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Baudolino

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Baudolino

By: Umberto Eco, William Weaver - Translator - translator
Narrated by: George Guidall
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Summary

 The author of the international sensation The Name of the Rose returns to the Middle Ages in this beguiling tale of history, myth, and invention.

It is April 1204, and Constantinople, the splendid capital of the Byzantine Empire, is being sacked and burned by the knights of the Fourth Crusade. Amid the carnage and confusion, one Baudolino saves a historian and high court official from certain death at the hands of the crusading warriors and proceeds to tell his own fantastical story.

Born a simple peasant in northern Italy, Baudolino has two major gifts—a talent for learning languages and a skill in telling lies. When still a boy, he meets a foreign commander in the woods, charming him with his quick wit and lively mind.

The commander—who proves to be Emperor Frederick Barbarossa—adopts Baudolino and sends him to the university in Paris, where he makes a number of fearless, adventurous friends.

Spurred on by myths and their own reveries, this merry band sets out in search of Prester John, a legendary priest-king said to rule over a vast kingdom in the East—a phantasmagorical land of strange creatures with eyes on their shoulders and mouths on their stomachs, of eunuchs, unicorns, and lovely maidens.

With dazzling digressions, outrageous tricks, extraordinary feeling, and vicarious reflections on our postmodern age, this is Eco the storyteller at his brilliant best.

“Baudolino, with its richly variegated haul of medieval treasures, remains compulsively readable.”—The New York Times Book Review(P)2002 Recorded Books Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Middle Ages Royalty
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I think it was cleverly written but struggled myself to follow the story at the beginning until Baudolino began his journey to find Prester John. I enjoyed hearing about the many fantastical creatures as well as references to historical characters.

Complicated and FANTASTICAL

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One of the best books I have come across lately. Amazing story and brilliantly narrated

Amazing

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What a great story, and excellently read. If you're into history and like a good, long yarn, give it a whirl. There are also laugh out loud passages and deeply philosophical conversations.

Captivating

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So true. So false. The fate of historical interest in the postmodern style and a search for you.

The further you go the better it gets

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This is THE ULTIMATE book! It ticks all the boxes a perfect book should include: adventure, humour, friendship, mystery, history and food for thought.
George Guidall is my most favourite narrator. He performs Kafka perfectly and Umberto Eco too! I really want there to be Foucault's Pendulum read by him!

I found an absolute gem!

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