Burmese Days, George Orwell
Burmese Days, George Orwell
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Burmese Days
A Novel

Author: George Orwell

Narrator: Frederick Davidson

Unabridged: 10 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/01/1998

Categories: Fiction, Classic


Synopsis

Colonial politics in 1930 Kyauktada, India, come to a head when the European Club, previously for whites only, is ordered to elect one token native member. The deeply racist members do their best to manipulate the situation, resulting in the loss not only of reputations, but of lives.Amidst this cynical setting, timber merchant James Flory stands as a bridge between the warring factions, a Brit with a genuine appreciation for the native people and culture. But he has trouble acting on his feelings, and the significance of his vote, both social and political, weighs on him. When Elizabeth Lackersteen arrives, blonde, eligible, and anti-intellectual, Flory finds himself the hapless suitor.Orwell alternates between grand-scale political intrigue and nuanced social interaction, mining his own Colonial Indian heritage to create a monument of historical fiction.

About George Orwell

George Orwell (1903–1950) was an acclaimed English novelist, essayist, journalist, and literary critic best known for his works of social criticism and opposition to totalitarianism. The London Times named him the second-greatest British writer since 1945.

About Frederick Davidson

David Case (a.k.a. Frederick Davidson) (1932–2005) was born in London and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He performed in BBC radio plays before coming to America in 1976. The narrator of more than eight hundred audiobooks, he garnered numerous Earphones Awards and a Grammy nomination for his readings. He was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine in 1997.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Henry

In the 1920's an obscure young Englishman named John Flory, obviously modeled after George Orwell himself, goes to colonial Burma to make his fortune, "The Road to Mandalay" this is not. The writer had been a policeman there also for five years. Flory becomes a timber merchant, in the north of the c......more

Goodreads review by J.L.

“Envy is a horrible thing. It is unlike all other kinds of suffering in that there is no disguising it, no elevating it into tragedy. It is more than merely painful, it is disgusting.” Not as polished as some of his later works, George Orwell's Burmese Days still packs a punch. Set during colonial ru......more


Quotes

“A well-integrated, fast-moving story of what life was like in a remote backcountry Asiatic station.” Chicago Tribune

“An absorbing story…The character of Lieutenant Verrall (who despised the club members from his own superior heaven of army and blue blood) is a masterpiece of acid delineation.” New York Herald Tribune

“Can take an honorable place beside A Passage to India.” Saturday Review

“Orwell is a master at telling stories with bitter, satiric tone, and these adapt well to audio. Frederick Davidson reads with competence and just the right amount of affectation.”  Library Journal