The Forsyte Saga cover art

The Forsyte Saga

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
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.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Forsyte Saga

By: John Galsworthy
Narrated by: Fred Williams
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
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

 The three novels that make up The Forsyte Saga chronicle the ebbing social power of the commercial upper-middle class Forsyte family through three generations, beginning in Victorian London during the 1880s and ending in the early 1920s. Galsworthy's masterly narrative examines not only their fortunes but also the wider developments within society, particularly the changing position of women.

The Forsyte Saga is a sequence of novels comprising The Man of Property (1906), In Chancery (1920), and To Let (1921) with two interludes, "Indian Summer of a Forsyte" (1918) and "Awakening", published together in 1922.

The saga begins with Soames Forsyte, a successful solicitor who buys land at Robin Hill on which to build a house for his wife Irene and future family. Eventually, the Forsyte family begins to disintegrate when Timothy Forsyte, the last of the old generation, dies at the age of 100.

In these novels, John Galsworthy documented a departed way of life, that of the affluent middle class that ruled England before the 1914 war. The class is criticized on account of its possessiveness, but there is also nostalgia because Galsworthy, as a man born into the class, could also appreciate its virtues.

(P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Romance England Middle class Heartfelt Classics

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Forsyte Saga cover art
The Way We Live Now cover art
The Forsyte Saga, Volume 1 cover art
New Grub St cover art
The Turmoil cover art
The Man Without Qualities cover art
Persuasion cover art
The Pickwick Papers: Dickens on Dickens cover art
High Rising cover art
Portrait in Brownstone cover art
The Magic Mountain cover art
The Lady with the Dog cover art
Middlemarch cover art
Buddenbrooks cover art
Mrs. Dalloway cover art
Wives and Daughters cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
excellent book, excellent narrator!

excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I was really looking forward to this epic listen! But I just couldn't get on with the narrator - found his voice incredibly irritating - so gave up about half an hour in. Would urge others to listen to the short excerpt to judge for themselves whether they feel the same.
If you don't find him grating, go ahead and purchase this - it is excellent value for a classic and lengthy novel(s)

I don't know about the content...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Just one more comment on the narration. I agreed with a previous reviewer who said that if you speeded up the playback it wasn't too bad. Williams is not an ideal narrator, and certainly doesn't take much trouble to differentiate the voices of the various characters, but his rather grim tone actually matches the feel and content of the novel quite well. For the money I would still say it is worth it, considering that the next cheapest option is David Case, who is rather mannered and becomes a bit wearing in the course of a long novel--as I can attest as one who listened to his unabridged version of Les Miserables. If you want Peter Joyce you have buy him at a rate of something like two pounds an hour, since every book in his narrated version is sold separately, unlike this complete version.

Speed up the Narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator wasn't great...definitely listen to the clip and see if you can cope! The chapter ends/beginnings were really aggravating because there is no gap whatsoever between the last word of one chapter and the beginning of the next. Particularly annoying in a book....which...is...otherwise...read...in....a slow...and...funereal....mannerChapterForty-Five. See what I mean?? However it is great value in terms of listening time, and the book is good if you can get past the narrator.

Dull reading of a good story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
LISTENING WHILE DRIVING THIS SAGA IS SUPERB ACCOMPANIMENT, INSIGHTFUL QUITE FAST PACED AFTER THE FIRST CHAPTER AND DEEPLY THOUGHT PROVOKING CONCERNING BOTH MODERN CAPITALSIM, LIFESTYLE AND RELATIONSHIPS, I WAS GRIPPED THROUGHOUT. A small down side is that the narrator is clear but a little ponderous. I found that playing my ipod at "faster setting" soon amended this and I rapidly became accustomed to his style. I cannot believe that such an old book can be so relevant and evocative.

A MAN A PASSION A CLASSIC

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked the narration. Knowing the story I found the gravitas and slight sadness in the tone suitable. The pace gave time to reflect, as the characters are often doing - we share their innermost thoughts. I enjoy this rendition.

An atmospheric listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is excellent value for one book credit. The success of the TV dramatisations is testament to the quality of the stories on offer here. Admittedly, it is a little soap opera like at times but it is very gripping listening, once you get past the first few minutes of introduction and into the story proper.

Great Stuff

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

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book is an ideal listen for someone who likes long family sagas or remembers the tv adaptations.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Fred Williams?

I do agree with some other reviewers that the narration is a bit laboured and lacking emotion but this is greatly improved by speeding it up to 1.5 times. It may have been a bit more enjoyable if narrated by someone else such as Jonathan Jonathan Oliver (Long Summer Day) or Alex Jennings (The Clifton Chronicles). However the story is interesting enough to carry on.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

The book is in four parts. I am only about half way through, but enjoying it. It is not one that I feel I need to listen to for hours on end, but is good to listen to whilst walking to work.

Any additional comments?

At over 40 hours long this book is good value.

Good story, don't be put off by bad reviews

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I don't want to listen to anything else read by this actor. He spoiled an excellent book.

The Forsyte Saga

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wonderfully written, such rich expression of thought. But the thoughts.... Excruciating nihilism, human nature at its worse hopelessness. If you desire an uplifting reading, don't read this. The reader does a great job at pushing the depressing picture of English society at the turn of last century. All is told in this mournful voice. It makes you want to scream at times. Even the description of the \"good characters\" is depressing.
It was painful to listen until the end. Nothing good happens to anyone in this book. Recommended only for times when nothing can spoil your mood. Definitely a good plunge into beautifully written English.

Depressing!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews