Beric the Briton Audiobook By George Alfred Henty cover art

Beric the Briton

A Story of the Roman Invasion

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Beric the Briton

By: George Alfred Henty
Narrated by: Jim Hodges
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Bring history back to life through Jim Hodges' historically accurate, exciting, and edifying audio recordings.

Beric, a boy chief of a British tribe, takes a prominent part in the insurrection against Rome under Queen Boadicea. These efforts are useless against the mighty Roman army. For a short time, Beric and his companions continue the fight but are ultimately defeated and taken as prisoners to Rome. Through the eyes of Beric, the listener learns of life in AD 61 Rome, the gladiatorial schools, the great fire, and life in Nero's court. This classic work will shed light upon an event much neglected in history today.

The Henty Historical Novel Collection, written by George Henty in the 1800s, covers many time periods in history throughout the world. In this collection you will learn history, geography, and vocabulary while also discovering hero characters for your children to emulate.

Public Domain (P)2004 Jim Hodges Productions Europe Great Britain Historical Fiction
Engaging Storyline • Educational Content • Superb Narration Style • Historical Details • Uplifting Tale
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The narrator is excellent at voices even woman’s. The story is about a Brit who becomes a gladiator under Nero and is an uplifting tale of hope and peace

Nice Story

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Much of that part of history seems veiled in shadow and unknown. I enjoyed this story because I don't know much about the history of that era / part of the world. It's historical fiction, so the outcome isn't very plausible. But on the whole I really enjoyed it. Enjoyed learning more about the Britons and Rome. I struggle with Jim Hodges as a reader, but you just have to give it a chance and once you're into the story you forget about the narration.

Engaging storyline!

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This was an enjoyable tale, it rivals that of some of Henty’s other works I have listened to including The cat of Bubastes and The young Carthaginian.

An exciting an empire sprawling story

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A well though out story that provides hours of adventure, suspense, and historical knowledge. Jim Hodges delivers the narration with superb style which makes for a delightful experience.

One of the Best of G. A. Henry’s Stories

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I learned a great deal about Roman occupied Britain, which was my goal. There is also a great deal of information on Rome and Nero. Readers will recognize the typical Henty flow and plot structure.
There is one, brief scene, however, that is quite disturbing. A British native sees a black person for the first time and is quite candid in expressing his opinions. While this passage may accurately represent the prejudices of the time, I would strongly suggest caution in exposing children to it. (The character first compares the black man to an animal, then swears that if his wife ever gave birth to a baby looking like that, he would kill it.) It made me so sick to hear that, that I had to put the book down for a while.

Enjoyable but use caution

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The story is well done. The absolute sniveling nature of the reader is unbearable. Brithonic chieftains sounding like Gilbert Godfried, constant uptalk, whatever you call the cringe hushed loud voices like mom is going to get mad if you make too much noise in your basement youtube studio...

Better read than listened to.

Gilbert Godfried as a brithonic noble...

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I found this story very well told and fun to listen to. I really liked it a lot. Great job everyone!

Really interesting!

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The story is great, but it's severely undermined by the narration. The narration comes across and someone reading a history workbook to an 8 year old, as he speaks of people hurling themselves into spears. There is a lot to be desired when it comes to emotion from the narrator.

Amazing story, but poor narration.

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The story is told from the perspective of a Romanized Briton living during the time of Nero. Henty uses character dialogue to tell most events and morals of the story. Henty tries hard to write about the ancient cultures in as positive a way as possible. Certain characters express prejudices which are offensive to most of us today. Henty uses other characters to correct this only sometimes which I did not like. The main characters’ values are virtues we still admire, however. These ideas were much more prominent throughout the story.

Though he writes of battles and gladiatorial contests as well as Nero’s great immorality, corruption, and cruelty, in his objective to paint the cultures in the most favorable light, Henty does not always give a full picture of the great evils of the ancient societies. He often moralizes and is “preachy.” His use of characters’ dialogue to tell the story plot makes the copious plot action in the story considerably less exciting.

In spite of this, my kids ages 8 and 11 still liked the book. Thus actually surprised me because I found the book tedious at times. I think perhaps they liked it because ancient Roman and Celtic cultures as well as events relevant to everyday life come alive in this book. Details are about geography, war, books, buildings, money, social structure, business, and so many other are riddled throughout the book. It is easy to think Beric interesting because, while he is the son of a chief, he lives first as a favored captive, then as a rebel, then as a slave in the gladiator’s arena, then as a hired guard, then as an outlaw, and finally as governor. He handles adversity heroically but never gains so much status as to make him unapproachable. What makes Beric most likable and memorable, though, is his nobility. He embodies the essence of the chivalrous knight who fights to protect the defenseless and defend truth against lies and corruption.

This is not perfect book but I did learn a lot of new things in a memorable way.

A lot of interesting historical information

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I've had several Henty books in my library for a while and after reading many books on the Roman Empire and the early settling and fight for what today is Britain, I was happy to listen to this historical fiction. The reviews are fantastic and it wasn't until I got through the first chapter that I looked at when it was published and did a little homework on the author. Published in the late 1800s, this book is written in the traditional writing style of the period. While most of the historical events are "accurate," this book is like having a Viking tale written by Jane Austen. It's completely inauthentic. Additionally, this book is meant to be educational for children. So the story is "gentled" by having the Romans truly wish they COULD be kinder colonizers, but the darn tribal residents of the island just won't get in line and are forcing the Romans to be cruel. I got two thirds of the way through and just had to stop. Henty introduces too many inaccuracies and prejudices of early historians and general society of the day. My time will be better spent on Bernard Cornwell and other modern authors for my historical fiction.

Not for me

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