Pride and Prejudice [Blackstone Audio]

By: Jane Austen

Narrated by: Carolyn Seymour

Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

The provincial Bennet family, home to five unmarried daughters, is turned upside down when a wealthy bachelor takes up a house nearby. Mr. Bingley enhances his instant popularity by hosting a ball and taking an interest in the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane. Meanwhile, Mr. Darcy, Bingley’s even wealthier friend, makes himself equally unpopular by his aloof disdain of country manners. Yet he is drawn, in spite of himself, to the spirited and intelligent Elizabeth Bennet, who proves to be his match in both wit and pride. Their sparkling repartee is a splendid performance of civilized sparring infused with unacknowledged romantic tension.

Pride and Prejudice delightfully captures the affectations and rivalries of class-conscious English families in an age when status and security for women hung entirely on matrimonial ambitions. Austen’s characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England. It is also the source of some of the most memorable characters ever written, from the fatuous Mr. Collins, whose proposal to Elizabeth is one of the finest comic passages in English literature, to the beloved heroine Elizabeth, whom the author herself deemed “as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print.”

Public Domain (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“There is a truth of painting in her writings which always delights me.” (Sir Walter Scott)

“The greatest novel ever written.” (Malcolm Muggeridge)

“Major and minor characters are superbly drawn, the plot is beautifully symmetrical, and the dazzling perfection of style shows Austen at her best.” ( Masterpieces of World Literature)

Challenging but worthwhile

Although the vocabulary is quite challenging, the story overall is "dare I say, exceedingly satisfactory".

Beautifully read by Carolyn Seymour

With only a few exceptions, the narrator does an excellent job of reading Pride & Prejudice. While I greatly enjoyed her voice and characterization as Mrs Bennett, I was less happy with her grasp of Elizabeth. Still, it was thoroughly enjoyable to listen to her narration of this classic.

Pride and prejudice...

I had to get used to the upper crusty attitude of the story. I have read Longborn , the below stairs version of P & P. That said, I enjoyed the story and Austen's writing.

Never too much P&P!

I'll listen to this again! It made my daily walks with the dogs fly by! The story is great and Austen's use of the English language is unsurpassed.

Just ok

Had never read the book before. Good story. Narration was just ok. Did not like the screechy voice she used for the mother

Great reading

I suppose I'll have to turn in my man card, but it made me weepy.

A classic you can listen to over and over again

Wonderful narration. The story is a true classic. Helps to reset your moral compass. Listen then watch the 1995 version its the closest to the book.

What's not to love!? Definitely worth a listen!

I seriously could read or listen to this book and watch the BBC series every month!

Great Book

As we read in Scripture such verses as Proverbs 18:12 , "Humility goes before honor," we see Darcy's humbling through Elizabeth's rebuke, though smitten with her, driving his deep character change, thus leading to winning her heart. Wonderful scenario!

Just like the A&E miniseries

What about Carolyn Seymour’s performance did you like?

Carolyn Seymour reads this in such a fashion as to echo the A&E miniseries, which I really like. I listened to a number of narrators for Pride & Prejudice on Audible, and Ms. Seymour is the best of the bunch. This book needs to be read with inflection and determination so that the lively and the ridiculous and the obstreperous all have their presence felt. The only thing I didn't like as much was that she made Mrs. Bennett as annoying as the one in the miniseries, so sometimes it's hard to listen to such an awful woman.

Any additional comments?

If you like the A&E miniseries with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, you'll really like this version. The spirit of the characters really comes through with this narrator.