
Sentimental Education
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Narrated by:
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Andrew Wincott
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By:
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Gustave Flaubert
About this listen
Set against the chaotic backdrop of the 1848 Revolution, Sentimental Education follows the romantic adventures of Frederick Moreau, a young law student, and his education in the affairs of the heart.
Upon arriving home in Normandy, Frederick catches his first glimpse of Marie Arnoux, a mysterious and beautiful woman who leaves a lasting impression on him. Eventually they make each other's acquaintance and Marie becomes a symbol of unattainable perfection for Frederick, whose unrequited infatuation leaves him bouncing from one passion to another, falling in and out of love, money and society.
An elegant portrait of lust and illusion, Sentimental Education realistically captures 19th century French society and the obsessive occupations of the time. It stands up with the best work by Honoré de Balzac and Émile Zola, the latter of whom praised it for its authenticity and satire.
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Slow and wordy
- By Chrissie on 08-30-14
By: Stendhal
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Three Tales
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Published at the end of Flaubert’s career, Three Tales is a collection of three compelling short stories about faith, loneliness and love. In "A Simple Heart", a saint-like servant girl begins to experience religious visions of her pet parrot after enduring the loss of loved ones. "The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller" presents the origin story of Julian the Hospitaller, who renounces the violence of his past and cares for the indigent. "Herodias", the final story, retells the beheading of St. John the Baptist, and the seduction of Herod by Salome.
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disappointing
- By SB on 08-13-22
By: Gustave Flaubert
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The Kill
- La Curée
- By: Émile Zola
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Against a backdrop of modernisation, extravagant luxury, political intrigue and sexual immorality, Saccard treats close relationships as money-making opportunities and loved ones as mere commodities. As one character puts it: ‘You see, everything is fine, as long as you make money from it.’
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one of Zola's best
- By Nom de Guerre on 05-05-25
By: Émile Zola
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The Spoils of Poynton
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Published in 1897, The Spoils of Poynton is one of the quintessential works of James's middle period. The "spoils" of the book's title refer to furniture and other objets d'art that the widow Adela Gereth moves to her cottage so that they are kept away from the clutches of her coarse future daughter-in-law, Mona Brigstock. However, events take an unexpected turn when her married son Owen is attracted to her friend, Fleda Vetch.
By: Henry James
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Father Goriot
- By: Honoré de Balzac
- Narrated by: Bill Homewood
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Impoverished young aristocrat Eugene de Rastignac is determined to climb the social ladder and impress himself on Parisian high society. While staying at the Maison Vauquer, a boarding house in Paris's rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve, he encounters Jean-Joachim Goriot, a retired vermicelli maker who has spent his entire fortune supporting his two daughters. The boarders strike up a friendship and Goriot learns of Rastignac's feelings for his daughter Delphine. He begins to see Rastignac as the ideal son-in-law, and the perfect substitute for Delphine's domineering husband. But Rastignac has other opportunities too....
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Astounding performance
- By Laurence Grey on 04-05-21
By: Honoré de Balzac
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Emma Bovary is not content to be the mere dutiful wife of a French country doctor. She yearns for excitement and a sense of romance that pulls at her so strongly she is powerless to resist, even though pursuing her dreams will exact a terrible price. Learn why Gustave Flaubert's compelling heroine has enchanted and puzzled readers for centuries.
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Now Here's a Story
- By P. Giorgio on 09-06-03
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In Madame Bovary, one of the great novels of 19th-century France, Flaubert draws a deeply felt and sympathetic portrait of a woman who, having married a country doctor and found herself unhappy with a rural, genteel existence, longs for love and excitement. However, her aspirations and her desires to escape only bring her further disappointment and eventually lead to unexpected, painful consequences. Flaubert’s critical portrait of bourgeois provincial life remains as powerful as ever
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Excellent narrator, beautiful writing
- By DHW on 06-11-14
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Clarissa, or The History of a Young Lady, Volume 1
- By: Samuel Richardson
- Narrated by: Samuel West, Lucy Scott, Roger May, and others
- Length: 33 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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A milestone in the history of the novel, Samuel Richardson’s epistolary and elaborate Clarissa follows the life of a chaste young woman desperate to protect her virtue. When beautiful Clarissa Harlowe is forced to marry the rich but repulsive Mr. Solmes, she refuses, much to her family’s chagrin. She escapes their persecution with the help of Mr. Lovelace, a dashing and seductive rake, but soon finds herself in a far worse dilemma. Terrifying and enlightening, Clarissa weaves a tapestry of narrative experimentation into a gripping morality tale of good versus evil.
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Gripping Novel & Performance
- By Harold on 07-29-18
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Elective Affinities
- By: Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
- Narrated by: Jonathan Booth
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Goethe as a novelist is best known for two earlier novels, The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) and Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1796). But Elective Affinities, which was published in 1809, is widely regarded as his mature masterpiece, not least because of its unusual provenance, which brings together Goethe the scientist as well as Goethe the writer.
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A Single Man
- By: Christopher Isherwood
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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When A Single Man was originally published, it shocked many by its frank, sympathetic, and moving portrayal of a gay man in midlife. George, the protagonist, is adjusting to life on his own after the sudden death of his partner, and determines to persist in the routines of his daily life; the course of A Single Man spans 24 hours in an ordinary day.
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Gorgeous Writing but Not for Everyone
- By Catherine on 01-27-13