AuthorCharlotte Bronte
NarratorCharlotte Ritchie
Duration21h 29m
CategoriesAdult Fiction, Classics
PublisherPenguin Books Ltd
VersionUnabridged
Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Charlotte Ritchie, best known for her roles as Oregon in Channel 4's Fresh Meat, Hannah in the BBC Three comedy Siblings, and as Barbara Gilbert in BBC drama Call the Midwife. With neither friends nor family, Lucy Snowe sets sail from England to find employment in a girls' boarding school in the small town of Villette. There she struggles to retain her self-possession in the face of unruly pupils, an initially suspicious headmaster and her own complex feelings, first for the school's English doctor and then for the dictatorial professor Paul Emmanuel. Drawing on her own deeply unhappy experiences as a governess in Brussels, Charlotte Bront‰'s last and most autobiographical novel is a powerfully moving study of isolation and the pain of unrequited love, narrated by a heroine determined to preserve an independent spirit in the face of adverse circumstances.
Author: Charlotte Bronte
Author Charlotte Bronte
Narrator Emma Gregory
Duration 24h 30m
In this gripping tale of passion, independence, and societal constraints, the young and introspective Robert Moore is caught in the whirlwind of his factory's struggles, while becoming entangled with the fierce and enigmatic Shirley. A strong, unconventional woman with a sharp mind, Shirley challenges the rigid social norms of her time, forcing tho...
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Author: Charlotte Bronte
Author Charlotte Bronte
Narrator Nadia May
Duration 18h 52m
Treated badly as a child by both her aunt and school, Jane leaves to become a governess to the daughter of the mysterious Mr Rochester. Gradually she falls in love with him, but things are not what they seem and life is not straightforward for the rebellious heroine.
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Author: Albert Camus
Author Albert Camus
Narrator James Jenner
Duration 11h 2m
In the small coastal city of Oran, Algeria, rats begin rising up from the filth only to die as bloody heaps in the streets. Shortly after, an outbreak of the bubonic plague erupts and envelops the human population. Albert Camus' The Plague is a brilliant and haunting rendering of human perseverance and futility in the face of a relentless terror bo...
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Author: James Joyce
Author James Joyce
Narrator Andrew Scott
Duration 8h 33m
Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Andrew Scott, star of Sherlock, Fleabag and Black Mirror, also known for his on-stage roles in Present Laughter and Hamlet. This definitive recording includes an Introduction by Terence Brown. Joyce's first major work, written when he was only twenty-five, brought his city to the world...
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Author: Charlotte Bronte
Author Charlotte Bronte
Narrator Carole Boyd
Duration 2h 22m
Lucy Snowe, an English girl, goes to work as a governess in Brussels and finds solace in an unlikely suitor. Largely autobiographical fiction. Based on Charlotte's work as a governess in Brussels, Villette concerns the life of Lucy Snowe, an English girl who obtains a post at a girl's school in Belgium. With few friends and little money, Lucy conc...
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Author: Jerome K Jerome
Author Jerome K Jerome
Narrator Blake Morrison
Duration 7h 33m
Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Blake Harrison, star of The Inbetweeners, also known for his role on screen in A Very English Scandal and Todd Margaret, as well as on London's West End in Waitress. This definitive recording includes an Introduction by David Carroll. Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. a...
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Author: Kenneth Grahame
Author Kenneth Grahame
Narrator Alan Bennett
Duration 1h 17m
When the Water Rat invites the unassuming Mole to spend his first day ever in a boat on the river, and wise Badger comes along for the ride as well, so begins a marvellous season of adventure for the three friends. Mr Toad (he of Toad Hall) completes a happy foursome, but his tendency to get into hot water leads him into some rather hair-raising sc...
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Author: Jonathan Swift
Author Jonathan Swift
Narrator Jasper Britton
Duration 35h 15m
Lemuel Gulliver, a slightly staid ship's doctor, relates the tales of his astonishing travels. He encounters the tiny, warring Lilliputians; the giant, sceptical Brobdingnagians; the ludicrously intellectual Laputans; and the idealistic - if rather stolid - Houyhnhnms and their bestial servants, the Yahoos. An immediate best-seller when it was firs...
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Author: Charlotte Bronte
Author Charlotte Bronte
Narrator Ben Allen
Duration 10h 23m
The Professor is Charlotte Brontës first novel. Our protagonist is William Crimsworth and, like Jane Eyre, he is parentless; like Lucy Snowe in Villette he leaves the familiar surroundings of England to forge a life in Brussels. Brontë explores the relationship between power and sexual desire through William's first person narration. The...
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Author: Charlotte Bronte
Author Charlotte Bronte
Narrator Carole Boyd
Duration 2h 23m
Jane, an orphan, has her fair share of hardship before becoming a governess in the house of Mr Rochester and falling for her employer. But what are the strange noises coming from the attic, and may they thwart her romantic intentions? Jane Eyre, an orphan, has to suffer appalling conditions when she is sent away to a correctional school, then lands...
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