Preview
  • The Professor's House

  • By: Willa Cather
  • Narrated by: Sean Runnette
  • Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (114 ratings)

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.

The Professor's House

By: Willa Cather
Narrated by: Sean Runnette
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.75

Buy for $15.75

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

A lyrical and bittersweet novel of a middle-aged man losing control of his life that's a brilliant study in emotional dislocation and renewal—from one of the most highly acclaimed authors of the twentieth century.

Professor Godfrey St. Peter is a man in his fifties who has devoted his life to his work, his wife, his garden, and his daughters, and achieved success with all of them. But when St. Peter is called on to move to a new, more comfortable house, something in him rebels. And although at first that rebellion consists of nothing more than mild resistance to his family's wishes, it imperceptibly comes to encompass the entire order of his life. The Professor's House combines a delightful grasp of the social and domestic rituals of a Midwestern university town in the 1920s with profound spiritual and psychological introspection.

©1925 Willa Cather (P)2016 Random House Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Professor's House

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    70
  • 4 Stars
    30
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    70
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    59
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2

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

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

Brilliant!

Character development was exceptional. I felt like I knew the whole family. Could have been my own .

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

surprisingly gay

Interesting. I felt a bit like I was playing a game of spot the gay and misogynistic untones. Which is nice for an English lit fan, as I'd imagine most people reading Willa Cather are. the language was beautiful, and the story plotless but engaging. The 1920s setting is very apparent, and very fun. I think the kids who like The Secret History would like this.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Gently compelling

There's not a ton of action in this story about a professor who has lost interest in his life and is trying to cope with changes in both the world around him and in his own family life, but the picture that Willa Cather paints of this man still consumed by grief is so poignant.

The middle section, in which the professor's now deceased protege takes center stage, is less interesting to me but contains some beautiful prose as she describes the southwest landscape and Tom's feeling of connection to it.

Don't expect much of a plot and don't expect anything tied neatly in a bow at the end and just enjoy Willa Cather's writing.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

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

Reading ar age 75

This book was a great surprise. Captivating extensive description of the Professor and his interior thoughts and feelings. Cather "tells" the reader thru sensual description leaving the reader with sensations, tastes, sounds, textures, and perfect understanding.

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
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Deeply thought proving

While it could be called a midlife crisis for St. Peters, I felt it more as a coming of age. Returning to himself. To the Kansas boy. As someone thinking about "listening to my life," it was powerful.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

Sean Runnette’s excellent reading

Sean Runnette’s superb reading makes The Professor’s House a particular pleasure to listen to. Strongly recommended.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

A fine book for anyone contemplating retirement and the arc of a life

This work is remarkable in its description of the trajectory of the life of an highly sensitive, thoughtful, and kind man and much more.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

HER FINEST

This is the Cather book that should have received her Pulitzer!

Familiar story with that award.

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
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Slow start

I found this hard to get into at first. I felt it was slow and difficult to see the plot. I stuck with it and found the narrator to be engaging. It is sentimental story.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!