-
A Closed Eye
- Narrated by: Prunella Scales
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.83
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Born to elegant but frivolous parents, Harriet grows up ignored and unguided, and retains a curious innocence that neither her marriage to Freddie Lytton, nor her friendship with the beautiful Tessa can dispel. Freddie is far older than she is - a companion rather than a lover - and slightly disapproving of Tessa and her irresponsible, attractive husband, Jack. Yet all four are bound together: by their backgrounds, their children, by Harriet’s unspoken feelings for Jack and by the tragedy that lies in wait for all of them.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Leaving Home
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Joanna David
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When cautious Emma Roberts goes to France to carry out research into 17th century garden design, she finds a reliable diversion from her studies in her unlikely new friend Francoise Desnoyers, in whose beautiful house she is welcomed as a guest. She is not too dazzled to ignore the tensions that exist between Francoise and her formidable mother, or between Mme. Desnoyers and her other guests. London recedes into the background as life in France becomes more significant in every respect.
-
-
Astute, sensitive, deftly composed and insightful
- By Amazon Customer on 04-10-22
By: Anita Brookner
-
Latecomers
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A novel about human relationships, focusing, unusually for Brookner, on two male characters. Hartmann and Fibich met at school and 40 years later they can no more think of living apart than of divorcing their wives. This book deals with their gradual coming to terms with the emotional gaps in their lives.
-
-
Subtle Study of Characters
- By David P on 01-15-17
By: Anita Brookner
-
Rules of Engagement
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Joanna David
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elizabeth and Betsy are old school friends. Born in 1948 and unready for the sixties, they had high hopes of the lives they would lead, even though their circumstances were so different. When they meet again in their thirties, Elizabeth, married to the safe, older Digby, is relieving the boredom of a cosy but childless marriage with an affair. Betsy seems to have found real romance in Paris. Are their lives taking off, or are they just making more of the wrong choices without even realising it?
-
-
The English language
- By mariella smith-masters on 01-10-24
By: Anita Brookner
-
Fraud
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Anna Massey
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Anna Durrant is reported missing her friends seem unconcerned at her disappearance. After all, her life has been one of concealment. For years Anna submitted to the protective dependence of her mother, and even after Amy Durrant’s death she simply conformed to the expectations of others. Increasingly, Anna feels herself trapped by these expectations.
-
-
Top Shelf Brookner
- By David P on 09-15-15
By: Anita Brookner
-
Falling Slowly
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beatrice considers herself to be delicate and sensitive, idle and confused. Forced into early retirement, she has an unashamed and romantic desire to be rescued by the ideal man. But Beatrice's only family is her orderly sister, Miriam.
-
-
A True Artist
- By David P on 01-03-16
By: Anita Brookner
-
A Family Romance
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the solitary child of mild and gentle parents, Jane is fascinated and astounded by her exotically European aunt, Dolly. Dolly’s ways are certainly not her parents’ ways, yet she is an object of interest and dread to her beleaguered relatives. It is clear that they have nothing in common: Jane feels no affection for Dolly, and Dolly clearly dislikes children. Yet the two are fated to go through life in uneasy harness, until such time as their alliance is accepted by both as not only inevitable, but as something of great value. Read by Fiona Shaw.
-
-
Hello, Dolly.
- By Adeliese Baumann on 08-19-14
By: Anita Brookner
-
Leaving Home
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Joanna David
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When cautious Emma Roberts goes to France to carry out research into 17th century garden design, she finds a reliable diversion from her studies in her unlikely new friend Francoise Desnoyers, in whose beautiful house she is welcomed as a guest. She is not too dazzled to ignore the tensions that exist between Francoise and her formidable mother, or between Mme. Desnoyers and her other guests. London recedes into the background as life in France becomes more significant in every respect.
