The Portrait of a Lady
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
-
Narrated by:
-
John Wood
-
By:
-
Henry James
About this listen
Exclusively from Audible
When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy the freedom that her fortune has opened up and to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors, declaring that she will never be wed.
It is only when she finds herself irresistibly drawn to the cultivated but worthless Gilbert Osmond that she discovers that wealth is a two-edged sword. She becomes a victim of her own provincialism and the scheming of her friends, learning only too late that there is a price to be paid for independence. A tragic tale of love and betrayal, it still resonates with audiences today.
With its subtle delineation of American characters in a European setting, The Portrait of a Lady is considered the masterpiece of the first phase of James's career and arguably his most popular story. Within it we find a reflection of James's interest in the differences between the New World and the Old, often to the detriment of the former.
A film adaptation was made in 1996 by New Zealand director Jane Campion, starring Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich, and Barbara Hershey.
Narrator Biography
Having begun his career on stage, John Wood spent seven years in television before eventually playing lead roles in Tom Stoppard's teleplays in 1967. After two Tony nominations for his performances in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and Sherlock Holmes, he won the award for Best Actor for his role in Stoppard's surrealistic farce, Travesties, in 1976. He also had a long career with the Royal Shakespeare Company and continued his theatre work in both America and the UK, eventually receiving a Laurence Olivier Award nomination in 1997 for his role in Stoppard's Invention of Love.
In 1996, Wood performed in BBC Radio 3's audio production of Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw and in 2010 he narrated audiobook The Portrait of a Lady with Audible Studios. His appearances in feature films have included Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) and, later, television appearances have included Foyles's War (2004) and Lewis (2007). In 2007 he was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
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
-
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
-
The Golden Bowl
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 25 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wealthy Maggie Verver has everything she could ever ask for - except a husband and a title. While in Italy, acquiring art for his museum back in the States, Maggie’s millionaire father, Adam, decides to remedy this and acquire a husband for Maggie. Enter Prince Amerigo, of a titled but now poor aristocratic Florentine family. Amerigo is the perfect candidate.
-
-
If you don't love this book, it's your fault
- By Viewer on 09-14-18
By: Henry James
-
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
-
The Bostonians
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taking place in Boston, Massachusetts, a decade after the Civil War, The Bostonians tells the story of two cousins who battle for the affections of and control over an enchanting prophetess. While visiting his cousin Olive Chancellor, a fierce feminist deeply involved in the Suffragette movement, Basil Ransom, a Confederate Civil War veteran turned lawyer, attends a speech by the talented young orator Verena Tarrant. Basil quickly falls in love with Verena, although he disagrees with her politics; Olive, however, sees her as the future of the women's rights movement.
-
-
A satire that turns tragic
- By Tad Davis on 08-23-20
By: Henry James
-
Daisy Miller
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Ellie Kendrick
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Travelling in Europe with her family, Daisy Miller, an exquisitely beautiful young American woman, presents her fellow countryman Winterbourne with a dilemma he cannot resolve. Is she deliberately flouting social convention in the outspoken way she talks and acts, or is she simply ignorant of those conventions? When she strikes up an intimate friendship with an urbane young Italian, her flat refusal to observe the codes of respectable behaviour leave her perilously exposed.
-
-
loved the story
- By Dominick Garcez on 02-18-23
By: Henry James
-
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
-
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
-
The Golden Bowl
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 25 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wealthy Maggie Verver has everything she could ever ask for - except a husband and a title. While in Italy, acquiring art for his museum back in the States, Maggie’s millionaire father, Adam, decides to remedy this and acquire a husband for Maggie. Enter Prince Amerigo, of a titled but now poor aristocratic Florentine family. Amerigo is the perfect candidate.
