Armand Durand


Read by Bruce Pirie

(4.5 stars; 18 reviews)

Armand Durand, published in 1868, was written by Rosanna Leprohon, an English-speaker with an insider’s knowledge of French Canada, thanks to her Montreal education and marriage to a man from an old Québécois family.

Paul Durand, a prosperous Québécois farmer, marries in quick succession two very different wives, and fathers two very different sons. The first son, Armand, delicate and bookish, is destined for a legal career in the city; the second, Paul Junior, tougher and down-to-earth, continues life on the farm. The story deals with troubling aspects of parental, sibling, and marital relationships.

Armand Durand may be one of the best Canadian novels that no one has heard of. It was well received in both its English and French editions, but is today hard to find, especially in the original English. Silenced Sextet (1993), a study of 19th-century Canadian women authors whose works were initially popular but later slipped into obscurity, offers this assessment: “it is a mature novel, valuable for its complex human relationships and also for its glimpses of Montreal life in Leprohon’s own time and of rural Quebec life in somewhat earlier days.” - Summary by Bruce Pirie (7 hr 41 min)

Chapters

Chapter I 19:37 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter II 23:40 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter III 22:05 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter IV 24:18 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter V 17:36 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter VI 42:17 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter VII 16:59 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter VIII 17:36 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter IX 21:31 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter X 18:09 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter XI 20:28 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter XII 39:44 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter XIII 13:42 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter XIV 32:45 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter XV 24:18 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter XVI 31:25 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter XVII 36:17 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter XVIII 18:32 Read by Bruce Pirie
Chapter XIX 20:59 Read by Bruce Pirie

Reviews

Worth sticking with this book


(5 stars)

Glad I listened to the end of it. There were moments that I had my doubts. Mr. Bruce Pirie contributed 100% to be able to finish. Thank you, JK

A good beginning.


(3.5 stars)

The reader was great, but I think the the story ended abruptly just when it could have become satisfying.

Riveting


(5 stars)

Addictive... well read... things happen just the way you want them to go... everyone gets what they deserve


(5 stars)

Bruce Pirie's reading is always a pleasure to listen to. If you like Thomas Hardy, you'll like this.


(5 stars)

Very well written and read. Thank you.

5 star


(5 stars)

Excellent book, outstanding reader!