Three Tales

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What to expect

Published at the end of Flaubert’s career, Three Tales is a collection of three compelling short stories about faith, loneliness and love. In ‘A Simple Heart’ (the inspiration for Julian Barnes’s novel Flaubert’s Parrot), a saint-like servant girl begins to experience religious visions of her pet parrot after enduring the loss of loved ones. ‘The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller’, based on a stained-glass window in Rouen Cathedral, presents the origin story of Julian the Hospitaller, who renounces the violence of his past and cares for the indigent. ‘Herodias’, the final story, retells the beheading of St John the Baptist, and the seduction of Herod by Salome. Elegant and bracing, Three Tales is a rich, stylistic showcase from the writer best known for the perennial favourite Madame Bovary.

Critics Review

Flaubert’s exacting prose has a particular affinity to the ear, and Andrew Wincott’s narration of three late stories highlights the French master’s style, and his verbal evocation of the senses. Flaubert’s art is defined by keen observation of detail, precision of word choice, and command of prose rhythms, and Wincott stresses these qualities with an unhurried delivery that captures every nuance and never drops a syllable. The best known tale, ‘A Simple Heart,’ inspired Julian Barnes’s novel Flaubert’s Parrot, which is available from three highly accomplished narrators, including Barnes himself. Paired with any one of these, Wincott’s performance opens depths to the story unmatched on the page…

D.A.W., AudioFile

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