Highly recommended

I like Hilary Mantel and I had tried reading this in book form and not got very far. The reader was excellent with voices for all the characters and made sense of the beginning of the book where all the characters are introduced and it can get a bit confusing. You don't need to know anything about the French Revolution to be able to follow this book which focusses on 3 of the main protagonists. Like her later 'political' books, Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies (also highly recommended - the reader of Wolf Hall is particularly good) this mixes the political and the personal with great insight into the development of political extremism and its consequences. The portrayal of Robespierre is particularly astute. You can see how the author honed her writing skills to go from this to Wolf Hall - this has the same tautness and, despite its length, conciseness of expression and vividness of imagery. Highly recommended.

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57 people found this helpful

Great performance brings the Revolution to life

Although with historical novels there must always be an element of telling rather than showing, Mantel does an admirable job of covering so much and bringing Demoulin, Dantan and Robspierre to life. Brilliant narration helps make sense of the sheer number of characters.

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An incredible performance.

An outstanding book and such wealth of detail. Totally absorbing the Mantel way. Well done.

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Brilliant

Excellent, very well read, brilliant story, kept me hooked right to the very end. Seemed to be very well researched from a historical point as well.

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Hard going at times but worth it!

Hard going at times but worth it! Feel I understand the mechanism of revolution more now, enlightening, and scary too.

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Fantastic writing, brought to life with vigour

Jonathan Keeble's voice acting is brilliant. He is clearly having a ball and gives life and meaning to every single word. I thought I would struggle with such a long text and so many characters in audio format, but I was gripped from the start.

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Brilliant, closely historical depiction

A complex, fascinating, moving and funny tale of the French Revolution, following three of the chief protagonists. What a mountain of research must have gone into this book. Very well narrated.

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Hilary Mantel is a great story teller

If you could sum up A Place of Greater Safety in three words, what would they be?

Fascinating French history

Have you listened to any of Jonathan Keeble’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Jonathan Keeble is brilliant, so much so I will buy other books that he has narrated.

Any additional comments?

Hilary Mantel is a truly gifted writer. Her prose brings history to life; she turns what could be dull and boring facts into something more like fascinating fiction!

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A masterpiece

Never reviewed a book before, but I had to for this one. Stella beyond comparison!

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Not a fraction as good as Wolf Hall trilogy

Good News: Jonathan Keeble gives an excellent performance narrating this epic historical fiction.

Bad News: I went against the substantial number of reviews concerning the confusing writing of the characters and selective historical facts. I convinced myself that I would steer through it. How could I resist a Hilary Mantel offering of historical fiction when I had enjoyed Wolf Hall? It would not be an arduous task, I decided.
I was wrong. It is confusing. Simply the characters are not well enough delineated and become a confusing mush at times. found it difficult to know which character was leading the narrative. Convoluted with a myriad of characters that are not really in the story merely flitting in and out like a revolving door and never making themselves properly known!
I did finish the book but it's tough going in parts not least because you are bamboozled with several characters, their families, and what their role was.

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