-
Northanger Abbey
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.18
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Persuasion
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anne Elliot has grieved for seven years over the loss of her first love, Captain Frederick Wentworth. But events conspire to unravel the knots of deceit and misunderstanding in this beguiling and gently comic story of love and fidelity.
-
-
Juliet Stevenson is Simply Amazing
- By Em on 04-15-12
By: Jane Austen
-
Emma [Naxos Edition]
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Jane Austen's most popular novels. Arrogant, self-willed, and egotistical, Emma is her most unusual heroine.
-
-
Wonderful listen
- By A. Bloom on 08-07-08
By: Jane Austen
-
Sense and Sensibility
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mrs. Dashwood is forced by an avaricious daughter-in-law to leave the family home in Sussex, she takes her three daughters to live in a modest cottage in Devon. For Elinor, the eldest daughter, the move means a painful separation from the man she loves, but her sister Marianne finds in Devon the romance and excitement which she longs for.
-
-
Superb - Justice to Jane Austen and Emma Thompson
- By Jo on 11-19-06
By: Jane Austen
-
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
-
Lady Susan
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter, Kim Hicks
- Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lady Susan was the first of Jane Austen's novels to be completed. Less known than Austen's six great later novels, it demonstrates the wit and sharp observations of Jane Austen - and is shown at its best in audiobook form, with different actresses presenting real characters as they read their letters.
-
-
Fun and mischevious
- By Amazon Customer on 02-03-05
By: Jane Austen
-
The Mysteries of Udolpho
- By: Ann Radcliffe
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 30 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The virtuous and loving Emily, the young protagonist, finds herself in the care of her aunt following the death of her father. Her aunt promptly marries the villain Montoni, a cruel and calculating man whose scheming leads him to lock both women in the dark and winding castle of Udolpho. Will they survive to tell of its terrors?
-
-
WARNING! BAD ACCENT ALERT!
- By Kerry Maxwell on 09-15-16
By: Ann Radcliffe
-
Persuasion
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anne Elliot has grieved for seven years over the loss of her first love, Captain Frederick Wentworth. But events conspire to unravel the knots of deceit and misunderstanding in this beguiling and gently comic story of love and fidelity.
-
-
Juliet Stevenson is Simply Amazing
- By Em on 04-15-12
By: Jane Austen
-
Emma [Naxos Edition]
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Jane Austen's most popular novels. Arrogant, self-willed, and egotistical, Emma is her most unusual heroine.
-
-
Wonderful listen
- By A. Bloom on 08-07-08
By: Jane Austen
-
Sense and Sensibility
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mrs. Dashwood is forced by an avaricious daughter-in-law to leave the family home in Sussex, she takes her three daughters to live in a modest cottage in Devon. For Elinor, the eldest daughter, the move means a painful separation from the man she loves, but her sister Marianne finds in Devon the romance and excitement which she longs for.
-
-
Superb - Justice to Jane Austen and Emma Thompson
- By Jo on 11-19-06
By: Jane Austen
-
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
-
Lady Susan
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter, Kim Hicks
- Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lady Susan was the first of Jane Austen's novels to be completed. Less known than Austen's six great later novels, it demonstrates the wit and sharp observations of Jane Austen - and is shown at its best in audiobook form, with different actresses presenting real characters as they read their letters.
-
-
Fun and mischevious
- By Amazon Customer on 02-03-05
By: Jane Austen
-
The Mysteries of Udolpho
- By: Ann Radcliffe
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 30 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The virtuous and loving Emily, the young protagonist, finds herself in the care of her aunt following the death of her father. Her aunt promptly marries the villain Montoni, a cruel and calculating man whose scheming leads him to lock both women in the dark and winding castle of Udolpho. Will they survive to tell of its terrors?
-
-
WARNING! BAD ACCENT ALERT!
- By Kerry Maxwell on 09-15-16
By: Ann Radcliffe
-
Mansfield Park
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shy, fragile Fanny Price is the consummate "poor relation". Sent to live with her wealthy uncle Thomas, she clashes with his spoiled, selfish daughters and falls in love with his son. Their lives are further complicated by the arrival of a pair of witty, sophisticated Londoners, whose flair for flirtation collides with the quiet, conservative country ways of Mansfield Park.
-
-
Nicely narrated
- By SLB on 06-16-14
By: Jane Austen
-
Emma
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Jane Austen, Anna Lea - adaptation
- Narrated by: Emma Thompson, Joanne Froggatt, Isabella Inchbald, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Austen wrote, 'I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like' and thus introduces the handsome, clever, rich - and flawed, Emma Woodhouse. Emma is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage; nothing however delights her more than matchmaking her fellow residents of Highbury. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.
