Possession cover art

Possession

A Romance

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Possession

By: A. S. Byatt
Narrated by: Samuel West
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About this listen

Winner of the Booker Prize 1990

Possession is an exhilarating novel of wit and romance, at once a literary detective novel and a triumphant love story. It is the tale of a pair of young scholars investigating the lives of two Victorian poets.

Following a trail of letters, journals and poems they uncover a web of passion, deceit and tragedy, and their quest becomes a battle against time.

Cover illustration © Aitch.

©1991 A. S. Byatt (P)2019 Audible, Ltd Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Fiction
All stars
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This is not a book that is not able to be put down
It is a book that deserves to be put down and taken up and considered and appreciated
It is exquisitely written beautifully detailed and displays an unerring Voice for each character and each century
It is truly wonderful

The beauty of the prose and the poetry

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Loved this! Excellent narration and a wonderful tale, part love story, part detective novel, brimming with linguistic exquisitness.



A linguistic delight

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This is a truly marvellous performance of a work of intense depth and beauty - my very favourite 20th-century novel.

Possessed of greatness

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Baffling because I closed it and sought to return within a few chapters. The language and the poetry... annoying. A while later I persevered, still disliked the oratory nature of the prose and found annoying the jumps from so varied points of view. It cannot be 'light listening', one must be immersed. Only then is it magnificent and pulls you under.

Baffling

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A haunting novel, beautifully written. easy to see why it won the Booker Prize for 1990.

My review of Possession.

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Had I read this book myself I would not have continued. As I listened, however, I was drawn in and could not put it away until I heard the end.

Obsessive

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I should like Samuel West to know that I found his reading nuanced and very fine.
Possession is an extraordinarily accomplished novel.
The whole experience was a thought-provoking joy.

Possession by A. S. Byatt

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both the book and the delivery are so very well done, both. a high bar for audiobooks.

excellent

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Written and narrated with equal beauty, brilliance and tenderness. Not the easiest of reads, but soon found myself smirking, sighing, sleuthing, and slowly falling in love with the novel.

Samuel West brings AS Byatt’s literary masterpiece to life

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I had tried to read this book in paper form in the past, and found it complex to follow.
However, the brilliant narration of this novel, made this enchanting novel come to life in audible.
I absolutely loved it.

Enchanting novel

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