Medium – Audiobook
About the Book – In the Lyceum Theatre, three extraordinary people begin their working lives together – Henry Irving, the key leading man and theatre impresario; Ellen Terry, the most desired actress of her generation; and Bram Stoker, the unremarkable theatre manager and eventual writer of ‘Dracula’. The story follows Bram through the streets of London, which are stalked by the Ripper and full of the secrets of Bram’s one-time friend, Oscar Wilde. He builds the inspiration for his later master work, but Henry Irving is determined that nothing will distract his theatre manager from his important work. And both men are entranced by the beautiful Ellen Terry.
My Rating – 1/5
My Thoughts – This was a book I tried so hard to listen to and like. I got over half-way through, but it just wasn’t for me. One of the main problems in my view was that the story seemed a little contrived – I know that the three main characters did all meet and work together as occurs in the book, but they all just seemed quite artificial to my view. The characters were generally quite forgettable, although I did like Bram’s wife, although for the life of me I can’t remember what her name is now! She was quite likable though, and to be honest I would have preferred a book based around her life, rather than her rather dull husband’s.
The narration was also part of the reason that I didn’t enjoy the book. In my opinion, the narrator just sounded a little under enthused by the whole story, which did permeate through to me as the reader. The wonderful Anna Chancellor did read parts of the book, which were narrated by Ellen Terry – these were more memorable and more gripping. Though, to be completely honest, I had to look up the Goodreads listing to tell you what happened in the book, as I could not remember the storyline! Not a book I enjoyed, but I’m sure one that others might.
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