-
-
Background sonds RUINED this
- By Sandra Dodd on 09-09-18
By: Jane Austen, and others
-
Persuasion
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Florence Pugh, full cast
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anne Elliot, daughter of the snobbish Sir Walter Elliot, is woman of quiet charm and deep feelings. Eight years before our story begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret.
-
-
Not the book
- By fracas on 08-05-22
By: Jane Austen
-
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
-
Emma
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Beth Kesler
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The culmination of Jane Austen's genius, a sparkling comedy of love and marriage Beautiful, clever, rich and single Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.
-
-
Glitch
- By Alyssa on 09-16-19
By: Jane Austen
-
Jane Eyre
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.
-
-
Perfect!!
- By Amazon Customer on 04-21-16
By: Charlotte Brontë
-
Wuthering Heights
- Penguin Classics
- By: Emily Brontë
- Narrated by: Aimee Lou Wood, Kristin Atherton - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before: of the intense passion between the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and her betrayal of him. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.
-
-
Its Wonderful
- By novena valentine on 09-05-23
By: Emily Brontë
-
Great Expectations
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most revered works in English literature, Great Expectations traces the coming of age of a young orphan, Pip, from a boy of shallow aspirations into a man of maturity. From the chilling opening confrontation with an escaped convict to the grand but eerily disheveled estate of bitter old Miss Havisham, all is not what it seems in Dickens’ dark tale of false illusions and thwarted desire.
-
-
The narrator!!
- By Dana on 06-13-13
By: Charles Dickens
-
David Copperfield
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 33 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based in part on Dickens's own life, it is the story of a young man's journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among its gloriously vivid cast of characters, he e.ncounters his tyrannical stepfather, Mr. Murdstone; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble yet treacherous Uriah Heep; the frivolous, enchanting Dora; and one of literature's great comic creations, the magnificently impecunious Mr. Micawber.
-
-
"I am born."
- By Barbara K. on 05-21-09
By: Charles Dickens
-
The Magician's Elephant
- By: Kate DiCamillo
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a fortuneteller’s tent appears in the market square of the city of Baltese, orphan Peter Augustus Duchene knows the questions that he needs to ask: Does his sister still live? And if so, how can he find her? The fortuneteller’s mysterious answer (An elephant! An elephant will lead him there!) sets off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that Peter can hardly dare to believe it. But it is - all of it - true.
-
-
Yes, the Impossible!
- By Gillian on 11-17-16
By: Kate DiCamillo
-
North and South
- Penguin Classics
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Gemma Whelan
- Length: 19 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When her father leaves the Church, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the North of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. In North and South Gaskell skillfully fused individual feeling with social concern and in Margaret Hale created one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature.
-
-
Great story and narration
- By Tad Davis on 10-15-20
-
Villette
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 22 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed as Charlotte Brontë’s “finest novel” by Virginia Woolf, Villette is the timeless semi-autobiographical tale of Lucy Snowe. Left with no family and no money, Lucy goes against her own timid nature and travels to the small city of Villette, France, where she becomes a school teacher in Madame Beck’s school for girls. During her stay, she falls in love—twice—and discovers an independent, inner strength rarely seen in women of her time.
-
-
The Divine Ms. Porter delivers as always
- By peachnmario on 03-17-15
By: Charlotte Brontë
Publisher's summary
When Catherine Morland, a country clergyman's daughter, is invited to spend a season in Bath with the fashionable high society, little does she imagine the delights and perils that await her. Captivated and disconcerted by what she finds, and introduced to the joys of "Gothic novels" by her new friend, Isabella, Catherine longs for mystery and romance. When she is invited to stay with the beguiling Henry Tilney and his family at Northanger Abbey, she expects mystery and intrigue at every turn. However, the truth turns out to be even stranger than fiction.
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
Emma
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Jane Austen, Anna Lea - adaptation
- Narrated by: Emma Thompson, Joanne Froggatt, Isabella Inchbald, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Austen wrote, 'I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like' and thus introduces the handsome, clever, rich - and flawed, Emma Woodhouse. Emma is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage; nothing however delights her more than matchmaking her fellow residents of Highbury. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.
-
-
Background sonds RUINED this
- By Sandra Dodd on 09-09-18
By: Jane Austen, and others
-
Sense and Sensibility
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Karen Savage
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Sense and Sensibility" is a novel by Jane Austen, and was her first published work when it appeared in 1811 under the pseudonym "A Lady". A work of romantic fiction, "Sense and Sensibility" is set in southwest England between 1792 and 1797 and portrays the life and loves of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. The novel follows the young ladies to their new home, a meagre cottage on a distant relative's property, where they experience love, romance and heartbreak.
