Audiobooks by William Butcher

Joyous Miseries of Three Travellers in Scandinavia

"Joyous Miseries of Three Travellers in Scandinavia By Jules Verne Translated with an introduction, notes and appendices by William Butcher Read by Patrick Barker In 1861 a struggling playwright from Nantes travelled to the wildest parts of Norway with two friends. The experience transformed him, opening his eyes to exotic adventures – and to a new mode of writing. The sole surviving chapter of his autobiographical work, completed at about the same time as he met his lifelong publisher and surely his most personal piece, brilliantly recounts his reasons for travelling and his preparations in a henceforth “suffocating” Paris. None of his subsequent masterpieces, but especially Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Captain Hatteras, would have been possible without Verne’s “Joyous Miseries”. Production copyright 2022 Voices of Today"

Jules Verne, William Butcher (Author), Patrick Barker (Narrator)

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The Adventures of Captain Hatteras

"The Adventures of Captain Hatteras By Jules Verne Translated by William Butcher Narrated by Patrick Barker First Mate Shandon receives a mysterious letter asking him to construct a reinforced steamship in Liverpool. As he heads out for Melville Bay and the Arctic labyrinth, a crewman reveals himself to be John Hatteras, and his obsession, the North Pole. The captain is later abandoned by his crew and remains without resources at the coldest spot on earth. How can he find food and navigate the Polar Sea? And what will he find at the top of the world? The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (1865), greatly admired by Ray Bradbury, is one of Verne’s most personal novels, with hypnotic descriptions of the icy wastes and gripping authenticity. The volcanic Pole, where the meridians and oceans meet, is a magical spot for a writer obsessed with physical space, allowing him to give unbridled rein to his creative imagination. This is the first ever audio recording of one of Verne’s greatest masterpieces, translated by father of Verne Studies William Butcher and skilfully read by Patrick Barker, who vividly captures the characters’ social differences. A cutting-edge introduction and appendix are also included, containing the duel with the rival explorer and the final tragedy, cut by the original publisher. Production copyright 2021 Voices of Today"

Jules Verne, William Butcher (Author), Patrick Barker (Narrator)

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Jules Verne: The Biography

""...let me recommend an audiobook: William Butcher's Jules Verne: The Biography ... It's a 'voyage extraordinaire' through the bittersweet life and encyclopedic imagination of one of the most popular writers of all time. Happy listening!" - William Dirda, The Washington Post From the established expert on the subject comes this new biography of one of the world's most successful writers. Breath-taking in scope, and full of the kind of revelations sure to cause press and controversy, Butcher combines existing and new research on Verne's life with the evidence from Verne's works to explore what sort of man Jules Verne was, how he achieved what he did, what went on inside his head, what really made him tick. Butcher examines the forgotten nitty-gritty of Verne's life: his appearance, his schoolmates, the size of his bedroom, who he talked to and slept with, who he fell out with and was sued by, the fibs he told, how he got to work, how much he made, what he did on his days off, where he went, what he studied, what he read, whether he was a good husband and father - in sum, all the behavior that points to personality, as only a family member can know it."

William Butcher (Author), Simon Vance (Narrator)

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