Preview

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Portrait in Brownstone

By: Louis Auchincloss
Narrated by: C.M. Herbert
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.85

Buy for $15.85

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Auchincloss' tale of a New York family dynasty opens with the suicide of Geraldine Brevoort, a woman whose pride and envy fed her alcoholism and kept her alone, and leads the listener through an odyssey, told in flashbacks by Geraldine's plain yet bright cousin, Ida, and Ida's husband, Derrick - also Geraldine's lover, unbeknownst to Ida - and other family members. What unfolds is the story of the intertwining lives of families from different ethnic and social backgrounds, and the misapprehensions that result when such families are brought together through love, marriage, and adultery.
©1962 by Louis Auchincloss (P)1998 by Blackstone Audiobooks
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"Outstanding...impressive...wonderful." (Washington Star)

What listeners say about Portrait in Brownstone

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, dated recording

At first I didn’t think I would be able to listen to this because the quality of the recording is crackly and feels dated, but once I got into the story, I only felt it added to the charm of a story written 50 years ago and set in the first half of the 20th century.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A world of observances, observed

A now almost forgotten world of New York money, position and social observances is observed in this novel by an author now almost faded to obscurity himself.

Listening to this audio version of one of Auchincloss's most prominent works I thought of John Galsworthy and his The Forsyte Saga as being a good trans-atlantic comparison. Both authors deal with human emotions filtered by a complex construct of social obligations to which all must pay heed, before choosing rebellion or acceptance.

Auchincloss is a fine writer and, however limited his canvas, this is a fine, surprisingly involving novel with moments of powerful engagement. The recording is uneven but does not diminish the experience.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Portrait in Brownstone

I enjoyed the plot, but it was too wordy--was the editor too impressed that the Author is one of Jackie Kennedy's cousins?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!