Le Grand Meaulnes
About this audiobook
A new pupil, Augustin Meaulnes, arrives at a rural school, and his bravado and charisma make an immediate impact on all those around him, including the 15-year-old François Seurel. The newcomer suddenly disappears for several days, during which time he stumbles across a mysterious manor house, which is home to a beautiful girl, Yvonne de Galais. After returning, ‘Le Grand Meaulnes’ embarks on a search to find again the lost manor and the happiness he found there. His tortuous journey, observed by his devoted friend François, is a moving depiction of the pain of adolescent love and desperate friendship.
Lauded for its powerful portrayal of adolescence, Le Grand Meaulnes found an immediate place in the canon of European literature from its first appearance in 1913. Alain-Fournier died in the year following its publication and it remains his only novel.
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About the author
Leighton Pugh trained at LAMDA, after studying Modern Languages at Queen’s College, Oxford. Radio work includes the plays Murder by the Book and Scenes from Provincial Life for BBC Radio 4 and the voice of Heinrich von Kleist in the BBC Radio 3 documentary The Tragical Adventure of Heinrich von Kleist. Leighton has been in five productions for the National Theatre, most recently The Lehman Trilogy (NT Live 2018–19, New York, West End). For Naxos AudioBooks he has recorded, among other things, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Zola’s Germinal, Nana and L’Assommoir, and featured in Walton’s The Compleat Angler.