-
-
Good book, good voice, bad formatting
- By Elle Morgan on 02-06-20
By: Jane Austen
-
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
- By: Lewis Carroll
- Narrated by: Shelby Lewis
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Alice tumbles down, down, down a rabbit-hole one hot summer's afternoon in pursuit of a White Rabbit, she finds herself in Wonderland. And there begin the fantastical adventures that will see her experiencing extraordinary changes in size, swimming in a pool of her own tears, and attending the very maddest of tea parties.
-
-
American narrator all wrong for this book
- By A. J. Russell on 02-01-15
By: Lewis Carroll
-
Camilla
- A Picture of Youth
- By: Fanny Burney
- Narrated by: Lucy Scott
- Length: 37 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among Jane Austen's favorite novels, and a key work in the rise of Romanticism, Camilla follows the story of three young women, from childhood to young adulthood, and their pursuit of matrimony. Kind but naive Camilla is in love with Edgar Mandlebert, a handsome and noble young man. Intelligent Eugenia, destined to inherit her uncle's great wealth, is plagued with misfortune as she is left disfigured by smallpox and has men court her for financial gain only. Meanwhile their cousin, beautiful but selfish Indiana, never finds a fortune for her good looks.
-
-
Perfection!
- By Jen42 on 11-19-20
By: Fanny Burney
-
Agnes Grey
- By: Anne Brontë
- Narrated by: Emilia Fox
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having lost the family savings on risky investments, Richard Grey removes himself from family life and suffers a bout of depression. Feeling helpless and frustrated, his youngest daughter, Agnes, applies for a job as a governess to the children of a wealthy, upper-class, English family. Ecstatic at the thought that she has finally gained control and freedom over her own life, Agnes arrives at the Bloomfield mansion armed with confidence and purpose.
-
-
Loved it
- By Kerry on 05-22-10
By: Anne Brontë
-
Agnes Grey
- By: Anne Bronte
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written when women---and workers generally---had few rights in England, Agnes Grey exposes the brutal inequities of the rigid class system in mid-19th-century Britain. Agnes comes from a respectable middle-class family, but their financial reverses have forced her to seek work as a governess.
-
-
Make.it.stop.
- By Wayne on 03-18-22
By: Anne Bronte
-
Emma
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Jane Austen, Anna Lea - adaptation
- Narrated by: Emma Thompson, Joanne Froggatt, Isabella Inchbald, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Austen wrote, 'I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like' and thus introduces the handsome, clever, rich - and flawed, Emma Woodhouse. Emma is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage; nothing however delights her more than matchmaking her fellow residents of Highbury. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.
-
-
Background sonds RUINED this
- By Sandra Dodd on 09-09-18
By: Jane Austen, and others
-
Sense and Sensibility
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Karen Savage
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Sense and Sensibility" is a novel by Jane Austen, and was her first published work when it appeared in 1811 under the pseudonym "A Lady". A work of romantic fiction, "Sense and Sensibility" is set in southwest England between 1792 and 1797 and portrays the life and loves of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. The novel follows the young ladies to their new home, a meagre cottage on a distant relative's property, where they experience love, romance and heartbreak.
-
-
Good book, good voice, bad formatting
- By Elle Morgan on 02-06-20
By: Jane Austen
-
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
- By: Lewis Carroll
- Narrated by: Shelby Lewis
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Alice tumbles down, down, down a rabbit-hole one hot summer's afternoon in pursuit of a White Rabbit, she finds herself in Wonderland. And there begin the fantastical adventures that will see her experiencing extraordinary changes in size, swimming in a pool of her own tears, and attending the very maddest of tea parties.
-
-
American narrator all wrong for this book
- By A. J. Russell on 02-01-15
By: Lewis Carroll
-
Camilla
- A Picture of Youth
- By: Fanny Burney
- Narrated by: Lucy Scott
- Length: 37 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among Jane Austen's favorite novels, and a key work in the rise of Romanticism, Camilla follows the story of three young women, from childhood to young adulthood, and their pursuit of matrimony. Kind but naive Camilla is in love with Edgar Mandlebert, a handsome and noble young man. Intelligent Eugenia, destined to inherit her uncle's great wealth, is plagued with misfortune as she is left disfigured by smallpox and has men court her for financial gain only. Meanwhile their cousin, beautiful but selfish Indiana, never finds a fortune for her good looks.
-
-
Perfection!
