Sign In Join Now
User Accessibility
  • Increase Font

  • Invert Colours

Search for a Book Browse Books Menu
What Maisie Knew Cover Play Sample

Sample may contain unsuitable content.

Stream / Download

Audiobook streaming provided by:

OverDrive Logo

Share this book:

What Maisie Knew

AuthorHenry James

NarratorTerry Diab

Duration13h 25m

CategoriesAdult Fiction, Classics

PublisherInhouse

VersionUnabridged

  Save to Wish List
  Add to Favourites List

After her parents' bitter divorce, young Maisie Farange finds herself shuttled between her selfish mother and vain father, who value her only as a means for provoking each other. And when both take lovers and remarry, Maisie - solitary, observant and wise beyond her years - is drawn into an increasingly entangled adult world of intrigue and sexual betrayal, until she is finally compelled to choose her own future. Published in 1897 when Henry James was becoming increasingly experimental with narrative technique and fascinated by the idea of the child's-eye view, What Maisie Knew is a subtle, intricate yet devastating portrayal of an innocent adrift in a corrupt society.

This book was recorded as part of the Listening Books Sound Learning programme.

0 (0 Reviews)
0
0
0
0
0

Related Titles

The Bostonians Cover

The Bostonians

Author: Henry James

The Bostonians

Author Henry James

Narrator William Hootkins

Duration 2h 24m

A biting satire on American life which turned convention on its head. This story explores the obsessive affections of the radical Olive Chancellor for Verena Tarrant, a gifted young speaker in the feminist movement. When Olive's cousin Basil becomes equally besotted, the scene is set for a bitter tug of war.

View Book
Villette Cover

Villette

Author: Charlotte Bronte

Villette

Author Charlotte Bronte

Narrator Charlotte Ritchie

Duration 21h 29m

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 sch...

View Book
The Turn of the Screw Cover

The Turn of the Screw

Author: Henry James

The Turn of the Screw

Author Henry James

Narrator Carole Boyd

Duration 2h 23m

More than just a simple tale of the supernatural, James poses questions about childhood innocence, corruption and hysteria. The story focuses on a na‹ve governess who takes charge of two children at the lonely house of Bly. When she begins to see ghosts, she believes that the children do too, with devastating consequences.

View Book
The Turn of the Screw Cover

The Turn of the Screw

Author: Henry James

The Turn of the Screw

Author Henry James

Narrator Penelope Rawlins

Duration 4h 51m

Perhaps the most brilliantly successful ghost story ever written, The Turn of the Screw creates a terrifyingly believable impression of innocent children so corrupted by evil that they remain deceptive pictures of innocent beauty. Their governess must struggle alone to confront and exorcise the demons which she believes possess their souls...

View Book
The Aspern Papers Cover

The Aspern Papers

Author: Henry James

The Aspern Papers

Author Henry James

Narrator Samuel West

Duration 1h 35m

A BBC Radio 4 "Book at Bedtime" recording of Samuel West reading from the novella The Aspern Papers by Henry James, set against the decaying grandeur of Venice. Originally broadcast 26 April - 4 May 2010. Henry James took as inspiration for his tale The Aspern Papers the story of a mistress of Byron's who outlived the poet into lonely old age. H...

View Book
The Wind In the Willows Cover

The Wind In the Willows

Author: Kenneth Grahame

The Wind In the Willows

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...

View Book
Therese Raquin Cover

Therese Raquin

Author: Emile Zola

Therese Raquin

Author Emile Zola

Narrator Traci Svensgaard

Duration 6h 41m

In a dingy apartment on the Passage du Pont-Neuf in Paris, Th‚rŠse Raquin is trapped in a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille. The numbing tedium of her life is suddenly shattered when she embarks on a turbulent affair with her husband's earthy friend, Laurent. But their passion for each other soon compels the lovers to commit a crime t...

View Book
Three Men In A Boat Cover

Three Men In A Boat

Author: Jerome K Jerome

Three Men In A Boat

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...

View Book
Germinal Cover

Germinal

Author: Emile Zola

Germinal

Author Emile Zola

Narrator Leighton Pugh

Duration 19h 55m

Germinal is one of the most striking novels in the French tradition. Widely regarded as Zola's masterpiece, the novel describes the working conditions of French coalminers in the 1860s in harsh and realistic terms it is visceral, graphic and unrelenting. Its strong socialist principles and vivid accounts of the miners' strikes meant that the novel...

View Book
The Yellow Wall-paper Cover

The Yellow Wall-paper

Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wall-paper

Author Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Narrator Various

Duration 1h 32m

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Jessica Brown Findlay, Jamael Westman and Sheila Atim. 'The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing' Written with barely controlled fury after she was confined to her room for 'nerves' and forbidden to write, Gilman's pioneer...

View Book