The Prelude To Adventure


Read by David Wales

(4.2 stars; 11 reviews)

Olva Dune is a Cambridge undergraduate who commits a murder and at that moment feels the presence of God. In a tour de force Walpole novelizes the Francis Thompson poem The Hound of Heaven, about a fearful soul pursued by an insistently loving God. (One could enrich the reading of the novel by first reading the poem (“I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;… Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue…. Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,/ Save Me, save only Me?”). The psychologist Carl Jung, in a letter to the author, called the 1911 novel “a psychological masterpiece.” Hergesheimer on this novel: “So excellent is the versatility of Hugh Walpole that this writer of dignified and realistic and always beautiful pictures of life has among his books one with all the tension and strange plot of a Poe masterpiece… What happened is so filled with suspense that, very real and human though it is, the plot comes to have all the unexpectedness of the cleverest detective story…. Suspense--color of life--love--fear--triumph--they all mingle in an atmosphere as effective as the Cornish sea.” - Summary by David Wales (6 hr 10 min)

Chapters

Dedication And Epigraph 1:15 Read by David Wales
Last Chapter 22:26 Read by David Wales
Bunning 23:35 Read by David Wales
The Body Comes To Town 22:21 Read by David Wales
Margaret Craven 25:25 Read by David Wales
Stone Altars 23:31 Read by David Wales
The Watchers 24:04 Read by David Wales
Terror 15:40 Read by David Wales
Revelation Of Bunning (1) 22:57 Read by David Wales
Revelation Of Bunning (II) 25:39 Read by David Wales
Craven 17:54 Read by David Wales
Fifth Of November 28:44 Read by David Wales
Love To The 'Valse Triste' 18:52 Read by David Wales
Mrs. Craven 19:17 Read by David Wales
God 32:12 Read by David Wales
Prelude To A Journey 22:07 Read by David Wales
Olva And Margaret; First Chapter 24:12 Read by David Wales

Reviews

Intriguing


(4 stars)

Very interesting. we "know " the characters well from the start but they still offer surprises. A study of mind and conscience . I deducted 1 star because, whilst being grateful to Mr Wales for his endeavours, the reading sounded mostly extremely mechanical and I almost gave up because of this


(3.5 stars)

An interesting story. I love how the author depicts God's relentless and loving pursuit of us and calling of us. It sure fits with my experience of him and of how obedience is the only way to find any peace in this life. Thanks for the reading!


(5 stars)

This is a great suspense filled story. Interesting characters and very natural spirituality. I really enjoyed it and stayed up too late to hear the end.