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Fry takes his title from Webster's play the Duchess of Malfi: "We are merely the star's tennis balls, struck and bandied which way may please them", and Ned finds out that while fate dealt him a kind hand at birth, his luck cannot hold indefinitely. Fry's novel, which he reads in its entirety for this audio book, plots a tragic cycle of blame, retribution and just plain bad luck. Yet as this pattern builds it quickly spirals out of control; running at ten hours long this is an ambitious novel and the strain shows with Fry, who like the story's villain Ashley, frequently relies on cliché to overcome difficulties.
However, if Fry's story is flawed, his reading is virtuosic. Unsurprisingly in a novel so concerned with power and status, accent is of key importance, with large sections of the novel consisting entirely of dialogue, yet Fry never resorts to caricature to differentiate between voices. Instead, he relies on precise observation of nuance and inflection creating a beautiful layering of different types of speech. It is this which most recommends Fry's reading--both as a valuable complement to the novel and as a performance in its own right. Those who know Fry best as a comic actor will not be disappointed by the sharp one-liners sprinkled throughout the piece, they may however be surprised by its darkness. --Anoushka Alexander
"It is impossible to be unimpressed by Stephen Fry's writing." -- "Scotland on Sunday"
"No one can make you feel quite like Stephen Fry can." --"Time Out"
"Stephen Fry is one of the great originals." -- "Financial Times"
"From the Hardcover edition."
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