-
A Pair of Blue Eyes
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 16 hrs
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Audible Premium Plus
$14.95 a month
Buy for $57.39
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Desperate Remedies
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Melody Grove
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cytherea has taken a position as lady's maid to the eccentric Miss Aldclyffe. On discovering that the man she loves is already engaged to his cousin, Cytherea comes under the influence of Miss Aldclyffe's fascinating, manipulative steward Manston. Desperate Remedies contains sensational ingredients of blackmail, murder and romance, but with its insight into psychology and sexuality it already bears the unmistakable imprint of Hardy’s future genius.
-
-
Absorbing early Hardy
- By P. D. on 04-22-19
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Jude The Obscure
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of a young country workman obsessed by his ambition to become an Oxford student, interwoven with his fraught relationships with two women.
-
-
Staggering
- By Tad Davis on 02-16-10
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Mayor of Casterbridge
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the great novelists of British literature, Thomas Hardy caused quite a stir when this powerful novel was first published. Michael Henchard, down on his luck and drunk, sells his wife and child to a sailor for five guineas. As time goes by, Henchard becomes Mayor of Casterbridge—but he cannot escape the tragedy of his past.
-
-
Hardy--consummate teller of stories!
- By Kathi on 04-12-13
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Woodlanders
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in the Dorset landscape familiar to Hardy novels, The Woodlanders concerns the fortunes of Giles Winterborne, whose love for the well-do-do Grace Melbury is challenged by the arrival of a dashing and dissolute doctor, Edred Fitzpiers. When the mysterious Mrs Charmond further complicates the romantic entanglements, marital choice and class mobility become inextricably linked.
-
-
Thomas Hardy lesser known work
- By Molly Aultz on 06-12-08
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Return of the Native
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Alan Rickman
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set on Egdon Heath, a fictional barren moor in Wessex, Eustacia Vye longs for the excitement of city life but is cut off from the world in her grandfather's lonely cottage. Clym Yeobright who has returned to the area to become a schoolmaster seems to offer everything she dreams of: passion, excitement and the opportunity to escape. However, Clym's ambitions are quite different, and marriage only increases Eustacia's destructive restlessness, drawing others into a tangled web of deceit and unhappiness.
-
-
Always Hardy
- By Wallen on 04-20-11
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Trumpet-Major
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Nicholas Rowe
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Napoleonic Wars are at their height, and upheaval and uncertainty plague British soil. In the midst of it all, the impoverished beauty Anne Garland finds herself at the center of a love quadrangle. She is torn between the persistent and annoying Festus Derryman, her womanizing childhood sweetheart Bob Loveday, and the reliable and thoughtful John Loveday, the eponymous Trumpet-Major. Who will she choose?
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Desperate Remedies
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Melody Grove
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cytherea has taken a position as lady's maid to the eccentric Miss Aldclyffe. On discovering that the man she loves is already engaged to his cousin, Cytherea comes under the influence of Miss Aldclyffe's fascinating, manipulative steward Manston. Desperate Remedies contains sensational ingredients of blackmail, murder and romance, but with its insight into psychology and sexuality it already bears the unmistakable imprint of Hardy’s future genius.
-
-
Absorbing early Hardy
- By P. D. on 04-22-19
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Jude The Obscure
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of a young country workman obsessed by his ambition to become an Oxford student, interwoven with his fraught relationships with two women.
-
-
Staggering
- By Tad Davis on 02-16-10
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Mayor of Casterbridge
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the great novelists of British literature, Thomas Hardy caused quite a stir when this powerful novel was first published. Michael Henchard, down on his luck and drunk, sells his wife and child to a sailor for five guineas. As time goes by, Henchard becomes Mayor of Casterbridge—but he cannot escape the tragedy of his past.
-
-
Hardy--consummate teller of stories!
- By Kathi on 04-12-13
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Woodlanders
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in the Dorset landscape familiar to Hardy novels, The Woodlanders concerns the fortunes of Giles Winterborne, whose love for the well-do-do Grace Melbury is challenged by the arrival of a dashing and dissolute doctor, Edred Fitzpiers. When the mysterious Mrs Charmond further complicates the romantic entanglements, marital choice and class mobility become inextricably linked.
-
-
Thomas Hardy lesser known work
- By Molly Aultz on 06-12-08
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Return of the Native
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Alan Rickman
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set on Egdon Heath, a fictional barren moor in Wessex, Eustacia Vye longs for the excitement of city life but is cut off from the world in her grandfather's lonely cottage. Clym Yeobright who has returned to the area to become a schoolmaster seems to offer everything she dreams of: passion, excitement and the opportunity to escape. However, Clym's ambitions are quite different, and marriage only increases Eustacia's destructive restlessness, drawing others into a tangled web of deceit and unhappiness.
