Audiobook · read by volunteers
Enchanted Island of Yew
L. Frank Baum (1856–1919)
Read by Ted Delorme · 15 chapters · 4 h 42
About the book
A bored fairy, tired of her tranquil life, decides she wants adventure, and the surest way to get it is to become a boy. With the help of some young girls she is transformed into a human lad and sets off under the name Prince Marvel. The island of Yew proves to be a land of kings, knights, dragons and other medieval menaces, and he has barely stepped into it when trouble arrives. He is joined by an eccentric squire with a strange appetite for suffering, and together they wander from kingdom to kingdom, dealing with villains, puzzles and odd customs along the way. The tone is lively, witty and playful, with the gentle absurdity that marks the best of Baum's fantasy. Ted Delorme reads all fifteen chapters in around four and three-quarter hours, making this a rare treat for listeners who think they know every corner of the author's imagined worlds.
Introduction
The Enchanted Island of Yew was published in 1903 by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919), three years after the first Oz book and a year before the second. It is one of the author's fantasies set outside Oz, and it shows him experimenting with the fairy-tale tradition: a fairy who chooses to become a boy, and a medieval world turned upside down by comic invention.
The book carries a subtitle in some editions that mentions Prince Marvel, and he is indeed at the centre. The story moves episodically, from one realm to the next, letting Baum play with the figures of the old tales. Kings can be foolish, knights are not always brave, and magic seldom works quite as planned. For modern listeners it is interesting to see how the writer mixes parody with sincere wonder.
The recording divides into 15 chapters and lasts about 4.7 hours. It is read by one LibriVox volunteer, Ted Delorme, and the first track combines the opening two chapters.
Why listen today? Because it is a lesser-known work by a very famous author, and because it is full of cheerful invention. Fans of Oz will find the same warmth, while newcomers can enjoy an adventure that needs no previous knowledge. The book also offers a pleasing contrast for readers who know Baum only through Oz: here the author is free to invent without a fixed map, and the result has a sense of improvisation. The squire's odd habit and the hero's cheerful courage give the narrative a comic engine that keeps running from chapter to chapter.
Public domain
L. Frank Baum died in 1919: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text