The Ladies' Paradise now on sale!

I'm happy to announce that my latest recording, The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola, went on sale today at Audible.  A nice Christmas present for me!

Young country girl Denise Baudu arrives with her two younger brothers in Paris where she expects to secure a position for herself as a salesgirl in her uncle’s clothing shop.  Instead she discovers that her uncle’s business along with other small shops on the street are struggling to survive.  This is mostly due to the large store on the other side of the street — The Ladies’ Paradise –  which is swallowing up the small specialty stores by offering “one-stop shopping” at discounted prices.  Nineteenth-century Paris is experiencing the dawn of the department store.  Despite her loyalty to her uncle, Denise needs to work to support herself and her brothers.  She applies and is hired at The Ladies’ Paradise.  Her path will not be an easy one but Denise finds herself drawn to the progressive department store and it’s owner, the driven but charismatic Monsieur Mouret.

This book was the basis for the PBS Masterpiece Classic series, The Paradise. 

To listen to a clip from the book and/or to purchase, please visit Audible here.

Recording update

I've been crazy busy working on a recording that has required more 'prep' time than any other book I've done thus far.  The title is The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola.  If that title sounds slightly familiar it's because it's been adapted for the screen and is currently being shown on PBS Masterpiece Classic as "The Paradise."  I love the series and became curious about the book.  After beginning the book, I just knew that I wanted to record this story.  However, since the book was originally in French (the location was moved from Paris to London for the Masterpiece series), there are a ton of French place and surnames to research.  So, I read the book first without worrying about the French.  Then I began a second reading to note each French word (and a few other words here and there) that needed to be checked for proper pronunciation.  Thank goodness for sites like forvo.com!

"The Paradise."

My publisher is good with my taking the time to narrate this one and I'm really glad about that since I hope to introduce audiobook listeners who liked the series to the original story.  The book is much grittier than the world shown in the series and, of course, there's a lot more background on the characters and their lives.  However, I feel that the series definitely caught the spirit of Mouret and Denise!

I'll post again on my progress and when it's available for sale on Audible.  At this point I've recorded approximately 1/4th of the book.  Lots more to go but the story is well worth it.  

Shame on PBS

I'm so annoyed with PBS after discovering that they cut 35 minutes from the recent premiere of season one of Downton Abbey.  Apparently, some newspapers in the UK were insinuating that the program had to be 'dumbed down' for an American audience. Long-time Masterpiece Executive Producer Rebecca Eaton is quoted in this week's TV Guide  admitting that the 35 minute cut was made in order to fit the series into the PBS format over four weeks because that was all the time they had available for it.

Considering the unending pledge drives that PBS stations hold, I would expect to be given the courtesy of viewing the entire program. The DVD for Downton Abbey advertised on the PBS website even states that the DVD is the 'original U.K. version.'

This is certainly not the first time that cuts have been made to Masterpiece and Mystery programs. Several years ago when I missed an episode of the excellent Foyle's War, I purchased the DVD in order to see it. That's when I discovered that the Foyle's War episode ran 1 hour and 40 minutes. However, the episode had been cut to 90 minutes to 'fit' into the PBS time slot. I've reached the point where I'd rather purchase the DVD for a program or series that I really want to see. At least this way I can view the entire episode(s) uncut and uncensored AND I don't have to worry about a local change in viewing time due to another interminable pledge drive.