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The Turn of the Screw

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The Turn of the Screw

By: Henry James
Narrated by: Emma Thompson, Richard Armitage - introduction
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About this listen

Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Emmy winner Emma Thompson lends her immense talent and experienced voice to Henry James' Gothic ghost tale, The Turn of the Screw.

When a governess is hired to care for two children at a British country estate, she begins to sense an otherworldly presence around the grounds. Are they really ghosts she's seeing? Or is something far more sinister at work?

Having performed in films based on some of the greatest works in literature - including Sense and Sensibility, Howards End, Much Ado About Nothing, and Henry V - Thompson is no stranger to the classics, and she lends a graceful eloquence to this moody, macabre story. Joined by listener favorite Richard Armitage, who performs the prologue, Thompson reinvigorates this psychological thriller of life, death, evil, and the unknown.

Public Domain (P)2016 Audible, Inc. Classics Ghosts Gothic Horror Haunted Scary Fiction Paranormal Celebration Fantasy Mystery British Literature

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Critic reviews

"[Narrator] Emma Thompson gives the performance we expect from an Oscar winner. Most listeners don't think of Henry James as a passionate writer, but passion is there, and Thompson brings it out - and adds some of her own.... Thompson's reading will teach new listeners how to read the text - and perhaps James in general - and to understand why he's considered a genius." ( AudioFile)
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💛 Yes, it’s from the nineteenth century and yes some of the prose is dense, but this is a bona fide creepfest. One of the gothic variety. Think isolated mansion, ghostly sightings, beatific children (a la Nightmare on Elm Street, The Omen) and oooodles of ambiguity.

💚 Told from the perspective of a governess sent to look after two orphaned children, it descends into flashes of spirits seen or not seen, feelings of being watched and general ominousness. And doubt. Because I was never sure of what was real and what wasn’t.

💜 In my humble view, there is nothing scarier than angelic kids. Well, except for the same kids singing nursery rhymes. A lot of this story centres on just how cherubic the children are. It’s a battle for their souls.

❤️️ I watched Netflix's The Haunting of Bly Manor without realising it was based on this. If anything shows just how timeless this horror classic is, it’s that.
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SOUNDBITE

🎧 EMMA THOMPSON. That’s who performed this audiobook. Dame Emma brilliant-in-everything-she’s-ever-done Thompson. And this was no exception. She is powerful as the governess, portraying her as ever more anxious and desperate. Her reading helped me in parsing some of the more labyrinthine sections through context.

🎧 Thompson is utterly chilling as the children. I’m unsure about her hyperbolic portrayal of the housekeeper Mrs Growse. It very much leaned into the But there are so many interpretations of this classic tale that this happens not to coincide with mine.
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SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO...

This and the more modern The Haunting of Hill House are similar in many ways and both were made into fantastic mini-series. Highly recommend both.

Emma Thompson Slays In This Chilling Classic

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I have put my life on hold to finish this, it has so kept me on the edge of my seat. The performance is simply incredible. Emma Thompson should have an award for this. The story has you needing more all the way along. The legendary restraint of Henry James writing and Emma Thompson’s first class narration made this audiobook an experience to return to and mull over many times. I loved it.

Perfect and torturous

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I've read this book some 40 years ago; thought it scary then; listened to is this week and thought it still creepy.
Beautifully performed.

Still creepy

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I found it quite hard to follow at times because the language is very complex. Unexpected plot though... and Emma Thompson was fabulous as ever.

Difficult language, beautifully read.

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[{"type":"Overall","question":"Would you listen to The Turn of the Screw again? Why?","id":235,"answer":"No. I have never read Henry James and was very much looking forward to this introduction but overall it was a bit of a disappointment."},{"type":"Story","question":"What did you like best about this story?","id":191,"answer":""},{"type":"Performance","question":"What does Emma Thompson and Richard Armitage - introduction bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?","id":206,"answer":"It was mainly Emma Thompson. Richard Armitage had little role it in.I normally adore Emma Thompson and she was one of the main reasons I bought this one. But the constant fussing and hyping of the two women was a bit frustrating and I can\u0027t say I particularly enjoyed her narration because instead of the chill of a ghost story she seemed to give an air of hysteria to the story.The character of the little boy was creepy. The things he said and especially the way his voice was narrated did not make him the adorable little angel he\u0027s supposed to have been. His character rather sounded like he was constantly testing and possibly manipulating the governess."},{"type":"Genre","question":"Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?","id":245,"answer":""},{"type":"Misc","question":"Any additional comments?","id":-1,"answer":"I don\u0027t want to spoil the end for people who have yet to listen but I was just nonplussed at what happened there. I found it quite unreasonable. One reviewer thought that it was not a ghost story but the story of mental illness. I have to say the governess did sound like she might be hallucinating and going increasingly \u0026quot;mental\u0026quot;. However, if it was to be no more than hallucination then the ending makes even less sense."}]

Not my favourite ghost story

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Good solid ghost story. Not as good as The Woman in Black. I would read more Henry James.

Great reading by Emma Thompson.

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prologue and story both wonderfully narrated. I liked the old fashioned language of the book too. but it's a bit slow to climax and not that scary.

wonderful narration but not that scary

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I read this novella a couple of years ago and couldn’t resist buying this audiobook which is narrated by the wonderful Emma Thompson. As I remembered, this is a really spooky story. James’ language is weaving and complicated and in places, ambiguous. Is this actually a ghost story or is there something else...?

Ghostly

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Even though I have seen the show I could not follow this book. The performance was brilliant but I think the writer had swallowed a thesaurus.
I have listened to 56 books so far and this is regrettably the first one I will not finish.

could not follow

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I seldom write reviews, even for books I have rated as 5 stars but this was really good to read. It kept me wondering what each person’s motives were right to the end and beyond. It is one of those listens that gets you thinking even when you have finished. It is the first Henry James book I have read and I will definitely be reading more. Of course Emma Thomson also adds an amazing atmosphere to the book too!

Gripping

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