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  • Alan Bennett: Stories

  • Read by Alan Bennett
  • By: Alan Bennett
  • Narrated by: Alan Bennett
  • Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (332 ratings)
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Alan Bennett: Stories cover art

Alan Bennett: Stories

By: Alan Bennett
Narrated by: Alan Bennett
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Summary

A unique collection of eight Alan Bennett stories, read by the author. Alan Bennett is one of Britain's best-loved authors and an acclaimed storyteller. This exclusive compilation includes eight of his best tales, collected together for the first time.

Here is his celebrated, iconic memoir 'The Lady in the Van'; as well as two fascinating autobiographical accounts of his family and childhood. 'Uncle Clarence' sees Bennett visiting the grave of a relative who died in Flanders in 1917; while in 'Hymn' he joins forces with composer George Fenton and the Medici String Quartet to explore his musical memories.

Bennett's incisive, acute observations shine through in his fiction too, with wry, moving and darkly humorous meditations on death ('Father! Father! Burning Bright' and 'The Laying On of Hands'), sex ('The Shielding of Mrs Forbes) and middle-age ennui ('The Clothes They Stood Up In'). His gift for affectionate satire reaches its pinnacle in 'The Uncommon Reader', a delightful tale in which the Queen discovers the pleasures of literature.

Poignant, compassionate, wise and witty, the stories included are 'The Lady in the Van', 'Uncle Clarence', 'The Clothes They Stood Up In', 'Father! Father! Burning Bright', 'Hymn', 'The Laying On of Hands', 'The Uncommon Reader' and 'The Shielding of Mrs Forbes'.

©2016 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2016 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

What listeners say about Alan Bennett: Stories

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

No chapter headings

Once again the listener is left to work out where each story starts - please can we have chapter headings Audible!

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Consummate story-teller

I greatly enjoyed this collection of short stories: the pleasure enhanced by Alan Bennett’s inimitable reading-style. The stories vary: some have a moral theme clothed in gentle humour, others find comedy in mundane lives and quite a few are more racy tales about homosexual relationships, a preoccupation understandable after his recent revelation about his sexual orientation after decades of discretion.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Delightfully Bennett

A collection of great Bennett stories read by Alan Bennett himself.

Each story has a twist, a turn, and lots of humour, all beautifully written and presented. Most have relationships and their links with community at their centre. Great if you're a Londoner because you recognise so much; great if you don't know London because it introduces you...

Bennett the story teller, Bennett the playwright; Bennett the humorist - all on delightful display here... Vintage Bennett it is... the listener cannot but enjoy!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Jjust wonderful.

Alan Bennett is our greatest playwrite and author and no one reads his work like he does. The best listen ever. 11/10

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Alan Bennett 's genius for observation

These stories are written by a man who is used to ordinary people and their ways, their language and in the way they relate to each other. His ability to describe what he sees and hears, to the reader, is what makes his work such a joy to read. His writing is about ordinary things with which the man in the street is often familiar. A.B's sense of the ridiculous is second to none and his use of the language to put into words the absurd actions and conversations which he has witnessed coming from the people around him, makes him for me, the funniest writer on the planet.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Jo
  • 21-12-17

Brilliant, obviously.

Painfully honest observations and a familiar view of the world for me at 56. I know these people.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Rather a strange collection

A series of short narratives. All performed by the author. The first The lady in the van was good and thought provoking. There were others which I enjoyed but there were some which were distinctly boring. Surprisingly sexually oriented which I didn't much enjoy and felt unnecessary.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Generally excellent reading

Highly amusing and clever use of the English language. let down a little by excessive homosexual activity.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Tales of twists, turns and secrets

This collection is magnificently read by the author and includes all flavours of life from an old lady with mental health problems who prevails upon the writer in her old age, to a couple who are completely cleared out and then mysteriously returned to normal, to a son learning the truth of life as he awaits his fathers death, a reflection upon music, a life celebration where all the congregation wants is a cause of death and a family swarming with secrets, lies and dodgy policemen.
Just wonderful, warm and witty with a sting in the tale.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant as usual

Always a suprise ending. Lots of twists and turns. Tremendous stories of the human condition.

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1 person found this helpful