The Fate of Fenella
Various
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
One book, twenty-four authors ... Fenella is the beautiful, girlish and headstrong heroine of a sensational Victorian novel which continually passes from one writer's cliffhanger to another's resolution. Fenella, with her young son Ronny, is recuperating in a Harrogate hotel, where her flirtatious behaviour has already broken the heart of a fellow guest, a rising barrister. Her feelings at her estrangement from her young husband, who appears to be flaunting his manipulative French mistress to the world, are still running high. Impulsively, she strikes back with an invitation to the French count whose flirtation had fired her husband's jealousy. The stage is set for a crime in mysterious circumstances, bringing Fenella into a sorrowful womanhood, and changing the lives of those around her forever. Violence, misunderstanding, love, intrigue, kidnapping, disaster ... mystery, sensation, social commentary, wit and romance combine across continents as each writer takes up the story.
"The publishers claim with no little satisfaction that in this book they offer the reading public a genuine novelty. The idea of a novel written by twenty-four popular writers is certainly an original one. The ladies and gentlemen who have written The Fate of Fenella have done their work quite independently of each other. There has been collaboration but not consultation. As each one wrote a chapter it was passed on to the next, and so on until it reached the hands of Mr. F. Anstey, whose peculiar and delightful humor made him a fitting choice for bringing the story to a satisfactory close." (Summary by Loveday and the Publishers' note) (7 hr 23 min)
Chapters
Chapter I - Fenella | 21:14 | Read by Patti Cunningham |
Chapter II - Kismet | 14:51 | Read by TriciaG |
Chapter III - How It Strikes a Contemporary | 21:53 | Read by Anna Simon |
Chapter IV - Between Two Fires | 14:18 | Read by Lynne T |
Chapter V | 17:23 | Read by ToddHW |
Chapter VI | 9:42 | Read by Beth Thomas (1974-2020) |
Chapter VII - So Near - so Far Away | 15:51 | Read by Michele Fry |
Chapter VIII | 18:21 | Read by Mary J |
Chapter IX | 19:33 | Read by Lynne T |
Chapter X | 15:34 | Read by ToddHW |
Chapter XI - Mme de Vigny's Revenge | 26:28 | Read by TriciaG |
Chapter XII | 17:23 | Read by Christa Matichuk |
Chapter XIII - The Scars Remained | 11:16 | Read by Natalie Paula |
Chapter XIV - Derelict | 15:30 | Read by ToddHW |
Chapter XV | 23:15 | Read by Rosie |
Chapter XVI - In New York | 26:38 | Read by Michele Fry |
Chapter XVII | 13:40 | Read by Nincompup |
Chapter XVIII | 17:21 | Read by Lynne T |
Chapter XIX | 17:04 | Read by ToddHW |
Chapter XX - Through Fire and Water | 25:44 | Read by Maria Kasper |
Chapter XXI - Alive or Dead | 13:14 | Read by Natalie Paula |
Chapter XXII | 20:39 | Read by TriciaG |
Chapter XXIII | 25:19 | Read by Anna Simon |
Chapter XXIV - Whom the Gods Hate Die Hard | 21:31 | Read by ToddHW |
Reviews
DEUS MACHINA
AVID READER
An interesting experiment. It is like the old serials at the movies on Saturday. A cliffhanger at the end of each chapter, but magically resolved in the next. Then the great Hollywood ending. Good fun.
C
a great parody of victorian fiction - lots of fun if you take it in that way.
clare Brennan
A LibriVox Listener
gteat story amd the readers are so so gooxd Thanh u so much
the gate of fenella
A LibriVox Listener
loved it..