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Every Valley

The Story of Handel’s Messiah

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Every Valley

By: Charles King
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Every Valley is a glittering narrative history of intertwined lives that tells the story behind one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, Handel's Messiah.

London - Dublin, 1741-42.
An actress mired in scandal plans her escape from an abusive husband.
A penniless sea captain sets out to rescue the city’s abandoned infants.
An African Muslim and former captive in the colonies becomes a celebrity.
A grieving political dissident seeks release from his torment.
And a great composer to kings – George Frideric Handel – now ill and straining to keep an audience’s attention, faces a decision that will secure his place in history.

Evoking a pivotal moment at the birth of modernity, a time of fear, conspiracy and uprising, and featuring some of the most unusual and brilliant personalities of the eighteenth century, Every Valley is a cinematic and moving account of hope in the darkness and the entangled lives that shaped a masterpiece.

‘A delicious history of music, power, love, genius, royalty and adventure. Unforgettable.’ SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE

‘A mesmerizing journey through one of the most fascinating and creative moments in human history’ AMANDA FOREMAN

‘A book of power and glory, brimming with emotion and dazzling in its reach’ STACY SCHIFF

'An absolute delight' PETER FRANKOPAN

© Charles King 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

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Critic Reviews

An extraordinary feat of storytelling, effortlessly weaving together the many strands that lie behind one of music's most iconic works (Lucasta Miller)
Much closer to the teeming panorama of a novel like War and Peace than the narrow focus of most books about music history . . . It takes a rare blend of scholarship, ingenuity and empathy to weave together the stories of the mostly distressed souls who, one way or another, were connected with Messiah’s creation . . . King expertly juggles these individuals’ stories and a lot more besides . . . riveting (Richard Morrison)
A mesmerizing journey through one of the most fascinating and creative moments in human history (AMANDA FOREMAN)
This book reveals . . . fascinating historical truths . . . By following the links between individuals who are connected by varying degrees of separation with the work’s original creation and promotion, the author discovers that this one musical piece can stimulate joined-up insights into almost every significant aspect of its period: cultural, political, social, economic . . . His technique is often cinematic, focusing in and then panning out . . . In every case the macro picture is made vivid through the micro stories of individuals. Anyone who has ever written a historical narrative will know how hard it must have been for King to keep all the strands so expertly in play. The result is a truly informative, imaginative and engaging work
An absolute delight, beautifully told – and featuring a veritable Who’s Who of the Georgian era (PETER FRANKOPAN)
Charles King’s fascinating history of Handel’s most famous work shows it in a whole new light . . . his book humanises the work’s exalted creators and demonstrates that the Messiah is not a pompous manifesto of faith but a troubled, often desperate quest for consolation . . . King . . . does a fine job of implicating Handel in the conflicts and contradictions of an unsettled society (Peter Conrad)
Engaging and enthusiastic . . . King handles a very large cast of characters and source material with energy, intelligence and aplomb (Freya Johnstone)
Fascinating . . . King's narrative is wide-ranging, taking in not just the ailing composer and his circle – such as Thomas Coram, instigator of London's Foundling Hospital – but . . . how the Messiah coincided with the birth of the Enlightenment . . . In King's telling, the "Hallelujah Chorus" is just one rousing highlight among many (Michael Prodger)
An adroitly threaded account of Handel’s life and achievements [that] opens out to a colourful gallery of 18th-century personalities who played a part in making Messiah what it was . . . lively . . . readable, well researched and rich with detail . . . an engaging narrative . . . full of understanding, setting a good example for any who would write about music . . . thoughtful and wide-ranging
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