-
-
Astute, sensitive, deftly composed and insightful
- By Amazon Customer on 04-10-22
By: Anita Brookner
-
Latecomers
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A novel about human relationships, focusing, unusually for Brookner, on two male characters. Hartmann and Fibich met at school and 40 years later they can no more think of living apart than of divorcing their wives. This book deals with their gradual coming to terms with the emotional gaps in their lives.
-
-
Subtle Study of Characters
- By David P on 01-15-17
By: Anita Brookner
-
Rules of Engagement
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Joanna David
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elizabeth and Betsy are old school friends. Born in 1948 and unready for the sixties, they had high hopes of the lives they would lead, even though their circumstances were so different. When they meet again in their thirties, Elizabeth, married to the safe, older Digby, is relieving the boredom of a cosy but childless marriage with an affair. Betsy seems to have found real romance in Paris. Are their lives taking off, or are they just making more of the wrong choices without even realising it?
-
-
The English language
- By mariella smith-masters on 01-10-24
By: Anita Brookner
-
Fraud
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Anna Massey
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Anna Durrant is reported missing her friends seem unconcerned at her disappearance. After all, her life has been one of concealment. For years Anna submitted to the protective dependence of her mother, and even after Amy Durrant’s death she simply conformed to the expectations of others. Increasingly, Anna feels herself trapped by these expectations.
-
-
Top Shelf Brookner
- By David P on 09-15-15
By: Anita Brookner
-
Falling Slowly
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beatrice considers herself to be delicate and sensitive, idle and confused. Forced into early retirement, she has an unashamed and romantic desire to be rescued by the ideal man. But Beatrice's only family is her orderly sister, Miriam.
-
-
A True Artist
- By David P on 01-03-16
By: Anita Brookner
-
A Family Romance
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the solitary child of mild and gentle parents, Jane is fascinated and astounded by her exotically European aunt, Dolly. Dolly’s ways are certainly not her parents’ ways, yet she is an object of interest and dread to her beleaguered relatives. It is clear that they have nothing in common: Jane feels no affection for Dolly, and Dolly clearly dislikes children. Yet the two are fated to go through life in uneasy harness, until such time as their alliance is accepted by both as not only inevitable, but as something of great value. Read by Fiona Shaw.
-
-
Hello, Dolly.
- By Adeliese Baumann on 08-19-14
By: Anita Brookner
-
Undue Influence
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Diana Quick
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Undue Influence is the 19th novel by Anita Brookner, the Booker Prize-winning author of Hotel du Lac. Enigmatic Claire is 30 and lives alone. When she meets Martin Gibson, a faded scholar, she becomes inordinately interested. She is even more interested when she meets his wife, a far more spectacular personality. But the unexpected news of this woman's death releases emotions that were not entirely foreseen.
-
-
An Affair that
- By David P on 08-18-16
By: Anita Brookner
-
A Friend from England
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Cherie Lunghi
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Rachel becomes involved in the lives of the Livingstones it is with an acute appreciation of their home - beautifully furnished and richly decorated. They have won an undisclosed amount of money on the football pools. But rather than enjoy their new-found wealth, seem sadly resigned to it. They do, however, appear to take pleasure in the association between Rachel and their daughter Heather, seeing Rachel as a good influence. However, no one can foresee their own destiny.
-
-
More Brookner Magic
- By David P on 01-31-16
By: Anita Brookner
-
The Bay of Angels
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Moving between Nice and London, The Bay of Angels makes the point that not everyone needs conventional relationships to be happy. It relates the story of Zoe, whose life changes when her widowed mother marries a wealthy older man and moves to Nice.
-
-
A "celebration" of passivity and death
- By RM Simon on 12-10-10
By: Anita Brookner
-
The Next Big Thing
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At seventy-three, Herz is facing an increasingly bewildering world. He cannot see his place in it or even work out what to do with his final years. Questions and misunderstandings haunt Herz like old ghosts. Should he travel, sell his flat, or propose marriage to a friend he has not seen in thirty years? The letters he writes and does not send and the passers-by he encounters remind him how out of touch he is, how detached from the modern world.
