A great story

I felt as if I knew and cared about all the characters excellently narrated I loved the story.

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Engrossing intelligent book

Really captivated by this book which is both serious and hilarious about the human condition. Miriam Margoles takes on the voices of men and women with ease and made it very easy to conjure up each person. Loved the character of Dora, an anti-heroine who so easily loses the plot she can go to a station to reclaim a lost suitcase and leave it in the pub on the way home. Very funny and tense as the members of an alternative community stumble into each other with unanticipated results. Very sad and fiercely drawn portrait of the homosexual leader tortured by his religious beliefs of sin.A book both humorous and compassionate and wise. Unputdownable.

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The Bell

A wonderful story - brilliantly narrated.
Thank you Miriam Margolyes. Having read the book years ago , it was even better listening.

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Love this book

Well written all the way to the end, every chapter has a memorable moment, so easy to flip back over the chapters.
The narrator Miriam Margolyes, inspired me to finish this book, thank you.

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Fabulous rendition of an thought provoking book

This was my introduction to Iris Murdoch and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole. Miriam Margolyes’ excellent narration brought to life a, by turns, comic and tragic cast of characters. Dickensian humour and pathos, and Trollope’s ability to capture the atmosphere, or tension of a given moment. She didn’t give in to the temptation to capitalise on somewhat gothic setting. Although I half wanted her to! The drama comes from psychology versus ideas and the mystery of the individual.

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Revelation

I have lost count of the number of novels I have started and discarded after a dozen pages or so because I just lost interest. Mention of The Bell on the radio reminded me that I read it (and finished it) around fifty years ago; I decided to give novels another go.

Within a very short while I was completely hooked; both by the page-turner of a story, and by Miriam Margolyes’ wonderful narration. There was a wobble, when I struggled with the concept of an ‘Anglican’ order of Benedictine nuns. But as the plot unfolded, I was drawn in and wanted to know what happened next; I could hardly put the book down.

The Bell was published in 1958, when homosexuality was illegal—and no doubt regarded by many as immoral—but Murdoch treats the subject with such sensitivity, delicacy, and understanding, it reads almost like a contemporary narrative.

For anyone who finds novels difficult, this book may effect a cure.

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Great story and brilliantly read

Miriam Margolyes reads this book brilliantly. Each character in such a different voice. Good story too.

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My first Iris Murdoch, am now a huge fan

What did you like best about this story?

The amazing descriptive language. It's all it's quite beautiful.

What does Miriam Margoyles bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Miriam Margolyes makes this story for me. The range of different voices and characterations she brings to the narration is amazing. I just love her.

Any additional comments?

This book reflects the attitudes of the time, however, the opening chapters which describe married life for a young woman, are so well written and structured it struck such a chord.

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3 people found this helpful

A Great British Writer and a Brilliant Narrator

I had heard that Murdoch was a good writer and when I saw that Miriam Margolyes was narrating this book I was hooked.
I enjoyed the story - I was struck by how nuanced Murdoch's characters are. She shows real compassion for them as they are bound by the social strictures of their time.
The plot is intruiging and Margolyes narration is sublime as ever.

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Haunting story

Miriam Margolyes is a superb narrator of this story and captures the range of characters perfectly, doing absolute justice to the complexities of the relationships. I read "The Sea, the Sea" prior to "The Bell" and preferred the former's overall themes. But "The Bell" does ponder the questions of personal happiness vs the duties towards others and the community. It asks questions about our moral responsibilities towards each other and explores the nature of homosexual love within the context of the era. I am glad, however, that I did not select it as my first Murdoch read, which was "Under the Net" and which I found more captivating.

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