-
-
If you don't love this book, it's your fault
- By Viewer on 09-14-18
By: Henry James
-
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
-
The Bostonians
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taking place in Boston, Massachusetts, a decade after the Civil War, The Bostonians tells the story of two cousins who battle for the affections of and control over an enchanting prophetess. While visiting his cousin Olive Chancellor, a fierce feminist deeply involved in the Suffragette movement, Basil Ransom, a Confederate Civil War veteran turned lawyer, attends a speech by the talented young orator Verena Tarrant. Basil quickly falls in love with Verena, although he disagrees with her politics; Olive, however, sees her as the future of the women's rights movement.
-
-
A satire that turns tragic
- By Tad Davis on 08-23-20
By: Henry James
-
Daisy Miller
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Ellie Kendrick
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Travelling in Europe with her family, Daisy Miller, an exquisitely beautiful young American woman, presents her fellow countryman Winterbourne with a dilemma he cannot resolve. Is she deliberately flouting social convention in the outspoken way she talks and acts, or is she simply ignorant of those conventions? When she strikes up an intimate friendship with an urbane young Italian, her flat refusal to observe the codes of respectable behaviour leave her perilously exposed.
-
-
loved the story
- By Dominick Garcez on 02-18-23
By: Henry James
-
Mrs. Dalloway
- By: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a June day in London in 1923, and the lovely Clarissa Dalloway is having a party. Whom will she see? Her friend Peter, back from India, who has never really stopped loving her? What about Sally, with whom Clarissa had her life’s happiest moment? Meanwhile, the shell-shocked Septimus Smith is struggling with his life on the same London day.
-
-
One Tough Read Perfectly Delivered
- By Chris on 06-11-12
By: Virginia Woolf
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
To the Lighthouse
- By: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Nicole Kidman
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To the Lighthouse is Virginia Woolf’s arresting analysis of domestic family life, centering on the Ramseys and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland in the early 1900s. Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut), who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Woolf in the film adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel
The Hours, brings the impressionistic prose of this classic to vibrant life.
-
-
A book that will challenge you to think.
- By Kelly on 04-23-17
By: Virginia Woolf
-
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
-
Washington Square (Blackstone Audio Edition)
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On New York City's Washington Square lives Catherine Sloper, a shy and plain-looking young woman who is tyrannized by her wealthy, overbearing father. When young Morris Townsend begins to court her, Dr. Sloper, distrusting his motives, threatens to disinherit Catherine. In accordance with her father's suspicions, young Townsend disappears, leaving Catherine to humiliation, heartache, and lonely spinsterhood.
-
-
Fabulous
- By Celia on 04-14-08
By: Henry James
-
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 Mill on the Floss
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
- Length: 20 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Mill on the Floss is one of the great works of English literature. It is perhaps the most autobiographical of all Eliot's novels. The relationship between its heroine, Maggie Tulliver, and her brother, Tom, closely resembles that of George Eliot and her own brother, Isaac. The subject of sibling affection was clearly a deeply poignant one for George Eliot - she also wrote a series of beautiful and evocative sonnets entitled 'Brother and Sister'.
-
-
Fiona Shaw makes George Eliot endurable
- By Starr on 04-21-16
By: George Eliot
-
The Master
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beautiful and profoundly moving, The Master tells the story of Henry James, a man born into one of America’s first intellectual families who leaves his country in the late 19th century to live in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among privileged artists and writers. With stunningly resonant prose, “The Master is unquestionably the work of a first-rate novelist: artful, moving, and very beautiful” (The New York Times Book Review). The emotional intensity of this portrait is riveting.
-
-
What a Terrible Disappointment!
- By Sherry M. Rogers on 08-20-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
Vanity Fair (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: William Makepeace Thackeray
- Narrated by: Joel Froomkin
- Length: 32 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Napoleon has England on edge. For the cunning and conniving Becky Sharp, it’s an opportunity to take advantage of the chaos and improve her lowly station. Her friend Amelia Sedley, a blue-blood pawn, affords Becky entrée into the moneyed class. As the guileless Amelia pines for a rakish soldier, the ruthless Becky climbs upward, setting the stage for a domestic battlefield of greed, ambition, deception, and dizzying reversals of love and fortune.
