Sweep

The Story of a Girl and Her Monster

By: Jonathan Auxier

Narrated by: Sarah Coomes

"This atmospheric work of historical fiction and magical realism takes place in nineteenth-century London. Narrator Sarah Coomes creates a variety of voices for the chimney sweeps - Cockney climbing kids who are the featured characters. Listeners meet Nan Sparrow, the legendary climber; a malevolent master; a soft-spoken Jewish immigrant; a gentle chimney sweep; and Charlie - Nan's 'monster'.... Coomes's monster's squeaky voice is jarring at first, but listeners will quickly discover that it fits his kind and childlike personality. Coomes's voice and Auxier's prose combine to create an immersive experience. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award." (AudioFile magazine)

For nearly a century, Victorian London relied on “climbing boys” - orphans owned by chimney sweeps - to clean flues and protect homes from fire. The work was hard, thankless, and brutally dangerous.

Eleven-year-old Nan Sparrow is quite possibly the best climber who ever lived - and a girl. With her wits and will, she’s managed to beat the deadly odds time and time again. But when Nan gets stuck in a deadly chimney fire, she fears her time has come.

Instead, she wakes to find herself in an abandoned attic. And she is not alone. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creature - a golem - made from ash and coal. This is the creature that saved her from the fire.

Sweep is the story of a girl and her monster. Together, these two outcasts carve out a life - saving one another in the process. By one of today’s most powerful storytellers, Sweep is a heartrending adventure about the everlasting gifts of friendship and hope.

©2018 Jonathan Auxier (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Perfect. A new favorite.

The story, the narration - every second of this was flawless.

After reading Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience in college, I've never been able to hear anything about chimney sweeps (even in Mary Poppins) without thinking of Blake's work and the horrors he captured in his poems. This story is a stunning, heartfelt expansion of the same themes, masterfully written and mixed with magic. The way the author captures both the world through the eyes of a child and the aching joy of parenthood is sublime.

The narrator too is absolutely perfect. Great voicing of multiple characters, and absolutely nails the right level of "evocative storyteller" voice without going overboard. If Audible redid the entire catalog in her voice, I'm pretty sure no one would be mad. Please. Someone make a way for this lady to read everything to me forever.

I came to this book expecting nothing more than a diverting listen, but will come back again and again for what is easily the best book I've read or listened to in a long while. Love, love, love.

Wonderful book!

I listened to this with my 3 boys ages 8, 10 and 11. We absolutely LOVED it!! It brought us so much emotion thinking of all that happened to these children. We were in tears at the end and were so sad it was over.

Superb!

Narrator is wonderful. Story has so much depth to it. I read ahead of my kids because I just wanted to know what was next. I cried at the end! Loved the authors writing style, I will be looking at more books he’s written. It’s on my top faves list!

What is a monster?

The setting of Victorian England and the lives of the chimney sweeps really set the atmosphere for this lovely story. For me, the best part of this book was the lovely, tender relationships of the main characters - Nan, the Sweep, Charlie, and Toby. The character development of Charlie was absolutely wonderful. Themes abound in this tale from saving yourself by saving others, who is a monster, the power of literature to express opinions and influence society, value of literacy, child labor, plight of the poor, love and loss. And for me, that is where the story loses a bit of focus. I think if the author had narrowed his focus a bit this would have been a stronger story. The relationships are where this story soars. The backdrop set just the right amount of menace. I felt the elements at the school fell a bit flat for me and the climax of the march was a bit over the top at times. All in all though this was a really strong story.

A story for everyone.

“ We save ourselves by saving others” is the message of this story. It’s a beautiful tale of hardship, pain and overcoming obstacles while protecting those you love. It takes you into the world of 1800’s England when very young poor children were used to their disadvantage and often death for the good of others pockets and houses. I first read the book and now have listened with a wonderful narrator. This is not a book for children only. It is a story for all ages. It’s a beautiful tale and one I will listen to again. Thank you Jonathan Auxier.