- By Jen42 on 11-19-20
By: Fanny Burney
-
Agnes Grey
- By: Anne Brontë
- Narrated by: Emilia Fox
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having lost the family savings on risky investments, Richard Grey removes himself from family life and suffers a bout of depression. Feeling helpless and frustrated, his youngest daughter, Agnes, applies for a job as a governess to the children of a wealthy, upper-class, English family. Ecstatic at the thought that she has finally gained control and freedom over her own life, Agnes arrives at the Bloomfield mansion armed with confidence and purpose.
-
-
Loved it
- By Kerry on 05-22-10
By: Anne Brontë
-
Agnes Grey
- By: Anne Bronte
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written when women---and workers generally---had few rights in England, Agnes Grey exposes the brutal inequities of the rigid class system in mid-19th-century Britain. Agnes comes from a respectable middle-class family, but their financial reverses have forced her to seek work as a governess.
-
-
Make.it.stop.
- By Wayne on 03-18-22
By: Anne Bronte
-
The Belton Estate
- By: Anthony Trollope
- Narrated by: Flo Gibson
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charming, loving Clara Amedroz is involved with two suitors. How she deals with this dilemma is full of humor and very moving.
-
-
Claire's Two Lovers
- By Joseph R on 08-27-09
By: Anthony Trollope
-
On the Irrawaddy, A Story of the First Burmese War
- Svenska Ljud Classica
- By: G. A. Henty
- Narrated by: Mike Harris
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the exception of the terrible retreat from Afghanistan, none of England's many little wars have been so fatal in proportion to the number of those engaged as our first expedition to Burma. The Burman policy of carrying off every boat on the river, laying waste the whole country, and driving away the inhabitants and the herds, maintained our army as prisoners in Rangoon through the first wet season; and caused the loss of half the white officers and men first sent there.
-
-
Great story! Great reading. Editor - not so much
- By David on 11-03-17
By: G. A. Henty
-
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
- Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!
- By: Seth Grahame-Smith, Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem.
-
-
One word - Awesome!
- By Katelyn on 05-22-09
By: Seth Grahame-Smith, and others
-
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
- By: Anne Brontë
- Narrated by: Mary Sarah Agliotta
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Probably the most shocking of the Brontës' novels, this novel had an instant and phenomenal success and is widely considered to be one of the first sustained feminist novels. A mysterious widow, Mrs. Helen Graham, arrives at Wildfell Hall, a nearby old mansion. A source of curiosity for the small community, the reticent Helen and her young son Arthur are slowly drawn into the social circles of the village.
-
-
A good story ruined by the narrator
- By i. Ski on 04-17-14
By: Anne Brontë
-
He Knew He Was Right
- By: Anthony Trollope
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 30 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Louis Trevelyan's young wife meets an old family acquaintance, his unreasonable jealousy of their friendship sparks a quarrel that leads to a brutal and tragic estrangement.
-
-
Nigel Patterson as the narrator is great
- By NH on 10-31-16
By: Anthony Trollope
-
Clarissa, or The History of a Young Lady, Volume 1
- By: Samuel Richardson
- Narrated by: Samuel West, Lucy Scott, Roger May, and others
- Length: 33 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A milestone in the history of the novel, Samuel Richardson’s epistolary and elaborate Clarissa follows the life of a chaste young woman desperate to protect her virtue. When beautiful Clarissa Harlowe is forced to marry the rich but repulsive Mr. Solmes, she refuses, much to her family’s chagrin. She escapes their persecution with the help of Mr. Lovelace, a dashing and seductive rake, but soon finds herself in a far worse dilemma. Terrifying and enlightening, Clarissa weaves a tapestry of narrative experimentation into a gripping morality tale of good versus evil.
-
-
Gripping Novel & Performance
- By Harold on 07-29-18
-
The American
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Self-made American millionaire Christopher Newman arrives in Paris brimming with hope and optimism, excited to experience the culture and, hopefully, find the perfect woman to become his wife. After a chance encounter with American expatriate friends, his attention is drawn to Madame de Cintré, 25-year-old widowed daughter of the late Marquis de Bellegarde. Having fallen on hard times, the centuries-old aristocratic family permits Newman's courtship to proceed; however, they later persuade the widow to break off her engagement to the nouveau-riche businessman.
-
-
excellent reading
- By Andorboth on 12-03-22
By: Henry James
-
Tom Jones
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
- By: Henry Fielding
- Narrated by: Bill Homewood
- Length: 37 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom Jones, a foundling, is brought up by the kindly Mr. Allworthy as if he were his own son. Forced to leave the house as a young man after tales of his disgraceful behavior reach his benefactor's ears, he sets out in utter despair, not only because of his banishment but because he has now lost all hope of gaining the hand of the beautiful Sophia. But she too is forced to flee her parental home to escape an undesirable marriage and their stories and adventures intertwine.
