastating account of the awfulness of British colonialism, its brutality, how good men got caught up in a bad system. It deals specifically with the colonisation of Tasmania, which is a particularly awful story, but somehow manages to be both very moving and very funny. Highly recommended.

A wonderful book.

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