The Quality of Mercy
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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David Rintoul
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By:
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Barry Unsworth
About this listen
Barry Unsworth returns to the terrain of his Booker Prize-winning novel Sacred Hunger, this time following Sullivan, the Irish fiddler, and Erasmus Kemp, son of a Liverpool slave ship owner who hanged himself. It is the spring of 1767, and to avenge his father's death, Erasmus Kemp has had the rebellious sailors of his father's ship, including Sullivan, brought back to London to stand trial on charges of mutiny and piracy.
But as the novel opens, a blithe Sullivan has escaped and is making his way on foot to the north of England, stealing as he goes and sleeping where he can. His destination is Thorpe in the East Durham coalfields, where his dead shipmate, Billy Blair, lived: He has pledged to tell the family how Billy met his end. In this village, Billy's sister, Nan, and her miner husband, James Bordon, live with their three sons, all destined to follow their father down the pit. The youngest, only seven, is enjoying his last summer aboveground.
Meanwhile, in London, a passionate anti-slavery campaigner, Frederick Ashton, gets involved in a second case relating to the lost ship. Erasmus Kemp wants compensation for the cargo of sick slaves who were thrown overboard to drown, and Ashton is representing the insurers who dispute his claim. Despite their polarized views on slavery, Ashton's beautiful sister, Jane, encounters Erasmus Kemp and finds herself powerfully attracted to him.
Lord Spenton, who owns coal mines in East-Durham, has extravagant habits and is pressed for money. When he applies to the Kemp merchant bank for a loan, Erasmus sees a business opportunity of the kind he has long been hoping for, a way of gaining entry into Britain's rapidly developing and highly profitable coal and steel industries. Thus he too makes his way north, to the very same village that Sullivan is heading for....
With historical sweep and deep pathos, Unsworth explores the struggles of the powerless and the captive against the rich and the powerful, and what weight mercy may throw on the scales of justice.
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The Financier
- By: Theodore Dreiser
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in 18th century Philadelphia, the book follows Frank as he amasses a large fortune through stock speculation and purchases of shares in the growing street railway industry. He marries an older woman and has two children and uses his new found wealth to become socially prominent. Things however take a turn for the worst when he has an affair with Aileen Butler, the daughter of a politically prominent Irish industrialist.
By: Theodore Dreiser
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A Conspiracy of Paper
- Benjamin Weaver Series, Book 2
- By: David Liss
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 17 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In A Conspiracy of Paper, Weaver investigates a crime of the most personal sort: the mysterious death of his estranged father, a notorious stockjobber. To find the answers, Weaver must contend with a desperate prostitute who knows too much about his past, relatives who remind him of his alienation from the Jewish faith, and a cabal of powerful men in the world of British finance who have hidden their business dealings behind an intricate web of deception and violence. Relying on brains and brawn, Weaver uncovers the beginnings of a strange new economic order.
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What a narrator!
- By michaelgilboe on 03-24-22
By: David Liss
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By the Mast Divided
- John Pearce, Book 1
- By: David Donachie
- Narrated by: Peter Wickham
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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London: 1793. Young firebrand John Pearce, on the run from the authorities, is illegally press-ganged from the Pelican tavern into brutal life aboard HMS Brilliant, a frigate on her way to war. In the first few days, Pearce discovers the Navy is a world in which he can prosper. And he is not alone; he is drawn to a group of men who eventually form an exclusive gun crew, the Pelicans, with Pearce their elected leader.
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Didn't work for me
- By Michael E on 07-23-08
By: David Donachie
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Resurrection
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Neville Jason
- Length: 20 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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When Prince Dmitri Nekhludov is called for jury duty on a murder case, he little knows how the experience will change his life. Faced with the accused, a prostitute, he recognizes Katusha, the young girl he seduced and abandoned many years before, and realizes his responsibility for the life of degradation she has been forced to lead. His determination to make amends leads him into the darkest reaches of the Tsarist prison system, and to the beginning of his spiritual regeneration.
