A Prison Diary Volume I

Hell

By: Jeffrey Archer

Narrated by: Andrew Sachs

The sun is shining through the bars of my window on what must be a glorious summer day. I've been incarcerated in a cell five paces by three for twelve and a half hours, and will not be let out again until midday; eighteen and a half hours of solitary confinement. There is a child of seventeen in the cell below me who has been charged with shoplifting - his first offence, not even convicted - and he is being locked up for eighteen and a half hours, unable to speak to anyone. This is Great Britain in the twenty-first century, not Turkey, not Nigeria, not Kosovo, but Britain.

On Thursday 19 July 2001, after a perjury trial lasting seven weeks, Jeffrey Archer was sentenced to four years in jail. He was to spend the first twenty-two days and fourteen hours in HMP Belmarsh, a double A-Category high-security prison in South London, which houses some of Britain's most violent criminals.

Hell, the first volume in Archer's The Prison Diaries, is the author's daily record of the time he spent there.

An excellent audiobook!

This is a gripping audiobook, one that keeps you awake at night and forces you to reset your iPod's sleep timer time and time again. Great narration, only wish this was the unabridged version, I am wondering what I might have missed. Any chance of Parts II and III anytime soon?

Well worth the listen

Typical Archer. An absolutely boring existence behind bars brought to life by this fantastic storyteller. Please give us volumes 2 & 3.

The Diary and the Storyteller

What did you like best about A Prison Diary? What did you like least?

Jeffrey Archer is unquestionably one of the finest contemporary storytellers. This diary is a departure from his core-skill and left this listener feeling short-changed.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Ian Macewan's "Solar"

What aspect of Andrew Sachs’s performance would you have changed?

Nothing

Did A Prison Diary inspire you to do anything?

To stay out of jail.

Great insight into prison life..

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I would recommend the book, but only if they were interested in what a person can go through if they get sent to prison.

What did you like best about this story?

The way it was written.. It's a diary and I found it very interesting given that I've never been to prison and hope I never do.

What does Andrew Sachs bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narration was excellent and the emphasis he puts on certain parts of the Audio book makes it highly enjoyable. Much better listening than reading when you have a good narrator.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A Prison Diary in the First Person

Any additional comments?

A good listen that I found highly enjoyable. My only complaint was that it was too short. I would have liked it to be a couple of hours longer.

Loved it

Great read, can't wait for the next 2 books to be on audio, sorry it finished.