Love the book, love the narrator!

I love Georgette Heyer and Alexander Vlahos is brilliant narrating. His take on characters closely matches my own when reading this book.
I would take a chance on a new author if I knew he was narrating it.

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3 people found this helpful

Wonderful story and fantastic narration!

Heyer wrote this story when she was very young and is thus in a slightly different style to the stories she wrote a good 40 years later. That does not in any way mean it isn't as incredible as her other works! 'These Old Shades' is magnificent, the story is so captivating, mysterious, filled of intrigue and adventure. I adored this book and the narration so much! would highly recommend!

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Shocking narration

These Old Shades has been one of my favourite Georgette Heyer books since I was a teenager and I was really looking forward to enjoying it and more of her books in a different format. I have to admit to being horrified by the mangled narration of the story. The narrator did not tell the story, he merely read the words which is not the same thing at all. In addition to other complaints about accents etc which many others have mentioned (with which I wholeheartedly agree) he simply did not seem to understand the story he was reading, the emphasis was often completely wrong, changing the whole meaning of some passages, for instance the ‘I do’ which Leonie says right at the end of the book is read as if it were the response at a marriage ceremony with the emphasis on the do instead of the emphasis being on the I which makes sense of the sentence.Also the manner of speech used throughout the production was very modern the use of ay instead of a, the shortened more staccato style of speech which completely spoilt the flow of the narrative. I could go on but enough to say that the only reason I managed to listen to the whole thing was because the story is so good. I cannot understand why anyone would think this a good enough narration to publish and it makes me very wary about trying any more. Just because someone is a ‘celebrity’ doesn’t’t make them a storyteller! I would also suggest that Georgette Heyer’s novels would be much better suited to female narration.

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2 people found this helpful

Excellent narration

The narrator, Alexander Vlahos brought this complex and challenging piece of narration to life. Highly recommended.

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A sparkling plot

a more thoughtful and poignant treatment for this typical Heyer plot 'lost soul saved by the love of a good woman'. Some delightful characters and delicious pre-revolution France atmosphere.

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Brought to life!

I love this book. I've read it in two languages, my mother tongue (a translation), then looked for it in english when I could read the language well enough and now this. I almost know it by heart, and, unlike other listeners, I absolutely loved the narrator. Yes, one or two passages were read in an unexpected way, but overall for me he was a wonderful Duke. He gave life to him, so much so that it was like listening to a play. I often wish there was a movie made of this book, and I would have loved him as the Duke!

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This old favourite

This is one of my favourite Georgette Heyer novels. It is a rollicking read with plenty of action, marvelous characters, and sparkling wit. That does not change.
I resisted buying the previously available audio book version from audible because I could not tolerate the narrator. I found the voice of this narrator easier on the ear. However, overall he failed to live up to my expectations. In the opening scene we have the word “ beribboned” pronounced “ berib - boned”. There were similar errors else where. Much of the humour was missed because there were pauses at inappropriate places in sentences. The French pronunciation was dire. Even the name of Saint Vire changed after the first few mentions, but never matched the way I expected it to sound. I suppose I understand the use of regional accents to distinguish characters, so I can cope with Davenant having a Scottish accent, but why a French housekeeper has one too, or why the French valet has a Welsh accent, are mysteries. It would have helped had the narrator read ahead and marked up the text in some way because at times a speech started with one voice before morphing into the correct one. Justin is suave and usually drawls, but that did not come across.
I decided to keep this audio version in spite of its shortcomings because the story and characters are delightful. However, I do wish it could have been read by a narrator with a genuine feel for the cut and thrust of Heyer’s sparklingly witty dialogue.

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3 people found this helpful

Love this book but not the performance

These Old Shades is one of the best of Georgette Heyer’s books, but the narrator didn’t suit it. He tried to distinguish between characters with a variety of different accents, but his accents affected my enjoyment of the book, being very hit and miss. One lady started out Scottish and ended French by the end of her sentence… and Leonie sounded like an east end schoolboy when Avon first encountered her. She should be narrated with a consistently French accent. Another narrator, please!

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1 person found this helpful

Good story let down by narrator

They should have had a narrator with some knowledge of the French language and the understanding that English aristocrats would not have strong regional accents.

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Leonie and her Monseigneur

I have read every Georgette Heyer historical novel over the last sixty years and am now enjoying them again as audiobooks. They show that a book does not have to have loads of sex to be engrossing. This has always been one of my favourites. This story of Leonie and her Monseigneur is full of humour and wit and had me chuckling out loud over Leonie’s dialogue.
The narration by Alexander Vlahos was generally good if at times a little erratic. The highlight was his interpretation of Leonie, which was spot on. The lowlight was Rupert who I found too loud and sharp, not at all how I imagined the scamp to be.

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