BLEAK HOUSE The Dickens Collection

Such a miraculously good new audio version of this great novel is cause for hats in the air. BLEAK HOUSE is particularly rich in the verbose minor characters Dickens's newly literate audience loved. Margolyes makes them so various and so funny that you'll relish every syllable. The pompous vanity of her Mr. Turveydrop is delicious, and the nasal horror of the succubus lawyer Mr. Voles is inspired. Her Grandfather Smallweed--"Shake me up, Judy!"--is simultaneously loathsome and hilarious, just as he must be. Margolyes clearly loves this material and brilliantly displays Dickens's genius for plotting, nailing human foibles, and shining light on social cruelties. It's a gobsmacking performance, on a par with Jim Dale's protean work on the Harry Potter novels. Ms. Margolyes contains multitudes. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2018]