Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Tightrope Walkers
    Unavailable
    The Tightrope Walkers
    Unavailable
    The Tightrope Walkers
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Tightrope Walkers

    Written by David Almond

    Narrated by Richard Halverson

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    International award-winner David Almond draws on memories of his early years in Tyneside, England, for a moving coming-of-age novel, masterfully told.

    A gentle visionary coming of age in the shadow of the shipyards of northern England, Dominic Hall is torn between extremes.

    On the one hand, he craves the freedom he feels when he steals away with the eccentric girl artist next door, Holly Stroud-his first and abiding love-to balance above the earth on a makeshift tightrope. With Holly, Dom dreams of a life different in every way from his shipbuilder dad's, a life fashioned of words and images and story.

    On the other hand, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to the brutal charms of Vincent McAlinden, a complex bully who brings out Dom's darker desires, awakening something wild and reckless and killing in his nature.

    In a raw and beautifully crafted bildungsroman, David Almond reveals the rich inner world of a boy teetering on the edge of manhood, a boy so curious and alive and open to impulse that we fear for him and question his balance-and ultimately exult in his triumphs.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMar 24, 2015
    ISBN9781501221651
    Unavailable
    The Tightrope Walkers
    Author

    David Almond

    David Almond is an experienced author who specializes in paranormal fiction. The recipient of a Hans Christian Andersen Award, a Carnegie Medal, and a Michael L. Printz Award, he currently resides in England.

    Related to The Tightrope Walkers

    Related audiobooks

    YA Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Blue-collar Bard

      Jul 13, 2020

      The Blue-collar Bard
      13 min read

    • Article

      The Fate Of The House

      Jun 6, 2018

      Today, the house on the hill wrestles for air. Pile upon piles of tree branches, bark and dry leaves clutter the driveway. At night it is dark, a ghost house. It wasn’t always like that. Squeezed between coloured Sydenham and Sparks Estate to the eas

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Brian Phillips

      Dec 7, 2018

      This year I grabbed a lot of books almost totally at random and finished most of them, some in a few hours (hello, Jean Rhys’s gorgeously unnerving Wide Sargasso Sea, which I read in a hotel in Tijuana in the spring), some over many months (looking a

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Quarantine Bookshelf

      Mar 19, 2021

      The Quarantine Bookshelf
      4 min read

    • Article

      Pleasure

      Jan 29, 2020

      Pleasure
      3 min read

    • Article

      David Copperfield

      Jul 13, 2022

      David Copperfield
      3 min read

    • Article

      Eternal Sunshine

      Apr 1, 2020

      Eternal Sunshine
      5 min read

    • Article

      Live And Let Live

      Apr 9, 2020

      Live And Let Live
      12 min read

    • Article

      Asylum Seeker To Fashion Maven

      Oct 13, 2022

      A Visible Man Edward Enninful/Bloomsbury The memoir from Edward Enninful OBE, the ground-breaking, new-generation editor-in-chief of British Vogue is open-hearted and arrestingly detailed. Written to inspire others to dream big, work hard and draw st

      2 min read

    • Article

      Books That Celebrate Multicultural London

      Jul 4, 2022

      by Zadie Smith An epic story told through the eyes of complex and compelling characters, mostly first and second-generation immigrants from the Commonwealth. It has cross-cultural friendship at its heart and will make you laugh out loud. by Kamila Sh

      1 min read

    • Article

      The First Child Star

      May 4, 2022

      When Daniel Radcliffe was cast as Harry Potter, Jack Wild, who had known similar instant, international celebrity as the Artful Dodger in Carol Reed’s film of Oliver! (1968), wrote him a heartfelt letter: ‘Steer clear of temptations. Keep your feet o

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Legend of Robin Hood

      May 12, 2023

      The Legend of Robin Hood
      4 min read

    • Article

      Saleroom

      May 1, 2020

      Saleroom
      2 min read

    • Article

      Film

      Oct 23, 2023

      Film
      3 min read

    • Article

      Albion The Brave

      Feb 26, 2020

      Albion The Brave
      4 min read

    • Article

      Readers’ Letters

      Nov 17, 2021

      SIR: I must applaud William Cook (Who was Blackie the donkey?, October issue) in maintaining the tradition of never allowing the facts to mar a good story. Don Mackay arrived at Jarandilla de la Vera first, not in the wake of Hugh Whittow of the Sun.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Fiction

