Jane Eyre [RNIB Edition]

By: Charlotte Brontë

Narrated by: Lucy Scott

Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Jane Eyre remains a classic of 19th-century English literature and is the most famous and influential novel by Charlotte Bronte.

Published in 1847, one of the most popular of all English novels, the story tells of the rise of a poor orphan girl against overwhelming odds. It is a work of fiction with memorable characters and vivid scenes exploring themes that have as much relevance today as in the time it was written.

British novelist Charlotte Bronte (1816 - 1855) was the eldest of the three famous Bronte sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature.

Please note: This is a vintage recording. The audio quality may not be up to modern day standards.

Public Domain (P)2009 RNIB

A pretty good listen

I enjoyed the book, and will probably listen to it again. The narrator was great.

Exquisite tale beautifully read.

Listening to (reading) Jane Eyre for the first time in my 60s, I understand why it is considered a classic. The story is absorbing and gripping, the writing is descriptive and beautifully put together - almost musical - and maintained with an exquisite tension. Now that I have reached the end, I feel I have lost a friend. Lucy Scott made the story come alive with her expert handling of different characters and accents. What a joy this book has been!

Nails all the accents and characters. Brilliant.

This reading really feels like the story takes place in Yorkshire. Lucy Scott effortlessly sustains convincing accents for all of the characters, imbues them with strong, natural emotion, and gives a reading that is subtle and moving.

Of all the recordings I've heard, this is the one that most does justice to Charlotte Brontë's text. Our eight-year-old adored it. I caught her reading ahead in the print copy, and when she'd finished the audiobook, she went straight back and started reading the book to herself. That the narrator could make the nineteenth-century language accessible and exciting even to young children seems to me an extraordinary accomplishment.

Thank you Audible, and thank you, Lucy Scott.
An unparalleled performance of a real classic.

Only audio, no book?

Only audio, no book? I need a book to read while listening. Please add a book. Thanks.

love it...

... always have

Not as good as I remembered

I read “Jane Eyre” when I was a high school student and all I can remember of it is that I liked it back then. Now I can’t imagine why I did.

My opinion about classic books, as well as classical music, is that they are classics for a reason. These books have stood the test of time and are still read today. There’s a lot to be said in favor of a book that is still in print 166 years after it was first published. This book, on the other hand, did not impress me as one I’d like to read or listen to again.

I listen to Audible’s books while I am doing something else that doesn’t require my full attention. Usually this is driving, but lately it’s been painting (think house, not art). “Jane Eyre” fills this time adequately, but I think if I had been driving it would have put me to sleep with its long descriptions of scenes and people. Descriptions of a scene or person is fine, even necessary, if the reader (listener) will be returning to that place or dealing with that person later in the story. This is not the case with “Jane Eyre”. During one part of the book, Bronte describes in detail a roomful of people and, with the exception of one, we never deal with them again. These unnecessary words caused me to stop paying attention to the novel until I recognized that something was being read that moved the story along. Then I’d have to back up a bit to avoid missing the important parts.

As an adult I found the excessive length of this novel to be mildly educational (about mid-1800 England), but mostly boring. I can’t imagine why I liked this book as a male high school student. If “Jane Eyre” were a movie it would be called a “chick flick”.

The narrator, Lucy Scott, is excellent. She differentiates each voice well and reads with enthusiasm. I don’t speak French, but she seems to do quite well with the few French lines, but not so well with the tiny bit of German in the book. I would enjoy hearing her again, but the other Audible books she has done don’t appeal to me much. That’s too bad for me because she’s very good.

Usually I am glad to have a book to listen to while I accomplish some other task. This time I was glad to have something else to do while I listened to this book.

Not able to download!

I can only download Part 1 of this book. I've tried over and over again to download the second and third part but they refuse to import! What to do?

Dated Moralizing

I know this is a classic, but I found the moralizing holier-than-thou speaches hard to take. I guess it must have been the style at the time, but I don't think it holds up well. The performance was fine.

Lost chapter

I was enjoying the new experience of the audio when for some season i dropped from chapter 19 back to chapter 1 which kept repeating. There waS no way I could get to chapt 19 again. It was very discouraging.