The Railway Children

By: E. Nesbit

Narrated by: Renee Raudman

In this classic story, first published in 1906, a false accusation places the father in jail, leaving his wife and three children on their own. Circumstances force mother and the children to leave their ideal life in London to live near a train station in a rustic cottage. As the good natured children work to rescue their father, they befriend and help others along the way.Public Domain (P)2005 Tantor Audio

English? French? New York? Puzzling accents...

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Renee Raudman?

Ms. Raudman would have been an adequate reader if she'd just skipped the accents....she just couldn't seem to keep them straight...Peter often sounded faintly of New York City, while their mother sort of slurred over into nearly a French accent at times. Meanwhile, she mispronounced a number of British words.

Her inflections were overall decent for the different voices, I just think that it would have been better if she'd skipped the accents altogether.

I love the story. I find the narrator annoying.

Would you try another book from E. Nesbit and/or Renee Raudman?

The book is a childhood favorite. I don't like th narrator. She has a breathy voice and her accents are terrible. I've noticed this in other books she narrates. I'm don't understand why Audible uses her so often.

I had to read it for my school

I loved it
It's a great book
I would love to read it again with my mom

Frustratingly inconsistent narration

I have been listening/reading this book with whisper sync and found than, although Raudman has a wonderful and charming natural reading voice, as soon as she tries to read a character 's voice I winced! Her attempt at various English accents were sadly unsuccessful and came off sounding a strange twist of Boston and Cockney. I found it much more satisfying to read the story which, on its own, was very sweet and innocent yet full of kid friendly action, surprises and language. This is definitely a book I plan to introduce to my own children when they are a bit older but I will either read it to them or find a better narration. It's really too bad because Raudman has such a pleasant "regular" voice with natural inflection and lilt. But all the adults sounded flat and mopey and the children's "accents" were just too distracting to really enjoy the story. That said, I would be interested in listening to her narrate an American work of fiction

Laughter and tears.

Where does The Railway Children rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is right in the top 5.

Which scene was your favorite?

Any scene with the "old gentleman". I love it when he came to the rescue of this precious family.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not at all. Best to look forward to what's going to happen next. Like other good things...I wanted it to last as long as possible.

Any additional comments?

Fabulous children's voices. Exciting, without car chases or murder.