A Kestrel for a Knave cover art

A Kestrel for a Knave

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

A Kestrel for a Knave

By: Barry Hines
Narrated by: Gareth Bennett Ryan
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a troubled teenager growing up in the small Yorkshire mining town of Barnsley. Treated as a failure at school, and unhappy at home, Billy discovers a new passion in life when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk.

Billy identifies with her silent strength, and she inspires in him the trust and love that nothing else can, discovering through her the passion missing from his life.

Barry Hines' acclaimed novel continues to reach new generations of teenagers and adults with its powerful story of survival in a tough, joyless world.

©1999 Barry Hines (P)2016 Isis Publishing Ltd
Classics Family Life Fiction Literary Fiction Mining
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Billy Liar cover art
Grace Williams Says It Loud cover art
Tarka the Otter cover art
Ring of Bright Water cover art
The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah cover art
The Original Comedians Live cover art
Hope Farm cover art
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest cover art
Sons and Lovers cover art
The Silver Sword cover art
How It Ends cover art
The Peregrine cover art
God's Own Country cover art
Adolf Hitler cover art
Fingers in the Sparkle Jar cover art
Shoes for Anthony cover art

What listeners say about A Kestrel for a Knave

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    126
  • 4 Stars
    29
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    104
  • 4 Stars
    26
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    109
  • 4 Stars
    22
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Breathtaking

What an amazing novel. RIP Barry Hines you deserve the world. I wish you could see the impact of this book and hope your family well.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A childhood memory brought back to life

I haven't read this since I was at school in the 1970's and I recently rewatched the film and downloaded the book. I appreciated the story and the social history so much more than I did in my youth. I would recommend others who studied it at O Level GCSE do the same.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Rural Encounters Reality.

A wonderful story which when faced with harsh realities of life descends into sad and poor
Choices.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book and film

Would you listen to A Kestrel for a Knave again? Why?

Yes because I love this book

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Kestrel for a Knave?

When mr farthing watched billy fly the hawk and the sports teacher mr sugdens football game

What does Gareth Bennett Ryan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Great accents

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It's sad in places but a great listen

Any additional comments?

No

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant, must be read

Loved this book when I read it at school. Listen again….I feel so bad for billy, his pain is contagious.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I've not read literature since school

this takes me back to English literature at school in the mid 90s where we consumed all the classics, I wish this could have been one of them., it's so well written I felt as though I could relate to how the pe teacher would treat the less able kids,.how harsh life can be as a lonely kid growing up under difficult circumstances but finding amongst all the myre an outlet that have him some enjoyment. i hope the author Barry reads these reviews on Amazon and cherishes them as this is a true classic up there with Angela's ashes or of mice and men...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Just Wow

Just wow. I've just finished this and I have to applaud, not just this beautiful book, but also, the narration. The narration was just perfect. Absolutely perfect. I finished it in two sittings and I'm positive that it will stick in my mind for a long time from now. It has made its way into my top five favourite books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A brilliant story

Poor Billy, what a lad. Great story, well narrated and nice to have the notes at the end

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Jonathan

Great book couldn’t listening did this for GCSE discovered the narration through Graham Norton’s book club

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Better than the film

I first watched Kes when the school TV was wheeled during my last year of Prinary School, and the syory of Billy and Kes has stuck with me ever since. Brought up in tge North of England during the mid 70's what we watched that day just seemed normal and thirty year's during the age of mobile phones and social media I made both my children watch Kes too. they both loved it, and I hope that when the time comes, Kes will ve watched by my grandchildren too.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!