-
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
Featured Article: 40+ Motivational Quotes to Lift and Rev You Up
Doubting yourself? Need a push to keep on climbing? To give you a surge and get you back up and moving forward, we've collected 40+ quotes from folks who know a lot about motivational ebbs and flows: authors. Their works span a variety of genres, from classic literature to career success, and offer a diversity of perspectives. We're sure you'll find at least a few wise and uplifting words that speak directly to you and will soon have your motivation flowing.
Related to this topic
-
The Bostonians
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taking place in Boston, Massachusetts, a decade after the Civil War, The Bostonians tells the story of two cousins who battle for the affections of and control over an enchanting prophetess. While visiting his cousin Olive Chancellor, a fierce feminist deeply involved in the Suffragette movement, Basil Ransom, a Confederate Civil War veteran turned lawyer, attends a speech by the talented young orator Verena Tarrant. Basil quickly falls in love with Verena, although he disagrees with her politics; Olive, however, sees her as the future of the women's rights movement.
-
-
A satire that turns tragic
- By Tad Davis on 08-23-20
By: Henry James
-
Daisy Miller
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Ellie Kendrick
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Travelling in Europe with her family, Daisy Miller, an exquisitely beautiful young American woman, presents her fellow countryman Winterbourne with a dilemma he cannot resolve. Is she deliberately flouting social convention in the outspoken way she talks and acts, or is she simply ignorant of those conventions? When she strikes up an intimate friendship with an urbane young Italian, her flat refusal to observe the codes of respectable behaviour leave her perilously exposed.
-
-
loved the story
- By Dominick Garcez on 02-18-23
By: Henry James
-
3 Classic Novels
- Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Giuliano, The Spire
- Length: 36 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to the world of Jane Austen, one of the most beloved authors in the English language. Austen's works are known for their wit, social commentary, and romantic storylines that have captivated readers for generations.
-
-
Classic Novels are the best.
- By Maureen Hart on 09-07-23
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
-
Wives and Daughters
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 25 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centers on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. When he remarries, a new stepsister enters Molly's quiet life, the loveable, but worldly and troubling, Cynthia. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford.
-
-
It's not about the ending!
- By Sandra on 07-25-05
-
Ayala's Angel
- By: Anthony Trollope
- Narrated by: Katharine Brooks
- Length: 19 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Ayala's Angel" (1878) is a novel by Anthony Trollope. The story focuses on two orphaned sisters, Ayala and Lucy Dormer, and their trials, first with their relatives, then of the heart. As in most Trollope novels, pages are given over to subplots related to the main plot. Excerpt from the book: "It was now the beginning of February. As Tom and his uncle had walked from Somerset House the streets were dry and the weather fine; but, as Mr. Dosett had remarked, the wind was changing a little out of the east and threatened rain.
-
-
Great Story for Trollope Fans
- By S. White on 04-28-20
By: Anthony Trollope
-
The Bostonians
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taking place in Boston, Massachusetts, a decade after the Civil War, The Bostonians tells the story of two cousins who battle for the affections of and control over an enchanting prophetess. While visiting his cousin Olive Chancellor, a fierce feminist deeply involved in the Suffragette movement, Basil Ransom, a Confederate Civil War veteran turned lawyer, attends a speech by the talented young orator Verena Tarrant. Basil quickly falls in love with Verena, although he disagrees with her politics; Olive, however, sees her as the future of the women's rights movement.
-
-
A satire that turns tragic
- By Tad Davis on 08-23-20
By: Henry James
-
Daisy Miller
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Ellie Kendrick
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Travelling in Europe with her family, Daisy Miller, an exquisitely beautiful young American woman, presents her fellow countryman Winterbourne with a dilemma he cannot resolve. Is she deliberately flouting social convention in the outspoken way she talks and acts, or is she simply ignorant of those conventions? When she strikes up an intimate friendship with an urbane young Italian, her flat refusal to observe the codes of respectable behaviour leave her perilously exposed.
-
-
loved the story
- By Dominick Garcez on 02-18-23
By: Henry James
-
3 Classic Novels
- Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Giuliano, The Spire
- Length: 36 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to the world of Jane Austen, one of the most beloved authors in the English language. Austen's works are known for their wit, social commentary, and romantic storylines that have captivated readers for generations.
-
-
Classic Novels are the best.
- By Maureen Hart on 09-07-23
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
-
Wives and Daughters
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 25 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centers on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. When he remarries, a new stepsister enters Molly's quiet life, the loveable, but worldly and troubling, Cynthia. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford.
-
-
It's not about the ending!
- By Sandra on 07-25-05
-
Ayala's Angel
- By: Anthony Trollope
- Narrated by: Katharine Brooks
- Length: 19 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Ayala's Angel" (1878) is a novel by Anthony Trollope. The story focuses on two orphaned sisters, Ayala and Lucy Dormer, and their trials, first with their relatives, then of the heart. As in most Trollope novels, pages are given over to subplots related to the main plot. Excerpt from the book: "It was now the beginning of February. As Tom and his uncle had walked from Somerset House the streets were dry and the weather fine; but, as Mr. Dosett had remarked, the wind was changing a little out of the east and threatened rain.
-
-
Great Story for Trollope Fans
- By S. White on 04-28-20
By: Anthony Trollope
-
Can You Forgive Her?
- By: Anthony Trollope
- Narrated by: David Shaw-Parker
- Length: 33 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young, attractive and wealthy, Alice Vavasor is a woman in the prime of her life. And yet one question torments her: "What should a woman do with her life?" Torn between the kind but dull Mr. Grey and her dangerous and exciting cousin George, she is prone to constant indecision and uncertainty, much to the detriment of Mr. Grey. Can You Forgive Her? is a crisp and engaging novel, brimming with romance, humor, and pathos. It is the first of six in Trollope's celebrated Palliser series.
-
-
Great narrator!
- By A. Dionysia on 01-24-18
By: Anthony Trollope
-
The Moonstone
- By: Wilkie Collins
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 20 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No, the "Moonstone" isn't a celestial relic, it's a gigantic yellow diamond of unearthly beauty that was given to Rachel Verinder as a present on her 18th birthday - and stolen that very night! Betteredge, one of the most beloved butlers in English literature, is the focus of this seminal detective novel, which examines how one family's life is turned upside-down by the theft. And find out why the answers to all of life's problems can be found in the pages of Robinson Crusoe.
-
-
One of the best readings ever
- By Catherine on 05-22-03
By: Wilkie Collins
-
Northanger Abbey
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Harriet Stevens
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Jane Austen's first completed novel that was submitted to be published, Northanger Abbey is a miraculously weaved tale of love, society, and deception, themes that would come to be synonymous in literature with Austen's name. The young Catherine Morland receives a fantastic opportunity to explore the city of Bath with some family friends, and while there, she experiences a level of mental and emotional growth that was as yet unparalleled in her life.
-
-
Great Listening Experience
- By Robert Jennings on 05-18-16
By: Jane Austen
-
Swann's Way
- By: Marcel Proust
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 17 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Swann's Way is the first novel of Marcel Proust's seven-volume magnum opus In Search of Lost Time. After elaborate reminiscences about his childhood with relatives in rural Combray and in urban Paris, Proust's narrator recalls a story regarding Charles Swann, a major figure in his Combray childhood....
-
-
Not the newer, far better translation
- By Samuel Murray on 05-02-11
By: Marcel Proust
-
The Idiot [Blackstone]
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 22 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prince Myshkin, is thrust into the heart of a society more concerned with wealth, power, and sexual conquest than the ideals of Christianity. Myshkin soon finds himself at the center of a violent love triangle in which a notorious woman and a beautiful young girl become rivals for his affections. Extortion, scandal, and murder follow, testing the wreckage left by human misery to find "man in man."
