Which Black Beauty recording should you buy?
A short novel with a long list of complete readings, running 5 hrs 7 mins to 6 hrs 7 mins. The things to step around are short abridgements, an Audible Original drama, and a different book with the same title.
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Short answer
Nathaniel Parker: complete and solo. Ralph Cosham, Cori Samuel, Jeff Harding and the other complete readings in the table run 5 hrs 7 mins to 6 hrs 7 mins; choose on voice. The Audible Original with Samuel West and Samantha Bond is R. D. Carstairs's adaptation for a cast, not the novel. Martin Jarvis, Frances Sternhagen and Russell Tovey read abridgements. And check the author: Michael Morpurgo's Black Beauty is a different book in the same search results, and a retelling by Caryn Jenner is read by Juliet Stevenson.
The recordings, compared
| Narrator | Length | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nathaniel Parker Our pick | 5 hrs 21 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Ralph Cosham | 5 hrs 21 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Bill Lewis | 6 hrs 2 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| John Chatty | 5 hrs 22 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Flo Gibson | 5 hrs 25 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| James Langton | 5 hrs 28 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Cori Samuel | 5 hrs 34 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Peter Batchelor | 5 hrs 7 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Bob Thomley | 6 hrs 4 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Jeff Harding | 5 hrs 51 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Victoria McGee | 5 hrs 41 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Cathi Colas | 6 hrs 7 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Samuel West, Samantha Bond, Tamzin Outhwaite, Paul Thornley, Matt Stokoe | 4 hrs 55 mins | Audible Original, full cast | An Audible Original Drama, adapted by R. D. Carstairs and performed by a cast. Not the novel read aloud. |
| Martin Jarvis | 2 hrs 29 mins | Abridged | Abridged. |
| Frances Sternhagen | 1 hr 56 mins | Abridged | Abridged. |
| Russell Tovey | 54 mins | Abridged | Abridged, from the Famous Fiction series, at 18% of the shortest complete reading here. |