Wanting Audiobook By Richard Flanagan cover art

Wanting

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Wanting

By: Richard Flanagan
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
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The new novel from the internationally acclaimed, best-selling writer Richard Flanagan.

A young Aboriginal girl, Mathinna, is adopted by the most celebrated explorer of the age, Sir John Franklin, and his wife, Lady Jane, to show that the savage can be civilized. When Sir John disappears while looking for the fabled Northwest Passage, Lady Jane turns to the great novelist Charles Dickens for help.

Inspired by historical events, Wanting is a haunting meditation about love, loss, and the way life is finally determined never by reason, but only ever by wanting.

©2009 Richard Flanagan (P)2009 Bolinda Publishing Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction

Editorial reviews

Richard Flanagan's Wanting examines the nature and power of desire through interwoven historical stories about Charles Dickens and his connection to his work, and the adoption of an aboriginal girl, Mathinna, by Lady Jane Franklin. Actor Humphrey Bower's deliberate contemplative performance of this sweeping, ambitious ode to desire will compel fans to keep listening. With the brutality and ignorance of colonialism in Tasmania, set against the backdrop of Dickens' England, the dismal and the beautiful are in stark contrast at once in this important work of the Australian canon.

Critic reviews

"The interlaced stories focus on conquering the yearning that exists both in the Aboriginals and the noble English gentlemen, and though Flanagan has a tendency to hammer home his ideas, his prose is strong and precise, and the depiction of desire's effects is sublime." ( Publishers Weekly)
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Loved this boom great story interesting historical story line. Thoroughly recomnend this book great read

Fabulous

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This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

listeners from Aiustralia and/or Tasmania

What could Richard Flanagan have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The Charles Dickens part was disjointed and didn't blend in soon enough with the story to make it worthwhile continuing

What about Humphrey Bower’s performance did you like?

He is an excellent narrator

Any additional comments?

This wasn't worth it for me

Had to bail

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