-
-
Intense and painfully sad
- By Tad on 04-27-12
-
North and South
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written at the request of Charles Dickens, North and South is a book about rebellion that poses fundamental questions about the nature of social authority and obedience. Gaskell expertly blends individual feeling with social concern and her heroine, Margaret Hale, is one of the most original creations of Victorian literature. When Margaret Hale's father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience she is forced to leave her comfortable home in the tranquil countryside of Hampshire....
-
-
Delightful
- By Sally on 01-04-10
-
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
-
The Woman in White
- By: Wilkie Collins
- Narrated by: Josephine Bailey, Simon Prebble
- Length: 25 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the greatest mystery thrillers ever written, Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White was a phenomenal best seller in the 1860s, achieving even greater success than works by Charles Dickens. Full of surprise, intrigue, and suspense, this vastly entertaining novel continues to enthrall audiences today.
-
-
Gripping novel, excellent production
- By David on 01-18-11
By: Wilkie Collins
-
The Ladies of Rosings Park
- A Pride and Prejudice Sequel and Companion to The Darcys of Pemberley
- By: Shannon Winslow
- Narrated by: Marian Hussey
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chapter by chapter, these ladies of Rosings Park take turns telling the tale from the moment Elizabeth Bennet sets foot in Hunsford, changing everything. Is Anne heartbroken or relieved to discover Mr. Darcy will never marry her? As an heiress, even a sickly one, she must have other suitors. Does Lady Catherine gracefully accept the defeat of her original plan or keep conniving? Will Anne’s health ever improve? And what really happened to her father?
-
-
NOT Jane Austen
- By susan on 03-02-19
By: Shannon Winslow
-
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: Alex Jennings, Jenny Agutter
- Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fleeing a disastrous marriage, Helen Huntingdon retreats to the desolate mansion, Wildfell Hall, with her son, Arthur. There, she makes her living as a painter. Finding it difficult to avoid her neighbors, she is soon an object of speculation and gossip. Brontë portrays Helen's eloquent struggle for independence at a time when society defined a married woman as her husband's property.
-
-
Excellent performances of an abridged version
- By LSK on 04-21-19
By: Anne Brontë
-
The Custom of the Country
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Grace Conlin
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Edith Wharton's most acclaimed works, The Custom of the Country is a blistering indictment of materialism, power, and misplaced values. Its heroine, Undine Spragg, is one of the most ruthless characters in all of literature, as selfishly unscrupulous as she is fiercely beautiful. As she climbs the class ladder through a series of marriages and affairs, she shows little concern for who she has to step on.
-
-
Narrator kills the book
- By Mississippi Malka on 05-24-10
By: Edith Wharton
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Vanity Fair
- By: William Makepeace Thackeray
- Narrated by: John Castle
- Length: 31 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, this classic gives a satirical picture of a worldly society. The novel revolves around the exploits of the impoverished but beautiful and devious Becky Sharp who craves wealth and a position in society. Calculating and determined to succeed, she charms, deceives and manipulates everyone she meets. A novel of early 19th-century English society, it takes its title from the place designated as the centre of human corruption in John Bunyan's 17th-century allegory.
-
-
The Best Narration, One of the Greats
- By James Abraham on 05-18-13
-
The Portrait of a Lady
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 21 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Isabel Archer, a young American woman with looks, wit, and imagination, arrives in Europe, she sees the world as "a place of brightness, of free expression, of irresistible action". She turns aside from suitors who offer her their wealth and devotion to follow her own path.
-
-
Bleak and believable
- By Karen on 04-26-09
By: Henry James
-
The Europeans
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eugenia, an American expatriate brought up in Europe, arrives in rural New England with her charming brother Felix, hoping to find a wealthy second husband after the collapse of her marriage to a German prince. Their exotic, sophisticated airs cause quite a stir with their affluent, God-fearing American cousins, the Wentworth's - and provoke the disapproval of their uncle, suspicious of foreign influences.
-
-
wonderful novel, wonderful reader, poor recording
- By Catherine on 11-14-09
By: Henry James
-
The Professor
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: James Wilby
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Professor is Charlotte Brontë's first novel albeit the last to have been published. Edited and distributed by Arthur Bell Nicholls, two years after Brontë's death, it is based on her experiences of living as a language student in Brussels. The Professor follows the career and love affairs of William Crimsworth, a reserved but compassionate aristocrat who has been ostracised by his family and left penniless.
-
-
Beautiful
- By ilene on 12-26-16
By: Charlotte Brontë
-
The Glimpses of the Moon
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Kate Harper
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nick Lansing and Susy Branch are young, attractive but impoverished New Yorkers. They are in love and decide to marry, but realise their chances of happiness are slim without the wealth and society that their more privileged friends take for granted. Nick and Susy agree to separate when either encounters a more eligible proposition.
-
-
Great love story
- By Margaret on 02-03-23
By: Edith Wharton
-
Wives and Daughters
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Prunella Scales
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Molly Gibson, the only daughter of a widowed doctor in the small provincial town of Hollingford, lost her mother when she was a child. Her father remarries wanting to give Molly the woman's presence he feels she lacks. To Molly, any stepmother would have been a shock, but the new Mrs. Gibson is a self-absorbed, petty widow, and Molly's unhappiness is compounded by the realisation that her father has come to regret his second marriage.
-
-
Superb! Story and Narration A++
- By Jo on 05-24-10
-
Vanity Fair
- By: William Makepeace Thackeray
- Narrated by: John Castle
- Length: 31 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, this classic gives a satirical picture of a worldly society. The novel revolves around the exploits of the impoverished but beautiful and devious Becky Sharp who craves wealth and a position in society. Calculating and determined to succeed, she charms, deceives and manipulates everyone she meets. A novel of early 19th-century English society, it takes its title from the place designated as the centre of human corruption in John Bunyan's 17th-century allegory.
-
-
The Best Narration, One of the Greats
- By James Abraham on 05-18-13
-
The Portrait of a Lady
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 21 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Isabel Archer, a young American woman with looks, wit, and imagination, arrives in Europe, she sees the world as "a place of brightness, of free expression, of irresistible action". She turns aside from suitors who offer her their wealth and devotion to follow her own path.
-
-
Bleak and believable
- By Karen on 04-26-09
By: Henry James
-
The Europeans
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eugenia, an American expatriate brought up in Europe, arrives in rural New England with her charming brother Felix, hoping to find a wealthy second husband after the collapse of her marriage to a German prince. Their exotic, sophisticated airs cause quite a stir with their affluent, God-fearing American cousins, the Wentworth's - and provoke the disapproval of their uncle, suspicious of foreign influences.
-
-
wonderful novel, wonderful reader, poor recording
- By Catherine on 11-14-09
By: Henry James
-
The Professor
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: James Wilby
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Professor is Charlotte Brontë's first novel albeit the last to have been published. Edited and distributed by Arthur Bell Nicholls, two years after Brontë's death, it is based on her experiences of living as a language student in Brussels. The Professor follows the career and love affairs of William Crimsworth, a reserved but compassionate aristocrat who has been ostracised by his family and left penniless.
-
-
Beautiful
- By ilene on 12-26-16
By: Charlotte Brontë
-
The Glimpses of the Moon
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Kate Harper
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nick Lansing and Susy Branch are young, attractive but impoverished New Yorkers. They are in love and decide to marry, but realise their chances of happiness are slim without the wealth and society that their more privileged friends take for granted. Nick and Susy agree to separate when either encounters a more eligible proposition.
-
-
Great love story
- By Margaret on 02-03-23
By: Edith Wharton
-
Wives and Daughters
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Prunella Scales
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Molly Gibson, the only daughter of a widowed doctor in the small provincial town of Hollingford, lost her mother when she was a child. Her father remarries wanting to give Molly the woman's presence he feels she lacks. To Molly, any stepmother would have been a shock, but the new Mrs. Gibson is a self-absorbed, petty widow, and Molly's unhappiness is compounded by the realisation that her father has come to regret his second marriage.
