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The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

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The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

By: Washington Irving
Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
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The story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (based on Tarrytown, New York), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky, and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. As Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, who is supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during "some nameless battle" of the American Revolutionary War, and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head". Classics Entertainment & Performing Arts Horror
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I originally heard this version on the radio, that’s why I bought it on Audible.

As featured on BBC Radio Four Extra

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Whilst I enjoyed the tale, I did not keep with the story all the way through, thought it rambled a little.

It could be shorter...

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The ghostly laughter punctuating the chapters of the book are entirely fitting, and set teh scene for this classic ghost story. Martin Jarvis doesn't lay it on his American accent too thickly and thereby prevents it from becoming offputting. I have not read the book, although I had seen the Johnny Depp film, which I realise after listening, took rather large liberties with the text. The book is considerably shorter than I had thought (hence the less than one and a half hour narration), but the description of the ridiculous Crane and the duplicitous Miss Van Tassel are delightful. As for the headless horseman, well you'll just have to find out for yourself...

Cool narration of this classic

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The timeless and irony-laced Sleepy Hollow story very well presented by the teller, with a beautiful use of nuance to match the original writing; you might well detect the smiles and raised eyebrow moments.
Unfortunately, there are brief interludes between the parts which do nothing to illuminate (in every sense) the narrative, being odd songs, cackling and the deep laughter that, it seems, spooks so love...
Worth an Audible listen, but skip the links.

A delightful story with dark undercurrents

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Wonderfully narrated with some beautiful dark gothic piano accompaniments. This is strong in atmosphere and style but is rather short and leaves you appreciating the quality but questioning whether the heavy degree of quantity is worth the asking price. Well worth using a credit or a sale price for but not worth the full price in my opinion.

Don't lose your head!

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