Book of Colours
Written by Robyn Cadwallader
Narrated by Katy Sobey
4/5
()
Unavailable in your country
Unavailable in your country
About this audiobook
London, 1321: In a small shop in Paternoster Row, three people are drawn together around the creation of a magnificent book, an illuminated manuscript of prayers, a book of hours. Even though the commission seems to answer the aspirations of each one of them, their own desires and ambitions threaten its completion. As each struggles to see the book come into being, it will change everything they have understood about their place in the world. In many ways, this is a story about power - it is also a novel about the place of women in the roiling and turbulent world of the early fourteenth century; what power they have, how they wield it, and just how temporary and conditional it is.
Rich, deep, sensuous and full of life, Book of Colours is also, most movingly, a profoundly beautiful story about creativity and connection, and our instinctive need to understand our world and communicate with others through the pages of a book.
'Robyn Cadwallader fashions words with the same delicate, colourful intensity that her 14th century illuminators brought to their illustrated manuscripts. Book of Colours brings alive a harsh but rich past, filled with the fantasies, fears, sly wit and tender longings of the medieval imagination.' Sarah Dunant
'Book of Colours shows the depth of possibility a book might hold - all the while shimmering with the beauty and fragility of an ancient gilded page.' Eleanor Limprecht
'Extraordinary ... a real sensory experience ... suffused with colours' ABC Radio National The Bookshelf
Praise for The Anchoress:
'So beautiful, so rich, so strange, unexpected and thoughtful - also suspenseful. I loved this book.' Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
'Affecting ... finely drawn ... a considerable achievement.' Sarah Dunant, New York Times
'Elegant and eloquent' Irish Mail
'Cadwallader's writing evokes a heightened attention to the senses: you might never read a novel so sensuous yet unconcerned with romantic love. For this alone it is worth seeking out. But also because The Anchoress achieves what every historical novel attempts: reimagining the past while opening a new window - like a squint, perhaps - to our present lives.' Sydney Morning Herald
'A novel of page-turning grace' Newtown Review of Books
Robyn Cadwallader
Robyn Cadwallader lives among vineyards in beautiful Ngunnawal country. Her first novel, The Anchoress (2015), was published internationally to critical acclaim. It won a Canberra Critics' Circle Award for fiction and was nominated for the Indie Book Awards, Adelaide Festival Awards, ABIA Awards and ACT Book of the Year Award. Her second novel, Book of Colours (2018), won the 2019 ACT Book of the Year Award, received a Canberra Critics' Circle Award and was shortlisted for the Voss Award. Her reviews, prize-winning short stories and poems have been published in journals in Australia and the USA; her poetry collection, i painted unafraid, was released in 2010. A non-fiction book based on her PhD thesis about virginity and female agency in the Middle Ages was published in 2008. In response to the Australian government's punitive treatment of asylum seekers, she edited a collection of essays on asylum seeker policy, We Are Better Than This (2015).
Related to Book of Colours
Related audiobooks
The Antipodeans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnder Ground: Jem Flockhart, Book 6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blacksmith's Wife Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Inamorata Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Aviary Gate: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Top 10 Short Stories - The English Women: The top ten Short Stories of all time written by English female authors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Prophet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sowers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wheelwright's Daughter: A historical tale of witchcraft, love and superstition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Blue Rose Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Light in the Shadows: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tsar's Dragons Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tussaud Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blue: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Observations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cottage of Curiosities Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trial of Elizabeth Cree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rules Upheld by No One Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mistress of Windfell Manor Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Drop of Ink Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nightshade: Jem Flockart, Book 5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLady in Ermine: The Story of a Woman Who Painted the Renaissance: A Novel About Sofonisba Anguissola Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Town House Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Collector's Apprentice: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dawn Palace Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wrecker Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Gondola Maker Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Burial of the Rats Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComfort of Home: Life of Galen Book 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRestoration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
General Fiction For You
A Court of Mist and Fury Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Thorns and Roses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Wings and Ruin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Frost and Starlight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunger Games Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Omens: A Full Cast Production Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/511/22/63: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Farseer: Assassin's Apprentice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Return of the King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Bonesetter Woman: the new feelgood novel from the author of The Smallest Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Book of Colours
9 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I found this slow to get into - which was more to do with me than the book - but also, it is a slow story to be savoured. A woman limner (person who does the illuminations ie illustrations on illumintae dmanuscripts) Gemma is the character I found of most interest, and I would have enjoyed more focus on her. It's a brilliantly executed book of history and psychological insight. I'm reminded of the work of Minette Walters.
Enjoy!