The Spire cover art

The Spire

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Spire

By: William Golding
Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £12.14

Buy Now for £12.14

Summary

Dean Jocelin has a vision: that God has chosen him to erect a great spire on his cathedral. His mason anxiously advises against it, for the old cathedral was built without foundations. Nevertheless, the spire rises octagon upon octagon, pinnacle by pinnacle, until the stone pillars shriek and the ground beneath it swims. Its shadow falls ever darker on the world below, and on Dean Jocelin in particular.

From the author of Lord of the Flies, The Spire is a dark and powerful portrait of one man's will, and the folly that he creates.

©1964 William Golding (P)2014 Faber & Faber Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Thought-Provoking
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
All stars
Most relevant
Most surprising revelation to listen to this when many years ago "Lord of the Flies " had been a compulsory, unpleasant, school based read. Age and experience has made this new experience of Golding such an intellectual, visceral surprise.
The whole gamut of human, very specifically competitive, male and religious life are fore grounded with such potent imagery that it literally takes your breath away.
The narrator is outstanding.

Scintillating, metaphysical scream.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a book about a real building, the soaring spire of Salisbury Cathedral. It is also about an imaginary Dean who is obsessed by the idea of getting the spire built in the teeth of endless opposition and difficulties. And about the builder, Roger the Mason and a red headed girl called Goodey who haunts everything in the end.
Not a cosy historical romp, lots of medieval despair and darkness of the soul and some fantastic building going on in the middle of it all.
Read beautifully by Benedict Cumberbatch.

A marvellous story of faith and mediaeval building

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I doubt I could have managed this book in print alone; but I might buy it for further study now having understood and enjoyed much of the text due to the spectacular narrration.

Spectacular narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story was excellent.
My only gripe was sometimes the audio levels dipped rather low when Benedict whispered. Too low to hear. Perhaps the master track could have used some audio compression to compensate.

Brilliantly read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Story:
This story is about the building of a spire, as the title suggests, a spire without foundations; a miracle. Much more than that it gives an insight into a zealot's utter self-belief and hubris (although Jocelin would consider himself as the picture of humility). I often find the start of a novel difficult as we become acquainted with a new style and certainly it took me a little while to get into. Soon I was hooked, both by spire and by Jocelin who seemed almost one and the same. I really do recommend this story if you enjoy something beautifully written that will surprise you.

Narration:
I generally try to avoid celebrity narration as I find it can get in the way. This however was a great exception as I forgot it was Cumberbatch almost immediately. His incredibly felt emphasis and his interpretation of Jocelin's raptures or torments was very commendable.

Euphoria, religious fervour and descent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews