While most would not consider a Kafka work to be a pleasant listening experience, Pugh does a splendid job at narrating Kafka's account of the (mis)adventures of one Karl Rossman in a post-World War America. The plot is not as surreal as the author's METAMORPHOSIS or some of his fables such as "Before the Law," but it is nevertheless a somewhat surreal set of adventures,... Read More

Pater's essays on classical, late Medieval, and, primarily, Renaissance art and literature are written in high-flown style, intellectually and aesthetically impassioned, and Leighton Pugh delivers them at that elevated pitch. That can be wearying, and perhaps he should have sought a more varied tone, but it's easy to be caught up in his performance. His voice is a fine... Read More

Clare Corbett's silvery, refined tone and light, quick delivery suit this best known of English novelist Rose Macaulay's books. Published in 1956, it begins, "'Take my camel, dear,'" said my Aunt Dot as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass." As an eclectic group, including Aunt Dot, an Anglican clergyman, Father Chantry-Pigg, and the narrator, Laurie,... Read More

Many varied characters inhabit this trio of stories, and Clare Wille creates a distinctive voice for each one. Set in and around a fictional English town during the years bridging the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, each story unfolds as its own little drama, and Wille masterfully delivers each one appropriately. Not only can Wille develop each character's personality with... Read More

There is no one like Edith Wharton to explore the complexities of human relationships, and narrator Laurel Lefkow is an excellent guide to that exploration. This audiobook features Charity Royall, a young woman who is struggling against society's constraints as she tries to develop her own sense of self. When she becomes caught up in an inappropriate relationship with a man of... Read More

With an evident love of language and a deft ear for biting humor, Clare Corbett has a field day narrating this delightfully inventive 1918 social satire, which savages eugenics, education, bureaucracy, and gender roles, among other hot topics of the early twentieth century. The premise is simple: To avoid the disaster of another Great War (WWI) the "Ministry of Brains" is... Read More

With the jaunty ease of a favorite uncle holding forth before a crackling fire, narrator Matt Addis recounts this wild tale revolving around a gentleman who returns home to his ancestral manor only to discover that there is a mythical giant worm lurking in an underground cave below it. He soon finds that the beautiful but coldly manipulative widow next door, who has unwanted... Read More

Jonathan Booth's narration of Donne's prose is quite strong, although it's handicapped by the necessarily limited range of emotions called for by these two works dedicated to the theology of disease and death. In an era when disease was generally understood to be the punishment for sin, Donne interpreted his near-fatal illness as God's retribution for his adventurous early... Read More

Clare Corbett's sympathetic performance of Rose Macaulay's 1950 novel about the costs of war highlights its mix of the satiric and the heartfelt. When 17-year-old Barbary is sent to live with her conventional father in London after growing up semi-wild in southern France with her mother, she finds adventure and comfort among the vagabonds and criminals who inhabit London's... Read More

Narrator Rupert Degas tackles this offbeat "experiment in biography" with conspicuous gusto and the enthusiasm of a man given an assignment he feels born to perform. In 1925, British author Symons was introduced to a previously unknown novel, Frederick Rolfe's HADRIAN THE SEVENTH. This eccentric work led Symons to pursue its even more eccentric author, who styled himself as... Read More

This is the latest of the classic works by Joseph Conrad ably narrated by David Horovitch. This 1915 work, relatively unknown, concerns a drifter named Axel Heyst who runs a coal company on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago and his relationship with an English girl. He saves her from her employer, and then she saves Heyst from himself. There is quite a bit of... Read More

Georgina Sutton delivers a crisp, precise performance of this audiobook, which follows the Vernon family through three volumes of Victorian history and manners. With a lovely voice and crystal-clear accent, Sutton maneuvers through a ponderous plot with as much life as one could offer. Her pace is brisk, and her enunciation is razor-sharp. Indeed, Sutton's skill drives the... Read More

Rupert Degas delivers what sounds like a full-cast performance--with every accent, every dialect, every nuance in place. This grim novel is based on writer Albert Maltz's imprisonment after he insulted the red-baiting House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947. The 1950s book was originally suppressed for its political message, a plea for prison reform. Degas is completely... Read More

Juliet Stevenson brings her usual alacrity to this challenging audiobook. Woolf's unconventional novel is in expert hands with Stevenson, whose rich voice and lilting accent keep the listener on track through the many shifts and changes in the plot. Called a "biography" by Woolf herself, the story follows protagonist Orlando through centuries of change, including Orlando's... Read More

The January of this audiobook's title is no ordinary month. In this wintry time, we meet six courageous escapees from Nazi death marches who are thrust together in a battle for survival. Rupert Degas is a master of accents and emotions as he delivers conversations featuring Russian, French, German, and Polish characters whose mindsets swing between relieved exultation and... Read More

Nicholas Boulton brings this bleakly energetic 1896 novel to life with intelligence. Set in the worst of the London slums, it focuses on the ill-starred Perrott family, especially the boy Dicky, but includes many other neighborhood characters. Boulton moves easily among all of them, fluently altering voices, accents, ages, and genders as if he's a one-man full cast. His deep,... Read More

Peter Wickham slips easily into the voice of the eighteenth-century English parson and naturalist Gilbert White as he delivers White's pioneering study of the seasonal patterns of plants and animals. Vigorous and precise, Wickham's performance captures not only the antique grace of White's prose, but also his understanding of the importance of the details he was recording.... Read More

With a flair for dramatic dialogue and intense, unsettling imagery, narrator Jot Davies accentuates the vivid dreamlike qualities of this 1933 novel by the openly gay German author Friedo Lampe. At a river's edge on a single warm summer's evening, a group of characters ranging from sailors to students to lovers and a father-son magic act interact in this early example of magic... Read More

A.A. Milne called THE WAY OF ALL FLESH the second-best novel in the English language, but it remains one of the least known. In this audio version David Timson brings out all of its wit and charm, although some knowledge of Victorian Britain may be necessary to appreciate the extent of its satire. Among the five generations of the Pontifex family, there are a fair number of... Read More

Gerry O'Brien brings a pleasant, slightly scratchy voice and a soft Irish accent to Stephens's fantasy, first published in 1912. It's the story of an unworldly philosopher, his wife--who is one of the fairy folk of Ireland--two gods, leprechauns, a naked maiden, and some blundering policemen. The tone and mood vary greatly in this disjointed work, but O'Brien matches and... Read More

David Timson brings his rich talents and skills--a sonorous voice, rolling delivery, precise pronunciation, and clear understanding--to Procopius's scandalous insider look at the reign of Justinian and Theodora of Byzantium (527 to 565 CE). Procopius cannot say enough bad about the royal couple, along with their warlord, Belisarius, and his wife, accusing the emperor of... Read More

Lucy Scott gives a thrilling performance of this propulsive detective story, which will have listeners guessing until the end. In this real Victorian melodrama first published in 1875, the detective--surprisingly--is a woman. Within a few days of marrying, 23-year-old Valeria discovers that a Scottish court had rendered a verdict of "not proven" against her husband, Eustace, in... Read More

Samuel Johnson's brief 1759 tale is about a Prince of Abyssinia who escapes the restrictions of a cloistered kingdom to find his own way in life. It's more a philosophical examination of the good life than a novel. Peter Wickham's mature, lightly raspy but still pleasing voice; British accent; and clear, precise narration suit the period prose. He doesn't vary character voices... Read More

Caesar's history of his campaigns in Gaul, Germany, and Britain, while not colorless--it includes political strife, battles, ambushes, and acts of heroism--is brisk and dry. David Timson's sonorous voice and rounded tones don't mirror the spareness of Caesar's account, but instead enrich it, making it more approachable and easier to take in. He tends to turn groups of sentences... Read More

Scott's genial romance--mixing elements of comedy, adventure, melodrama, and mystery--presents difficulties that David Rintoul's skilled, heartfelt performance more than overcomes. To defects of its period (published 1816) such as slowness and verbosity, the book adds frequent Latin quotations--glossed-in asides--and conversations in the Scots dialect--sometimes impenetrable,... Read More

What a treat it is to listen to Clare Wille perform this engrossing narrative by nineteenth-century British travel writer and naturalist Isabella Bird. The audiobook consists of a series of letters that Bird wrote to her sister during Bird's travels throughout the American West in the late nineteenth century. Wille's wonderfully expressive tone, bright English intonation, and... Read More

Fenella Woolgar gives an exemplary performance of this gentle comic novel, which skews the English class system. Ethelberta is a beautiful and clever young widow who is struggling to provide financial support for her nine siblings and invalid mother. When her efforts as a poet fail, her practicality impels her to consider marriage to one of her many tenacious suitors. Woolgar... Read More

Baron Munchausen is probably best known to Americans as the hero of the 1988 Terry Gilliam film--but he has been amusing Europeans since 1785. This audiobook limits itself to the original text--to which other authors have been adding almost from the beginning--but fully conveys the absurdity that has made the baron an icon. Peter Wickham voices the baron with just the right mix... Read More

Bill Homewood, a Shakespearean actor and narrator of many literary classics, turns his vast performing experience to Gaston Leroux's well-known horror story, originally published in 1910. While listeners may recognize the story from its Broadway musical adaptation or from films, Homewood's deep, melodious voice and flawless French accent offer a fresh perspective on the tale... Read More

Spreading the gospel, partaking of a drink or two, and making a few bucks--what could be more American? Adam Sims gives a tour-de- force performance, evocatively capturing Sinclair Lewis's keenly observed satire of the evangelical Christian movement of the early- twentieth-century Midwest. The corrupt, manipulative, completely indiscreet Elmer Gantry starts off as a college... Read More

Never has there been a more accurate title than that of this audiobook. Indeed, the story, first published in 1898, is all about Elizabeth, a woman of means with unparalleled devotion to the flowers she nurtures outside her door. Lucy Scott is an excellent narrator for this work as she appears to relish the extensive lists of plantings and the vivid emotions attached to each.... Read More

Peter Wickham gives a fine narration of a rather dry work that Lenin wrote while living in Zurich midway through WWI and prior to his return to Russia. Further developing Marx's ideas as put forth in DAS KAPITAL, Lenin notes the development of monopolies on an international scale as bringing about imperialism. Wickham is a highly skilled narrator. His British accent gives a... Read More

Bill Homewood's resonant bass is a fine match for Jules Verne's 1875 sprawling sequel to his landmark work TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1870). It's the end of the Civil War, and a small, intrepid band of Union soldiers takes off in a hot-air balloon to avoid capture by the Confederates. A terrifying storm whisks them 6,000 miles away to an uninhabited, uncharted... Read More

PRAGMATISM, originally a series of lectures, is an approachable but far from simple philosophical text, and THE MEANING OF TRUTH, a collection of essays, is more challenging yet. Adam Sims's voice isn't immediately impressive but proves to be a highly serviceable tool, flexible and expressive. He uses it to elucidate James's meaning and also bring out his tone, which in Sims's... Read More

Nicholas Boulton's versatile voice is on fine display in this production of several works by the Russian author Nikolai Leskov. Although he is not as well known as Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, Leskov is a major literary figure who was Chekhov's favorite author. These stories reveal human nature in all of its splendor and sordidness. The title work is Leskov's best known work and was... Read More

Narrator Lucy Scott brings to life the drawing rooms and social complexities of nineteenth-century English gentry in this audiobook classic, first published in 1801. Belinda Portman is the only unmarried niece of Mrs. Stanhope, a social climber who prides herself on making powerful matches for female family members--often above their stations. Now Belinda must navigate her own... Read More

This classic set of short stories highlights the notorious but dashing Arsène Lupin, who is both a clever crime solver and a gentleman burglar. Although Lupin is French, he is performed most admirably by the British narrator David Timson. He presents a hero/antihero who is elusive, reclusive, and often subversive but never abusive. Lupin may take your purse--but never your... Read More

Billed as a semi-autobiographical novel, this audiobook is a meandering story told with steady maturity by Siân Thomas. Billi lives an unconventional life in 1920s Europe, first with her father in a chateau and later with her mother and various caretakers. Despite the story's being centered on childhood and youth, there is a grandmotherly tone to Thomas's voice that lends an... Read More

Jonathan Booth gives a splendidly somber narration of this work from the early sixth century. St Benedict's rules concern how monks were to live their daily lives as members of a monastery. They also address doctrine and observance of the Divine Office. Booth's British accent is a good match for this text. His intonation and pacing, along with his somber tone, noted above, are... Read More

Although largely unknown to American audiobook listeners, all five of these rich, distinctive voices demonstrate extensive experience in British theater and television. Together they evoke the atmosphere of Victorian privilege and decorum that defines this forgotten gothic thriller. A series of four proper Britishers recount their struggles against an ancient Egyptian cult. A... Read More

Laurel Lefkow and Trei Taylor share the narration of this story collection with equal skill. In each of the three stories, Taylor or Lefkow delivers a portrait of a life. In "The Good Anna" and "The Gentle Lena," Lefkow offers confident, precise performances. Her voice and pace are consistent and easy to follow. In "Melanctha," Taylor shows similar talents; her voice is... Read More

Similarities to Daphne du Maurier's classic novel REBECCA are noticeable in this audiobook, and the suspense is capably delivered by narrator Lucy Scott. Lucy Entwhistle has just lost her father, and widowed businessman Everard Wemyss observes the young woman's hardship at the same time that he is trying to escape his own. The ensuing May-December romance unfolds discreetly,... Read More

Nicholas Boulton gives yet another splendid narration of a Russian classic in this production of Bulgakov's first major work. While Bulgakov is best known for THE MASTER AND MARGARITA, this novel depicts a Russian family, the Turbins, in Kiev during the winter of 1918-19. The Turbins must thread the needle as they deal with Bolshevik revolutionaries, counterrevolutionary... Read More

Huysmans's nineteenth-century study of an aesthete who is trying to transcend dull normalcy and titillate his intellect and senses sounds at times like a series of essays. Despite the lack of incident, Leighton Pugh narrates at a heightened level of feeling, though the clarity of his tone and British accent, the precision of his delivery, and his sensitivity to the text keep... Read More

David Horovitch's gifted performance lifts Joseph Conrad's slight novel from a minor work to a genuine pleasure. Conrad tells how a first sea command plagued by malaria, dead calms, and the malice of a dead former captain takes the new captain past the shadow-line from youth to maturity. The book lacks much incident, and repeated mentions strain the title metaphor, but... Read More

Fitzgerald's debut novel is well performed by a placid, measured Adam Sims. Amory Blaine's life takes center stage, and the listener follows him from prep school through Princeton, from failed romances through struggles to find his place in the world. Sims's voice is elegant and professional throughout the audiobook. His pace matches the action of the plot. His performance is... Read More

Laurel Lefkow gives a stellar performance as she introduces Edith Wharton's 1913 characters to a 21st-century audience. The story features one of literature's least likable heroines, Undine Spragg. Lefkow gives her a simpering, cloying, sometimes whiny voice, which is perfectly suited to this shallow, spoiled, and self-absorbed young woman. Undine has four marriages as she... Read More

Laurel Lefkow narrates this beloved classic featuring the March sisters as they grow from children to young women. Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy remain home with their mother as their father serves during the Civil War. They grow and change from the bumps and bruises of childhood and young adulthood, making their way despite deaths, burned first drafts, and broken hearts. Lefkow's... Read More

Classically trained British narrator David Timson has just the right comfortable yet aristocratic delivery to highlight the detailed character sketches, easy satire, and languid atmosphere of John Galsworthy's towering examination of a highborn family of wealth and property. The work spans the late Victorian era and the Roaring Twenties. Composed of the three novels and two... Read More

Pliny's 240-odd letters reveal the Roman world of roughly 100 CE in all its complexity and sophistication. Russell Bentley enters into Pliny's many roles--lawyer, judge, landowner, poet, government official--not only by expressing the sense of the letters clearly, but also by illuminating Pliny's varied moods and emotions, often implicit and only subtly indicated. Bentley's... Read More

Set in a corrupt Italian principality, Stendhal's 1839 comic masterpiece is often called the greatest of political novels. This fine new audiobook narration by Nicholas Boulton captures all the cosmopolitan wit and worldly detachment of its author's distinctive voice. Like many other nineteenth-century masters, and unlike today's more detached authors, Stendhal is companion and... Read More

Flaubert's exacting prose has a particular affinity to the ear, and Andrew Wincott's narration of three late stories highlights the French master's style, and his verbal evocation of the senses. Flaubert's art is defined by keen observation of detail, precision of word choice, and command of prose rhythms, and Wincott stresses these qualities with an unhurried delivery that... Read More

A fascinating glimpse of the medieval past, this audiobook details the life and spiritual experiences of Margery Kempe, a Christian mystic who lived in England at the turn of the fifteenth century. Lucy Scott's narration draws listeners into Kempe's autobiographical details. Her delivery of Kempe's dialogue with God expresses earnestness and humility. The contrast between... Read More

As Wilkie Collins weaves a mystery centered on an orphaned child's parentage, narrator Nicholas Boulton captures the sundry characters one by one. Young Mary is adopted by a kindhearted artist and his wife after her mother dies unnamed. No one imagines that the key to her past is a hair bracelet that has been locked away. Boulton's cadence suits Collins's prose. He is both... Read More

Narrator Peter Wickham approaches eighteenth-century philosopher Immanuel Kant's text on metaphysics with a pace apparently arising from his clear understanding of where each argument is headed. This awareness guides listeners through its lengthy phrases. Hearing the text is, in fact, the way many who study Kant approach his works, albeit with unskilled oral reading to... Read More

Zeno Corsini's psychiatrist has encouraged him to write about his thoughts and feelings. Narrator Sean Barrett captures all the inwardness and intimacy of that writing in his admirable performance of this modernist classic. His subtly inflected accent gives a continental nuance to his speech, perhaps reflecting the dialect of Zeno's native Trieste. Barrett's voice is charcoal... Read More

English actor Juliet Stevenson's nuanced performance of this classic tale of obsession lures listeners into a nineteenth-century Parisian storefront, where lust and shadows lurk. Unhappily married to her sickly cousin, Camille, and working in her aunt's dingy clothing store, Thérèse Raquin starts an affair with Camille's colleague. After murdering Camille, the lovers are... Read More

Andrew Wincott narrates this 1891 semi-autobiographical novel of two writers who are embedded in late-nineteenth-century literary London. In a deep, smooth voice, Wincott acts out the give-and-take between the two central characters, who are both marginally successful writers. Novelist Edwin Reardon is portrayed in a quiet voice reflecting his insecurity and penury, while... Read More

Although this audiobook is long enough for a cross-country drive, it is better consumed in small chunks, one essay at a time. While Peter Wickham's friendly, conversational tone is easy to listen to, the essays themselves may require some thought. Some of them will also require knowledge of the classical world of Montaigne's education. (How many people today are familiar with... Read More

The expert (and seemingly indefatigable) David Timson's rolling turns of phrase, his almost ornate expressiveness, sometimes further obscure the elevated style and complex 1830s verbosity of von Clausewitz's long-winded study of the art of war. But close attention--which this book, with its technical detail, constant references to military history, and rhetorical flourishes... Read More

This slim Wharton novel is often overlooked--likely because it lacks the author's celebrated Old New York setting and intrigue--but this performance of the classic may earn it a second visit. Adam Sims delivers an excellent narration, capturing Frome's distinct New England demeanor and secondary characters' voices with equal attention to detail. The story of doomed lovers... Read More

This medieval English poem, a mixture of satire, polemic, and piety, loses its alliterative verse and much of its verbal interest in this modern translation, becoming a rather bald, if impassioned, allegory cum theological discourse. But in place of the poetry, narrator Jonathan Keeble supplies energetic, even passionate, voice acting and a wide variety of skillfully rendered... Read More

Leighton Pugh provides a meticulous performance of this tragic novel, embracing the drama of Zola's details and immersing himself in the protagonist Gervaise's misfortunes. Eking out a living as a laundress, Gervaise is derailed by the perils of drink--the book's title is often translated to mean "The Drinking Den"--and the horrors of poverty. Many scenes are drawn out to the... Read More

David Timson masterfully narrates this entertaining mystery in which two formidable opponents match wits. Famed English detective Herlock Sholmes is initially called to Paris to investigate the disappearance of a blue diamond. The prime suspect is Arsène Lupin, the legendary gentleman thief and master of disguise, who was introduced in 1905 by French author Maurice Leblanc.... Read More

Narrator Leighton Pugh gives all the interlocutors in Plato’s most important dialogue their own voices. But only Socrates, who does almost all the talking, comes across as a full person: intelligent, moderate in temper, genial, accommodating to his fellows but someone who commands respect and attention. Pugh also distinguishes the minor characters adequately and switches among... Read More

Narrator David Rintoul captures the tension in a dark tale that begins with the Jacobite rising 1745 in Scotland. The story centers on two brothers, James and Henry Durie. When their family decides to hedge its bets on the outcome of the war, the brothers are sent to fight on opposite sides and, in doing so, form a strong hatred for each other. Rintoul excels at creating all... Read More

Narrator Nicholas Boulton delivers a solid performance of Wilkie Collins's novel, which casts light on the complicated marriage laws of nineteenth-century Scotland. As a villainous plotter tries to ensnare two victims in a trap to free himself from responsibility, their friends seek the truth. Collins provides a diverse cast of characters whom Boulton expertly portrays with... Read More

Those who take on this 24-hour-long audiobook will appreciate having Rachel Atkins as their narrator. She's every good reason to pick up one's earbuds and listen to Ellen Wood's 1861 melodrama. Atkins handles characters, plots, and subplots with aplomb. Lady Isabel Carlyle leaves her husband and children for a cad. After being abandoned by her lover, disfigured in a train... Read More

Leighton Pugh's superb narration immerses listeners in this audiobook, which is part of the author's Rougon-Marquet series. Despite the beauty of Zola's language, the subject matter of this novel is challenging. Listeners must pay close attention to take in the complicated plot, which involves murder, homicidal ideation, and physical violence, including sexual abuse. Pugh's... Read More

Leighton Pugh offers an engrossing narration of Emile Zola's 1883 cautionary tale of capitalism and the enslavement of women to consumerism. The Ladies' Paradise, a Paris department store, is the brainchild of Octave Mouret. When 20-year-old country girl Denise Baudu arrives in Paris, she is transfixed by the amazing store and is romantically drawn to Mouret. Pugh's Parisian... Read More

In the time of Emperor Nero (54-68 CE), a military hero returns to Rome and falls in love with a beautiful princess held hostage by Nero's court. To win her heart, the Roman citizen acquaints himself with a strange new faith--Christianity. Peter Wickham narrates this fascinating story, first published in Polish in 1896. With typical British assurance he gives an upper-crust,... Read More

Narrator Juliet Stevenson and Jane Austen are well matched in this fine audiobook edition of the famed classic. Stevenson's flawless performance, sparkling with her distinctive voice and lyrical accent, brings Austen's story to life. In this beloved novel, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, possessed solely of daughters in the early nineteenth century, embark on finding suitable husbands for... Read More

This prose translation of one of the earliest of the Grail stories is a corker of a medieval romance, and narrator Leighton Pugh makes the most of its tension and occasional flashes of humor and emotion. Listeners should be prepared for some surprises. The Grail itself, for example, is a stone, not a cup, and has nothing to do with Jesus. By the time the legends reached Malory,... Read More

Published in 1855, this book cemented Frederick Douglass's reputation as a leader in the national abolitionist movement and a worldwide voice for the freedom of all people. Narrating with contemporary ease and naturalism, Leon Nixon accentuates the intelligence, dignity, and courage that it took for Douglass to describe the physical beatings, mental abuse, and starvation that... Read More

Born in Gibraltar, the sometimes-Shakespearean actor Nicholas Boulton is the perfect narrator for the third book in the cherished Alexandria Quartet. And no, you needn't have listened to the others; this novel is a universe unto itself. Boulton fully inhabits the often drunk, always stuffy, plainly ridiculous characters who ran the empire on which a British sun refused to set.... Read More

When it comes to performing a wide variety of audiobooks, Juliet Stevenson is an expert. Her lovely clipped accent and fervent delivery typically bring all types of complex stories to life. This title is no exception, for Stevenson's rich voice and compassionate tones animate the text nicely. Somewhat less appealing is the story itself; this 1893 novel explores timeless themes... Read More

Gorky's memoir of his childhood is unsparing in its stark and unromantic depiction of the heights of human kindness and the depths of human cruelty. Nicholas Boulton's expressive performance of this classic of Russian literature and history is a perfect match of voice and text. Gorky, born Alexei Maximovich Peshkov in 1868, was orphaned at an early age and lived with his... Read More

Part of Balzac's COMDIE HUMAINE, this novella comes to an ending that either is or is not a happy one, depending on how you think about it. Narrator Bill Homewood's deep, resonant voice--suitably lightened for female characters--carries us along as Chabert, a Napoleonic hero mistakenly listed as having been killed in battle, returns to Paris and tries to reclaim his life.... Read More

