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Kept in the Dark

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Kept in the Dark

By: Anthony Trollope
Narrated by: Jill Masters
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About this listen

Completed only a few months before his death, Kept in the Dark is one of Trollope's most captivating novels. Yet unlike Trollope's other major novels - the Palliser series, The Claverings, the Barsetshire novels - Kept in the Dark succeeds without the use of considerable length or legions of characters that many thought were essential to his fictional world.

Kept in the Dark is a probing psychological portrait of the near destruction of a marriage - a novel that combines keen insights with vigorous emotional strength. Jealousy, guilt, excessive pride, and compulsion all sweep across its surface: in George Western, the self-willed and fatally-proud husband, who would rather destroy his own happiness than admit to any moral strain in his character; in Cecilia Western, whose peculiar mixture of pride and submissiveness forces her inexorably toward deceit; in the grinding hypocrisy of Cecilia's friend, Miss Altifiorla; in the overwhelming egotism of the rejected suitor, Sir Francis Geraldine. Trollope gives us a distinctive portrait of the Victorian world.

This excellent reading was originally recorded in 1986 in the days of reel-to-reel tape. Although the sound is not quite up to today’s digital standards, every effort has been made to enhance the recording. However, you may hear a slight "echo effect" in some places. This should not interfere significantly with your enjoyment of the story but, just to be sure, you may want to listen to a sample before purchasing.

Public Domain (P)1986 Jimcin Recordings
Classics Historical Fiction Linguistics Romance Fiction Marriage
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What listeners say about Kept in the Dark

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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Dreadful recording

Not Trollope's best - but I was looking forward to hearing it. However the narration was dull and lifeless. Worse than that even is the quality of the recording which at times made it really difficult to listen to.
What a disappointment!

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2 people found this helpful

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POOR TECHNICAL AUDIO QUALITY

Poor and variable quality of audio. Audio performance monotonic and disjointed - until the last part of the last chapter where enthusiasm finally shows itself on behalf of the narrator.

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    4 out of 5 stars

UTTERELY RUINED BY NARRATOR

How this narrater has got work in this profession is beyond belief. This woman is terrible with no compassion for what she is reading. She reads just like any woman sat by her grannies bedside, bland & completely no voice variance. She has destroyed a good audiobook. After listening for 4 minutes I switched off. I adore audiobooks. I have about 500 which get listened to day & night 24/7. This is one of the worst.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Great story, pancake flat reading

It's a great story for all Trollope lovers, unfortunately Masters reading is too painful for me to persevere more than once. She reads as if each sentence were mysteriously unrelated to any other in the book, with a constant tone to match. Deserves better treatment.

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    1 out of 5 stars

Not one of Trollope's best

I'm sorry to say that I totally agree with Josephine, the reading was almost unbearable to listen to. But contrary to Josephine, I think the story was weak as well, absolutely not on a par with the Barset Chronicles or the Palliser novels, magnificent novels, brilliantly read by Timothy West. And not only was the reading bad, the sound of the recording was of very poor quality, not worthy of Audible.

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