Audiobook · read by volunteers
Spy
James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)
Read by Gord Mackenzie, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Maureen S. O'Brien, Hugh McGuire, Caroline Morse, Kymm Zuckert, Mike Wilson, Ben Douglas, Fox in the Stars, Anita Roy Dobbs · 37 chapters · 16 h 44
About the book
In the hills of New York, in the midst of the American Revolution, everybody believes they know what sort of man the peddler Harvey Birch is. He is a quiet trader who seems to favour the king. But behind that reputation lies a dangerous secret, and the stranger who calls himself Mr Harper may know more than he lets on. James Fenimore Cooper's second novel is a fast, adventurous tale of divided loyalties, narrow escapes and the hidden costs of serving a cause, set in the contested ground between the armies. It made Cooper's name and helped to launch the American historical novel. Ten LibriVox readers share this thirty-seven chapter recording of nearly seventeen hours, which suits a long autumn of listening. It is a lively start to the American novel.
Introduction
James Fenimore Cooper, who lived from 1789 to 1851, was the first American novelist to achieve wide international fame. He is best known today for the Leatherstocking Tales, a series of frontier novels that includes The Last of the Mohicans. But it was The Spy, published in 1821, that first brought him success and money, and it is often described as the first great success in American fiction.
The book was modelled in part on the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott, and its purpose was to do for the American past what Scott had done for Scotland. Cooper chose the Revolutionary War as his subject, with its confusion of loyalties and its divided communities, and he placed a humble figure at the centre rather than a general. The result is a novel of espionage and adventure, full of disguises and chases, but also a study of patriotism and of the people whose service goes unrecognised.
Like many novels of its period, The Spy has a leisurely pace and a formal style, and part of its interest today lies in how it shows the way early American writers were creating a national literature. Ten LibriVox volunteers share the reading. The recording has thirty-seven chapters, starting with a note on the author and his introduction, and lasts nearly seventeen hours.
It is a good choice for listeners who enjoy historical fiction, and a useful companion to the more famous books that followed it. It also offers a fine example of how a story about one reluctant hero can illuminate an entire war. It remains a thoughtful, well-plotted entertainment, and an important marker in the history of American storytelling.
Public domain
James Fenimore Cooper died in 1851: 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