On The Slow Train
- Author Michael Williams
- Narrator Michael Tudor Barnes
- Publisher Random House
- Run Time 7 hours and 33 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Trains and railways: general interest, Travel writing.
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
Never was the sadness of the end of an affair so poignantly expressed than in Flanders and Swann's elegy The Slow Train:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6OHD2uCpfU
This audiobook will take the reader on the slow train to another era when travel meant more than hurrying from one place to the next, the journey meaning nothing but time lost in crowded carriages, condemned by broken timetables. On the Slow Train will reconnect with that long-missed need to lift our heads from the daily grind and reflect that there are still places in Britain where we can stop and stare. It will tap into many things: a love of railways, a love of history, a love of nostalgia.
It will be a paean to another age before milk churns, porters and cats on seats were replaced by security announcements and Burger King. These 12 spectacular journeys will help free us from what Baudelaire denounced as 'the horrible burden of time.'
© Michael Williams 2010 (P) Penguin Audio 2010
Critics Review
The author does take us along memory lane , but his description of each route also encapsulates a taste of 21st century Britain gleaned from talking to the people he meets along the way … an intriguing social snapshot.
The author’s superb narrative, interspersed with dry humour, acute observations and some excellent anecdotes that make you feel feel you know he lines so well that you want to travel on them … there are some wonderful bitter-sweet moments emerging from the pages, as the reader is taken on a fascinating series of journeys … I enjoyed this book immensely. It’s a great anytime read and hope the publishers can be persuaded to to commission a second volume.
Williams manages to meet a range of characters who enliven the book and provide evidence of a Britain that is as forgotten as the lines on which he travels. That is the strength of the book. Williams does not just offer the journey but takes us through the history of each line and importantly meets the people who have campaigned to keep them open or ensure their smooth operation …
A magical world barely changed since the golden age of rail
On track to a trip back in time
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