-
The Buccaneers
- Narrated by: Flo Gibson
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- 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 $17.47
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Custom of the Country
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edith Wharton stands among the finest writers of early 20th-century America. In The Custom of the Country, Wharton’s scathing social commentary is on full display through the beautiful and manipulative Undine Spragg. When Undine convinces her nouveau riche parents to move to New York, she quickly injects herself into high society. But even a well-to-do husband isn’t enough for Undine, whose overwhelming lust for wealth proves to be her undoing.
-
-
Cannot recommend a better narrator!
- By Esther on 07-29-12
By: Edith Wharton
-
The Husband Hunters
- American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy
- By: Anne de Courcy
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Towards the end of the 19th century and for the first few years of the 20th, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege, and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, 50 years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known "Dollar Princess", married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage....
-
-
Very interesting and well read!
- By Raven on 09-01-18
By: Anne de Courcy
-
The House of Mirth
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beautiful, sophisticated and endlessly ambitious Lily Bart endeavours to climb the social ladder of New York's elite by securing a good match and living beyond her means. Now nearing 30 years of age and having rejected several proposals, forever in the hope of finding someone better, her future prospects are threatened. A damning commentary of 20th-century social order, Edith Wharton's tale established her as one of the greatest British novelists of the 1900s.
-
-
Like Henry James but more accessible
- By Merlin on 08-19-12
By: Edith Wharton
-
The Old Maid
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story follows the life of Tina, a young woman caught between the mother who adopted her - the beautiful, upstanding Delia - and her true mother, her plain, unmarried ‘aunt’ Charlotte, who gave Tina up to provide her with a socially acceptable life. The three women live quietly together until Tina’s wedding day, when Delia’s and Charlotte’s hidden jealousies rush to the surface.
-
-
Touching story, well read
- By Feather on 06-13-10
By: Edith Wharton
-
Those Wild Wyndhams
- Three Sisters at the Heart of Power
- By: Claudia Renton
- Narrated by: Claudia Renton
- Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were confidantes to British prime ministers, poets, writers, and artists, their lives entwined with the most celebrated and scandalous figures of the day, from Oscar Wilde to Henry James. They were the lovers of great men - or men of great prominence... They lived in a world of luxurious excess, a world of splendor at 44 Belgrave Square and later at the even more vast Clouds, the exquisite Wiltshire house on 4,000 acres, the "house of the age", designed in 1876 by the visionary architect Philip Webb - the model for Henry James' The Spoils of Poynton.
-
-
Perfection. Utter Perfection. An absolute gem.
- By V on 05-09-19
By: Claudia Renton
-
The Age of Innocence
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: David Horovitch
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Countess Ellen Olenska, separated from her European husband, returns to old New York society. She bears with her an independence and an awareness of life which stirs the educated sensitivity of the charming Newland Archer, engaged to be married to her cousin, May Welland. Though he accepts the society's standards and rules he is acutely aware of their limitations. He knows May will assure him a conventional future but Ellen, scandalously separated from her husband, forces Archer to question his values and beliefs.
-
-
Narrated to Perfection
- By Ilana on 09-18-12
By: Edith Wharton
-
The Custom of the Country
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edith Wharton stands among the finest writers of early 20th-century America. In The Custom of the Country, Wharton’s scathing social commentary is on full display through the beautiful and manipulative Undine Spragg. When Undine convinces her nouveau riche parents to move to New York, she quickly injects herself into high society. But even a well-to-do husband isn’t enough for Undine, whose overwhelming lust for wealth proves to be her undoing.
-
-
Cannot recommend a better narrator!
- By Esther on 07-29-12
By: Edith Wharton
-
The Husband Hunters
- American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy
- By: Anne de Courcy
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Towards the end of the 19th century and for the first few years of the 20th, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege, and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, 50 years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known "Dollar Princess", married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage....
-
-
Very interesting and well read!