-
-
terrific story BUT
- By tom on 01-28-14
By: Henry Fielding
-
Lady Windermere's Fan
- By: Oscar Wilde
- Narrated by: Samuel West, Michael Sheen, Derek Waring, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oscar Wilde's first play confronts the hypocrisy of public "morality" compared with genuine, private kindness. The reasons for its continued popularity are not difficult to identify: the play's witty dialogue contains many of Wilde's most quoted aphorisms, its stylish setting provides opportunities for elegant presentation, and its cast of memorable characters play out a story which is genuinely moving. This new audio production brings together a full cast worthy of Wilde's creative genius.
-
-
An exciting night at the
- By Karen on 11-28-04
By: Oscar Wilde
-
Remembrance of Things Past
- Swann's Way
- By: Marcel Proust, Scott Moncrieff - translator
- Narrated by: John Rowe
- Length: 19 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Swann's Way is Marcel Proust's literary masterpiece and the first part of the multivolume audiobook Remembrance of Things Past. In the opening volume, the narrator travels back in time to recall his childhood and to introduce the listener to Charles Swann, a wealthy friend of the family and celebrity in the Parisian social scene. He again travels back, this time to the youth of Charles Swann in the French town of Combray, to tell the story of the love affair that took place before his own birth.
-
-
EXCELLENT!
- By Maggie on 08-18-10
By: Marcel Proust, and others
-
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
-
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
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Emma [Naxos Edition]
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Jane Austen's most popular novels. Arrogant, self-willed, and egotistical, Emma is her most unusual heroine.
-
-
Wonderful listen
- By A. Bloom on 08-07-08
By: Jane Austen
-
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....
-
-
Comments from a Jane Austen Novice
- By Ilana on 10-22-11
By: Jane Austen
-
Northanger Abbey
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Anna Massey
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Catherine Morland reads tales of Gothic romance, yet leads a country life in Wiltshire. When she travels to Bath, she meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney. She is invited by his sister and father to stay at Northanger Abbey, where she meets all the trappings of Gothic horror that she has read about. Fortunately, she has her own good sense and irresistible but unsentimental hero, Henry Tilney.
-
-
A pleasing but too serious narrator
- By karen R on 12-08-15
By: Jane Austen
-
Emma
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Jane Austen, Anna Lea - adaptation
- Narrated by: Emma Thompson, Joanne Froggatt, Isabella Inchbald, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Austen wrote, 'I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like' and thus introduces the handsome, clever, rich - and flawed, Emma Woodhouse. Emma is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage; nothing however delights her more than matchmaking her fellow residents of Highbury. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.
-
-
Background sonds RUINED this
- By Sandra Dodd on 09-09-18
By: Jane Austen, and others
-
Persuasion
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anne Elliot has grieved for seven years over the loss of her first love, Captain Frederick Wentworth. But events conspire to unravel the knots of deceit and misunderstanding in this beguiling and gently comic story of love and fidelity.
-
-
Juliet Stevenson is Simply Amazing
- By Em on 04-15-12
By: Jane Austen
-
Sense and Sensibility
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mrs. Dashwood is forced by an avaricious daughter-in-law to leave the family home in Sussex, she takes her three daughters to live in a modest cottage in Devon. For Elinor, the eldest daughter, the move means a painful separation from the man she loves, but her sister Marianne finds in Devon the romance and excitement which she longs for.
-
-
Superb - Justice to Jane Austen and Emma Thompson
- By Jo on 11-19-06
By: Jane Austen
-
Emma [Naxos Edition]
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Jane Austen's most popular novels. Arrogant, self-willed, and egotistical, Emma is her most unusual heroine.
-
-
Wonderful listen
- By A. Bloom on 08-07-08
By: Jane Austen
-
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....
-
-
Comments from a Jane Austen Novice
- By Ilana on 10-22-11
By: Jane Austen
-
Northanger Abbey
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Anna Massey
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Catherine Morland reads tales of Gothic romance, yet leads a country life in Wiltshire. When she travels to Bath, she meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney. She is invited by his sister and father to stay at Northanger Abbey, where she meets all the trappings of Gothic horror that she has read about. Fortunately, she has her own good sense and irresistible but unsentimental hero, Henry Tilney.