-
-
Would be stronger as a novella
- By hh on 02-04-12
By: Anita Brookner
-
The Book Thief
- By: Markus Zusak
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's just a small story really, about, among other things, a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist: books.
-
-
Glad I took a chance.
- By Robert on 08-20-11
By: Markus Zusak
-
The End of the Affair
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Colin Firth
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Graham Greene’s evocative analysis of the love of self, the love of another, and the love of God is an English classic that has been translated for the stage, the screen, and even the opera house. Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, A Single Man) turns in an authentic and stirring performance for this distinguished audio release.
-
-
Colin Firth Kills It
- By Em on 05-09-12
By: Graham Greene
-
Excellent Women
- By: Barbara Pym
- Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mildred Lathbury is a clergyman's daughter and a mild-mannered spinster in 1950s England. She is one of those excellent women - the smart, supportive, repressed women whom men take for granted. As Mildred gets embroiled in the lives of her new neighbors - anthropologist Helena Napier; Helen's handsome, dashing husband, Rocky; and Julian Malory, the vicar next door - the novel presents a series of snapshots of human life as actually, and pluckily, lived.
-
-
Still Waters Run Deep
- By Sara on 04-13-16
By: Barbara Pym
-
The Heart's Invisible Furies
- A Novel
- By: John Boyne
- Narrated by: Stephen Hogan
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery - or at least that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.
-
-
Outstanding. A Must listen.
- By Keith G on 09-04-17
By: John Boyne
-
Birnam Wood
- A Novel
- By: Eleanor Catton
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass on New Zealand’s South Island, cutting off the town of Thorndike and leaving a sizable farm abandoned. The disaster presents an opportunity for Birnam Wood, an undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice. For years, the group has struggled to break even. To occupy the farm at Thorndike would mean a shot at solvency at last. But the enigmatic American billionaire Robert Lemoine also has an interest in the place.
-
-
Outstanding thriller w/ exceptional character development
- By Bradley T. Collins on 04-21-23
By: Eleanor Catton
-
Brat Farrar
- By: Josephine Tey
- Narrated by: Carole Boyd
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A stranger enters the inner sanctum of the Ashby family posing as Patrick Ashby, the heir to the family’s sizeable fortune. The stranger, Brat Farrar, has been carefully coached on Patrick’s mannerisms, appearance and every significant detail of Patrick’s early life, up to his 13th year when he disappeared and was thought to have drowned himself.
-
-
Great all around
- By Catherine on 10-23-11
By: Josephine Tey
-
A Change of Climate
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Sandra Duncan
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ralph and Anna Eldred are an exemplary couple, devoting themselves to doing good. 30 years ago as missionaries in Africa, the worst that could happen did. Shattered by their encounter with inexplicable evil, they returned to England, never to speak of it again. But when Ralph falls into an affair, Anna finds no forgiveness in her heart, and 30 years of repressed rage and grief explode, destroying not only a marriage but also their love, their faith, and everything they thought they were.
-
-
Beautifully written
- By Patricia S. on 10-11-15
By: Hilary Mantel
-
The Course of Love
- A Novel
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We all know the headiness and excitement of the early days of love. But what comes after? In Edinburgh a couple, Rabih and Kirsten, fall in love. They get married, they have children—but no long-term relationship is as simple as "happily ever after". The Course of Love is a novel that explores what happens after the birth of love, what it takes to maintain love, and what happens to our original ideals under the pressures of an average existence.
-
-
Amazing, much needed retooling of the expectations and realities of Love
- By Lydia on 07-04-16
By: Alain de Botton
Related to this topic
-
Fraud
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Anna Massey
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Anna Durrant is reported missing her friends seem unconcerned at her disappearance. After all, her life has been one of concealment. For years Anna submitted to the protective dependence of her mother, and even after Amy Durrant’s death she simply conformed to the expectations of others. Increasingly, Anna feels herself trapped by these expectations.
