The Bloody Chamber Audiobook By Angela Carter cover art

The Bloody Chamber

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The Bloody Chamber

By: Angela Carter
Narrated by: Richard Armitage, Emilia Fox
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A collection of short stories, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories was first published in 1979 and awarded the Cheltenham Festival Literary Prize.

This Audible exclusive adaptation is narrated by legendary actors, Richard Armitage and Emilia Fox, who take on different chapters of the audiobook. Among these are 'The Bloody Chamber', 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon', 'The Tiger's Bride', 'Puss in Boots', 'The Erl-King', 'The Snow Child', 'The Lady of the House of Love', 'The Werewolf', 'The Company of Wolves' and 'Wolf-Alice'.

About the book

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories is a titillating series of dark, sensual and fantastical stories, inspired by well-known fairy tales and folklore.

Dissatisfied with the unrealistic portrayal of women in these legendary fables, Carter turns them on their head, introducing subversively dark, sensual and gothic narratives.

Breathing new and unexpected life into favourite childhood characters such as Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard and Beauty and the Beast, Carter shocks, seduces and amuses the listener with her unique, iconic and surrealist reimagining.

About the author

Angela Carter was born in 1940, in Sussex. She grew up in the shabbily respectable south London district of Balham, the second child of an eccentric journalist father and a neurotic housewife mother.

She studied English at Bristol University before travelling, teaching and writing numerous best-selling novels. They have all received critical acclaim and remain firm favourites of modern English literature.

Angela was a feminist throughout her life, wrote for Spare Rib magazine and voted Labour. Her novels are wholly reflective of her world views and continue to inspire new generations of men and women worldwide.

About the narrator

Best known for his roles in The Hobbit, Hannibal, Captain America, Robin Hood, Spooks and North and South, Richard Armitage has established himself as one of the greatest British actors of our time.

With 14 audiobooks under his belt, including David Hewson's Romeo and Juliet: A Novel and Georgette Heyer's Venetia, Richard's story telling abilities have not gone unnoticed. In 2014, he was merited with having narrated the Audiobook of the Year, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel.

Emilia Fox is an English actress who has starred as Dr Nikki Alexander on BBC Crime drama, Silent Witness, since 2004. Her other TV and film credits include Merlin, Pride and Prejudice, The Pianist, The Casual Vacancy and Inside No. 9.

Also no stranger to audiobook productions, Emilia delivers a myriad of powerhouse performances such as in Philippa Gregory's The White Queen, Muriel Spark's The Complete Short Stories, and Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey.

©1979 Angela Carter (P)2018 Audible, Ltd
Anthologies & Short Stories Classics Fairy Tales Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Magic Wolf Short Story Scary
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Featured Article: The top 100 horror books of all time


This list encompasses the full spectrum of what horror can be—campfire-worthy tales, stomach-churning gore, and incisive social commentary. The classics are accounted for, but it also spotlights more recent titles, because that’s the nature of the genre—it is as perennial as it is ever-evolving, conjuring whatever frights most haunt our collective consciousness. Each title does have one thing in common: It makes for devilishly good listening. So cut the lights and press play—if you dare.

All stars
Most relevant
it's not erotica, but it comes close. the "c" word that Americans notoriously dislike is used fairly frequently with negative, positive, and neutral connotations. I wasn't ready.
I might have to listen to it again when I'm more prepared so I can see if I enjoy the stories.

not what I expected

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A few of the stories really dragged for me, while others were very good. Puss in Boots was so much fun and so delightfully performed by Richard Armitage that I immediately hit replay and listened to it a second time.

A bit uneven

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A few of the stories really dragged for me, while others were very good. so much fun and so delightfully performed by Richard Armitage that I immediately hit replay and listened to it a second time.

good one

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Well performed. Interesting stories with twists.

Sometimes left hanging and didn't really understand the ending but overall good.

Very good

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I have a very difficult time sympathizing (never mind agreeing with) the low score reviews for this. I get that it’s not for everyone, but expecting a book of sanitized fairytales or zombie fighting heros from that title and this particular author?? That’s ignorance of some kind.

I will preface this opinion with the fact that I specifically sought out this book of short stories, or more accurately this group of intertextual collages of folktales.
I wanted and expected to be enthralled, uncomfortable, and left thinking with unresolved feelings.
Some short stories I enjoyed more than others. That said, I thoroughly loved this book! I will likely listen to this again. Both voice actors/narrators were so good at drawing me right into the worlds of each tale! Excellent-no notes.

Now, If you do not like Jane Eyre, Frankenstein, Woman in Black, the movie Crimson Peak, lengthy prose, etc you will most likely not enjoy this book.

Also, if you don’t know anything about a book and don’t wish to be potentially blindsided do a quick Google search.

This is Gothic not Horror in the modern sense. An important distinction to know before you read it. Gothic as a genre disorients the reader with the past coming to the present, describing the environment as a foreboding character itself, unfolding romances that blur fear with love, positing characters who are largely metaphors, and haunting readers/characters with some grotesque scenes. Yes this book is quite macabre, disturbing, and gore-filled. It definitely is not the fast-action, jump scare, terrorized plot train a modern reader might be expecting to board.

Besides being one of the top ten examples of Gothic storytelling, Carter’s re-imaginings of the pieces of familiar stories are intentionally disrupting the form of the Folk Tale featuring a woman as it’s main character. To be clear, these tales, like most original folktales, are bizarre, horrifying, and full of death - not neat happy endings. She heavily uses the metaphor of the female body/ sexuality during a pivotal moment of change like puberty or marriage to highlight the violence and messiness of humanity and criticize societal structures that oppress women. It’s no fourth wave, but effective given context.

If you made it through my opinion on Angela Carter’s incredible work here and why I love it- gold star! Now choose to read The Bloody Chamber and other short stories at your own discretion (But really though, Wikipedia is free)


Not for everyone: Gothic, surreal, prose w/70’s feminism

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