CHAUCER Ackroyd's Brief Lives

Award-winning author Peter Ackroyd brings the story of Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the fathers of English poetry, to rich and vivid life in this biography. Simon Vance delivers his account with crispness, clarity, and flair. Chaucer's English was markedly different from ours, but Vance delivers both the lines in the original Middle English and in contemporary translation dramatically. Listeners can feel the rhythm pulsing in Chaucer's words. Vance's delivery is also methodical enough to allow listeners to digest the many details peppering Ackroyd's work, details that also show up in Chaucer, such as vivid street names and titles. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 06]