-
-
Top Shelf Brookner
- By David P on 09-15-15
By: Anita Brookner
-
The Museum of Innocence
- By: Orhan Pamuk, Maureen Freely (translator)
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kemal, scion of one of the city's wealthiest families, is about to become engaged to Sibel, daughter of another prominent family, when he encounters Füsun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation. Once the long-lost cousins violate the code of virginity, a rift begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul bourgeosie - a world, as he lovingly describes it, with opulent parties and clubs, society gossip, picnics, and mansions on the Bosphorus, infused with the melancholy of decay.
-
-
one of the very best I've ever heard
- By Rebecca Lindroos on 03-06-10
By: Orhan Pamuk, and others
-
Of Human Bondage
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 28 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Of Human Bondage is one of the greatest novels of modern times, and it is certainly Maugham's greatest achievement. It was published in 1914, when Maugham was at the height of his creative powers. The story concerns Philip Carey, afflicted at birth with a club foot, and his passionate search for truth in a cruel world. We follow his growth to manhood, his educational progress, his first loves, and the wrenching tragedies and disappointments that life has in store for him. In some of the finest prose of the 20th century, Maugham has presented us with the timeless story of one man's search for the meaning of life.
-
-
Greatly Unsettling
- By Michael on 10-04-14
-
The Enchanted April
- By: Elizabeth von Arnim
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a journey of both escape and discovery for four exquisitely different women, a month of bliss and privacy for four weary souls. Their refuge on the Italian Riviera provides the perfect backdrop for a story about the search for spiritual harmony within and without.
-
-
Excellent book, excellent narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 02-26-05
-
Anna of the Five Towns
- By: Arnold Bennett
- Narrated by: Peter Joyce
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in stifled, industrial Staffordshire in the late 19th century, against a strong evangelical background, Anna of the Five Towns tells of the courting of hard businessman Ephraim Tellright's daughter by prosperous and accomplished Henry Mynors. As her father's fortune grows, so does Anna understanding. She realises her legacy and responsibility for the possible ruination of her father's tenants, Titus Price and his son, Willie, who also loves her.
By: Arnold Bennett
-
Past Imperfect
- By: Julian Fellowes
- Narrated by: Richard Morant
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Damian Baxter is hugely wealthy and dying. He lives alone in a big house in Surrey, England, looked after by a chauffeur, butler, cook and housemaid. He has but one concern--his fortune in excess of 500 million and who should inherit it on his death.
-
-
Read Snobs instead
- By cristina on 02-14-13
By: Julian Fellowes
-
Fraud
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Anna Massey
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Anna Durrant is reported missing her friends seem unconcerned at her disappearance. After all, her life has been one of concealment. For years Anna submitted to the protective dependence of her mother, and even after Amy Durrant’s death she simply conformed to the expectations of others. Increasingly, Anna feels herself trapped by these expectations.
-
-
Top Shelf Brookner
- By David P on 09-15-15
By: Anita Brookner
-
The Museum of Innocence
- By: Orhan Pamuk, Maureen Freely (translator)
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kemal, scion of one of the city's wealthiest families, is about to become engaged to Sibel, daughter of another prominent family, when he encounters Füsun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation. Once the long-lost cousins violate the code of virginity, a rift begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul bourgeosie - a world, as he lovingly describes it, with opulent parties and clubs, society gossip, picnics, and mansions on the Bosphorus, infused with the melancholy of decay.
-
-
one of the very best I've ever heard
- By Rebecca Lindroos on 03-06-10
By: Orhan Pamuk, and others
-
Of Human Bondage
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 28 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Of Human Bondage is one of the greatest novels of modern times, and it is certainly Maugham's greatest achievement. It was published in 1914, when Maugham was at the height of his creative powers. The story concerns Philip Carey, afflicted at birth with a club foot, and his passionate search for truth in a cruel world. We follow his growth to manhood, his educational progress, his first loves, and the wrenching tragedies and disappointments that life has in store for him. In some of the finest prose of the 20th century, Maugham has presented us with the timeless story of one man's search for the meaning of life.
