
Adam Bede
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Narrated by:
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Jill Tanner
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By:
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George Eliot
About this listen
With an introduction and notes by Doreen Roberts, University of Kent at Canterbury
"Examine your words well, and you will find that even when you have no motive to be false, it is a very hard thing to say the exact truth, even about your immediate feelings...."
Adam Bede (1859), George Eliot's first full-length novel, marked the emergence of an artist to rank with Scott and Dickens. Set in the English Midlands of farmers and village craftsmen at the turn of the 18th century, the book relates a story of seduction issuing in "the inward suffering which is the worst form of Nemesis". But it is also a rich and pioneering record - drawing on intimate knowledge and affectionate memory - of a rural world that we have lost. The movement of the narration between social realism and reflection on its own processes, the exploration of motives, and the constant authorial presence all bespeak an art that strives to connect the fictional with the actual.
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Story
Set in the turbulent years following the death of Lorenzo de' Medici, George Eliot's fourth novel, Romola, moves the stage from the English countryside of the 19th century to an Italy four centuries before her time. It tells the tale of a young Florentine woman, Romola de' Bardi, and her coming of age through her troubled marriage to the suave and self-absorbed Greek Tito. Slowly Tito's true character begins to unfurl, and his lies and treachery push Romola toward a more spiritual path, where she transcends into a majestic, Madonna-like role.
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Listened to it 4 times in a row
- By Theodoc on 12-14-21
By: George Eliot
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Our Mutual Friend
- The Audible Dickens Collection
- By: Charles Dickens, Lucinda Hawksley - introduction
- Narrated by: Meera Syal, Lucinda Hawksley - introduction
- Length: 34 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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This definitive performance of Our Mutual Friend - Dickens' final completed novel - features expert narration by Meera Syal and an exclusive introduction. Full of both satire and social analysis, Our Mutual Friend looks at what could happen in Victorian England when a fortune passes to a working-class couple.
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Spectacular Performance
- By David P on 06-30-20
By: Charles Dickens, and others
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The Europeans
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Eugenia, an American expatriate brought up in Europe, arrives in rural New England with her charming brother Felix, hoping to find a wealthy second husband after the collapse of her marriage to a German prince. Their exotic, sophisticated airs cause quite a stir with their affluent, God-fearing American cousins, the Wentworth's - and provoke the disapproval of their uncle, suspicious of foreign influences.
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wonderful novel, wonderful reader, poor recording
- By Catherine on 11-14-09
By: Henry James
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The Portrait of a Lady
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 26 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
The Portrait of a Lady tells the compelling and ultimately tragic tale of a beautiful young American woman's encounter with European sophistication. Set principally in England and Italy, the story follows Isabel Archer's fortunes as a variety of admirers vie for her hand. Her choice will be crucial, and she is not wanting for advice, whether from the generous-spirited Ralph Touchett or the charming Madame Merle.
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Couldn't get past the terrible American accents.
- By Sarah on 04-07-17
By: Henry James
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Erewhon
- By: Samuel Butler
- Narrated by: Michael Maloney
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Setting out to make his fortune in a far-off country, a young traveller discovers the remote and beautiful land of Erewhon, and is given a home among its extraordinarily handsome citizens. But their visitor soon discovers that this seemingly ideal community has its faults - here crime is treated indulgently as a malady to be cured, while illness, poverty, and misfortune are cruelly punished, and all machines have been superstitiously destroyed after a bizarre prophecy.
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Narrator gets quiet frequently
- By Justin on 12-29-21
By: Samuel Butler
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Jude The Obscure
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of a young country workman obsessed by his ambition to become an Oxford student, interwoven with his fraught relationships with two women.
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Staggering
- By Tad Davis on 02-16-10
By: Thomas Hardy
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The Mill on the Floss
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 23 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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First published in 1861, The Mill on the Floss was a best-seller in its day. This classic novel explores the traditions and moral expectations of an English rural community. Maggie Tulliver is a girl of uncontrollable romantic ideals. But her brother, along with most of society, cannot accept her brashness and vitality. Narrator Jill Tanner gracefully unfolds this tragic tale of love and loss.
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Poignant, relevant, love Jill Tanner's narration
- By MasterMarquette on 12-11-12
By: George Eliot
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Agnes Grey
- By: Anne Brontë
- Narrated by: Virginia Leishman
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
In her daring first novel, the youngest Brontë sister drew upon her own experiences to tell the unvarnished truth about life as a governess. Like Agnes Grey, Anne Bronte was a young middle-class Victorian lady whose family fortunes had faltered. Like so many other unmarried women of the 19th century, Bronte accepted the only "respectable" employment available - and entered a world of hardship, humiliation, and loneliness.
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Unexpected love for this Novel
- By Rachel on 03-18-21
By: Anne Brontë
A wonderful classic
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Welcome time travel
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Very good book
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Excellent
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The reflective passages and the religious references.
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wonderful book
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Her writing is sublime - characters, use of language, plot development, etc.
Middlemarch might be my favorite novel.
Adam Bede is well worth a listen. One can see all her skills showing and in formation. She has much growth to experience, but it is a fine effort, one that would make most novelists quite proud.
The reading is good, but not great.
A Very Good First Novel
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Long - but very listenable!
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George Eliot’s brilliance
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Difficult to understand the narration
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