-
-
A pleasing but too serious narrator
- By karen R on 12-08-15
By: Jane Austen
-
Emma
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Jane Austen, Anna Lea - adaptation
- Narrated by: Emma Thompson, Joanne Froggatt, Isabella Inchbald, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Austen wrote, 'I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like' and thus introduces the handsome, clever, rich - and flawed, Emma Woodhouse. Emma is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage; nothing however delights her more than matchmaking her fellow residents of Highbury. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.
-
-
Background sonds RUINED this
- By Sandra Dodd on 09-09-18
By: Jane Austen, and others
-
Persuasion
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anne Elliot has grieved for seven years over the loss of her first love, Captain Frederick Wentworth. But events conspire to unravel the knots of deceit and misunderstanding in this beguiling and gently comic story of love and fidelity.
-
-
Juliet Stevenson is Simply Amazing
- By Em on 04-15-12
By: Jane Austen
-
Sense and Sensibility
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mrs. Dashwood is forced by an avaricious daughter-in-law to leave the family home in Sussex, she takes her three daughters to live in a modest cottage in Devon. For Elinor, the eldest daughter, the move means a painful separation from the man she loves, but her sister Marianne finds in Devon the romance and excitement which she longs for.
-
-
Superb - Justice to Jane Austen and Emma Thompson
- By Jo on 11-19-06
By: Jane Austen
-
Pride and Prejudice
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jane Austen’s most popular novel, originally published in 1813, some 17 years after it was first written, presents the Bennet family of Longbourn. Against the background of gossipy Mrs. Bennet and the detached Mr. Bennet, the quest is on for husbands for the five daughters. The spotlight falls on Elizabeth, second eldest, who is courted by Mr. Darcy, though initially she is more concerned with the fate of her other sisters. This marvelous account of family life in Regency England is read with customary panache by Juliet Stevenson.
-
-
Perfection
- By Tad Davis on 05-24-21
By: Jane Austen
-
Mansfield Park
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shy, fragile Fanny Price is the consummate "poor relation". Sent to live with her wealthy uncle Thomas, she clashes with his spoiled, selfish daughters and falls in love with his son. Their lives are further complicated by the arrival of a pair of witty, sophisticated Londoners, whose flair for flirtation collides with the quiet, conservative country ways of Mansfield Park.
-
-
Nicely narrated
- By SLB on 06-16-14
By: Jane Austen
-
Northanger Abbey
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Beth Kesler
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jane Austen's first novel - published posthumously in 1818 - tells the story of Catherine Morland and her dangerously sweet nature, innocence, and sometime self-delusion. Though Austen's fallible heroine is repeatedly drawn into scrapes while vacationing at Bath and during her subsequent visit to Northanger Abbey, Catherine eventually triumphs, blossoming into a discerning woman who learns truths about love, life, and the heady power of literature. The satirical novel pokes fun at the gothic novel while earnestly emphasizing caution to the female sex.
-
-
Lives up to Jane!
- By Vite on 09-15-19
By: Jane Austen
-
Pride and Prejudice
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Emilia Fox
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jane Austen's most popular novel, originally published in 1813, some 17 years after it was first written, presents the Bennet family of Longbourn. Against the background of gossipy Mrs. Bennet and the detached Mr. Bennet, the quest is on for husbands for the five daughters. The spotlight falls on Elizabeth, second eldest, who is courted by Darcy, though initially she is more concerned with the fate of her other sisters.
-
-
Pride and Prejudice
- By Marilyn Pearse on 08-21-07
By: Jane Austen
-
The Wings of the Dove
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Milly Theale is a young, beautiful, and fabulously wealthy American. When she arrives in London and meets the equally beautiful but impoverished Kate Croy, they form an intimate friendship. But nothing is as it seems: materialism, romance, self-delusion, and ultimately fatal illness insidiously contaminate the glamorous social whirl.
-
-
Not an easy read but SO worth it!
- By Julie Gray on 10-31-17
By: Henry James
-
Emma
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Jenny Agutter
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emma can be enjoyed as a charming love story, a detective story, and a comic and lively picture of English life 200 years ago. Austen's beautiful, clever, wilful but fallible heroine Emma Woodhouse believes she knows best. Perfectly content with her life she sees no need for either love or marriage, yet nothing pleases her more than meddling in the romantic lives of others.
-
-
pure pleasure
- By Elizabeth on 05-14-10
By: Jane Austen
-
The Complete Novels : Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Alison Larkin
- Length: 81 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since Colin Firth's Mr Darcy emerged from the lake in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, the novels of Jane Austen have become more popular than ever, delighting millions of fans all over the world. Now, Alison Larkin's critically acclaimed narrations of Austen's six completed novels are brought together in this very special 200th anniversary audio edition. "Alison Larkin's narration will captivate listeners from the first sentence" raves AudioFile magazine about the Earphones Award-winning recording of Sense and Sensibility, which starts the collection.