-
-
Greatly Unsettling
- By Michael on 10-04-14
-
The Enchanted April
- By: Elizabeth von Arnim
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a journey of both escape and discovery for four exquisitely different women, a month of bliss and privacy for four weary souls. Their refuge on the Italian Riviera provides the perfect backdrop for a story about the search for spiritual harmony within and without.
-
-
Excellent book, excellent narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 02-26-05
-
Anna of the Five Towns
- By: Arnold Bennett
- Narrated by: Peter Joyce
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in stifled, industrial Staffordshire in the late 19th century, against a strong evangelical background, Anna of the Five Towns tells of the courting of hard businessman Ephraim Tellright's daughter by prosperous and accomplished Henry Mynors. As her father's fortune grows, so does Anna understanding. She realises her legacy and responsibility for the possible ruination of her father's tenants, Titus Price and his son, Willie, who also loves her.
By: Arnold Bennett
-
Past Imperfect
- By: Julian Fellowes
- Narrated by: Richard Morant
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Damian Baxter is hugely wealthy and dying. He lives alone in a big house in Surrey, England, looked after by a chauffeur, butler, cook and housemaid. He has but one concern--his fortune in excess of 500 million and who should inherit it on his death.
-
-
Read Snobs instead
- By cristina on 02-14-13
By: Julian Fellowes
-
The Glimpses of the Moon
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in the 1920s, The Glimpses of the Moon details the romantic misadventures of Nick Lansing and Susy Branch, a couple with the right connections but not much in the way of funds. They devise a shrewd bargain: they'll marry and spend a year or so sponging off their wealthy friends, honeymooning in their mansions and villas.
-
-
Couldn't stop listening
- By Michael Breed on 12-09-09
By: Edith Wharton
-
Sense & Sensibility
- By: Joanna Trollope
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elinor Dashwood, an architecture student, values patience and reliability. Her impulsive sister, Marianne, takes after their mother, Belle, and is fiery and creative, filling the house with her dramas and guitar playing while dreaming of going to art school. But when their father, Henry Dashwood, dies suddenly, his whole family finds itself forced out of Norland Park, their beloved home for twenty years.
-
-
Was this Really Written by Joanna Trollope?
- By Beach Girl on 07-15-14
By: Joanna Trollope
-
The Razor's Edge
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Great War changed everything and everyone, and Larry Darrell is no exception. Though his physical wounds from the war heal, his spirit is changed almost beyond recognition. He leaves his betrothed, the beautiful and devoted Isabel; studies philosophy and religion in Paris; lives as a monk, and witnesses the exotic hardships of Spanish life. All of life that he can find - from an Indian Ashrama to labor in a coal mine - becomes Larry's spiritual experiment as he spurns the comfort and privilege of the Roaring 20s.
-
-
An Classic of Love and the Desire for Meaning
- By Eric on 01-06-17
-
The Young Clementina
- By: D. E. Stevenson
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charlotte Dean enjoys nothing more than the solitude of her London flat and the monotonous days of her work at a travel bookshop. But when her younger sister unceremoniously bursts into her quiet life one afternoon, Charlotte's world turns topsy-turvy. Beloved author D. E. Stevenson captures the intricacies of post-World War I England with a light, comic touch that perfectly embodies the spirit of the time. Alternatively heartbreaking and witty, The Young Clementina is a touching tale of love, loss and redemption through friendship.
-
-
Miss Dean's Dilemma
- By Jerri C on 05-02-18
By: D. E. Stevenson
-
Late in the Day
- A Novel
- By: Tessa Hadley
- Narrated by: Abigail Thaw
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexandr and Christine and Zachary and Lydia have been friends since they first met in their 20s. Thirty years later, Alex and Christine are spending a leisurely summer’s evening at home when they receive a call from a distraught Lydia: She is at the hospital. Zach is dead. In the wake of this profound loss, the three friends find themselves unmoored; all agree that Zach, with his generous, grounded spirit, was the irreplaceable one they couldn’t afford to lose. Inconsolable, Lydia moves in with Alex and Christine. The loss warps their relationships.
