The Gap of Time

William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale Retold: A Novel

By: Jeanette Winterson

Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins, Mark Bazeley, Ben Onwukwe

The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s “late plays.” It tells the story of a king whose jealousy results in the banishment of his baby daughter and the death of his beautiful wife. His daughter is found and brought up by a shepherd on the Bohemian coast, but through a series of extraordinary events, father and daughter, and eventually mother too, are reunited.

In The Gap of Time, Jeanette Winterson’s cover version of The Winter’s Tale, we move from London, a city reeling after the 2008 financial crisis, to a storm-ravaged American city called New Bohemia. Her story is one of childhood friendship, money, status, technology and the elliptical nature of time. Written with energy and wit, this is a story of the consuming power of jealousy on the one hand, and redemption and the enduring love of a lost child on the other.

Should have used an African-American female narrator

The story was wonderful, and for the most part well-written, but definitely did not take into consideration an American audience. Perdita, who spent her entire life in Louisiana, would never have said “lift” instead of “elevator” or “torch” instead of “flashlight”.
To make matters worse, the British narrator got every single American accent wrong: Perdita was given an Appalachian accent like Dolly Parton instead of the Louisiana African-American accent of her adoptive father and brother (which the narrator also butchered); and the used car salesman, also from Louisiana, just sounded bizarre—maybe an attempt at a Brooklyn accent? Or Philadelphia? The narration significantly distracted and detracted from the story, which deserves better treatment.

Did not capture Shakespeare

This story, especially the part in New Bohemia, was forced and did not capture the emotions that permeate Shakespeare's play. This is only one in the Hogarth series that I found disappointing.

The 2 male narrators are outstanding. The female narrator is horrendous and grating. Her different voices are abysmal.

Pity about the female narrator

She's so hard to listen to. I ended up ordering the paperback and reading her parts. I always wonder how these horrible interpretations get through the final cut.

Nice take

I'm a Winter's Tale scholar, so I'm biased about Winterson's interpretive moves. The literary intrusions are a little taxing, and she gets Bohemia all wrong. She nails the melodrama of Sicilia, however. It's not Shakespeare, but it's quite wonderful.

The men are great

I enjoyed the male readers, but I found the female reader almost insufferable. Great storyline, though, and brilliantly written. Worth a read, particularly if you enjoy Shakespeare and The Winter's Tale.