Far from the Madding Crowd

By: Thomas Hardy

Narrated by: George Hagan

Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Far from the Madding Crowd is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success.

Published in 1874, it tells the tale of Gabriel Oak, one of three suitors for the hand of the beautiful and spirited Bathsheba Everdene. He must compete with the dashing young soldier Sergeant Troy and the respectable, middle-aged Farmer Boldwood. And while their fates depend upon the choice Bathsheba makes, she discovers the terrible consequences of an inconstant heart.

Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928) was an English novelist and poet of the naturalist movement.

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

Public Domain (P)2009 RNIB

Took a while to get going but worth it.

In my opinion, and I'm by no means a literary genius, Thomas Hardy's writing style is similar to Dickens' in that it tends to ramble a bit on things that never have any further significance but in general is pleasing. The first 5 hours or so of this book were a bit slow but were building the back story so most of it was necessary. I really enjoyed the look at the lives of the servants and how the country people lived. So much during this time period focused almost exclusively on the aristocracy, it was refreshing to see how normal people lived. The last half of the book was wonderful. I fully enjoyed it.

I must warn you however, to listen to the sample before you buy it. The production quality is VERY LOW! The entire thing has a low hiss to it and the reading was not as professionally done as most of the books you get at Audible. While the narrator's voice is lovely to listen to, he stumbles on words more and more often as the book goes along. He occasionally mispronounces a word, you can hear pages turning and occasionally it sounds like children are playing in the next room and you can hear them laughing. I bought this way on sale so I didn't really care it was so cheap and I can overlook a lot so it didn't bother me. Given the rural setting of this book, I felt it added to the rustic charm of it but some may find it distracting.