The British Library’s two audiobooks of digitally remastered early recordings of famous writers and poets were a delight, but its third release, Voices of History (British Library, 2 CDs, 2 hr 30 min, £15.95) is awesome, an aural tapestry of the voices of great figures speaking so uncannily directly to us that time seems to vanish and we are in their presence. It opens with Gladstone speaking in 1888 to applaud Edison’s invention of the phonograph, and ends with Bertrand Russell deploring the race to acquire H-bombs in 1959. The greatest curiosity is Florence Nightingale speaking in aid of the Light Brigade Relief Fund in 1890. The recordings are skilfully juxtaposed to increase their effect. Lenin sings the praises of proletarian revolution in 1919, the exiled Trotsky defends his views in 1937, Hitler barks fanatically at Germans to march for the Reich in 1938. The recordings of the early fighters for women’s rights reveal their dynamic characters: a clarion call from Christabel Pankhurst in 1908, a subtle argument from trade unionist Margaret Bondfield in 1929. Other treasures include Baden-Powell rallying his Scouts, Andrew Carnegie on restraint and philanthropy from the rich, Gandhi on Hinduism and William Booth on the social evils combated by the Salvation Army.

Alex Garland’s The Coma (Faber/Penguin, unabridged, 2 CDs, 2 hr, £12.99, offer £10.39) is perfect audiobook material. Carl has been beaten into a coma by Tube-train thugs, and we are inside his head, hearing the world as he is experiencing it, a prolonged dream that takes him back into his past and reinterprets his presence. Reality and illusion elide: is he picking up the broken threads of his life, or on a life-support machine? Garland has a clinically accurate eye for telling details, and builds up the young man’s world so that we know not what he does, or even his official identity, but much deeper things about him: how he thinks, what sort of person he is. Matthew MacFadyen’s reading is beautifully paced, by turns full of menace, panic-stricken, nostalgic, tender and wise.

Books First: 0870 1608080

Christina Hardyment

TIMESONLINE
www.timesonline.co.uk/books
Read the reviews and then buy the books of your choice online

Explore Books

• Book Extracts

• Book Reviews

• Books Group

• Audio Books

Times Recommends

• The Sunday Times 100 best holiday reads
• What will we be reading this summer: the booksellers predict
• Literary festivals: a survivor’s guide