      Nov 18, 2022

      Fiction
      3 min read

    • Article

      Echolands

      Dec 1, 2021

      Echolands
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un's Notes

      Oct 18, 2023

      The Old Un's Notes
      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Aug 10, 2018

      Books
      5 min read

    • Article

      Rye Lane

      Mar 23, 2023

      Released 17 MARCH A rom-com starring Industry’s David Jonsson? I’m listening. 4 Jonsson and Vivian Oparah have an easy chemistry that’s a delight to watch. 4 Fun and fresh with an appropriately sweet ending. 4 The South London locales of Peckham and

      2 min read

    Reviews for The Tightrope Walkers

    3.5/5

    21 ratings6 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      A book full of nostalgia. Growing up on Tyneside in the sixties. Fiction or autobiography? A bit of both. Enjoyable but a bit like a sixth form English Literature exercise of which the central character would be proud.
    • 4/5
      Dominic Hall is growing up in a pebbledashed home in northern England in the post-WWII years. His father, a caulker in the shipyards, is a tough but fair and loving man. After the war, England has changed and opportunity exists for Dominic, who is well-behaved, does well in school, and has a fluency as a wordsmith that gets him noticed. Dom and his best friend, Holly, are admitted to a good school that will prepare them to be the first in their families to attend university. After a circus visits, Holly and Dominic put up a tight-rope, and Dom's mother shows them how to balance and walk the wire. Holly paints and Dom writes poetry and both succeed admirably in school. But an animal part of Dom lies untended. The boy feels a pull toward the local delinquent, Vincent McAlinden, with whom he begins to thieve, kill small animals and create mayhem. Dom walks a tight-rope, both literally and metaphorically. In which world does he belong? Almond's writing is crisp and beautiful. From the slang of the shipyard to recitations in the poetry-bookshop, Almond shows through language the dichotomy that exists in Dom. The Tight-Rope Walker has clever symbolism and handles big ideas, but the plot moves slowly in places. Although I don't agree with Almond's conclusions about what it means to be human, I admire his literary finesse with the question. Dom's struggles to understand who he is and who he could become will ring true to many adolescents.
    • 4/5
      "Bliddy" beautiful bildungsroman set in northern England during the 1950s and '60s. Lyrical, poetic story of a boy growing up in the working class family of a ship welder. There is a girl next-door, his best friend, and a half-crazy, half-wild boy the boy is drawn to. This is marketed as a story for young adults, but I cannot imagine it being read by any teens I know. It is a great read for adults, however.
    • 4/5
      Dominic Hall is a boy, growing up, on the edges of a shipyard, on the northern coast of England. His father, toils in that shipyard and like many of the working class, of that era, ('60s) barely keeps his family afloat.Dominic makes friends with a smart and gifted girl, named Holly and they make an instant bond. She dreams of being a tightrope walker and is a stable presence for Dominic, giving him focus and hope. Unfortunately, he also is drawn to the local bad boy, Vincent McAlinden, who begins to take Dom, down a much darker path, leaving Holly farther and farther behind. This edgy triangle, is the heart of the tale.This coming of age story, really grew on me, as it went along and I was swept along with these young lives. Almond based some of this on his own childhood experiences and he really evokes a perfect sense of time and place.
    • 4/5
      THE TIGHTROPE WALKERS by David Almond is the coming-of-age story of a boy torn between two very different friendships in the mid-20th century. While Holly represents artist freedom, Vincent reflects the wild, violent side of life. Based on the memories of the author growing up in northern England, this work of realistic fiction is told through very short chapters making it a quick read. The well-developed characters, use of local dialects, and authentic settings add to the appeal. Although technically a work of historical fiction, the story transcends time.From beauty and creativity to violence and death, Almond’s exploration of both the dark and light side of everyday life make this book special. The novel’s many metaphors and other literary elements make it an excellent book for young adult discussions. However because of the mature themes this book is not designed for children.Published by Candlewick Press in March 2015.
    • 3/5
      Dominic Hall is a teen growing up in northern England. He is torn between his attraction to teen artist Holly Stroud who lives next door and bully Vincent McAlinden. The relationships are complex, and so are their lives as they move to a final resolution. I really still can’t decide if I enjoyed reading it or not.