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The Transit of Venus

Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 12 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 12 weeks

One of BookPageSlate, and Library Journal's Best Audiobooks of 2024!

"This inaugural version [of the audiobook] is beautifully read by British actor Juliet Stevenson, whose performance resonates with the dry, knowing wit required to take on Hazzard's masterpiece."— Kirkus

The award-winning, New York Times bestselling literary masterpiece—the story of two beautiful orphan sisters whose fates are as moving and wonderful, and yet as predestined, as the transits of the planets themselves

"An almost perfect novel" (The New York Times), The Transit of Venus follows Caroline and Grace Bell as they leave Australia to begin a new life in post-war England. From Sydney to London, New York, and Stockholm, and from the 1950s to the 1980s, the two sisters experience seduction and abandonment, marriage and widowhood, love and betrayal.

Caro, gallant and adventurous, has been courted long and hopelessly by young scientist, Ted Tice. The milder Grace seeks fulfilment in an apparently happy marriage. But as the decades pass and the characters weave in and out of each other's lives, love, death, and two secrets wait in ambush for them.

In exquisite prose, Shirley Hazzard tells the story of the displacements and absurdities of modern life. The result is at once an intricately plotted Greek tragedy, a sweeping family saga, and a tantalizing love story that will transport listeners with "its plushness, patient description, [and] etherizing beauty." (Parul Sagal, The New York Times)

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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 29, 1990
      National Book Critics Circle Award-winner Hazzard here tells of two sisters, Grace and Caroline Bell. Born in Australia and orphaned at an early age, the two make their way to England. There Grace opts for marriage and its securities; Caroline reaches for more and loves not always wisely but well. ``A strong, deep, poetic, vibrant novel,'' lauded PW.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Juliet Stevenson's voice in this production is like a spa tub, soothing and stimulating at the same time. The fact that she is narrating a masterpiece will keep listeners from being soothed to inattention. THE TRANSIT OF VENUS does have some astronomy in the background, but it is mostly a study of many of the forms of love, focused on the inhabitants of an English country house, beginning one summer in the 1950s and following them for the next three decades. Stevenson embodies all the major characters through voices and accents, and develops their emotions and growth with great empathy. Most of the action is internal to the characters, and in this performance it is absolutely riveting. D.M.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      February 1, 2025

      In the 1950s, orphaned Australian sisters Caroline and Grace Bell relocate to London, where they stay in the home of eminent astronomer Sefton Thrale. Steady Grace meets Professor Thrale's son, well-to-do bureaucrat Christian Thrale, and soon marries Christian and settles into a conventional relationship. Unlike her sister, Caroline strives for independence and ponders the vagaries of human relationships. Young astronomer Ted Tice is besotted with Caroline, but Caroline prefers upper-crust Paul Ivory, a self-absorbed playwright engaged to a woman of his own class. Caroline is devastated when Paul leaves her, but she later meets and marries wealthy American Adam Vail. Through the events that follow--death, tragedy, betrayal, and a shocking secret revealed--the characters' lives intersect and diverge again, much like celestial orbits. The late Hazzard's (The Great Fire) novel, first published in 1980, consists of intricate descriptions and insights into the human condition. It argues that everyone has secrets and that one person can never really know another. Actor Juliet Stevenson narrates with elegance, providing varied accents and voices and capturing the elegiacal mood of Hazzard's lyrically described world. VERDICT A contemplative story that peels back each character's inner secrets and moral center. For readers of Henry James.--Joanna M. Burkhardt

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Library Journal

      February 1, 2025

      Narrator Juliet Stevenson's mastery of aural subtext, side-eyed glances, and deliciously elegant language is on full display throughout her deft performance of Hazzard's debut, first published in 1980. Stevenson guides listeners through the sprawling story, following sisters Caroline and Grace Bell and the men--some self-absorbed, some sweet--who come into their orbit. Balancing the poignant with the philosophical, Stevenson's expert voicings and spot-on pacing make this an audio not to miss.

      Copyright 2025 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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  • English

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