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Same Mood, The Same Power, Resurrected
- By Darwin8u on 11-01-15
By: Leo Tolstoy
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The Count of Monte Cristo
- By: Alexandre Dumas
- Narrated by: Bill Homewood
- Length: 52 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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On the eve of his marriage to the beautiful Mercedes, having that very day been made captain of his ship, the young sailor Edmond Dantès is arrested on a charge of treason, trumped up by jealous rivals. Incarcerated for many lonely years in the isolated and terrifying Chateau d'If near Marseille, he meticulously plans his brilliant escape and extraordinary revenge.
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This is the one to spend 50 hours listening to!
- By james on 03-05-13
By: Alexandre Dumas
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The Jewel of Seven Stars
- By: Bram Stoker
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The warning was inscribed on the entrance of the hidden tomb, forgotten for millennia in the sands of mystic Egypt. Then the archaeologists and grave robbers came in search of the fabled Jewel of Seven Stars, which they found clutched in the hand of the mummy. Few heeded the ancient warning, until all who came in contact with the Jewel began to die in a mysterious and violent way, with the marks of a strangler around their neck.
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Mother of all Mummy-Stories
- By Dorothea on 03-15-08
By: Bram Stoker
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Mary Barton
- A Tale of Manchester Life
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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When her father assassinates Henry Carson, his employer's son and Mary's admirer, suspicion falls on Mary's second admirer, Jem, a fellow worker. Mary has to prove her lover's innocence without incriminating her own father.
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Mrs. Gaskell was so far ahead of her time
- By Pat on 08-20-13
What listeners say about The Quality of Mercy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Celia
- 03-22-21
Strong writing, great characters
I really loved so much about this book. The writing is good, it has a Dickens-like quality, with quirky fascinating characters inhabiting a vividly depicted historical landscape. However, the book would have benefited by being longer (how often can you say that?) Each character had its own story to play out and could have used further development. It almost seemed like the story rushed to the finish line, with an ending that was just a bit too neat. I wish the writer would go back and embellish and develop it more, I would happily read that version! But this version had plenty to offer.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Nancy
- 01-28-24
Beautifully written and read
The reader is exceptional in his ability to move from narration to quoted dialogue, among many nuanced hierarchies of class and race and place. Author’s detailed observations of setting, character, and historical undercurrent from one scene to the next kept me riveted.
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- Angela
- 04-29-12
Great follow up to Sacred Hunger
What made the experience of listening to The Quality of Mercy the most enjoyable?
Listening to The Quality of Mercy was a wonderful experience. The narration is top rate and very authentic
Any additional comments?
Barry Unsworth is a writer who delves into the rich details of the lives of his characters. One is swept away by the beauty of his narrative. He takes his readers on a journey of great depth which allows one to truly understand human nature. The people populating his work are complex figures at home in their time period. Highly recommended but first read /listen to Sacred Hunger. For some strange reason, Audible does not offer Sacred Hunger in the U.S. - I had to get a British friend to get it for me.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Autodidact
- 12-23-19
Dear Mr. Unsworth
please continue!! your prose and story-telling are excellent and I regret your not continuing to make this saga of enslavent on all levels at least a trilogy if not a quartet!! Bravo. Signed, Hungering.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Detailed Shopper
- 10-15-21
Realistic blending of head, heart and setting
I enjoy reading academic history of the colonial and early Republican American states. I've read much much less about England in the same period, although I'd like to read more. From what I've read so far about life in the 18th and 19th centuries and slavery, this novel possesses a good sense of historical accuracy. The author was thoughtful in developing how characters would've thought, felt, and maneuvered through their personal situations. He places each person in detailed political and social contexts. The story is interesting and easy to follow, even when feeling unwell. The narrator is pleasing.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Thomas
- 08-12-23
DISAPPOINTING SEQUAL
Interesting mise-en-scene, but the plot and characters fall far short of SACRED HUNGER. Worth a read for the historical context.
THOMAS
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