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Audio Book Review: Why the Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo, read by Virginia McKenna
Synopsis
Rushy Bay was forbidden territory to Gracie and Daniel. And not just because of the currents; the Birdman lived there. Gracie brings the curse of Samson Island on her own family. It is only the Birdman who can avert the tragedy.
Narrator: Virginia McKenna
Length: 4 hours and 16 min.
Review
Michael Morpurgo’s enchanting tale of friendship, war, legends and curses is set amongst the raw and wild beauty of The Isles of Scilly. This wonderful story carries echoes of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and is adeptly narrated by Virginia McKenna whose regional accents are accurate and warm. Her reading captures the setting superbly and her pacing and delivery are both spot on.
Why the Whales came is a delight yet another example of what a good author Morpurgo is.
About the narrator
In 1956, Virginia McKenna won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film A Town like Alice and two years later was nominated for Best Actress again for her role as the World War II SOE agent Violette Szabo in Carve Her Name with Pride.
However, McKenna is best remembered for her 1966 role as Joy Adamson in the true-life film Born Free for which she received a nomination for a Golden Globe. Bill Travers, her real life husband, co-starred with her, portraying conservationist George Adamson, and the experience led them to become active supporters for wild animal rights and the protection of their natural habitat.
For her services to wildlife and to the arts, in 2004 McKenna was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire. In March 2009 Virginia McKenna published her memoir The Life in My Years.
Her audiobook work also includes The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
About the author
Born in 1943 Michael Morpurgo describes himself as ‘oldish’. Married to Clare, father to three children and grandfather to six he has written over 100 titles for children over the course of his career. Honoured with an MBE in 1999 then Children’s Laureate from 2003-2005 and recipient of an OBE in 2006, Morpurgo is also a patron of countless charities, and in 1976 began, with his wife, the Farms For City Children charity which aims to relieve the experience of poverty in inner cities and urban areas by giving children the opportunity to live and work on a real farm for a week.
Posted: December 17th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Audio-books, Michael Morpurgo
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