-
-
It's all in the performance
- By RueRue on 02-08-19
By: Tessa Hadley
-
Mrs. Tim of the Regiment
- By: D. E. Stevenson
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vivacious, young Hester Christie tries to run her home like clockwork, as would befit the wife of British Army officer, Tim Christie. However hard Mrs Tim strives for seamless living amidst the other army wives, she is always moving flat-out to remember groceries, rule lively children, side-step village gossip and placate her husband with bacon, eggs, toast and marmalade. Left alone for months at a time whilst her husband is with his regiment, Mrs Tim resolves to keep a diary of events large and small in her family life.
-
-
Life as a military wife
- By Jerri C on 03-09-13
By: D. E. Stevenson
-
The Custom of the Country
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Grace Conlin
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Edith Wharton's most acclaimed works, The Custom of the Country is a blistering indictment of materialism, power, and misplaced values. Its heroine, Undine Spragg, is one of the most ruthless characters in all of literature, as selfishly unscrupulous as she is fiercely beautiful. As she climbs the class ladder through a series of marriages and affairs, she shows little concern for who she has to step on.
-
-
Narrator kills the book
- By Mississippi Malka on 05-24-10
By: Edith Wharton
-
Now, Voyager
- Femmes Fatales
- By: Olive Higgins Prouty
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Boston blueblood Charlotte Vale has led an unhappy, sheltered life. Lonely, dowdy, repressed, and pushing 40, Charlotte finds salvation at a sanitarium, where she undergoes an emotional and physical transformation. After her extreme makeover, the new Charlotte tests her mettle by embarking on a cruise and finds herself in a torrid love affair with a married man which ends at the conclusion of the voyage. But only then can the real journey begin, as Charlotte is forced to navigate a new life for herself.
-
-
The Inspiration for The Movie Classic
- By Susie on 12-17-12
-
The Woman from Paris
- By: Santa Montefiore
- Narrated by: Tara Ward
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lord Frampton dies in a skiing accident, a beautiful young woman named Phaedra appears at his funeral - claiming to be the Lord’s illegitimate daughter. In his will, Lord Frampton has left the priceless Frampton suite of sapphires to this interloper, confirming her claim and outraging his three adult sons and widow. Eventually, however, Phaedra’s sweet nature thaws the frosty relationships. She becomes the daughter that Antoinette Frampton never had and a wise and compassionate granddaughter to the formidable Dowager Lady Frampton.
-
-
Worth the time...
- By Esther Cunningham on 09-28-16
By: Santa Montefiore
-
Asylum
- By: Patrick McGrath
- Narrated by: Sir Ian McKellen
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1959 Stella Raphael joins her psychiatrist husband, Max, at his new posting - a maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane. Stella soon falls under the spell of Edgar Stark, a brilliant sculptor who has been confined to the hospital for murdering his wife in a psychotic rage. But Stella's knowledge of Edgar's crime is no hindrance to the volcanic attraction that ensues -a passion that will consume Stella's sanity and destroy her and the lives of those around her.
-
-
So enjoyed this book!
- By Mebythesea on 10-07-08
By: Patrick McGrath
-
Corduroy Mansions
- A Novel
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In London’s Pimlico neighborhood lies a tenement described in architectural guides as “a building of no interest whatsoever.” But the residents of Corduroy Mansions—including a literary agent, a wine merchant, a thoroughly unpleasant member of Parliament, and a vegetarian dog—are a rather fascinating lot.
