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The Young King

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The Young King

By: Oscar Wilde
Narrated by: Anton Lesser
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About this listen

This is a story from the The Happy Prince and Other Stories collection.

Oscar Wilde's collection of fairy stories are among the greatest and most poignant classics for children and adults alike. Humour, pathos, delightful little characters abound in the stories of The Happy Prince and the Swallow who agrees to keep him company despite approaching winter; The Selfish Giant, who doesn't want children playing in his garden, and The Remarkable Rocket. In addition, there are those who are not so familiar: The Star Child, The Young King, and The Devoted Friend.

©1998 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd. (P)1998 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd. Classics Fantasy Fiction World Literature Short Story

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Editor reviews

Part of A House of Pomegranates, Oscar Wilde’s imaginative collection of fairy tales published in 1891, "The Young King" takes place in an unidentified country and concerns the illegitimate son of a king’s daughter, and only male heir to the throne, and the unorthodox approach he decides to take as he prepares for his coronation ceremony.

The shimmering, string-dominant orchestral score sets a fantastical stage for the soon-to-be king’s three vivid dreams, and Anton Lesser’s resplendent performance evokes a childlike sense of awe in this poetic fable unlike any other.
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This tale is a firm favourite since childhood, and in Lesser's hands leaves you in wonder, awe and more awake and alive to the same issues of poverty and privilege we still see today.

Oscar Wilde's beautiful prose told perfectly in Anton Lesser's crisp and expressive voice.

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