-
-
Superb! Story and Narration A++
- By Jo on 05-24-10
-
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
-
Sense & Sensibility
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Susannah Harker
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, and their mother are left to the financial mercies of John Dashwood and his wife, they find themselves in drastically reduced circumstances.
-
-
Excellent narration
- By Rebecca on 10-09-09
By: Jane Austen
-
Jude The Obscure
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of a young country workman obsessed by his ambition to become an Oxford student, interwoven with his fraught relationships with two women.
-
-
Staggering
- By Tad Davis on 02-16-10
By: Thomas Hardy
-
What Maisie Knew
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Maureen O' Brien
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maisie is an innocent six year-old, torn between her divorced parents, pathetically isolated yet tragically involved.
-
-
A great reader reads a great writer
- By Seth on 08-27-12
By: Henry James
-
Far from the Madding Crowd
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Nathaniel Parker
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hardy's first major literary success, here brought to life by narrator Nathaniel Parker, is the story of the independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene, who inherits her uncle's farm, the largest estate in the area. She surprises the villagers of Weatherbury by deciding to run it herself. Attracted to this bold young woman are three suitors all vying for her affections. They include the lonely gentleman-farmer Boldwood, the young and handsome but inconsiderate Sergeant Troy and the faithful shepherd Gabriel Oak.
-
-
Does Thomas Hardy justice
- By vhuggins on 06-11-13
By: Thomas Hardy
-
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
-
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
-
First Love
- By: Ivan Turgenev
- Narrated by: David Troughton
- Length: 2 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of a dinner party, the remaining guests drink wine and tell stories of their first love. For one of them, it will be a dark journey into his past, reawakening unbearable memories of his obsession with the beautiful Zinaida.
-
-
Turgenev's Famous Novel...
- By Douglas on 01-16-14
By: Ivan Turgenev
-
Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert, Gerard Hopkins - translator
- Narrated by: Ronald Pickup
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before marrying, Emma Bovary believed she would enter a life of luxury and passion like the sentimental stories she'd read in her novels and magazines. Now married to an ordinary country doctor her life is not the romantic ideal she imagined and seeks an escape through having extra-marital affairs. This devastating spiral into deceit and despair leads to catastrophic consequences. Emma Bovary continues to be enjoyed to this day because of its profound humanity, still as fresh today as when it was first written.
-
-
Fantastic Narrator
- By A. Laprade-velasco on 07-18-10
By: Gustave Flaubert, and others
-
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
-
Lady Chatterley's Lover
- By: D. H. Lawrence
- Narrated by: Lydia West
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Constance Chatterley seeks to escape from the confines of a loveless marriage and the upper class surroundings that suffocate her. When she meets the gamekeeper of Chatterley mansion, Oliver Mellors, she is mesmerised and infatuated by his no-nonsense demeanour and passionate touch. The two soon forge a profound bond as a result of their sexual compatibility and sociopolitical views.
-
-
A Reader Worthy of D.H.L
- By Sandy McCall on 12-07-21
By: D. H. Lawrence
-
Jane Eyre
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The work tells the story of Jane's early life, her experience at Lowood School and as a governess. Her refusal to accept Rochester's love on any but her own strictly moral terms is a passionate cry for independence.
-
-
Excellent, but second best...
- By R. David Mintz on 02-15-10
By: Charlotte Brontë
What listeners say about The Portrait of a Lady
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- W Perry Hall
- 10-21-20
Real fine lady, who's that lady?
A work of wonder displaying the naivete' and mistakes of youth and some Americans' missteps in life choices that were driven by gullible and romantic notions of and in Europe. The novel still feels fresh and timely.
I was driven from this novel, after beginning it a few years back, by both its bulk and by my dislike of Washington Square (see, if you will, my caustic review of both the book and the author). I am pleased to have returned to The Portrait of a Lady, so that, finally, I can appreciate the depth of character and psychological acuity of Henry James' writing.