-
-
Oedipus Snark, MP
- By connie on 04-25-12
-
Up a Road Slowly
- By: Irene Hunt
- Narrated by: Jaselyn Blanchard
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julie would remember her happy days at Aunt Cordelia’s forever. Running through the spacious rooms, singing on rainy nights in front of the blazing fireplace. There were rides in the woods on Peter the Great, the races with Danny Trevort. Maybe best of all were the precious moments alone in her room at night, gazing at the sea of stars. But there was sadness too - the painful jealousy Julie felt after her sister got married, the tragic death of a schoolmate, and the bitter disappointment of her first love. Sometimes it all seemed like too much to handle.
-
-
Coming of age in mid century
- By Mary A. Kozy on 01-17-21
By: Irene Hunt
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
A Friend from England
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Cherie Lunghi
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Rachel becomes involved in the lives of the Livingstones it is with an acute appreciation of their home - beautifully furnished and richly decorated. They have won an undisclosed amount of money on the football pools. But rather than enjoy their new-found wealth, seem sadly resigned to it. They do, however, appear to take pleasure in the association between Rachel and their daughter Heather, seeing Rachel as a good influence. However, no one can foresee their own destiny.
-
-
More Brookner Magic
- By David P on 01-31-16
By: Anita Brookner
-
Leaving Home
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Joanna David
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When cautious Emma Roberts goes to France to carry out research into 17th century garden design, she finds a reliable diversion from her studies in her unlikely new friend Francoise Desnoyers, in whose beautiful house she is welcomed as a guest. She is not too dazzled to ignore the tensions that exist between Francoise and her formidable mother, or between Mme. Desnoyers and her other guests. London recedes into the background as life in France becomes more significant in every respect.
-
-
Astute, sensitive, deftly composed and insightful
- By Amazon Customer on 04-10-22
By: Anita Brookner
-
Rules of Engagement
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Joanna David
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elizabeth and Betsy are old school friends. Born in 1948 and unready for the sixties, they had high hopes of the lives they would lead, even though their circumstances were so different. When they meet again in their thirties, Elizabeth, married to the safe, older Digby, is relieving the boredom of a cosy but childless marriage with an affair. Betsy seems to have found real romance in Paris. Are their lives taking off, or are they just making more of the wrong choices without even realising it?
-
-
The English language
- By mariella smith-masters on 01-10-24
By: Anita Brookner
-
Falling Slowly
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beatrice considers herself to be delicate and sensitive, idle and confused. Forced into early retirement, she has an unashamed and romantic desire to be rescued by the ideal man. But Beatrice's only family is her orderly sister, Miriam.
-
-
A True Artist
- By David P on 01-03-16
By: Anita Brookner
-
Latecomers
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A novel about human relationships, focusing, unusually for Brookner, on two male characters. Hartmann and Fibich met at school and 40 years later they can no more think of living apart than of divorcing their wives. This book deals with their gradual coming to terms with the emotional gaps in their lives.
-
-
Subtle Study of Characters
- By David P on 01-15-17
By: Anita Brookner
-
Fraud
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Anna Massey
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Anna Durrant is reported missing her friends seem unconcerned at her disappearance. After all, her life has been one of concealment. For years Anna submitted to the protective dependence of her mother, and even after Amy Durrant’s death she simply conformed to the expectations of others. Increasingly, Anna feels herself trapped by these expectations.
-
-
Top Shelf Brookner
- By David P on 09-15-15
By: Anita Brookner
-
A Friend from England
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Cherie Lunghi
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Rachel becomes involved in the lives of the Livingstones it is with an acute appreciation of their home - beautifully furnished and richly decorated. They have won an undisclosed amount of money on the football pools. But rather than enjoy their new-found wealth, seem sadly resigned to it. They do, however, appear to take pleasure in the association between Rachel and their daughter Heather, seeing Rachel as a good influence. However, no one can foresee their own destiny.