-
-
Table of Contents/Navigation Guide!
- By Jim on 02-23-18
By: Jane Austen
-
Northanger Abbey
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jane Austen's first major novel, a parody of the popular literature of the time, is an ironic tale of the romantic folly of men and women in pursuit of love, marriage, and money. The humorous adventures of young Catherine as she encounters "the difficulties and dangers of a six weeks' residence in Bath" lead to some of Austen's most brilliant social satire.
-
-
Austen Stretching Her Wings
- By Joseph R on 03-05-09
By: Jane Austen
-
Villette
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Mandy Weston
- Length: 20 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Long overshadowed by Jane Eyre, Villette is widely admired as one of Charlotte Bronte's finest works. This story of a young teacher at a girl's school in the city of Villette is a particular challenge for the young reader, for it requires maturity of vision, a fine narrative sense - and a command of French! Mandy Weston, a newcomer to Naxos AudioBooks, tells the story magnificently.
-
-
classical heart
- By Chloe on 01-14-08
By: Charlotte Brontë
-
Northanger Abbey
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Northanger Abbey is the coming-of-age story of Catherine Morland, who is taken to the fashionable resort of Bath with her friends, the Allens. While in Bath, she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor. The Tilneys invite Catherine to Northanger Abbey, their family estate. Catherine, an avid reader of Gothic novels, soon becomes obsessed with the thought that possible atrocities are going on at the abbey.
-
-
A Favorite
- By Amazon Customer on 09-10-07
By: Jane Austen
-
Mansfield Park
- Penguin Classics
- By: Jane Austen, Kathryn Sutherland
- Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taken from the poverty of her parents' home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank, and with her cousin Edmund Bertram as her sole ally. When her uncle Sir Thomas Birtram travels to Antigua, siblings Mary and Henry Crawford arrive in the neighbourhood, bringing with them the glamour of London life and a reckless taste for flirtation.
-
-
Excellent, apart from the introduction!
- By Verre on 01-04-21
By: Jane Austen, and others
-
Lady Susan
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter, Kim Hicks
- Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lady Susan was the first of Jane Austen's novels to be completed. Less known than Austen's six great later novels, it demonstrates the wit and sharp observations of Jane Austen - and is shown at its best in audiobook form, with different actresses presenting real characters as they read their letters.
-
-
Fun and mischevious
- By Amazon Customer on 02-03-05
By: Jane Austen
What listeners say about Northanger Abbey
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Johnny
- 08-01-09
Awesome
I am a manly man. I eat raw meat. I speak in short sentences. but i love this book. It's not just a Jane Austen romance, it's a mini thriller and comedy too. John Thorpe is my idle.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
122 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Michelle S
- 05-04-10
A+
Juliet Stevenson is my favorite reader for Jane Austen novels. She has a pleasing alto voice, and gives a very lively reading. Ms. Stevenson gives all of Jane's characters distinct voices and personalities. I recommend this audiobook highly!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
62 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jefferson
- 07-27-11
The Charming Dangers of Reading too Many Novels
Northanger Abbey read by Juliet Stevenson was great fun: absorbing, witty, and even, strangely enough (for an anti-Gothic romance), suspenseful. Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is an appealing heroine: ex-tomboy, unaccomplished at the things a typical young lady of her era would be accomplished at (playing the piano, drawing, etc.), obsessed with Gothic romance novels, honest, good-natured, sensitive, innocent, and ignorant. Watching her mature through the course of her first experience away from home (first in Bath and finally from about half way through the novel in Northanger Abbey) into a greater awareness of the feelings and true nature of other people and of herself is satisfying.
And the reader, Juliet Stevenson, is wonderful! She brings the story to life, playing an experienced and wry narrator, as well as pleasurably capturing Catherine's innocent ohs, nos, and honesty, Isabella Thorpe's insincere effusions, John Thorpe's boorish boasting, and Henry Tilney's clever teasing and kind advice.
