Listen to a sample
Justine
- Author
- Lawrence Durrell
- Narrator
- Nicholas Boulton
- Publisher
- Naxos AudioBooks
- Publish Date
- 1 August 2021
- Run Time
- 8 hours 51 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Classic fiction
What to expect
Critics Review
-
Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award Nicholas Boulton offers a masterful performance of this first volume of Lawrence Durrell’s famed Alexandria Quartet. Boulton’s rich voice, whether persuasive with seduction or throaty with frustration, captures the experience of an unnamed narrator as he succumbs to the charms of 1940s Alexandria, Egypt, and a few of its most alluring denizens – the enigmatic ‘Jewess’, Justine; her Coptic Christian husband, Nessim; Balthasar, a master of Kabbalah; and Melissa, the narrator’s tragic girlfriend. Driven by character and description, the astonishing prose bursts with such images as ‘the shops filling and emptying like lungs in the Rue des Soeurs’ and ‘far from the lime-laden dust of those summer afternoons’. All this, plus a story of misplaced passion, Boulton savours and delivers with crisp enunciation and an appreciation that keeps one listening.
A.C.S., AudioFile
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Lawrence Durrell
- Narrator
- Nicholas Boulton
- Duration
- 8 hours 51 minutes
- Release Date
- 1 August 2021
- ISBN
- 9781781983867
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Naxos AudioBooks
- Genre
- Classic fiction
Synopsis
Justine is the first volume in The Alexandria Quartet, four interlinked novels set in the sensuous, hot environment of Alexandria just before the Second World War. Within this polyglot setting of richly idiosyncratic characters is Justine, wild and intense, wife to the wealthy businessman Nessim, a Mari complaisant. Her emotional and sexual wildness fuels a highly charged atmosphere which, caught famously by Durrell’s poetic language, made Justine (1957), and the three novels that complete the Quartet – Balthazar (1958), Mountolive (1958), and Clea (1960) – both a critical and a popular success.
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.