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Shop nowThe Matisse Stories
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreIn this elegant set of stories, three modern women are touched in different ways by the paintings of Henri Matisse.
In “Medusa’s Ankles,” a distinguished translator visits a hair salon hoping to regain a hint of her youthful looks. Hung on the wall before her is one of Matisse’s iconic portraits.
In “Art Works,” the three inhabitants of one household—a generous wife, her petulant husband, and their regal housekeeper—make very different artists.
And in “The Chinese Lobster,” a self-tortured, anorexic art student confronts the smug opulence of Matisse’s nudes while pondering suicide.
A. S. Byatt is the author of numerous novels, including the quartet The Virgin in the Garden, Still Life, Babel Tower, and A Whistling Woman; The Biographer's Tale; and Possession, which was awarded the Booker Prize. She has also written two novellas, published together as Angels & Insects; five collections of shorter works, including The Matisse Stories and Little Black Book of Stories; and several works of nonfiction. A distinguished critic as well as a novelist, she lives in London.
Wanda McCaddon began recording books for the fledgling audiobook industry in the early 1980s and has since narrated well over six hundred titles for major audio publishers, as well as abridging, narrating, and coproducing classic titles for her own company, Big Ben. Audiobook listeners may be familiar with her voice under one of her two "nom de mikes," Donada Peters and Nadia May. The recipient of an Audie Award and more than twenty-five Earphones Awards, AudioFile magazine has named her one of recording's Golden Voices. Wanda also appears regularly on the professional stage in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Reviews
“Hits the imagination’s retina with all the vibrant splatter of an exploding paint-box…Everywhere, scenes sizzle with chromatic intensity.”
“I have the hardback, but it is better to hear [McCaddon] linger on some of Byatt’s finely honed description…Virtually every phrase is a treat for the ears. [McCaddon], a professional narrator from way back, knows how to make each word count.”
“[Wanda McCaddon] brings just the right amount of emotion to three subtle and witty stories…The combination of [McCaddon’s] animated style and Byatt’s vivid workmanship results in a seamless and engrossing audio production.”
“Ravishing descriptions of sounds, colors, and smells…bring each setting to life and steer each conflict to its eviscerating conclusion…These are breathtakingly beautiful stories, rendered with precision and poetry.”
“Byatt uses bright splashes of verbal color…to paint word pictures similar to the oil paintings of Matisse…[The] plots are expertly crafted and completely believable, with surprising twists and turns…These are memorable portraits.”
“[McCaddon’s]…excellent pacing and authoritative grip on the material won me over. Her narration commands attention from beginning to end.”
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