Play Audiobook Sample
Laurus Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(5.00) - 1 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
It is the late fifteenth century and a village healer in Russia called Laurus is powerless to help his beloved as she dies in childbirth, unwed and without having received communion. Devastated and desperate, he sets out on a journey in search of redemption. But this is no ordinary journey: it is one that spans ages and countries, and which brings him face-to-face with a host of unforgettable, eccentric characters and legendary creatures from the strangest medieval bestiaries.
Laurus's travels take him from the Middle Ages to the Plague of 1771, where as a holy fool he displays miraculous healing powers, to the political upheavals of the late-twentieth century. At each transformative stage of his journey he becomes more revered by the church and the people, until he decides, one day, to return to his home village to lead the life of a monastic hermit—not realizing that it is here that he will face his most difficult trial yet.
Laurus is a remarkably rich novel about the eternal themes of love, loss, self-sacrifice, and faith, from one of Russia's most exciting and critically acclaimed novelists.
Download and start listening now!
"This is a famous recent Russian novel that deals with the life and death of a kind of "Holy Fool" - a genuine character in Russian history. A bit surreal, but a fine listen. "
— Eric Bergerud (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
-
Foster embodies Arseny's quiet devotion to his lost love and his focus on finding salvation, suppressed passions that can be expressed only beneath the surface of speech.
— AudioFile -
“Vodolazkin succeeds in walking a thin line, achieving a fine balance between the ancient and archaic, and the ultra- modern; between the ironic and the tragic.”
— Time Out (New York) -
“In Laurus, Vodolazkin aims directly at the heart of the Russian religious experience and perhaps even at that maddeningly elusive concept that is cherished to the point of cliché: the Russian soul.”
— New Yorker -
“Bold, rich and complex, LAURUS deals with large issues: the concept of time, love and death, love and guilt.”
— Historical Novel Review
Awards
-
Winner of Russia’s National Big Book Award
Laurus Listener Reviews
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
About Eugene Vodolazkin
Eugene Vodolazkin was born in Kiev and has worked in the department of old Russian literature at Pushkin House since 1990. He is an expert in medieval Russian history and folklore. His debut novel, Solovyov and Larionov, was shortlisted for Russia’s National Big Book Award and the Andrei Bely Prize. Laurus, his second novel but the first to be translated into English, won the National Big Book Award and the Yasnaya Polyana Award, was shortlisted for the National Bestseller Prize, the Russian Booker Prize, and the New Literature Award, and has been translated into eighteen languages. His third novel, The Aviator, was also shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize and the Big Book Award.
About James Anderson Foster
James Anderson Foster, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, has narrated audiobooks for a variety of publishers, across nearly all genres, both fiction and nonfiction. In 2015, he was a finalist in three categories for the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences Voice Arts Awards—mystery, science fiction, and fantasy.