The Roman historian Tacitus details the turbulent "Year of the Four Emperors," 69 CE, which was rife with war, political violence, chicanery, inept and vicious leaders, and even an assault on the Capitol. Narrator David Timson, with a fine voice and an easy mastery of pacing, tone, and the intelligent expression of the text's meaning, goes beyond mere narration to bring out the... Read More

Nicholas Boulton offers a masterful performance of this first volume of Lawrence Durrell’s famed Alexandria Quartet. Boulton’s rich voice, whether persuasive with seduction or throaty with frustration, captures the experience of an unnamed narrator as he succumbs to the charms of 1940s Alexandria, Egypt, and a few of its most alluring denizens—the enigmatic “Jewess,” Justine;... Read More

This 1924 classic has been adapted for three films, two radio plays, and a stage play (not including parodies), but this audiobook still manages to provide surprises. Rupert Degas's performance is not among them; we have come to expect excellence from him, and he delivers. The three Geste brothers are to some extent aspects of a single personality, and they have similar voices... Read More

Seneca's discourses on topics such as anger and happiness fall between self-help and philosophy, specifically stoicism. Narrator Ric Jerrom employs his admirable English accent and sonorous voice almost musically to render the sense and tone of the text with care and comprehension. He injects emotion, such as anger, where appropriate and, in places, gives opinions in a tone... Read More

Although each of the novels of the Alexandria Quartet can stand alone (this is the second), they gain depth if experienced in sequence. Fortunately, Nicholas Boulton is narrating all four, and here, at least, his performance is masterly. He deploys a range of voices and accents that never leave us in doubt about who is speaking, and he draws out the characters' emotions and... Read More

With this audiobook, narrator Nicholas Boulton completes Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. His thrilling new performance isn't merely respectful of this classic work; these characters come to life, as does the environment of WWII-era Alexandria, "the capital of memory." Darley, a key figure throughout the series, ruminates on time, sex, and literature as he and Clea continue their... Read More

Dramatic and compelling, this medieval novel recounting bloody feuds and complex legal battles in Iceland, along with adventures and battles abroad, is often flat in the writing. Much of Gunnar Cauthery's narration is similarly--and fittingly--flat in tone, but still expressive. When emotion in speeches is required, or appropriate, he provides it. His pronunciation of Norse... Read More

Narrator Jonathan Keeble's deep, strong voice sets an ominous tone for this short, dark novel about perverted ambition and the bestiality of men. It's set on a small island, where the tortured creations of misguided science lurk. Some of Keeble's vocal characterizations make for uncomfortable listening--a pronounced lisp, for instance--but they are true to Wells's descriptions.... Read More

In a smooth, cultured voice, narrator Georgina Sutton inhabits French noblewoman and author Christine de Pizan, who is most famous for her 1405 work about women. Christine, in a dreamlike state, meets three Virtues--Reason, Rectitude, and Justice--who help her build the City of Ladies. As Christine asks questions about the roles, vitality, and superiority of women, Sutton... Read More

English-Australian narrator Rupert Degas has a grand time giving voice to Saki's (Hector Hugh Munro, 1870-1916) many tales of blustering, tyrannical aunts; mischievous children; and that most important of all English inventions--the twit. Saki was a master of light journalism and short fiction and was known for his barbed descriptions of upper-crust English life and his... Read More

"The Wake" is one of the most incomprehensible of classic novels, so not even a bravura performance like this one can clarify the language and story. The very useful companion booklet by Naxos provides some orientation, but the listener really needs a working knowledge of French, Italian, German, Latin, various pidgins, Irish history, the geography of Dublin, and Roman... Read More

Tacitus writes a warning to the powerful that history will judge them. He himself is critical, even savagely judgmental, in his second-century history of the four Roman emperors who followed Augustus. (Only parts of it survive.) Narrator David Timson captures the author's frequent scorn and disgust; he reads many quotations in a mocking voice. His pronunciation is flawless and... Read More

Judging by his own account, Rousseau must have been a difficult man to know. Irritable, paranoid, and egomaniacal, he is nonetheless portrayed on his own terms by narrator Jonathan Keeble in this audio version of one the first autobiographies. It would be easy to dismiss many of Rousseau's claims about his former friends conspiring against him, or to tone down his anger, or to... Read More

Adam Sims gives a splendid reading of Reed's classic account of the seizure of power in Russia by the Bolsheviks in 1917. Reed, an American journalist who was sympathetic to the Bolsheviks, presents a detailed account of these events, which set in motion the dictatorship of the proletariat. Reed himself died in Soviet Russia and is buried in the Kremlin wall. Those who know... Read More

Burke's scathing early attack on the French Revolution, and on the British who admired it, is a long essay cum rant published in 1790, a complex polemic taking in politics, economics, and history. Matt Addis narrates in a slightly sharp-edged voice that is highly articulate and clear and that gives fitting aural shape to Burke's sometimes complicated sentences. Addis's careful... Read More

Actor and beloved BBC Radio broadcaster Mark Meadows takes on the mighty task of narrating one of the lengthiest and densest explorations of the Christian faith. This epic work of Saint Augustine discusses the false worship of idols and the influence of demons and angels, and waxes poetic about the nature of God and how humans will all experience the same fate, Roman or... Read More

Best known for the novel MADAME BOVARY, Flaubert re-examines French society with SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION," here featuring Andrew Wincott's solid narration. Wincott offers commitment and verve as he embraces the broad cast of characters and lengthy exposition. Protagonist Frederic navigates societal complexities and explores the nuances of romance against the backdrop of... Read More

Adam Sims offers a solid narration of this classic novel, in which an American makes his way through the social complexities of Paris. The title character, Christopher Newman, has survived the American Civil War and made his own fortune; now all that remains is to experience the wider world and to find a suitable wife. Will his encounters in Paris provide him opportunities for... Read More

Some of the words in this classic of early modern English will be unfamiliar, but Bill Homewood's deep, resonant voice carries the stories of King Arthur and his knights. He doesn't create distinctive voices for all the many knights and damsels, but the author did little to make them more than types. Arthur, Guenever, Launcelot, and a few others are closer to being characters... Read More

Any fiction fan should listen to at least one Victorian novel every year. More the better if the primary narrator is the talented Nicholas Boulton, whose ability to mimic the elite and humble, and capture their cadence and tone is unrivaled. His subtle inflections shape this long but satisfying performance. The stalwart cast transports listeners to 1840s London and the... Read More

