The Santa Cruz Pickwick Club: Our Mutual Friend

An extract from the audiobook edition of Charles Dickens's celebrated classic, David Copperfield, available as an abridged downloadable audiobook read by Nathaniel Parker.

About the book:
Humorous, dramatic, ironic and tender, David Copperfield has always been one of Dickens's most popular novels. From his boyhood at the knee of his nurse Peggotty, to the cruelties of Salem House Academy and his youthful adoration of Dora Splendow, David begins to learn about life, the world, and the heart. His path to maturity is filled with memorable characters, such as the Micawbers, Uriah Heep, Steerforth and many more. Told as 'autobiography', David Copperfield draws deeply on Dickens's own life and was his own 'favourite child' among his books.

This audio book is available to download from Audible.co.uk and iTunes UK now. 

Dickens: David Copperfield (Audiobook Extract), read by Nathaniel Parker

An extract from the audiobook edition of Charle's Dicken's classic story of turbulent times, A Tale of Two Cities, read by Ian Richardson.

About the book:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . ." With these famous words, Charles Dickens plunges the reader into one of history's most explosive eras - the French Revolution

After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the aging Dr Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil lanes of London, they are all drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror, and soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.

The CD is available to buy here:
http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141804491,00.html?strSrchSql=a+tale+of+two+cities/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities_Charles_Dickens

This audio book is available to download from Audible.co.uk and iTunes UK now. 

Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities (Audiobook Extract) read by Ian Richardson #AudioLondon

An extract from the audiobook edition Charles Dickens' epic, Bleak House, read by Ronald Pickup and Beatie Edney.

About the book:
As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. A savage, but often comic, indictment of a society that is rotten to the core, Bleak House is one of Dickens's most ambitious novels, with a range that extends from the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to the poorest of London slums.

The CD is available to buy here:
http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141804637,00.html?strSrchSql=bleak+house/Bleak_House

This audio book is available to download from Audible.co.uk and iTunes UK now. 

Charles Dickens: Bleak House (Audiobook Extract) read by Beatie Edney and Ronald Pickup

An extract from the audiobook edition of Charles Dickens: A Life, the major new biography from the highly acclaimed Claire Tomalin, published for the 200th anniversary of his birth. 

About the book:

Charles Dickens was a phenomenon: a demonicly hardworking journalist, the father of ten children, a tireless walker and traveller, a supporter of liberal social causes, but most of all a great novelist - the creator of characters who live immortally in the English imagination: the Artful Dodger, Mr Pickwick, Pip, David Copperfield, Little Nell, Lady Dedlock, and many more.

At the age of twelve he was sent to work in a blacking factory by his affectionate but feckless parents. From these unpromising beginnings, he rose to scale all the social and literary heights, entirely through his own efforts. When he died, the world mourned, and he was buried - against his wishes - in Westminster Abbey.

Yet the brilliance concealed a divided character: a republican, he disliked America; sentimental about the family in his writings,  he took up passionately with a young actress; usually generous, he cut off his impecunious children. 

Claire Tomalin, author of Whitbread Book of the Year Samuel Pepys, paints an unforgettable portrait of Dickens, capturing brilliantly the complex character of this great genius. Charles Dickens: A Life is the examination of Dickens we deserve.

Alex Jennings is an associate actor with the RSC and has also worked with the Royal National Theatre. He was Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, for which he won the second of his Olivier Awards for Best Actor in a Musical. He played Charles, Prince of Wales in the film The Queen, and his TV appearances include The State Within, Inspector Morse and the title role in Ashenden. He's a prolific reader of audiobooks, the most notable of which are The Horse and his Boy, Oliver Twist and Attention All Shipping.

This audiobook will soon be available to buy from iTunes UK and Audible.co.uk

Claire Tomalin: Charles Dickens: A Life (Audiobook Extract) read by Alex Jennings

An extract from the audiobook edition of Charles Dickens' timeless tale, Oliver Twist, read by the actor Alex Jennings.

About the book:
The story of the orphan Oliver, who runs away from the workhouse only to be taken in by a den of thieves, shocked readers when it was first published. Dickens's tale of childhood innocence beset by evil depicts the dark criminal underworld of a London peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the arch-villain Fagin, the artful Dodger, the menacing Bill Sikes and the prostitute Nancy. Combining elements of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama, Dickens created an entirely newkind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.

This audio book is available to download from Audible.co.uk and iTunes UK now. 

Charles Dickens:Oliver Twist (Audiobook Extract) read by Alex Jennings

An extract from the audiobook edition of Dickens lesser-known christmas novella, The Chimes, read by the actor Geoffrey Palmer.