-
-
More Brookner Magic
- By David P on 01-31-16
By: Anita Brookner
-
Leaving Home
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Joanna David
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When cautious Emma Roberts goes to France to carry out research into 17th century garden design, she finds a reliable diversion from her studies in her unlikely new friend Francoise Desnoyers, in whose beautiful house she is welcomed as a guest. She is not too dazzled to ignore the tensions that exist between Francoise and her formidable mother, or between Mme. Desnoyers and her other guests. London recedes into the background as life in France becomes more significant in every respect.
-
-
Astute, sensitive, deftly composed and insightful
- By Amazon Customer on 04-10-22
By: Anita Brookner
-
Rules of Engagement
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Joanna David
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elizabeth and Betsy are old school friends. Born in 1948 and unready for the sixties, they had high hopes of the lives they would lead, even though their circumstances were so different. When they meet again in their thirties, Elizabeth, married to the safe, older Digby, is relieving the boredom of a cosy but childless marriage with an affair. Betsy seems to have found real romance in Paris. Are their lives taking off, or are they just making more of the wrong choices without even realising it?
-
-
The English language
- By mariella smith-masters on 01-10-24
By: Anita Brookner
-
Falling Slowly
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beatrice considers herself to be delicate and sensitive, idle and confused. Forced into early retirement, she has an unashamed and romantic desire to be rescued by the ideal man. But Beatrice's only family is her orderly sister, Miriam.
-
-
A True Artist
- By David P on 01-03-16
By: Anita Brookner
-
Latecomers
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A novel about human relationships, focusing, unusually for Brookner, on two male characters. Hartmann and Fibich met at school and 40 years later they can no more think of living apart than of divorcing their wives. This book deals with their gradual coming to terms with the emotional gaps in their lives.
-
-
Subtle Study of Characters
- By David P on 01-15-17
By: Anita Brookner
-
Fraud
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Anna Massey
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Anna Durrant is reported missing her friends seem unconcerned at her disappearance. After all, her life has been one of concealment. For years Anna submitted to the protective dependence of her mother, and even after Amy Durrant’s death she simply conformed to the expectations of others. Increasingly, Anna feels herself trapped by these expectations.
-
-
Top Shelf Brookner
- By David P on 09-15-15
By: Anita Brookner
What listeners say about A Closed Eye
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Christine A Saunders
- 01-26-17
Beautifully written. Genuine heartfelt performance
Anita Brookner makes writing beautiful, evocative novels look easy, but relatively few manage to achieve the level of excellence that she does with every book she writes. Combine Brooker's writing with Prunella Scales' narration and you can do nothing but sit back in awe...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Marina Amarose
- 04-13-22
Almost unbearably sad . . .
This is brilliant writing about the interior feelings of a woman coming to terms with her actual life instead of the one she imagined.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 11-01-22
In a word: brilliant
Superb novel and most outstanding narration by Prunella Scales, a true Brookner classic. Do not hesitate.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- sigrun
- 06-22-12
From the inside
Would you listen to A Closed Eye again? Why?
I would love to reread this book, it's a simple but at the same time very intriguing story. It is as if Brookner is inside her characters, an inside which is rather blank except for chilling winds of emptiness.
What other book might you compare A Closed Eye to and why?
I think this is a typical Brookner novel, in a positive way.
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Prunella Scales?
Anyone, Scales is terrible at this, she does not manage to give the characters in the story a personal voice.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David P
- 05-15-16
The Late Great Ms. Brookner
Please don't take my word for it--I'm a Brookner fan and am happy to listen to anything she's written. No real story? No problem. Lots of brilliant moments and profound insights. Similar to her other books? Well, why else would I read it? Essentially depressing? The truth often is. The narration is exceptional and the book weaves Brookner's spell as always.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cynthia
- 09-24-17
Boring.
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
The narrator did her best with the material. She sounded bored; it was a boring book.
Any additional comments?
Not worth the credit.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- SavvyShopper
- 07-16-20
Constantly waiting for a story....
Dull in the extreme. Devoid of plot or story. The incomparable Prunella Scales is the only redeeming factor. Her melodious tones are soothing to the ear, but ...she had nothing to say!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!