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The Buccaneers  By  cover art

The Buccaneers

By: Edith Wharton, Marion Mainwaring
Narrated by: Carol Monda
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Publisher's summary

"Brave, lively, engaging . . . a fairy-tale novel, miraculously returned to life."—The New York Times Book Review

Edith Wharton's spellbinding final novel, telling a story of love in the gilded age that crossed the boundaries of society, soon to be an Apple Original Series on Apple TV+

Set in the 1870s, the same period as Wharton's The Age of Innocence, The Buccaneers is about five wealthy American girls denied entry into New York Society because their parents' money is too new. At the suggestion of their clever governess, the girls sail to London, where they marry lords, earls, and dukes who find their beauty charming—and their wealth extremely useful.

After Wharton's death in 1937, The Christian Science Monitor said, "If it could have been completed, The Buccaneers would doubtless stand among the richest and most sophisticated of Wharton's novels." Now, with wit and imagination, Marion Mainwaring has finished the story, taking her cue from Wharton's own synopsis. It is a novel any Wharton fan will celebrate and any romantic listener will love. This is the richly engaging story of Nan St. George and Guy Thwarte, an American heiress and an English aristocrat, whose love breaks the rules of both their societies.

©1993 Marion Mainwaring (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Brave, lively, engaging . . . a fairy-tale novel, miraculouly returned to life."—The New York Times Book Review

"The Buccaneers brilliantly showcases Wharton near the top of her form."—Chicago Tribune

"Mainwaring has added gloss to the story's original elegance and wit, and the novel emerges like a master's painting from the hands of a highly skilled restorer."—Leon Edel, author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Henry James: A Life

What listeners say about The Buccaneers

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A good listen in spite of the reader’s shortcomings

It’s a great shame that the reader appeared to fail to take the time to learn how to pronounce a surprising number of the names and words in this book. Jarring mispronunciations and a truly atrocious attempt at English accents completely break the spell but fortunately Edith Wharton’s writing saves the day.

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  • Overall
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Boring

The story was boring, narrator not representative of the tone to even make you care about characters.

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Awful Narator

The mini series was better than the book. need to get a new narrator. so disappointing.

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