About the book:
Toby "Trotty" Veck, a downtrodden ticket-porter, is struggling with a decision. Will a visitation from spirits help him see the light? Scathing, dark, but also heart warming, The Chimes is a thought-provoking christmas read for fans of Dickens' social commentary.

These remastered Dickens will be available  to download in February from Audible.co.uk and iTunes UK.

Charles Dickens:The Chimes (Audiobook Extract) read by Geoffrey Palmer

An extract from the audiobook edition of Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, read by Alex McCowen.

The tale of Little Nell gripped the nation when it first appeared in 1841.   Described as a "tragedy of sorrows", the story tells of Nell uprooted from a secure and innocent childhood and cast into a world where evil takes many shapes, the most fascinating of which is the stunted, lecherous Quilp.  Blending realism with non-realistic genres such as fairy-tale, allegory, and pastoral, the tale of Nell's tragedy contains some of Dickens most memorable comic and grotesque creations, including the dwarf Daniel Quilp, Dick Swiveller and Kit Nubbles.

Charles Dickens: The Old Curiosity Shop (Audiobook Extract) read by Alex McCowen

An extract from the downloadable audiobook edition of Charles Dickens' classic tale of family and power, Dombey and Son. Read by Andrew Sachs.

Dombey and Son is both a firm and a family and the ambiguous connection between public and private life lies at the heart of Dickens' novel.   Paul Dombey is a man who runs his domestic affairs as he runs his business: calculatingly, callously, coldly and commercially.  Through his dysfunctional relationships with his son, his two wives, and his neglected daughter Florence, Dickens paints a vivid picture of the limitations of a society dominated by commercial values and the drive for profit andexplores the possibility of moral and emotional redemption through familial love.

Charles Dickens: Dombey and Son (Audiobook Extract) read by Andrew Sachs

An extract from the downloadable audiobook edition of Martin Chuzzlewit, the story Dickens considered his best. Read by John Wells.

The greed of his family has led wealthy old Martin Chuzzlewit to become suspicious and misanthropic, leaving his grandson and namesake to make his own way in the world. And so young Martin sets out from the Wiltshire home of his supposed champion, the scheming architect Pecksniff, to seek his fortune in America. In depicting Martin's journey - an experience that teaches him to question his inherited self-interest and egotism - Dickens created many vividly realized figures: the brutish lout Jonas Chuzzlewit, plotting to gain the family fortune; Martin's optimistic manservant, Mark Tapley; gentle Tom Pinch; and the drunken and corrupt private nurse, Mrs Gamp. With its portrayal of greed, blackmail and murder, and its searing satire on America Dickens's novel is a powerful and blackly comic story of hypocrisy and redemption.

Charles Dickens: Martin Chuzzlewit (Audiobook Extract) read by John Wells

An extract from the audiobook adaptation of Our Mutual Friend, Dickens' last completed novel portraying a dark, macabre London. Read by Robert Hardy.

PLEASE NOTE: This recording has been pulled from the Penguin Archives so the quality will not be the same as modern recordings. Please listen to a sample before you buy.

About the book:
Our Mutual Friend centres on an inheritance - Old Harmon's profitable dust heaps - and its legatees, young John Harmon, presumed drowned when a body is pulled out of the River Thames, and kindly dustman Mr Boffin, to whom the fortune defaults. 
With brilliant satire, Dickens portrays a dark, macabre London, inhabited by such disparate characters as Gaffer Hexam, scavenging the river for corpses; enchanting, mercenary Bella Wilfer; the social climbing Veneerings; and the unscrupulous street-trader Silas Wegg.  The novel is richly symbolic in its vision of death and renewal in a city dominated by the fetid Thames, and the corrupting power of money.

Part of a series of abridged, vintage recordings taken from the Penguin Archives. 

Affordable, collectable, quality productions - perfect for on-the-go listening.

This audiobook will soon be available to buy from iTunes UK and Audible.co.uk

Charles Dickens: Our Mutual Friend (Audiobook Extract) read by Robert Hardy

Renee Fox, Co-Director of The Dickens Project, provides an introduction to "Our Mutual Friend," a novel by Charles Dickens. Recorded on September 9, 2018 during a meeting of the Santa Cruz Pickwick Club.

AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mP-Pg8Qq_bCPXFsijpqnWC61lf1jbyQH3WmkpdUg50k/edit?usp=sharing

Our Mutual Friend, An Introduction to the Novel with Renee Fox

Wendy Martyna of the Sociology department at UCSC leads a discussion on Book III. 
Recorded on November 11, 2018, during a meeting of the Santa Cruz Pickwick Club.

Our Mutual Friend, An Introduction to the Novel with Renee Fox

The Dickens Project

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