Villette

By: Charlotte Brontë

Narrated by: Davina Porter

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.

Public Domain (P)2006 Recorded Books, LLC

i was disappointed

maybe im being snobbish but the awful mispronunciation of every french word was a shame

Authors word pictures and similes

The character Lucy was inspiring in her wholesome way of handling life’s joys and disappointments.

OK for the diehard Victorian novel enthusiast

This certainly was no Jane Austen novel. It's rather uneventful, and dreary but if you love language as I do, you may like just the sound of it and Divina Porter is the best

Character brought to life brilliantly

The reader, Davina Porter, made Lucie Snow more real than any simple reading could do. I am now, more curious about Charlette Bronte and the era in which she lived. I wish this resource had been available when I was in school. I couldn't stop listening.
Bronte's writing is musical and poetic, and Davina's delivery elevates perfect literature.

Long documentary of this person's boring life.

This story was about Villette so it did not let me down on that. The problem was that her life wasn't all that exciting. The narrator did a fine job. However, not the narrators fault, there were so many parts spoken in French of which I would have like to know what they were all about. Being that the book is published in English, the writer should not have assumed that everyone reads or understands French. Even if written as so, the director of the audiobook might have added the little curtesy of translation. I wasn't altogether disappointed with the book, which I knew was an old classic and would be written in that time frame's style.I had never read Charlotte Bronte or other classics such as Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and thought I probably missed something. I'm glad I read it but wouldn't read it again as I do my favorites.

A lot of French

Unless you understand French, I would NOT buy this Audiobook. A great deal is spoken in French and the story becomes segmented and the meaning is lost if French is NOT understood. At least with the Kindle version you have the opportunity to highlight the French and translate to English.
It would be nice to have an ALL ENGLISH VERSION from Audible, with the French translated to English.

Wow said the male listener

I've read about six classics by women authors this year, all books that I'd managed to avoid during my formal education years. Villette is definitely my favorite. A woman without means ventures much on a trip to a destination unknown to her, without letters of introduction or even enough coin to support herself upon arrival, and makes a go of it. At least, as "a go of it" would be defined 170 years ago in England.

My only piece of advice: Probably better read, with a good French-English dictionary at your side, unless your command of spoken French is passingly adequate.

great narration !

What does Davina Porter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She has fantastic french. She has specific voices for each character. She uses several different accents and pulls them off very well. She puts feeling and interest into her reading. I enjoyed Davina as a narrator.

Enjoyed very much except...

They sort was delightful, intriguing, and fun of little twists. They only thing that was frustrating for me was the parts in French. I do know that the book was written at a time and place where French was spoken by a great deal of people. I don’t know how Audible could have added any translations but that would have been nice.

Truly a fun read.

Do you speak French

If not, don’t listen to this book. A large portion of the dialogue is in French. Frustrating!