-
-
Always Hardy
- By Wallen on 04-20-11
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Trumpet-Major
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Nicholas Rowe
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Napoleonic Wars are at their height, and upheaval and uncertainty plague British soil. In the midst of it all, the impoverished beauty Anne Garland finds herself at the center of a love quadrangle. She is torn between the persistent and annoying Festus Derryman, her womanizing childhood sweetheart Bob Loveday, and the reliable and thoughtful John Loveday, the eponymous Trumpet-Major. Who will she choose?
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Far From the Madding Crowd
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Jamie Parker
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a remote corner of early Victorian England, where traditional practices remain untouched by time, Bathsheba Everdene stands out as a beacon of female independence and self-reliance. However, when confronted with three suitors, among them the dashing Sergeant Troy, she shows a reckless capriciousness that threatens the stability of the whole community. Published in 1874, and an immediate best seller, Far From the Madding Crowd established Thomas Hardy as one of Britain's foremost novelists.
-
-
Country tales and voices.
- By Judyth on 01-07-15
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tess Durbeyfield has become one of the most famous female protagonists in 19th-century British literature. Betrayed by the two men in her life - Alec D’Urberville, her seducer/rapist and father of her fated child; and Angel, her intellectual and pious husband - Tess takes justice, and her own destiny, into her delicate hands. In telling her desperate and passionate story, Hardy brings Tess to life with an extraordinary vividness that makes her live in the heart of the reader long after the novel is concluded.
-
-
Davina Porter Does It Again!
- By misaki on 06-15-15
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Wessex Tales
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Neville Jason
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wessex Tales, a collection of short stories including "The Three Strangers", "The Withered Arm", and "The Distracted Preacher", deals with a number of timeless themes seen so often in Hardy’s work: marriage, class, revenge, and disappointed love. Many of the tales have a supernatural tinge, and all are set around Hardy’s much loved homeland.
-
-
A Sampler
- By Tad Davis on 06-08-14
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Mill on the Floss
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Laura Paton
- Length: 20 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maggie Tulliver has two lovers: Philip Wakem, son of her father’s enemy, and Stephen Guest, already promised to her cousin. But the love she wants most in the world is that of her brother Tom. Maggie’s struggle against her passionate and sensual nature leads her to a deeper understanding and to eventual tragedy
-
-
Great compassion
- By nina lalumia on 12-26-16
By: George Eliot
-
Two on a Tower
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deep in the grounds of Welland House lies an ancient memorial tower, surrounded by a prehistoric wilderness that isolates it from the rest of the land. When one day Viviette Constantine, the wife of the estate's owner, investigates the tower, she there discovers Swithin St. Cleeve, a young astronomer who introduces her to the majesty and wonders of the night sky. Instantly drawn to Swithin, and with her husband abroad, Viviette offers him use of the tower and becomes a kind of apprentice to him, and then, eventually, a lover.
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Mansfield Park (Naxos Edition)
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the tender age of 10, Fanny Price is 'adopted' by her rich relations and is removed from the poverty of her home in Portsmouth to the opulence of Mansfield Park. The transplantation is not a happy one. Dependent, helpless, neglected and forgotten, Fanny struggles to come to terms with her new life until, tested almost to the limits of endurance, she assumes her rightful role....
-
-
Oh such felicity, such gaiety, such rapture!
- By Neil Chisholm on 02-05-12
By: Jane Austen
-
A Laodicean
- A Story of To-day
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Subtitled 'A Story of To-day', A Laodicean occupies a unique place in the Thomas Hardy canon. Departing from pre-industrial Wessex, Hardy brings his themes of social constraint, fate, chance and miscommunication to the very modern world of the 1880s - complete with falsified telegraphs, fake photographs, and perilous train tracks. The story follows the life of Paula Power, heiress of her late father's railroad fortune and the new owner of the medieval Castle Stancy. With the castle in need of restoration, Paula employs architect George Somerset, who soon falls in love with her.
-
-
Uncharacteristic
- By Tad Davis on 01-31-19
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Daniel Deronda
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 36 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meeting by chance at a gambling hall in Europe, the separate lives of Daniel Deronda and Gwendolen Harleth are immediately intertwined. Daniel, an Englishman of uncertain parentage, becomes Gwendolyn's redeemer as she finds herself drawn to his spiritual and altruistic nature after a loveless marriage. But Daniel's path was already set when he rescued a young Jewess from suicide.