As some other listeners have said, Northanger Abbey is not up to the level of Jane Austen's best novels, but it humorously plays with the Gothic romance genre that was so popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, offers plenty of quotable lines, and, especially as read by Juliet Stevenson, makes a charming and enjoyable audiobook.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
52 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- connie
- 03-10-11
Stevenson livens the satire
Like many other Austen readers, this is my least favorite Austen novel. It was only on re-reading it as an adult (and after slogging through some of the meodramatic novels Austen satirizes) that I finally got the satire. Narrator Stevenson really enlivens the reading to so that the tone can't be missed or messed. I've listened to two other audio versions of Northanger, and this strikes me as by far the best - satiric but not "over the top" delivery.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
31 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Jenny
- 08-08-08
Wonderfully read
Another great Austen novel beautifully read by Juliet Stevenson. She is my favorite narrator.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
25 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Larbi
- 10-01-06
Great narrator, weak Austen
Juliet Stevenson is a wonderful narrator and does a great job reading what is unfortunately not the best of Jane Austen's books. Although the story is pleasant enough, it isn't up to Pride and Prejudice, or Sense and Sensibility, Emma or Mansfield Park. The story lacks complexity, the characters are merely sketched, and it just doesn't hold your interest like the other Austen works. The narration, however, is terrific.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
23 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David
- 05-20-11
For heroines in training
This was a fun, light-hearted romp, but not one of Austen's best works. It had her characteristic humor, and I love the way she delivers both approbation and condemnation in such wry, genteel turns of phrase. Austen's world is a Regency fairyland where nothing truly violent or horrific ever happens, which makes Catherine Morland, the 17-year-old heroine of Northanger Abbey all the more endearing. Catherine reads lots of gothic novels, and would like nothing better than to be trapped in a haunted house, discover that the local baronet is hiding his mad wife in an attic, find a mysterious orphan on her doorstep, uncover a wicked poisoning plot, etc. Sadly, no such dramatic events occur during her stay in Bath, but she does make friends with the Allens, the Thorpes, and the Tilneys, leading to a typical Austen comedy of manners with misunderstandings, deceptions, attachments, broken engagements, etc.
Catherine is a sweet former tomboy who still has a vivid imagination and a taste for adventure. She grows up over the course of her little adventure, making friends, figuring out that not everyone can be taken at face value, and that she shouldn't try to fit real people into the plots of gothic novels. Also, Austen has a lot of fun name-checking fellow authors, honoring some and making fun of others, and defending the novel as a legitimate work of art.
However, the ending was rushed and had none of the humor or wit of the first part, like Austen had a fun time writing about her overly-imaginative heroine and her adventures for the first part of the book, and then said, "Oh, well, I guess I'd better write the happy ending now." So all misunderstandings are cleared up and Catherine is suitably settled in the last chapter, mostly through a lot of exposition. So, an enjoyable but a lightweight book without the depth of some of Austen's other works.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert Stevens
- 08-13-10
Very Enjoyable
This was a "first" Austen work for me. It was an excellent work to begin with. Wonderfully read and wonderfully written.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Loren D.
- 03-28-07
A
If there was ever a “Chick Book”, this is it. I can’t believe that I listened to the whole thing. I did so only because I thought the ending would be worth it, but it wasn’t. In fact, after the long, detailed steps taken to get to the end, it was very disappointing. The ending was hurried, as if to say, “Then everybody found that they all loved each other, got married, and lived happily ever after.”
I got this book because I enjoyed the TV mini-series, “Pride and Prejudice.” I didn’t realize how much I would have to listen to what the main character, a 17-year-old young lady, thinks about the situations and people around her. A little more action and less analysis would have been welcome.
This is my first book by Jane Austen; it will be my last.
The ONLY thing that made this book worth listening to was the absolutely terrific narration by Juliet Stevenson. Her nuances with the various characters’ voices and clear speech in all of them made it a joy to hear her. Too bad the material didn’t support her talent.
Loren
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- JGrace
- 08-04-11
Teenaged angst in Austenland
Northanger Abbey ??? Jane Austen
4 stars
This was the first book that Austen wrote. She sold it; it was never published; so she bought it back when her other books became successful. Possibly she intended a rewrite. Her brother had it published after her death.
The story concerns the teen-aged Catherine Moreland who has little experience of the world, but much experience with gothic romance novels. Austen manages to make Catherine comic in her awkwardness and excessive imagination, but lovable in her direct honesty. This book has all the satire and social commentary of Austen???s later books, but other than Catherine, I felt the characters lacked depth. Although Catherine???s brother has a failed love affair with one of her new friends, Austen only deals with the effect this has on Catherine???s relationship with Isabella. Little is said about the brother. Nothing at all is known about Eleanor???s relationship to her Viscount. That marriage is only mentioned because it allows Catherine and Henry to marry. I missed the more complex interplay of multiple characters and plot line that occur in Austen???s later books, but I enjoyed Catherine???s runaway imagination.
Juliet Stevenson gives a wonderful performance of this book. Each character is captured distinctly while she adds to the atmosphere and the comedy with her animated reading.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful