Where Angels Fear to Tread

By: E. M. Forster

Narrated by: Edward Petherbridge

English widow Lilia causes a scandal by marrying Gino, a highly unsuitable Italian 12 years her junior. But when her relatives are confronted by the beauty of Italy and the charm of Gino, they are forced to examine their own narrow lives.Public Domain (P)2009 BBC Audiobooks Ltd

Excellent story, great performance.

Strongly recommend this audiobook. It is as good as any of Forster's later books.

Sound distortion ruins excellent performance

This is the best narration of this book, however in the last few minutes of chapter 2 the sound is occasionally but repeatedly significantly distorted.

Classic Forster

I always love Forster - his chill eye, his settings that are almost characters, his way of saving the full impact of the plot until the end. This was no disappointment. The narrator was excellent and was never too fast or too slow, nor did he perform caricatures, but really gave himself over to the roles of both the male and female characters. Visitors to Italy will also love the way Forster captures the Italian landscape, art and people.

Forster's first novel, and it shows

The synthesis of thought and feeling that makes Forster's later work so compelling is missing here, and the storyline descends into bathos (I literally rolled my eyes during the scene with the Baby's milk). I almost wish I hadn't read this book, because now I keeping thinking I detect untrammeled sentimentality around the edges of scenes in other books by Forster, like when you keep thinking you smell something bad after you actually have. Edward Petherbridge reads expressively but even less intelligibly than he did for Howard's End, which make this somewhat confusing story even harder to follow.