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Title: Havisham

Author: Ronald Frame

Narrator: Sophie Ward

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-07-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Catherine Havisham was born into privilege. Handsome, imperious, she is the daughter of a wealthy brewer, and lives in luxury in Satis House. But she is never far from the smell of hops and the arresting letters on the brewhouse wall - Havisham.

A reminder of all she owes to the family name and the family business. Sent by her father to stay with the Chadwycks, Catherine discovers literature, music and masquerades - elegant pastimes to remove the taint of new money. But for all her growing sophistication Catherine is anything but worldly, and when a charismatic stranger pays her attention, everything - her heart, her future, the very Havisham name - is vulnerable. A masterly tribute to one of Dickens's most celebrated and iconic characters, this compelling prelude to Great Expectations tells the story of Miss Havisham's early life, before heartbreak came to define her entirely.

Members Reviews:

Don' t be a fool for love.

It has been delightful revisiting the characters of "Great Expectations." This book is a development of the world of Miss Havisham before her sealing herself in the most famous wedding gown in literary history. My problem lies in the development of the betrayal that caused her downfall. She has been trained with the cunning of a mind for business and groomed by the experts of society. In trusting her lover, the reader screams for her to wake up. The depth of the plot against her just builds beyond believing her duplicity.

Of course we know she will be left at the alter. I would have liked to have the plot against her be more subtle. While I am at it, I wish the author had left out much of the verse. The point of her classical training could have been made with fewer references which felt like padding. A mind who can twist the magnificently distant Estella into a tool against men, could perhaps grasped more about the fall devised by this author. It seems a bit lame, but I cannot escape the fact that Miss Havisham in this book is hampered by the masculine viewpoint of an author writing about a female. She just misses ringing true. However Estella is a triumph of writing, and I enjoyed her completely. Perhaps it is no accident that she is a female raised with the morals Miss Havisham believes belong to a man. In this character, the author shines.

Having said all this, I still enjoyed this novel. The prose when not bogged with verse is convincingly of the Dickens genre without undo twisting of modern English. I am a fan of setting development, and this book does it well. The "rich people porn" on the trappings of wealthy characters is intriguing. To me the book is worth reading, despite the flaws.

Whatever Happened to Miss Havisham!?

"Havisham" is one of those books that starts off slowly and then builds to a crescendo as it moves along. Written with the hand of a clear and clean storyteller, it flows inevitably, grabbing our interest as Miss Havisham grows aware of her own world and circumstances.

Ronald Frame is an author of strong imagination who is obviously well-acquainted with Dickens and his London. While he doesn't seek to copy Dickens's style, he does keep to the rhythm of the times and the pace of the original story.

The easy characterization in this novel caused me to fall in love all over again with Miss Havisham.