Strachey's relatively brief lives of four prominent Victorian personalities set a new tone and standard for biography: witty, honest, and not always full of praise. Jonathan Keeble's narration captures the wit, irreverence, and drama, as well as the poetry and stylishness of Strachey's prose. Even though Cardinal Manning and Dr. Arnold are mostly forgotten now (the other two... Read More

Nicholas Boulton's narration of this wonderfully entertaining audiobook is simply astonishing. He keeps listeners on track though its shifts in time period and plot. As a work of "sensation fiction," this story of Rosamond Treverton Franklin's discovery of her late mother's secret was intended to excite and amuse its nineteenth-century audience, although the suspense is tame by... Read More

While it was written in 1846, this novel gets a modern vibe with Lucy Scott's narration. Yet she remains true to the original text, and something in this combination lends this audiobook a timeless air. The titular cousin is aging and unmarried--an unthinkable status in Post-Napoleonic France--and her simmering resentment fuels the intrigue that permeates the story. Scott's... Read More

British actor Gareth Armstrong brings to life the story of Jesuit priest John Gerard (15641637) who is hunted throughout Elizabethan England during the Protestant Reformation. Armstrong delivers a powerful performance as he shares Father John Gerard's account of hiding from priest hunters, being imprisoned in chains, and having his faith disparaged at every turn. As he recounts... Read More

British actress Lucy Scott captures the sweeping drama of this literary classic with a thoughtful and calming narration. Set in Florentine Italy during the Renaissance, this work is full of descriptions of Italian history and architecture. Amid these details, Lucy Scott carefully delivers the difficult and emotional plot of an innocent daughter of a learned elder and her... Read More

Robert G. Slade narrates this classic with warmth and wit. He delivers the voices of Bohemians, Norwegians, and Russian immigrants with subtlety and captures the cadences of young and old. His storytelling manner gives a sense of reality to this immigrant story about foreign families settling in Nebraska, where their new lives require hard work and they sometimes receive a... Read More

Roger May's narration of one of Charlotte Brontë's lesser-known novels embodies the voice of her sensitive protagonist, William Crimsworth. Although he's a hardworking young man, Crimsworth finds himself unhappy being a clerk in his brother's service. To escape, he journeys from England to Brussels to be a teacher. May portrays Crimsworth with a gentleness and kindness that... Read More

There’s never been a better time to indulge in John Muir’s inspiring observations of California’s most iconic wilderness. Crafted over the two years that Muir lived in a tiny cabin alongside Yosemite Creek, around 1870, the work was originally intended as a guidebook to what would become Yosemite National Park. Nick McArdle’s understated narration is intoxicatingly relaxing. A... Read More

Nicolas Boulton gives a splendid narration of Dostoyevsky's semiautobiographical novel based on his exile in Siberia. First published in a journal written from 1860 to 1862, the novel concerns a nobleman, Aleksandr Petrovich Goryanchikov, who is imprisoned for murdering his wife. Goryanchikov encounters and witnesses great acts of brutality by both inmates and the keepers of... Read More

Narrator Bill Homewood's voice gives listeners a sense of the elegance of the Reform Club, where Phileas Fogg spends his days. There's a hint of Jules Verne's playfulness creeping in as Fogg is seen through the eyes of his servant, Passepartout. When Fogg makes a fateful wager, the monotony of his life disappears as he embarks on his journey around the world. Homewood's voice... Read More

Narrator Bill Homewood gives his voice a hint of a Spanish accent and more than a hint of melodrama as he narrates Johnston McCulley's classic tale. Listeners first meet Zorro on an ominous "evil night" as he confronts the authorities in the pueblo that will someday be modern Los Angeles. Today's audience likely already knows that Zorro is the "lifeless" noble Don Diego, but... Read More

Swithin St. Cleeve and Lady Constantine have a challenging relationship. Because of social pressure, neither party is free to commit to the other. Leighton Pugh's focused narration keeps the listener's attention fixed on the events of the story. He captures the somber tones of Hardy's prose without becoming monotonous. Through his vocal characterizations, Pugh aptly builds the... Read More

This audiobook is a biography of Eglantyne Jebb, who founded the Save the Children Fund in 1919. It is primarily delivered by Joely Richardson, but author Clare Mulley also does some of the narration. Both talented narrators have cultivated, crisp, and authoritative voices, which lead listeners to focus on this remarkable British woman. It is easy to understand how a young... Read More

Narrator Jonathan Keeble brings an appropriately haughty upper-crust tone to this 1879 story of a British lord, his dead brother, an odd baron, and a mysterious countess. Their fates become intertwined when the family purchases a decrepit and thoroughly uninviting palace in Venice. When the palace is refurbished into a swank hotel, arguments, incriminations, and apparitions... Read More

DON QUIXOTE has been adapted or parodied many times over the centuries, and this 1752 version by Charlotte Lennox holds up pretty well as read by Juliet Stevenson. (It was also one of the inspirations for Jane Austen's NORTHANGER ABBEY.) Lady Arabella has read too many romances, and, having grown up in isolation in the country, she interprets them as history. Stevenson takes us... Read More

Save this audiobook for summer listening. Its great, and true, adventure story of Antarctic exploration will take you to frigid places on a hot day. When their ship was crushed by ice on the Southern Ocean, Shackleton led his entire party to safety across hundreds of miles of open sea more than a year later. Narrator Rupert Degas captures the spirit of the man: hearty,... Read More

Narrator Laurel Lefkow turns her talents to the narration of Edith Wharton's best known novel. Lily Bart believes she is made for the finer things in life, but due to the financial challenges she faces upon losing her parents, she has to use her grace, beauty, and charm to climb her way up to New York's high society. Lily's morals, however, lead her to sabotage her every... Read More

In these two short works from the mid-1600s, Descartes engages skepticism to establish a basis for philosophy. The books are personal only in the sense that Descartes begins by examining himself, but narrator Mark Meadows humanizes them by giving Descartes a distinct persona. He comes across as curious, intelligent, always questioning, earnest but not self-important, open to... Read More

In narrating this audiobook, Kim Hicks handles the formal prose and excessive detail capably, making it seem manageable to all. This Victorian mystery was first published in 1862. When George Tallboys returns to England from making his fortune in Australia, he discovers that his beloved wife has just died. When Tallboys disappears, his best friend, Robert Audley, determines to... Read More

