V for Venetia

I needed a catchy title for this blog post and a homage to V for Vendetta (great film!) fitted the bill perfectly. Or maybe I should have coined, in true V fashion, 'Voila! Voluptuous voice to vocalise Venetia!'

Enough of the alliteration for the moment, let's get down to the news - the fabulous news -that Richard Armitage, he with the voice like liquid chocolate, is to read Georgette Heyer's Venetia for Naxos audiobooks. Richard's reading of Sylvester for Naxos was a huge success and now he's to tackle Rake Damerel et al. *Happy sigh* I confess that when those of us on the C19 Georgette Heyer group were discussing which Heyer novel we would like Richard to read next, Venetia came top of the list. It seems Naxos thought the same :0) I love Venetia. It's Heyer's 'grown up romance' and even though there's not an explicit sex scene in sight, the passion fairly sizzles on the page. A pity this audiobook will be abridged but perhaps that's one reason Richard has managed to fit the reading into his busy filming schedule.

I’ve been a fan of Richard’s since 2004 when he appeared as John Thornton in the BBC production of North and South. Since then his career has gone from strength to strength. He’s appeared in the Vicar of Dibley, Robin Hood and Spooks, among other things. Richard's voice talents are as astonishing as his on screen acting abilities, though, and now he's winning new fans for his delightful reading of Georgette Heyer.

Venetia by Georgette Heyer and read by Richard Armitage is available April 2010 and can be pre ordered on Amazon UK, Amazon.com and The Book Depository. If you follow the links on RichardArmitageOnLine you will also be making a contribution to one of Richard's chosen charities.




I predict the verdict from the vox populi vis-a-vis this velvet voiced version of Venetia will be that it is a veritable gem ...

Swooning over Sylvester

Back in March, I blogged on Forromancereaders about a new Naxos CD audiobook of one of my favourite Georgette Heyer novels, Sylvester, read by the talented, chocolate-voiced Richard Armitage. I received my copy a few weeks ago and am delighted to say it's everything I hoped it would be. Richard did a wonderful job with a novel that has so many female characters. His differentiation was fabulous, and his storytelling abilities and voice talents meshed beautifully with Heyer's light, witty style. I've listened to it three times now and it just gets better on each occasion. His voice draws you in - it's mesmerising.

Judging by this article, Naxos are delighted too. I hope they can borrow his 'delicious' voice again very soon ;0)

The Sylvester audio CD is currently riding high in the Amazon UK charts. As I type this, it stands at number 1 in two categories (Audio CDs Literary Classics and Books Classic and Contemporary authors), and number 5 in Historical Romance overall! Great news for everyone involved.