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English Journey
- Narrated by: Sean Baker
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
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English Journey
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Summary
‘The finest book ever written about England and the English’ Stuart Maconie
‘J. B. Priestley is one of our literary icons of the 20th Century and it is time that we all became re-acquainted with his genius.’ Dame Judi Dench
Three years before George Orwell made his expedition to the far and frozen North in The Road to Wigan Pier, celebrated writer and broadcaster JB Priestley cast his net wider, in a book subtitled ‘a Rambling but Truthful Account of What One Man Saw and Heard and Felt and Thought During a Journey Through England During the Autumn of the Year 1933.’ Appearing first in 1934, it was a huge and immediate success. Today, it still stands as a timeless classic: warm-hearted, intensely patriotic and profound.
An account of his journey through England – from Southampton to the Black Country, to the North East and Newcastle, to Norwich and home – English Journey is funny and tender. But it is also a forensic reading of a changing England and a call to arms as passionate as anything in Orwell’s bleak masterpiece. Moreover, it both captured and catalysed the public mood of its time. In capturing and describing an English landscape and people hitherto unseen, writing scathingly about vested interests and underlining the dignity of working people, Priestley influenced the thinking and attitudes of an entire generation and helped formulate a public consensus for change that led to the birth of the welfare state.
Prophetic and as relevant today as it was nearly ninety years ago, English Journey is an elegant and readable love letter to a country Priestley finds unfathomable.
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Critic reviews
"Priestley was volcanic, fertile…and never dull." (Anthony Burgess)
"The finest book ever written about England and the English." (Stuart Maconie)
"J. B. Priestley is one of our literary icons of the 20th Century and it is time that we all became re-acquainted with his genius." (Dame Judi Dench)
What listeners say about English Journey
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Geoff Bates
- 17-08-23
Marvellous words, beautifully narrared
JBP is a perennial delight and thank you Audible for this recording of a timeless classic. Sean Baker’s flat, northern delivery was the perfectly correct choice - I could have been listening to old John himself… 5️⃣⭐️ all round.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Debbie
- 27-08-24
Excellent
Overpaid footballers north/south divide university fees A lot of this book could’ve been written yesterday.Amel ahead of his time in most But not all his thoughts.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Michael Sweeney
- 17-04-23
Interesting book, annoyingly narrated
I like Priestley, and this book describes an England that is in many ways similar but also quite different to the modern day, His insights are a delight.
The narrator read in an odd staccato style. At times I thought I was listening to Count Arthur Strong. It detracted from my enjoyment.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Philanthropist
- 01-02-24
Great voice for this classic
This is like time travel and is astonishingly relevant 90 years later. Priestley gives us vivid glimpses of the social and cultural life of England between the wars when so much had been sacrificed to war, but the peace had not yet been won.
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