Gareth Armstrong's confident narration adds welcome charisma to this literary classic. Henry James's extensive plot follows the careers of Nick Dormer, who must choose between painting and politics, and Miriam Rooth, who strives to be an actress as a means for income. Both characters' enigmatic passions perplex those family members and friends who so desperately want to guide... Read More

Narrator David Rintoul sweeps listeners into historian Alistair Moffat's tapestry of memoir, journalism, and religious history relating to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. The tidal island off the Northumbrian coast has a Celtic Christian identity that dates back more than a millennium. With subtle yet distinct modulations of pacing and tone, and--to convey Moffat's sense of... Read More

In a comfortable Irish lilt, Dublin-born narrator Emma Lowe captures the author’s adventurous spirit, courage, and gritty determination to ride a bicycle more than 5,000 miles from London through the Italian Alps, across Eastern Europe and Turkey, through northern Iran and Afghanistan, over the Hindu Kush mountains to Pakistan, and on to New Delhi. There’s an amazing calmness... Read More

Narrator Adam Sims combines a modern clarity and tone with the author's wit, skepticism, and keen observations to make listening to this nineteenth-century literary stew an absolute treat. Published in 1851, in the wake of the success of THE SCARLET LETTER, this multigenerational story of the fictional Pyncheon family is at once a ghost story, a romance, and, above all, an... Read More

Narrator Luis Soto recounts the history of Spain in a strong British-accented voice, his manner bright, brisk, and congenial. His Spanish is of native-speaker quality, although his accurate Castilian pronunciation, in which "s" sounds like "th," may give some listeners difficulty in recognizing people and place names. Soto, though intelligent and always correct in intonation... Read More

Narrator Peter Wickham's voice is aged and a bit rough but energetic and cultured in this recounting of Marco Polo's wanderings through thirteenth-century Asia. Wickham speaks more as one declaiming an official account than telling a story, which suits a book written in the third person, but he maintains a likable persona, good-humored and wise, befitting a man recalling the... Read More

Narrator Jonathan Keeble brings a fine British accent and a pleasingly gruff voice to this account of Italy's (mostly political and economic) history. The history wanders to start with, and in modern times tends toward a listing of one incident after the next--occasionally Keeble sounds a bit tired of it. But, for the most part, his narration is thoughtful, showing attention to... Read More

Those who have been following narrator David Shaw-Parker's journey through the Palliser novels have come to expect excellence, and they will not be disappointed with this concluding installment. The Duke of Omnium is now a widower, so we miss Lady Glencora's fine Scottish voice, but there is a new assortment of interesting characters for Shaw-Parker to bring to life. And he... Read More

Disraeli, like his later peer Churchill, made his reputation as a writer before entering Parliament. His political fame easily eclipsed his novelistic reputation, and this audiobook gives us a fair understanding of why. Many of its secondary characters are so similar that even narrator Tim Bentinck's many tones and accents cannot help listeners distinguish them, and no one... Read More

Sounding downright jovial at times, Jonathan Keeble uses a classic aristocratic English delivery to portray Encolpius, the ex-gladiator and polished raconteur who narrates this satirical proto-novel. He leads the listener on a historically insightful, hilarious, thoroughly exotic, and erotically charged romp through a series of gay bordellos, opulent estates, detailed deviant... Read More

In a comfortable, approachable style, actor Peter Wickham creates the feeling of relaxing in a nineteenth-century English drawing room while swapping tales of the macabre, fairy folk, and undiscovered worlds. In a tone that is equal parts beguilement and wonder, Wickham leads listeners through this late-nineteenth-century collection of nine short stories, including the title... Read More

The words of philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer are now two centuries old, and it's unlikely this audiobook collection of his essays on literature will offer much new for today's writers and critics. Narrator Mark Meadows, likewise, is the sort of erudite British voice that travels across borders and centuries without ever seeming to touch ground. But like an outfit that's never... Read More

Georgina Sutton brings her narrative talents to the dramatic morality tale of Moll Flanders. The audiobook of this classic novel follows the rakish life of a low-born young woman as she fights to raise herself to a higher position in English society. This involves multiple marriages, the abandonment of her own children, and regular bouts of theft and prostitution. Moll is at... Read More

David Shaw-Parker's usual exemplary narration brings all the inner torments of the characters in this classic novel to life. Trollope was one of the deep psychologists of the Victorian novel, and this is one of his most psychological works. Nearly all of the action is interior to the major characters. As we approach the end of the Palliser series, the parallel plots concern... Read More

British narrator Barnaby Edwards captures pioneering travel writer Robert Byron's historical commentary, humor, and bon vivant sensibility while crossing the Middle East to explore the farthest reaches of Persia and Afghanistan in 1933-34. With the ability to evoke entire centuries and architectural styles in a single sentence, Byron is considered one of the masters of the... Read More

Narrator Anna Bentinck's gentle tone and easy cadence complement Thomas Hardy's leisurely prose. The story centers on a talented architect, George Somerset, who falls in love with a wealthy yet indecisive young woman. Bentinck energetically gives voice to Hardy's characters. Somerset speaks kindly and emphatically in contrast to the mysterious William Dare, who speaks in an... Read More

With a sympathetic, straightforward approach, narrator Adam Sims allows listeners to discover for themselves the many layers of keen observation, humor, history, and social commentary that Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 classic has to offer. The story is familiar. Single, dignified Hester Prynne is punished for having become pregnant by having an "A," for adultery, sewn on her... Read More

Narrator Mark Meadows has a fine, strong voice; a pleasing British accent; evident skill and intelligence; and remarkably good pronunciation of French, a requirement for this history of France from the late Middle Ages to the present. But while those who listen to complex nonfiction must have time to absorb information, Meadows often pauses a bit too long between sentences.... Read More

Award-winning actress Juliet Stevenson guides the listener through the complex social world and moral ambiguity of this convoluted story. Maggie Verver's upcoming marriage to Prince Amerigo seems perfect. Just before Maggie and he are to wed, Amerigo's good friend and former lover, Charlotte, comes back into his life for a brief shopping trip for a wedding present. Even though... Read More

Narrator Matt Addis brings care, talent, and skill to these stories from twelfth- and thirteenth-century Wales, but he could have exercised more restraint. He takes his cue from the stories themselves--fantastic, fanciful, somewhere between myth, legend, and fairy tale--and from the archaic tone of the mid-nineteenth-century translation by Charlotte Guest. Addis's phrases,... Read More

