#ethel leckwith

[tagthescullion]

The Century Trilogy Characters: Ethel Williams

This lady is the most bad*ss character I’ve ever read about, strong, independent, and proud. You go, Ethel, you’re what’s right in this world

[klstheword]

Dan Stevens & audiobooks

Many of you will already know that Dan has narrated, or rather performed, more than 30 audiobooks as well as numerous and varied radio dramas & readings.

However, many do not know or realise what a masterful grasp he has on languages, dialects, accents and the ages of the characters, whether they be man or woman, boy or girl.

I am listening, again, to “Fall of Giants” by Ken Follett which has one of the broadest range of characters, each one of which is amazingly “inhabited” by Dan.

Below is a very long list of characters in that book - and remember each is portrayed differently by Dan which makes it such an enjoyable “listen”. It is an amazing performance and I truly hope that one day he will find some time to provide us with more audiobooks to enjoy.

Those who already enjoy these works will need no convincing, and they will have many favourites, as do I, especially work such “My Dear I Wanted To Tell You”, “The Invisible Ones”, “History of A Pleasure Seeker”, “Wolf Hall”, “War Horse”.......and more

American

Dewar family                       Vyalov family

Senator Cameron Dewar   Josef Vyalov, businessman

Ursula Dewar, his wife.       Lena Vyalov, his wife

Gus Dewar, their son.         Olga Vyalov, their daughter

Others

Rosa Hellman, journalist.    Ilya, thug

Chuck Dixon, school friend of Gus’s.     Theo, thug

Marga, a nightclub singer                        Norman Niall, crooked accountant

Nick Forman, a thief                                 Brian Hall, union leader

Real historical characters

Woodrow Wilson, 28th President       William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State

Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy

English & Scottish

 Fitzherbert family

Earl Fitzherbert, called Fitz                      The Duchess of Sussex, their rich aunt

Princess Elizaveta, called Bea, his wife.  Gelert, Pyrenean mountain dog

Lady Maud Fitzherbert, his sister.            Grout, Fitz’s butler

Lady Hermia, called Aunt Herm, their poor aunt

Sanderson, Maud’s maid

Others

Mildred Perkins, Ethel’s lodger      Lord “Johnny” Remarc, War Office Minister

Bernie Leckwith, Independent Labour Party secretary

Colonel Hervey, aide to Sir John French

Bing Westhampton, Fitz’s friend.

Lieutenant Murray, aide to Fitz

Marquis of Lowther, “Lowthie”, rejected suitor of Maud

Mannie Litov, factory owner

Albert Solman, Fitz’s man of business

Jock Reid, Independent Labour Party treasurer

Dr Greenward, volunteer at the baby clinic

Jayne McCulley, soldier’s wife

Real historical characters

King George V     Queen Mary

Mansfield Smith-Cumming, called “C”

Sir Edward Grey, MP, Foreign Secretary

Sir William Tyrrell, private secretary to Grey

Frances Stevenson, mistress of Lloyd George

Winston Churchill, MPH.H. Asquith, MP, Prime Minister

Sir John French

FrenchColonel Dupuys, aide to General Galliéni

General Lourceau, aide to General Joffre

Gini, a bar girl

Real historical characters

General Joffre, commander-in-chief of French forces

General Galliéni, commander of the Paris garrison

German & Austrian

   Von Ulrich family

Otto von Ulrich, diplomat.        Susanne von Ulrich, his wife

Walter von Ulrich, their son, military attaché

Greta von Ulrich, their daughter

Graf (Count) Robert von Ulrich, Walter’s second cousin

Others

Gottfried von Kessel, cultural attaché

Monika von der Helbard, Greta’s best friend

Real historical characters

Prince Karl Lichnowsky, German Ambassador to London

Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg

General of Infantry Erich Ludendorff

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, Chancellor

Arthur Zimmermann, Foreign Minister

Russian Peshkov family

Grigori Peshkov, metalworker      Lev Peshkov, horse wrangler

Putilov Machine Works

Konstantin, lathe operator, discussion group chairmanIsaak, captain of the football team