As much as I disliked Washington Square (and was unimpressed by his novella The Beast in the Jungle), I prized this esteemed classic of fiction.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Katy Lyness
- 10-02-12
Great read, good reader
What did you love best about The Portrait of a Lady?
James' insight into human motivation for action or inaction. Also his beautiful use of language and his subtle humor.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Portrait of a Lady?
Isabel's moments of self reflection are beautiful and often heartbreaking, especially near the end of the book when they are more pointed and more painful.
Have you listened to any of John Wood’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, the book is quite long and dense. I preferred to listen, take a break, then continue or even re-listen to passages.
Any additional comments?
On the whole I liked John Wood's reading. He gets it. My one complaint is the way he handles young women's voices. They sound like mock children. This is especially a problem with this book as I feel the listener needs to somewhat fall in love with the protagonist to really understand the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 03-02-19
Best audible recording I’ve ever heard
John Wood’s sense for the subtleties of tone and syntax in James brings life to each of the sentences he reads. A masterpiece of a recording; adequately nuanced for someone as fine as James. A 24 hours blissfully spent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kelly
- 04-28-19
I will reread one day to better know James
There was a moment in this book when I told my husband that I didn't like the book at all. And later on, there was a moment when I felt it was my favorite read of 2019! In the end I realize that Mr James was an artist, and that Colm Toibin was spot on when he calls James The Master. So why were there those moments when I disliked it? I think it is because the book isn't an easy read. It is smart and intricate and difficult. I needed to stay in the story without any distraction.
This book feels very modern despite the fact that it was published in 1881.
What I loved most:
1. Isabel Archer
James gave us a book about a beautiful and strong American woman who is visiting her wealthy relatives in England. She values independence above everything else and rejects marriage proposals by two suitors. She inherits a fortune and is looking towards a solitary life in which she isn't burdened or controlled by a man. But she is manipulated into marrying ...
2. Gilbert Osmond.
He is one of the most hateful, arrogant, sinister, spiteful and intriguing antagonists I have read in a long time. He makes the book much better.
This duo of headstrong woman and sickening, obsessive man is what made me love the modern book The Pillars of the Earth. I think that the duo of Isabel and Gilbert is quite similar to Aliena & William Hamleigh. (I know the comparison may seem odd, but I loved both duos in the same way.)
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- beatrice
- 03-01-11
brutal and bloodless
Every ten years or so I read one of James' novels, hoping it will "take," but I'm still not a fan. His fiction is so dispassionate that I find myself baffled by his characters. The heroine, Isabelle, is more self-possessed and self-aware than any 23-year-old I've ever known. Men are so crazy for her that they follow her across oceans and continents--the last time I saw such single-minded devotion was in "There's Something about Mary". With all this going for her, why doesn't Isabelle smell a rat when the creepy Osmond starts courting her? Why isn't she clued in by the fact that none of her friends like him--and that his unfortunate daughter, Pansy, is reminiscent of a character out of the Ghastlycrumb Tinies? The last third of the novel is more engaging; there's a discursive section on Isabelle's attraction to Osmond (which John Wood reads beautifully), and I found myself more involved with the characters after I had some of their history. If you are a James fan, give this one a try. If you're hoping to be converted, I don't think this audiobook will do it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- YanaD
- 08-04-21
Breathtaking
One can learn psychology and sociology from this book, while swimming in its warm and enticing waters.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tina
- 06-29-15
My first Henry James
This was the first book I read by Henry James. I wasn't blown away but I liked it. The mix of American & British characters drew me in to the story. The timeframe was never really established. I would have liked to have known more about that to get a better sense of the placement.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Meryl Freed
- 11-22-22
Fiction of beauty and depth!
Loved it. Great fiction psychological and feminist for the era in which it was written.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- William Baranowski
- 12-27-22
Freedom succumbs to duty, love to yearning.
The Ambassadors was one level of masterwork. The Wings Of A Dove, quite another, but this, a most accessible and poignant masterpiece will stay with us for the ages.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 08-09-23
Beautiful
The character development is amazing and the story captivating. The narrator does a wonderful job.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!