Sketches by Boz: Volume 2

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Peter Joyce

The ‘sketches’ in this... volume are more the substance and length of short stories illustrating the development of the tools of the Masters trade: farce, parody, irony, black humour and wonderful one liners which unerringly hit the mark.

The ensuing narrative, however, brings the listener bumpily back to earth with a reminder of the mean and often tragic lives that were being endured in the busy, uncaring metropolis. The stories are in the following order and entitled; The Dancing Academy, Shabby Genteel People, The Prisoners Van, The Boarding House, Mr Minns and his Cousin, Sentiment, The Tuggses’ at Ramsgate, Horatio Sparkins, The Black Veil, The Steam Excursion, The Great Winglebury Duel, Mrs Joseph Porter, A Passage in the life of Mr Watkins Tottle, The Bloomsbury Christening, The Drunkards Death.

©2011 Assembled Stories (P)2008 Assembled Stories

Critic reviews

About Assembled Stories: Over the years the national press have reviewed Assembled Stories titles as "excellent", "remarkable", "entrancing", "superb", "magic for sure", "masterly", "wonderful", "a class act" and "a splendid example of audio at its best".

"Peter Joyce is the most remarkable one-man band in audiobook publishing. Joyce, an experienced actor, reads them all himself." (The Independent)

Dickens’ wit, humor, and more

The more (that doesn’t fit in the title field) is that Dickens is one of the best at depicting poverty and misery. We find in this collection humorous stories and tragic ones, Dickens’ wit and way with words is a delight. His characters (and their names) are great. But this is not a Dickens novel, and it is best to get to love Dickens through his novels, and then appreciate these additional tidbits. The narrator here is tops - an amazing collection of voices and accents, which made me feel like I was listening to a full cast of players.

Early stories

The narration is absolutely wonderful. All the stories are brilliantly written of course, and the characters are wonderful. I enjoyed some terrifically, and some just well.