The Country Child
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The Country Child
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Narrated by:
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Jilly Bond
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By:
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Alison Uttley
About this listen
The dark wood was green and gold - green where the oak trees stood crowded together with misshapen, twisted trunks, red-gold where the great smooth beeches lifted their branching arms to the sky. In between jostled silver birches - olive-tinted fountains which never reached the light-black spruces with little pale candles on each tip - and nut trees smothered to the neck in dense bracken.
The bracken was a forest in itself, a curving verdant flood of branches, transparent as water by the path but thick, heavy, secret a foot or two away, where high ferny crests waved above the softly moving ferns, just as the beech tops flaunted above the rest of the wood.
The rabbits which crept quietly in and out reared on their hind legs to see who was going by. They pricked their ears and stood erect and then dropped silently on soft paws and disappeared into the close ranks of brown stems when they saw the child. She walked along the rough path, casting fearful glances to right and left. She never ran, even in moments of greatest terror, when things seemed very near, for then they would know she was afraid and close round her. Gossamer stretched across the way from nut bush to bracken frond and clung to her cold cheeks. Spilt acorns and beech mast Iay thick on the ground, green and brown patterns in the upside-down red leaves, which made a carpet. Heavy rains had swept the soil to the lower levels of the path and laid bare the rock in many places.
On a sandy patch she saw her own footprint, a little square toe and a horseshoe where the iron heel had sunk. That was in the morning, when all was fresh and fair. It cheered her to see the homely mark, and she stayed a moment to look at it and replace her foot in it, as Robinson Crusoe might have done.
A squirrel, rippling along a leafy bough, peered at her and then, finding her so still, ran down the tree trunk and along the ground. Her step was strangely silent, and a close observer would have seen that she walked only on the soil between the stones of the footpath, stones of the earth itself, which had worn their way through the thin layer of grass. Her eyes and ears were as alert as those of a small wild animal as she slid through the shades in the depths of the wood....
©1938 Alison Uttley (P)2016 Audible, LtdListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Country Child
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Agatha Christie
- 08-11-22
Lovely book ruined by narration
I loved this book as a child and was delighted to see that it was available on Audible.
However, I couldn’t finish listening to it. And, yes, I did listen to the sample! And I thought I could live with it, but the narrator has a rather manufactured ‘actressy’ voice and this felt increasingly affected and irritating in this context. Her rendering of the children was particularly unsuccessful, and I couldn’t get much further after that.
The worst crime by far was that she used a vaguely West Country selection of voices when the book is very strongly set in Derbyshire!
These points may not bother you, but for me, the narration distracted from authentic voice of the author. Read the book instead!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ruth
- 10-07-21
Magical Book
This story was an absolute delight. Transported you to a different age on a country farm. It was unfortunately let down a by the narrator. One to read myself, which I will look forward to.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
- Fiona Coxall
- 12-06-22
unfortunately the narrator ruined the book
I absolutely adore Alison Utterly, unfortunately the Narrator ruined the book for me, she delivered the story at a rapid pace and the different voices attempted really didn't work for me. Overall I was extremely disappointed.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- LillyBee
- 24-06-24
Comforting. Lifting. Lovely narration.
A lot of reviews seem to slate the narrator. I have to say I love the beautiful English narration. It enhances the whimsical story. Perfect in my eyes. Or should I say ears. This is lovely all in all. Very healing in a world now filled with hurry and commerce. A book you could live in.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mrs. Mary Y. Berry
- 04-08-16
a nice filler between other books
Would you try another book written by Alison Uttley or narrated by Jilly Bond?
yes to Alison Uttley book big No to Jilly Bond
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Country Child?
When she was picking Cowslips
What three words best describe Jilly Bond’s performance?
stupid voices
Was The Country Child worth the listening time?
yes
Any additional comments?
if Jilly Bond had read it in a normal voice with out the silly voices it would have been 100 per cent better . i nearly deleted it of my ipod but stuck it out. because of the story
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Veronica Wright
- 27-12-21
Lovely book , shame about the narrator.
This is such a lovely book and I was looking forwards to listening to it , but the narrator Jilly Bond is absolutely awful ,she is trying (far too hard ) to put expression into her voice and it is not working , it is toe curling. She ruined Winter Soltice for me as well.
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2 people found this helpful