The Potter's Field

The Seventeenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael

By: Ellis Peters

Narrated by: Sir Derek Jacobi

During the ploughing of the Potter's Field, the Brothers unearth the grisly remains of a woman's body. Rumors had it that the wild, beautiful Welsh woman had gone away with a lover, returning to her homeland, but now it seems as if she had been murdered. With the arrival of a young monk fleeing from the devastating civil war in East Anglia, the mysteries surrounding the corpse start to multiply. Uneasiness pushes Brother Cadfael to find the whole truth behind this unexpected discovery, piecing together cryptic clues to solve a baffling crime.

Crack another case with Cadfael.©1996 Ellis Peters (P)1996 Phoenix Books, Inc.

NARRATOR RUINS IT

This guy reads every book as if it’s a children’s book - and not even just that... but a children’s book read BADLY! His characters speak like they are half wits, high on nitrous, addressing their pets.

Nothing gets under my skin more then a “professional” who’s performance is at their “profession” is no better than the majority of lay people. Why pay someone like this to reqd the book when I could have my 16 year old nephew do a better job at it for free?

Better yet, I’ll do it myself - pay me half as much and it will sound twice as realistic and polished.

I mean seriously how do people like this get hired? You see it everyday...

It’s beyond baffling.

Jacobi is Cadfael

If you could sum up Potter's Field in three words, what would they be?

Benedictine, detailed, historical

Who was your favorite character and why?

Cadfael, of course, because he's the reason we read the story.

What about Derek Jacobi’s performance did you like?

Everything. Every single thing.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, nothing extreme.

Poor Reading

Is there anything you would change about this book?

New reader. Between his accent and trying to read so fast, I could not understand much of it.

How could the performance have been better?

Much better. Read slower and more distinctly.

Was Potter's Field worth the listening time?

As a story, yes. Difficult to listen to.

Another wonderful book

Another wonderful book in the Brother Cadfeil series. Still have more to look forward to.

Audible listeners deserve unabridged books

I am sadly disappointed that the final few Cadfael books offered by Audible are heavily boiled down by editing to the point that little remains of the magic of Ellis Peters’ descriptive prose, which brings an ancient era to full, rich life in the first 15.

This destructive editing surely would be no Cadfael reader’s choice, and I see no reason for it.

I am pushing on, purchasing the truncated versions, but not happily; far too much is lost. And why? If I as a listener wish to hear the full 8 or more hours of a richly penned Cadfael adventure, why must I settle for a bare 3-hour version skeletonized by some editor who prefers brevity to imagination?

Left out of the hands of whatever editor was willing to strip them bare of the character development, relationships, 12th Century English culture, history, lifestyle and environment, the Cadfael novels are more than highly enjoyable. Boiled down by more than than half by such merciless editing, they are unremarkable reports.

This Audible listener would never have been captivated enough to avidly buy and listen as far as book 16, had the first 15 narrations she purchased been so abbreviated.

This is no criticism of Sir Derek Jacobi, the actor who narrates the digest versions; he reads what he was given to read, and he does what he can with it.

I would like to see Audible commission a narrator at least as talented as Jacobi, Tull, or some of the amazingly excellent English actors who have succeeded so well in bringing the works of various well-known authors of English mystery series to life, to properly re-narrate the unabridged Cadfael series, starting with those so sadly slashed (16 through 20). Those who enjoy Audible books should never be disappointed in this way.