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The Bloody Chamber Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Angela Carter (Author), Richard Armitage (Narrator), Emilia Fox (Narrator),
4.3 out of 5 stars 2,527 ratings

A collection of short stories, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories was first published in 1979 and awarded the Cheltenham Festival Literary Prize.

This Audible exclusive adaptation is narrated by legendary actors, Richard Armitage and Emilia Fox, who take on different chapters of the audiobook. Among these are 'The Bloody Chamber', 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon', 'The Tiger's Bride', 'Puss in Boots', 'The Erl-King', 'The Snow Child', 'The Lady of the House of Love', 'The Werewolf', 'The Company of Wolves' and 'Wolf-Alice'.

About the book

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories is a titillating series of dark, sensual and fantastical stories, inspired by well-known fairy tales and folklore.

Dissatisfied with the unrealistic portrayal of women in these legendary fables, Carter turns them on their head, introducing subversively dark, sensual and gothic narratives.

Breathing new and unexpected life into favourite childhood characters such as Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard and Beauty and the Beast, Carter shocks, seduces and amuses the listener with her unique, iconic and surrealist reimagining.

About the author

Angela Carter was born in 1940, in Sussex. She grew up in the shabbily respectable south London district of Balham, the second child of an eccentric journalist father and a neurotic housewife mother.

She studied English at Bristol University before travelling, teaching and writing numerous best-selling novels. They have all received critical acclaim and remain firm favourites of modern English literature.

Angela was a feminist throughout her life, wrote for Spare Rib magazine and voted Labour. Her novels are wholly reflective of her world views and continue to inspire new generations of men and women worldwide.

About the narrator

Best known for his roles in The Hobbit, Hannibal, Captain America, Robin Hood, Spooks and North and South, Richard Armitage has established himself as one of the greatest British actors of our time.

With 14 audiobooks under his belt, including David Hewson's Romeo and Juliet: A Novel and Georgette Heyer's Venetia, Richard's story telling abilities have not gone unnoticed. In 2014, he was merited with having narrated the Audiobook of the Year, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel.

Emilia Fox is an English actress who has starred as Dr Nikki Alexander on BBC Crime drama, Silent Witness, since 2004. Her other TV and film credits include Merlin, Pride and Prejudice, The Pianist, The Casual Vacancy and Inside No. 9.

Also no stranger to audiobook productions, Emilia delivers a myriad of powerhouse performances such as in Philippa Gregory's The White Queen, Muriel Spark's The Complete Short Stories, and Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey.

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  1. Listening Length
    7 hours and 2 minutes
  2. Author
    Angela Carter
  3. Narrator
    Richard Armitage, see all
  4. Audible release date
    March 15, 2018
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Audible Studios
  7. ASIN
    B07B5C37NQ
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
Next slide of product details
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Product details

Listening Length 7 hours and 2 minutes
Author Angela Carter
Narrator Richard Armitage, Emilia Fox
Audible.com Release Date March 15, 2018
Publisher Audible Studios
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07B5C37NQ
Best Sellers Rank #25,647 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#202 in Fantasy Anthologies
#237 in Fairy Tale Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals)
#488 in Classic Literature

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
2,527 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers appreciate the book's fresh take on fairy tales and its lush writing style that keeps them interested. The stories are entertaining to read, and customers find them irreverently funny, with one review noting how they mix horror with pleasure. Customers value the book's gender content, with one review highlighting its nonconformist heroines, and they find it intellectually stimulating.

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28 customers mention "Storytelling style"26 positive2 negative

Customers appreciate the storytelling style of the book, particularly its fresh take on fairy tales, with one customer noting its unique narrative approach and cleverly developed plots.

"...I love a good shirt story, and this text does not disappoint...." Read more

"...Genius reinvention of folk tales and fairy tales, my favorite one is the Erl King...." Read more

"...Carter gives a modern twist to ten old tales like those of Bluebeard, Little Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast...." Read more

"...These retellings of classic fairy tales and other supernatural stories have a surprising and welcome female-friendly twist to them...." Read more

23 customers mention "Readability"23 positive0 negative

Customers find the book entertaining to read, with one mentioning it's a book they can revisit multiple times.

"...Besides all of that it was very entertaining to read, the exuberance of her words in some tales was very sensual and inviting." Read more

"...The Bloody Chamber was a fantastic book that I expect to enjoy even more on future readings." Read more

"...This is the kind of book you can read again and again, and always get something different out of it. Highly recommended." Read more

"...All in all, fantastic read and fabulous writing!" Read more

22 customers mention "Writing style"18 positive4 negative

Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, noting its lush and engaging prose that keeps readers interested, with one customer describing it as a fantastic blend of poetic language.

