The Europeans
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The Europeans
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Narrated by:
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Peter Joyce
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By:
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Henry James
About this listen
One of Henry James’ main themes was the interaction between the Old World and the New. Restless Baroness Eugenia Munster and her charming bohemian brother Felix are visiting their American cousins in Boston, New England. The effect these two extravagant characters have on their austere Puritan relations forms the substance of the book and is told in a series of scenes or ‘sketches’. The author writes with subtly observed good humour which accelerates and escalates into higher comedy as Felix, the main protagonist, manipulates his cousin’s emotional affiliations. James is most impartial and so the wit is at the expense of neither faction, although one suspects that his sympathies lie more with the European temperament rather than the cloistered sensibilities of New England, a suspicion given credence by the fact that, after living in Britain for twenty years, he eventually obtained citizenship. In a letter to the publisher, outlining his plan for the novel, James wrote; ‘I agree to squeeze my buxom muse… I will lace her so tight that she shall have the neatest little figure in the world. It shall be a very joyous little romance..’ He succeeded brilliantly.
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-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 121
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 107
Written before she began her experiments in the writing of fiction, Virginia Woolf's second novel, Night and Day, is a story about a group of young people trying to discover what it means to fall in love. It asks all the big questions: What does it mean to fall in love? Does marriage grant happiness? What is happiness? Night and Day is a conventional novel; however, it maps out for us the world of Virginia Woolf in its wondrous prose: For her it was the beginning, leading on to a prolonged engagement with her search for the means to express the "inner life".
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4 out of 5 stars
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"After all, what is love?"
- By Eman Abd Allah on 12-13-16
By: Virginia Woolf
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Dombey and Son
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 36 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 123
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
In this carefully crafted novel, Dickens reveals the complexity of London society in the enterprising 1840s as he takes the listener into the business firm and home of one of its most representative patriarchs, Paul Dombey.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Perfect pair
- By Philip on 03-25-08
By: Charles Dickens
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Shirley
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 25 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 443
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 373
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 371
Set in the industrialising England of the Napoleonic wars, a period of bad harvests, Luddite riots, and economic unrest, Shirley is the story of two contrasting heroines and the men they love. One is the shy Caroline Helstone, trapped in the oppressive atmosphere of a Yorkshire rectory, whose life represents the plight of single women in the 19th century. The other is the vivacious Shirley Keeldar, who inherits a local estate and whose wealth liberates her from convention.
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5 out of 5 stars
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"As Romantic As Monday Morning"
- By Joseph R on 09-15-09
By: Charlotte Brontë
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The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
- By: Anne Brontë
- Narrated by: Mary Sarah Agliotta
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 538
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 478
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 473
Probably the most shocking of the Brontës' novels, this novel had an instant and phenomenal success and is widely considered to be one of the first sustained feminist novels. A mysterious widow, Mrs. Helen Graham, arrives at Wildfell Hall, a nearby old mansion. A source of curiosity for the small community, the reticent Helen and her young son Arthur are slowly drawn into the social circles of the village.
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2 out of 5 stars
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A good story ruined by the narrator
- By i. Ski on 04-17-14
By: Anne Brontë
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Agnes Grey
- By: Anne Bronte
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 113
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 113
Written when women---and workers generally---had few rights in England, Agnes Grey exposes the brutal inequities of the rigid class system in mid-19th-century Britain. Agnes comes from a respectable middle-class family, but their financial reverses have forced her to seek work as a governess.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Make.it.stop.
- By Wayne on 03-18-22
By: Anne Bronte
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Agnes Grey
- By: Anne Brontë
- Narrated by: Emilia Fox
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 779
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 680
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 674
Having lost the family savings on risky investments, Richard Grey removes himself from family life and suffers a bout of depression. Feeling helpless and frustrated, his youngest daughter, Agnes, applies for a job as a governess to the children of a wealthy, upper-class, English family. Ecstatic at the thought that she has finally gained control and freedom over her own life, Agnes arrives at the Bloomfield mansion armed with confidence and purpose.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it
- By Kerry on 05-22-10
By: Anne Brontë
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The Belton Estate
- By: Anthony Trollope
- Narrated by: Flo Gibson
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4 out of 5 stars 58
Charming, loving Clara Amedroz is involved with two suitors. How she deals with this dilemma is full of humor and very moving.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Claire's Two Lovers
- By Joseph R on 08-27-09
By: Anthony Trollope
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The Custom of the Country
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 376
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 336
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 331
Edith Wharton stands among the finest writers of early 20th-century America. In The Custom of the Country, Wharton’s scathing social commentary is on full display through the beautiful and manipulative Undine Spragg. When Undine convinces her nouveau riche parents to move to New York, she quickly injects herself into high society. But even a well-to-do husband isn’t enough for Undine, whose overwhelming lust for wealth proves to be her undoing.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Cannot recommend a better narrator!
- By Esther on 07-29-12
By: Edith Wharton
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Dombey and Son
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 39 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 606
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 560
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 556
Dombey and Son is vintage Dickens and explores the classic themes of betrayal, cruelty and deceit. Dombey's dysfunctional relationships are painted against a backdrop of social unrest in industrialized London, which is populated by a host of fascinating and memorable secondary characters. The complete and unabridged novel is brought spectacularly to life by veteran reader David Timson.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Utterly incredible!
- By Amazon Customer on 03-12-12
By: Charles Dickens
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Middlemarch
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 35 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,147
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,666
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,629
Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best Audible book ever
- By Molly-o on 12-25-11
By: George Eliot
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Wives and Daughters
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 25 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 640
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 492
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 488
Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centers on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. When he remarries, a new stepsister enters Molly's quiet life, the loveable, but worldly and troubling, Cynthia. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford.
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5 out of 5 stars
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It's not about the ending!
- By Sandra on 07-25-05
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Anna Karenina
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 35 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13,690
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12,524
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12,453
Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Need to Disclose and Highlight Name of Translator
- By Charles B on 08-27-18
By: Leo Tolstoy
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The Rise of Silas Lapham
- By: William Dean Howells
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 52
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Story4 out of 5 stars 50
Howells’ best-known work and a subtle classic of its time, The Rise of Silas Lapham is an elegant tale of Boston society and manners. After garnering a fortune in the paint business, Silas Lapham moves his family from their Vermont farm to the city of Boston in order to improve his social position. The consequences of this endeavor are both humorous and tragic as the greedy Silas brings his company to the brink of bankruptcy.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Important for the Era
- By Brent on 03-19-23