- By Raven on 09-01-18
By: Anne de Courcy
-
The House of Mirth
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beautiful, sophisticated and endlessly ambitious Lily Bart endeavours to climb the social ladder of New York's elite by securing a good match and living beyond her means. Now nearing 30 years of age and having rejected several proposals, forever in the hope of finding someone better, her future prospects are threatened. A damning commentary of 20th-century social order, Edith Wharton's tale established her as one of the greatest British novelists of the 1900s.
-
-
Like Henry James but more accessible
- By Merlin on 08-19-12
By: Edith Wharton
-
The Old Maid
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story follows the life of Tina, a young woman caught between the mother who adopted her - the beautiful, upstanding Delia - and her true mother, her plain, unmarried ‘aunt’ Charlotte, who gave Tina up to provide her with a socially acceptable life. The three women live quietly together until Tina’s wedding day, when Delia’s and Charlotte’s hidden jealousies rush to the surface.
-
-
Touching story, well read
- By Feather on 06-13-10
By: Edith Wharton
-
Those Wild Wyndhams
- Three Sisters at the Heart of Power
- By: Claudia Renton
- Narrated by: Claudia Renton
- Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were confidantes to British prime ministers, poets, writers, and artists, their lives entwined with the most celebrated and scandalous figures of the day, from Oscar Wilde to Henry James. They were the lovers of great men - or men of great prominence... They lived in a world of luxurious excess, a world of splendor at 44 Belgrave Square and later at the even more vast Clouds, the exquisite Wiltshire house on 4,000 acres, the "house of the age", designed in 1876 by the visionary architect Philip Webb - the model for Henry James' The Spoils of Poynton.
-
-
Perfection. Utter Perfection. An absolute gem.
- By V on 05-09-19
By: Claudia Renton
-
The Age of Innocence
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: David Horovitch
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Countess Ellen Olenska, separated from her European husband, returns to old New York society. She bears with her an independence and an awareness of life which stirs the educated sensitivity of the charming Newland Archer, engaged to be married to her cousin, May Welland. Though he accepts the society's standards and rules he is acutely aware of their limitations. He knows May will assure him a conventional future but Ellen, scandalously separated from her husband, forces Archer to question his values and beliefs.
-
-
Narrated to Perfection
- By Ilana on 09-18-12
By: Edith Wharton
-
To Marry an English Lord
- By: Gail MacColl, Carol McD. Wallace
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Gilded Age until 1914, more than 100 American heiresses invaded Britannia and swapped dollars for titles - just like Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, the first of the Downton Abbey characters Julian Fellowes was inspired to create after reading To Marry An English Lord. Filled with vivid personalities, gossipy anecdotes, grand houses, and a wealth of period details-plus quotes and the finer points of Victorian and Edwardian etiquette - To Marry An English Lord is social history at its liveliest and most accessible.
-
-
Not Great on Audio
- By Lynne on 03-10-16
By: Gail MacColl, and others
-
The Glitter and the Gold
- The American Duchess - In Her Own Words
- By: Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Consuelo Vanderbilt was young, beautiful and the heir to a vast family fortune. She was also deeply in love with an American suitor when her mother chose instead for her to fulfill her social ambitions and marry an English Duke. Leaving her life in America, she came to England as the Duchess of Marlborough in 1895 and took up residence in her new home: Blenheim Palace. The ninth Duchess gives unique first-hand insight into life at the very pinnacle of English society in the Edwardian era.
-
-
Narration is awful.
- By May Lou on 03-15-17
-
Summer
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Grace Conlin
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wharton's most erotic and lyrical novel, Summer explores a daring theme for 1917, a woman's awakening to her sexuality. Eighteen-year-old Charity Royall lives in the small town of North Dormer, ignorant of desire until the arrival of architect Lucius Harney. Like the succulent summer landscape in the Berkshires around them, Charity's romance is lush and picturesque, but its consequences are harsh and real.
-
-
Excellent first audible purchase!
- By lilyglint on 08-23-04
By: Edith Wharton
-
The Reef
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Kristen Underwood
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A challenge to the moral climate of the day, The Reef follows the fancies of George Darrow, a young diplomat en route from London to France, intent on proposing to the widowed Anna Leath. Unsettled by Anna's reticence, Darrow drifts into an affair with Sophy Viner, a charmingly naive and impecunious young woman whose relations with Darrow and Anna's family threaten his prospects for success.
-
-
Another compelling Wharton-style dilemma
- By Kenneth on 03-20-09
By: Edith Wharton
-
American Duchess
- A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt
- By: Karen Harper
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Karen Harper tells the tale of Consuelo Vanderbilt, her “Wedding of the Century” to the duke of Marlborough, and her quest to find meaning behind “the glitter and the gold”.
-
-
Another piece to the puzzle
- By Missi Boyd on 11-01-19
By: Karen Harper
-
The Edith Wharton BBC Radio Drama Collection
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Anna Massey, Ben Miles, Eleanor Bron, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A BBC radio collection of full-cast dramatisations, bringing together Edith Wharton’s most popular and best-loved works.
By: Edith Wharton
-
The Glimpses of the Moon
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Margaret Melosh
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of "The Glimpses of the Moon" is set in the early 1920s. Nick Lansing and Susy Branch are both scarcely getting by in the rich social circles they move in and they can't afford to get married. They make an agreement. They will get married and stay together for as long as they can but when they run out of money, they are free to divorce each other. The book continues Edith Wharton's inspection of New York society.
By: Edith Wharton
-
That Churchill Woman
- A Novel
- By: Stephanie Barron
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Paris Wife meets PBS’s Victoria in this enthralling novel of the life and loves of one of history’s most remarkable women: Winston Churchill’s scandalous American mother, Jennie Jerome.
-
-
A must read!
- By Sharon on 05-06-19
By: Stephanie Barron
-
The American Heiress
- A Novel
- By: Daisy Goodwin
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the 20th century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts', suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.
-
-
I loved this book!
- By Maria on 06-27-11
By: Daisy Goodwin
-
A Well-Behaved Woman
- A Novel of the Vanderbilts
- By: Therese Anne Fowler
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alva Smith, her Southern family destitute after the Civil War, married into one of America’s great Gilded Age dynasties: the newly wealthy but socially shunned Vanderbilts. Alva defied convention for women of her time, asserting power within her marriage and becoming a leader in the women's suffrage movement. In A Well-Behaved Woman, Therese Anne Fowler paints a glittering world of enormous wealth contrasted against desperate poverty, of social ambition and social scorn, of friendship and betrayal, and an unforgettable story of a remarkable woman.
-
-
An Illuminating Light on a Greatly Maligned Woman
- By VintageJunkie on 12-02-18
-
The Valley of Decision
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Ben Hill
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"The Valley of Decision" (1902) is the first long novel of Edith Wharton. The story is set in 18th century Italy, where Odo Valsecca rises to power. The four books of the novel describe how he becomes a responsible member of Italian nobility. During his journey, he has to deal with the aristocracy, the church, the free thinkers, and the peasants. We find detailed, deep and rich descriptions of characters from all classes, along with the political background of the era.
By: Edith Wharton
-
Ethan Frome (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the dead gray cold of Starkfield, Massachusetts, farmer Ethan Frome is struggling to scrape out a living. His duties are to his wife, Zeena - an ungrateful, soul-sick hypochondriac as frigid as the New England winter. When Zeena’s cousin Mattie arrives to help with the farm, the ethereal, gentle-natured beauty brings a light and a fugitive affection into Ethan’s life. Yet for Ethan and Mattie, daring to be happy - and together - will have its consequences.
-
-
A classic story well read by.