"...I love a good shirt story, and this text does not disappoint...." Read more

"...The stories are written in strong, vivid prose that brings them to life and makes them read like cliff-hangers...." Read more

"...Still, she loves this author and everything she writes." Read more

"This book is beautiful and creepy, a fantastic blend of poetic language, humor, and bone-chilling horror...." Read more

11 customers mention "Humor"8 positive3 negative

Customers find the book's humor irreverently funny, with one customer describing it as horror mixed with pleasure.

"...Carter shows us theses secret places of a woman psyche, the horror mixed with pleasure, the voices in the dark, and presents us with nonconformist..." Read more

"...tales and this collection by Angela Carter was hair-raising and irreverently funny...." Read more

"This book is beautiful and creepy, a fantastic blend of poetic language, humor, and bone-chilling horror...." Read more

"...to follow a pattern of opening with a long flood of elaborate, creepy descriptions before finally moving on to the story, and the language..." Read more

7 customers mention "Gender content"7 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the gender content of the book, with one review noting how it reexamines traditional gender values and presents nonconformist heroines, while others mention it has something for every adult reader.

"...mixed with pleasure, the voices in the dark, and presents us with nonconformist heroines who take their destiny in their own hands, whether they..." Read more

"...tales and other supernatural stories have a surprising and welcome female-friendly twist to them...." Read more

"...this draws a lot of feminist readings, the text certainly has something for every adult who has wanted to see their childhood stories age with them." Read more

"...It's written well, especially with its exploration of sexism and other issues related to gender." Read more

3 customers mention "Enticing"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book enticing, with one describing it as intellectually stimulating.

"...read, the exuberance of her words in some tales was very sensual and inviting." Read more

"...It's intellectually stimulating in that regard, but it's kind of wierd if that's not what sort of a book you're after." Read more

"Enticing...." Read more

Advertised as a new book, but that’s not what I got.
1 out of 5 stars
Advertised as a new book, but that’s not what I got.
I paid for a brand new copy of this book and received one with a crease all the way across the cover and a mark on the bottom.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • MystiqueEtoile
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Stories, Packs a Punch
    Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    You know you've read a great book when you head to the Internet after to see what they're saying. I love a good shirt story, and this text does not disappoint. My best friend and I read this together, and I can't wait until my girls are a bit older to break into this as well. Love the way Carter reimagines the tropes of our favorite tales, and turn them on their head.
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  • CGAC
    5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
    Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I first heard of Angela Carter when I was maybe 12 and saw the movie The Company of Wolves, I loved that movie so much and wanted to read the book but never found it, and as I grew up, I forgot about it... until I got Kindle and could basically read anything I wanted from around the world. Recently I remembered the book and it was best to have read it now as a grown up for I would have missed so much of the hidden references and the erotic atmosphere that surrounds these tales. Genius reinvention of folk tales and fairy tales, my favorite one is the Erl King. Carter shows us theses secret places of a woman psyche, the horror mixed with pleasure, the voices in the dark, and presents us with nonconformist heroines who take their destiny in their own hands, whether they fall from grace or walk out safe, it was entirely a choice of each one of them, a triumphant choice in every case. These folk tales we heard all of our lives, the pg rated version anyway, were always telling women to rely on beauty and virtue, to expect an impossible prince charming, to be rescued, be passive and submissive. Carter changes all those ideas which are imprinted in our minds even as grown up women, and changes the roles entirely; those who chose to become beasts and love savagely do on their own terms and in their own sweet time; those who choose darkness are redeemed and those who chose light do it to please no other than themselves. Besides all of that it was very entertaining to read, the exuberance of her words in some tales was very sensual and inviting.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Oddsfish
    4.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Bloody Mess
    Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    I'll admit that I was a somewhat reluctant reader of The Bloody Chamber. I'd purchased it for a class and then ended up not needing to read it. I have a strange personal tradition, though, of reading one piece of horror fiction at Christmas time (a tradition that began in junior high when I happened to read J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla--a vampire tale that Carter references in The Bloody Chamber), and when this was what I had on the shelf come Christmas-time, I gave it a go.

    I'll admit, too, that I was a little ambivalent about it when I began the first couple of stories. The stories tend to follow a pattern of opening with a long flood of elaborate, creepy descriptions before finally moving on to the story, and the language throughout the collection is not difficult, but is allusive, sometimes tortuous, and always ornate. It all, to be honest, felt overwritten.

    But at the same time, after slogging through the opening of the first couple stories, I would reach the ending to find that the story opened up and culminated in something that was just startling. I won't give away any endings, but many of them, such as "The Werewolf" and "The Tiger's Bride," leave you with images that shock your intellect, and linger. And some of them, such as "The Bloody Chamber" and "The Courtship of Mr Lyon," end just beautifully. "The Bloody Chamber," especially, ends thrillingly, with the women of the story rejecting the passive roles typically assigned to them in fairy tales (this one based on Blue Beard) and washing the story in a beautiful bath of blood, in the process reshaping and reconstituting their community.

    By the end of the book, Carter had totally won me over, and The Bloody Chamber's aspects that had seemed overwritten, instead, felt right. It felt like Carter had word-by-word constructed a concrete aesthetic world, an enormous gothic mansion complete with more than a few torture chambers and plenty of hidden passages still there to be explored. The Bloody Chamber was a fantastic book that I expect to enjoy even more on future readings.
    18 people found this helpful
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  • J. Jamakaya
    5.0 out of 5 stars Vivid, Bawdy and Fun!
    Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    I like reading new takes on traditional fairy tales and this collection by Angela Carter was hair-raising and irreverently funny. Carter gives a modern twist to ten old tales like those of Bluebeard, Little Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast. The stories are written in strong, vivid prose that brings them to life and makes them read like cliff-hangers. Carter’s writing has a bold, sexually suggestive edge that makes more explicit the sexual subtext of the originals. “The Bloody Chamber” is a pulse-racing revision of the Bluebeard legend, and “Puss in Boots” had me laughing out loud at the bravado of the randy old cat.

    Some of my favorite women writers (Emma Donoghue and Sarah Waters, for instance) cite the English writer Angela Carter as a big influence on their writing. Ms. Carter passed away at age 51 in 1992. I’ve wanted to explore her writing and this short story collection was a great place to start. I look forward to reading some of her other stories and novels. Emma Donoghue, by the way, wrote her own feminist version of fairy tales called Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins. It has a very different tone from this book by Carter but anyone who likes this would probably enjoy reading Donoghue's book as well.
    16 people found this helpful
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  • SeaShells
    3.0 out of 5 stars It's ok.
    Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I bought this for class. The professor LOVES this author. I haven't enjoyed the stories very much, really don't see the appeal here, but if you like twists on classic fairy tales then you may enjoy this. Some of the stories, I just didn't get, and the professor admitted she didn't either. Still, she loves this author and everything she writes.
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Bargain Connoisseur
    5.0 out of 5 stars Her masterpiece.
    Reviewed in Australia on June 24, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Absolutely hypnotic writing, and fabulous imagination!
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  • Jaanaki Design(Jaanu)
    5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for Feminists
    Reviewed in India on August 1, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    "The Bloody Chamber and other Stories" is my first Angela Carter .It is an anthology of ten mesmerising feminist themed stories based on popular characters from fairy tales ,fables and myth.So ,we have Blue Beard ,the Erl King,Snow White,Puss in Boots ,Werewolves and Vampires all jostling with each other in the pages of this slim and fascinating volume.
    ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
    I was left with the realization that Carter is probably one of the best feminist writers of this century , next to Virginia Wolfe.Carter does not hold anything back in these stories.Her stories are raw ,sensual and explore the themes of female sexuality and it's awakening ,how our menstruation plays a great deal in our lives ,the desire men blatantly have for women ("Some eyes can eat you up" ,as she writes in the Erl King),the objectification of women ,the idealization men have for the perfect woman (does she even exist?),and the roles of women as victimizers and victims in a continuous cycle of persecution from others and also from themselves .
    ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
    I have often felt that the hand that delivers the most cruel cut to a woman is generally from the hands of another woman (even our mothers ,though no one wants to discuss this possibility.After all,motherhood is supposed to be sacrosanct !!!)and this idea is explored in "Child of Snow " and "The Werewolf".The most disturbing story was "The Tigers Bride ",where she establishes the fact that in order to be really happy ,women need to shed their inhibitions and live away from the rules and norms of traditional society.We are after all dolls in the hands of men because very often we are capable of taking decisions wholly knowing the implications just because we are forced to and there is no other escape route ."The Lady in the House of Love" "was most frightening and "Puss in Boots "was humorous enough to show us that you can never underestimate a woman however quiet and demure she may be.😂
    ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
    Carter's writing has rich vocabulary ,lush ,dense and exquisite prose and powerful imagery that you will find difficult to erase from your mind .A wonderful collection that protrays the enigma a woman really is in all her glorious shades .
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  • Chaidalis constantinos
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great atmosphere. Highly recommended
    Reviewed in Germany on November 6, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    an homage to classic fairytales but with a "gothic" twist. The writting is exceptional.
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  • Grendel
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent take on fairytales
    Reviewed in Canada on November 16, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Angela Carter’s devilishly descriptive take on classic fairytales is a macabre delight. Stories are short enough but written with such flair and precision that you end each one wishing there were more. Favorite take was ‘The Company of Wolves” Red Riding Hood story. Menacing and delightful to the degree one can almost hear the cackling of crones in the background. Carter’s magic is evident throughout and well worth the read.
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  • Frodon035
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
    Reviewed in France on December 19, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Livre acheté pour une étudiante : livraison rapide et conforme à la description.
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