Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

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.

The Middle Parts of Fortune

By: Frederic Manning
Narrated by: Stanley McGeagh
Try for £0.00

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

Buy Now for £20.99

Buy Now for £20.99

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.

Summary

First published anonymously in 1929 because its language was considered far too frank for the public circulation, The Middle Parts of Fortune was hailed by T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, by Lawrence of Arabia and Ernest Hemingway, as an extraordinary novel. Its author was in fact Frederic Manning, an Australian writer who fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and who told his story of men at war from the perspective of an ordinary soldier.

Never before published in Australia, The Middle Parts of Fortune is now recognized as a 20th-century classic.

Public Domain (P)2009 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Editor reviews

Frederic Manning used his experience as a soldier in the British Army during World War I for this novel about life in the trenches, hailed as one of literature's most realistic depictions of war and a cult classic that would be celebrated by the likes of Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, T. E. Lawrence, and Ernest Hemingway. Stanley McGeagh performs Bourne, the author surrogate, as a man apart from fellow soldiers, giving his accent a tonier polish than that of his more working-class brethren, yet brings a warm, fraternal jocularity that showcases the camaraderie formed between soldiers during wartime.

Critic reviews

"The finest and noblest book of men in war." (Ernest Hemingway)

What listeners say about The Middle Parts of Fortune

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

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

Great read - uncensored

Any additional comments?

Why weren't more books like this written? First hand accounts with genuine language and real (often gruesome) details.
In the book, the average soldier is concerned with small, petty things when not fighting, and then can be suddenly - matter-of-factly - ended when in the front line.
The writer - though the book is autobiographical - seems as detached as his main character is. There no sentimentality in the book - which came as quite a shock to me. I kept waiting for it, but it didn't come.
Excellent book.

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

Beautifully written

It’s obvious that the author writes from experience, he captures the relationships between soldiers in only the way someone who served could. Loved the performance which enhanced the beautiful writing. Perhaps a bit slow for some but worth it for me!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Fine narration...writing style a little dense

An intricate insight into the everyday lives of men at the front during the great war. A must for war buffs however, I found the literary style slightly lacking. There is a lot of dense information dumping, perhaps necessary for audiences of the time however for the modern reader that I am, it seemed to kick me out of the story all too often.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Difficult Read - I Liked it by the End

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

War as it really is, both the boredom and the horror of it.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Stanley McGeagh?

Somebody who knows French!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!