- By DPK on 08-22-20
By: Edith Wharton
Publisher's Summary
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.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Buccaneers
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- judy wiley
- 10-24-16
A rare happy ending of sorts
I love Edith Wharton's writing but her stories often end sadly, especially for the women. This one ends abruptly because she died before finishing it. Fortunately, she mapped out the whole story before she died. The outline for the story ends happily for the main protagonist! The writing and the realistic depiction of society in both the United States and Great Britain is perfection!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dana
- 02-11-13
An ok story with sass
What did you love best about The Buccaneers?
I love historical fiction written by female authors. This did not disappoint although at times the plot seemed to wonder. The characters were well development and the sassy humor caught my attention and kept me tuned in.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John S.
- 06-03-13
Any longer and it would've started dragging
First part of the book concerns some (nouveau riche) girls who try, but just aren't accepted by New York society - truly an example of Rich Peoples' Problems.
The young ladies head over to London where, in spite of the rigid class system there, they manage to snag a couple of swells. Part Two is a tale of "be careful what you wish for" as money and titles don't prove all they were cracked up to be - more Rich Peoples' Problems.
I give the work three stars as the writing quality is good, making it a decent read for those with a strong interest in Victorian literature.
A word on the audio narration: Flo Gibson can be an acquired taste, with her unusual cadence. I hadn't heard anything by her recently, so had to start over again with her style, but by the middle of the story either I'd become re-acquainted, or she'd hit her groove.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chris Medio
- 08-06-20
engaging but unfinished
As always Mrs Wharton delivers an engaging story. however it is unfinished. which leaves us to our own devices to figure out what happens to our Nan. I think I need to watch the series that aired on PBS.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elizabeth F. Meadows
- 04-21-18
Too Slow!
The narrator was fine, but I was completely bored by this book. The interesting part was in the completion by Marion Mainwaring, which I had to read in print because it was not included in this audio book. Just skip to the short synopsis at the end of Chapter 29 and save yourself several hours.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Marianne
- 11-01-13
Disappointed
If you could sum up The Buccaneers in three words, what would they be?
Don't know
Would you be willing to try another one of Flo Gibson’s performances?
NO
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No
Any additional comments?
The reader was not very good and she gave Conchita an Irish accent which was odd.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chris
- 02-07-18
Gave one star because can't give no stars!
Horrible story, horrible reader!! I wanted to scrape my ears off with a rusty spoon!!!!!!! HORRIBLE!!!!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- SamanthaG
- 03-30-15
Narrator speaks too fast
Would you try another book from Edith Wharton and/or Flo Gibson?
No - my book club read The Age of Innocence a couple of years ago and I don't think I made it through that one either. This is also for book club. My problem with it so far (only to chapter 2) is that I can't understand the narrator because she speaks so rapidly AND has some sort of an accent. I've gone back to the beginning about 5 times and still can't concentrate enough on it for my mind not to wander.
Has The Buccaneers turned you off from other books in this genre?
Yes, though I'm sure my criticisms don't apply to the entire genre.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
See above - speaking too fast and with an (?) accent. I tried to slow the speed to .75, but that delivery wasn't good - sort of stuttering.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Buccaneers?
Didn't get that far.
Any additional comments?
I may try to get this as an e-book to read in print, but I'm thinking it may be a waste of money. Maybe I'll try a sample first.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Susan
- 01-22-13
Suzie's review of the Buccaneers
Would you consider the audio edition of The Buccaneers to be better than the print version?
Yes
Who was your favorite character and why?
Nan
Any additional comments?
I love the time period of this story....I love the clothes, the rules, etc of the rich families.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Helmac
- 02-26-17
Reading
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
No, because I have found the reading very poor. Extremely disappointing as you will see from my library, I am an Edith Wharton fan
What did you like best about this story?
So far I am not liking anything best.
How could the performance have been better?
A better reader
If this book were a film would you go see it?
Probably because it is an Edith Wharton
Any additional comments?
No
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Roz
- 01-29-19
good book, awful naration
Really good book but the naration is poor and very irritating. The reader speaks so quickly that it's quite difficult to follow the story - disappointing.