cover image Nicholas Nickleby

Nicholas Nickleby

Charles Dickens, read by David Horovitch. Naxos AudioBooks, unabridged, 29 CDs, 38 hrs., $152.98 ISBN 978-1-84379-561-2

This unabridged audio edition of Dickens’s classic novel of poverty, effort, and persistence puts the emphasis on unabridged, clocking in at nearly 40 hours—but dedicated listeners will be rewarded with an engaging and entertaining reading from narrator David Horovitch. In Victorian England, Nicholas Nickleby finds himself penniless after the death of his father. Assisted by his cold and parsimonious uncle, Ralph, Nicholas undergoes an array of trials and adventures—working as a teacher and actor—before finally succeeding in providing for his family. Horovitch wisely doesn’t attempt to update or revise the author’s familiar world. Instead, he reads with a careful tenor and subtly shaded array of voices that perfectly capture Dickens’s prose and characters. Harrumphing and stuttering and tittering, Horovitch turns in a winning performance that fans of the author are sure to enjoy. (Jan.)