Varya, female labourer, Konstantin’s mother

Serge Kanin, supervisor of the casting section

Count Maklakov, Director

Others

Mikhail Pinsky, police officer

Ilya Kozlov, his sidekick

Nina, maid to Princess BeaPrince

Andrei, Bea’s brother

Katerina, a peasant girl new to the city

Mishka, bar owner

Trofim, a gangster

Fyodor, corrupt cop

Spirya, passenger on the Angel

GabrielYakov, passenger on the Angel 

Anton, a clerk at the Russian embassy in London

David, a Jewish soldier

Sgt GavrikLt Tomchak

Real historical characters

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Party

Leon Trotsky

Welsh

 Williams family

David Williams, union organiser

Cara Williams, his wife

Ethel Williams, their daughter

Billy Williams, their son

Gramper, Mam’s father

Griffiths family

Ponti family

Len Griffiths, atheist and Marxist

Mrs Minnie Ponti

Mrs Griffiths

Giuseppe “Joey” Ponti

Tommy Griffiths, Len‘s son, Billy Williams‘s best friend

Giovanni “Johnny” Ponti, his younger brother

Miners

David Crampton,

“Dai Crybaby”

Harry “Suet” Hewitt

John Jones the Shop

Dai Chops, the butcher’s son

Pat Pope, Main Level onsetter

Micky Pope, Pat’s son

Dai Ponies, horse wrangler

Bert Morgan

Mine management

Perceval Jones, Chairman of Celtic Minerals

Maldwyn Morgan, colliery manager

Rhys Price, colliery manager’s deputy

Arthur “Spotty” Llewellyn, colliery clerk

Staff at Ty Gwyn

Peel, butler

Mrs Jevons, housekeeper

Morrison, footman

Others

Dai Muck, sanitary worker

Mrs Dai Ponies

Mrs Roley Hughes

Mrs Hywel Jones

Private George Barrow, B Company

Private Robin Mortimer, cashiered officer, B Company

Private Owen Bevin, B Company

Sergeant Elijah “Prophet” Jones, B Company

Second Lieutenant James Carlton-Smith, B Company

Captain Gwyn Evans, A Company

Second Lieutenant Roland Morgan, A Company

Real historical characters

David Lloyd George, Liberal Member of Parliament

[winter-of-he-world-blog]

Winter of the World  (The Century Trilogy Book 2)

Prix- £0.99

Winter of the World est le deuxième roman de Ken Follett, une ambitieuse et profondément satisfaisante The Century Trilogy. Seul ou lu en séquence avec Fall of Giants et Edge of Eternity, c'est une épopée magnifique et envoûtante de conflits mondiaux et de drames personnels. Berlin en 1933 est en plein bouleversement. Carla von Ulrich, 11 ans, peine à comprendre les tensions qui perturbent sa famille alors qu'Hitler renforce son emprise sur l'Allemagne. Dans cette tourmente, la formidable amie de sa mère et ancienne députée britannique, Ethel Leckwith, et son fils étudiant, Lloyd, apprendront bientôt par lui-même la réalité brutale du nazisme. Il rencontre également un groupe d'Allemands résolus à s'opposer à Hitler - mais sont-ils prêts à aller jusqu'à trahir leur pays? Ces personnes sont étroitement surveillées par Volodia, un Russe avec un brillant avenir dans le renseignement de l'Armée Rouge. Le choc international de la puissance militaire et des croyances personnelles qui s'ensuivra balaiera tout le monde, de Cable Street dans l'East End de Londres à Pearl Harbor à Hawaï, d'Espagne à Stalingrad, de Dresde à Hiroshima. À Cambridge, Lloyd est irrésistiblement attiré par l'éblouissante mondaine américaine Daisy Peshkov, qui représente tout ce que sa famille de gauche méprise. Mais Daisy est plus intéressé par l'aristocratique Boy Fitzherbert - pilote amateur, amateur de fête et chef de file du British Union of Fascists. De retour à Berlin, Carla vénère de loin Werner Werner. Mais rien ne marchera comme ils s'y attendent car leurs vies et les espoirs du monde sont brisés par la guerre la plus grande et la plus cruelle de l'histoire de la race humaine.