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Waterland

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Waterland

By: Graham Swift
Narrated by: Alex Jennings
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About this listen

 FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LAST ORDERS AND MOTHERING SUNDAY.

One summer morning in 1943, lock-keeper Henry Crick finds the drowned body of a sixteen-year-old boy. Nearly forty years later, his son Tom, a history teacher, is driven by a bizarre marital crisis and the provocation of one of his students to forsake the formal teaching of history—and tell stories . . .

Waterland is a classic of modern fiction: a vision of England seen through its mysterious, amphibious Fen country; a sinuous meditation on the workings of time; a tale of two families, startling in its twists and turns and universal in its reach. Compulsively readable, it is a novel of resonant depth and encyclopaedic richness, mixing human and natural history and exploring the tragic forces that take us both forwards and back. It is also a book about beer, eels, the French Revolution, the end of the world, windmills, will-o’-the-wisps, murder, love, education, curiosity and—supremely—the malign and merciful element of water.

‘A quite brilliant novel’ Daily Telegraph

‘Inspired’ New York Times
 Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction French Revolution
All stars
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I loved the slow drip of information, creating a picture of family life in the fens.
probably the best book I've ever read/ listened to

brilliant story telling

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So well read and engrossing. Depicts the Fenland landscape with such strong brushstrokes. A fine work.

An engrossing landscape

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One of the best novels I have listened and read. A sweeping, epic tale that keeps at it's heart human emotions told through the eyes of an out of time history teacher. Everything is here, class, history, Britain, nature, love. A well told tale, with twists and turns as good as any thriller. Alex Jennings is a superb performer and this is one I will return to time and time again.

DESERVES TO BE A CLASSIC

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I've loved this. It moves eel like between times and situations with Tom as the one who is working to understand his own history - He's a history teacher and a brilliant one, if, unappreciated by his peers.

An astonishing work

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Written with jaw dropping fluidity by author Graham Swift, like the river that inspires the story, the listener is drawn in from the start by the tale of a boy that drowns in a lock. Swift is surely one of the great wordsmiths of our era. Waterland is beautifully complimented by Alex Jennings' eloquent narration. An audiobook to treasure.

Much more than a vivid history of the Fenlands

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