-
-
Give it a try!
- By Tucker LaPrade on 01-30-16
By: George Eliot
-
Hard Times
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite the title, Dickens's portrayal of early industrial society is less relentlessly grim than that in novels by contemporaries such as Elizabeth Gaskell or Charles Kingsley. Hard Times weaves the tale of Thomas Gradgrind, a hard-headed politician who raises his children Louisa and Tom without love and to have no empathy, their lives completely devoid of beauty, culture, or imagination. Only after a series of crises does their father realise that the manner in which he raised his children has ruined their lives.
-
-
A Classic: Head vs. Heart in an Industrial Hell
- By Jefferson on 09-11-11
By: Charles Dickens
-
The Woodlanders
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Woodlanders is vintage Hardy. The story revolves around the young woman Grace Melbury, who returns to the leafy world of Little Hintock and soon finds herself at the center of a number of tragic events. In penetrating, incisive, and beautiful prose, Hardy tells a moving tale of unrequited love as fate and the constraints of society thwart the happiness of our heroine. The leafy world of Blackmoor Vale and the hamlet of Little Hintock are all lovingly described by Hardy, who named The Woodlanders as the favorite of all his novels.
-
-
A Masterpiece of writing and narration!
- By Kathi on 05-17-14
By: Thomas Hardy
-
Middlemarch
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 35 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.
-
-
Best Audible book ever
- By Molly-o on 12-25-11
By: George Eliot
-
The Return of the Native
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Nicholas Rowe
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the remote wildness of Egdon Heath, the crossed love affairs and marriages of a small group of people are played out against the background of nature’s beauty and indifference to mankind. Through a series of vivid incidents and encounters, The Return of the Native moves in a relentless drive towards tragedy, as the plans and dreams of the lovers miscarry, defeated by chance, or destiny or self-deception. In their unhappy stories, Hardy gives us a powerful dramatization of his bleak philosophy, his belief in man’s helplessness before the malevolence of the universe.
-
-
Thomas Hardy
- By Jeff Lacy on 05-06-17
By: Thomas Hardy
Publisher's Summary
Hardy's third novel, A Pair of Blue Eyes, follows the story of Elfride Swancourt. The daughter of the rector of Endelstow, a sparse, sea-swept parish in Cornwall, Elfride is caught between two suitors of very different backgrounds: Stephen Smith, a young architect restoring the old parish church; and the respectable, older man of London society, Henry Knight. The blue-eyed and high-spirited protagonist must untangle the conflicting messages of her heart and her mind.
More from the same
What listeners say about A Pair of Blue Eyes
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Molly R.
- 08-14-17
Depressing story & unbelievable central character
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
No. While I realize Thomas Hardy is supposed to be one of the great writers, this wasn't my cup of tea. The story centers around an innocent girl who's not very decisive or clever. It's hard to imagine her last lover, an intellectual, really sees anything in common with her. Hardy is a master of the English language, but at times his using 20 words when 5 will do to get the point across, can tax one's patience.
What could Thomas Hardy have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
Create a more believable central character.
What about Anna Bentinck’s performance did you like?
Anna's performance was great. I picked the book in part based on her being the narrator.
Could you see A Pair of Blue Eyes being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
It could be made into a movie I suppose. The leading lady could be Anne Hathaway, with Russell Crowe playing Harry, and Jude Law playing Smith. Elfride's father could be played by Michael Caine.
Any additional comments?
I persevered because of the narrator, but was annoyed with myself for investing that much time to reach a disappointing ending.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- BKG
- 02-25-21
Voice Choice is questionable but Hardy is excellen
The narrator was fabulous but I cannot figure out why she chose the voice she did for Stephen, one of the main characters. it was very hard to listen to and it made me not like his character at all in a way I don't think the text intended. The book was classic Hardy and I loved it.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- VE
- 06-13-18
Memorable love story
Narrator voices each character with amazing individuality. Hardy’s characters, landscapes and suspenseful plot are brilliant.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Suea
- 12-30-16
What a talent
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Definitely for someone who loves beautiful descriptive writing and development of characters
What was one of the most memorable moments of A Pair of Blue Eyes?
To learn that her father did exactly as he warned his daughter of doing
What about Anna Bentinck’s performance did you like?
She's wonderful with a steady, listenable pace and distinct characterizations
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
As are all of Hardy's books, this was a tradegy. I did cry at the stupid decisions the supposedly educated lover made - even for his time.
Any additional comments?
Hardy's books are gorgeous and meaty and everything I love in a story.