This audiobook was written by the Roman philosopher Boethius while he was awaiting sentencing and execution. One of the last great blooms of classical Greek Stoicism, it is a dialogue between the author and Philosophy, who appears as a woman who leads him to a proper Stoic acceptance of whatever his fate may be--even death. Narrator Peter Wickham maintains a clear, calm tone,... Read More

David Timson brings his great gifts of creativity, sensitivity to language, and dramatic flair to his narration of THE ARGONAUTICA--but it's all a bit too much. Perhaps to prop up this lesser epic, more a scholarly gazetteer of Mediterranean myth and geography than a dramatic quest, he tries rather too hard to inject drama or emotion by putting a thrill in his voice or... Read More

Imagine getting a lesson on the works of Dante from the poet himself. Jonathan Keeble narrates LA VITA NUOVA, verse Dante wrote in 1295, like a poet who has been asked to explain his own work: with keen interest tempered by a bit of distance, so as not to get carried away. It is the story of Dante's love for Beatrice, told through the various sonnets he wrote for her, as... Read More

Listeners become immersed in the dramatic days of the French Revolution and the rush to save aristocrats by the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Through the narration of Bill Homewood, listeners will puzzle over the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel, agonize with Marguerite over the fate of the brave hero, and worry about the evil plots of the villain Chauvelin. Though the... Read More

This clever travel memoir reveals a witty story expertly narrated by the multitalented Rupert Degas. Degas is a kind of verbal ventriloquist at home with the accents, intonations, and styles of the Cameroon natives--royal and commoner alike--and he portrays the very British Durrell quite well, too. His mimicry is remarkable as he recounts naturalist Gerald Durrell's trip to... Read More

Oh, the utter delight of adventuring in Madagascar with the late English naturalist Gerald Durrell and his poly-voiced narrator, Rupert Degas, who beautifully channels Durrell’s slightly raspy voice, his exuberant personality, and his enthusiasm for every variety of fauna, including human. The book describes a 1990s trip to Madagascar’s remotest regions to find and collect a... Read More

There's a moment in this enchanting audiobook that displays narrator Rupert Degas's talent to the full. It occurs when the naturalist author is at a cocktail party in Buenos Aires and has to talk to a pompous Englishman whose dismissive attitude towards Argentinians offends the young Durrell. Degas imitates this Brit's accent in such a fine tone that it sounds like he is... Read More

Rupert Degas delivers a bang-up performance--including tiger growls and buffalo snorts--of Gerald Durrell's colorful and often comic memories of his first job as a student keeper at England's Whipsnade Zoological Park. Be forewarned that the legendary founder of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust wrote the book in 1970 about events in 1945. While he's forward-thinking about... Read More

Juliet Stevenson provides a compelling narration of Henry James's story about innocence, social class, and morality. The protagonist, Maisie, struggles to preserve her innocence when her parents divorce and her stepparents commit adultery. Seemingly effortlessly, Stevenson changes her voice to match her characters' traits: Maisie's innocent demeanor, her stepfather Sir Claude's... Read More

The cast of this audio production must be commended for undertaking one of the longest novels in English literature. They are successful in capturing Richardson’s many epistolary voices. Lucy Scott gives an admirable performance as Clarissa Harlowe; her clear, soft voice captures the earnestness and innocence of the chief character. While Clarissa most often speaks sincerely to... Read More

James's novella is brought beautifully to life by narrator Penelope Rawlins, whose chameleon voice spans continents with ease. While the narrative is performed in an appealing British accent, Rawlins easily moves into American tones when voicing the title character and her suitor, Mr. Winterbourne. As the vivacious Daisy flirts her way across Europe, Winterbourne struggles to... Read More

Narrator Leighton Pugh's quietly expressive vocal style and relaxed pacing help listeners engage with Zola's naturalistic and expansive novel of avarice, poverty, and degradation among all the social classes in nineteenth-century France. Pugh capably meets the dual challenges of illuminating the novel's lush descriptive language and imbuing the large cast with rich vocal... Read More

Laurence Kennedy brings appropriate vigor and briskness to the narration of Thesiger's classic account of living with Arab tribes in southern Iraq in the 1950s. The account is spare, quick moving, and unsentimental. Kennedy's deep voice, crisp enunciation, and British accent are engaging, and he renders the sense of the text naturally and unaffectedly while imbuing it with... Read More

Bill Homewood's narration brings new life to the tragic story of Goriot, a father who lives in poverty so that his two daughters can be happy. Homewood's deep voice and melodic cadence carry the listener through the prose. He pronounces the French names quite naturally, and his vocal characterizations faithfully render Balzac's creations. Set in a Parisian boardinghouse, the... Read More

Narrator David Timson takes three tacks in performing this classic of Victorian political economy and sociology. He delivers the modern editors' notes and introduction with vigorous clarity. He reads Mayhew's text with similar energy but with more feeling and with an orotund, occasionally jocular tone, as if Mayhew were a Dickens character. And for the heart of the book--the... Read More

Nicholas Boulton can narrate an extended dialogue and make it seem indisputably between two people. He does so in this collection of Gogol stories, for which he produces a wide array of voices and characters. He takes full advantage of opportunities to inhabit the characters. In typical British fashion, he uses a skillful range of accents to indicate class differences. In many... Read More

Many of the greatest Portuguese writers of the last century are Fernando Pessoa, who wrote under dozens of names. This audiobook is presented as having been written by Pessoa's fictional friend, Bernardo Soares. Adam Sims narrates the 481 sections--some as short as a single sentence--with a detached air appropriate to someone to whom identity is no longer an interesting... Read More

Narrator Georgina Sutton delivers Queen Victoria's take on each of the seven people whose biographies comprise this program. However, the bulk of the audiobook is narrated by Benjamin Soames, who delivers the biographies themselves. His voice is likable, expressive, and energetic, but his narration, especially at the outset, is too slow, with too much emphasis on individual... Read More

Anna Bentinck valiantly works to keep Thomas Hardy's early story of love and deception consistently compelling. An unconventional narrator, Bentinck takes pauses in unusual places, injecting a note of spontaneity into Hardy's occasionally hard-going descriptive passages. Hardy's story is highly character driven, and while Bentinck's style doesn't quite make the most of the... Read More

Laurel Lefkow gives an elegantly understated narration of Dreiser's timeless novel of ambition, pride, and social class. Lefkow's pacing adeptly mirrors Carrie's tentative exploration of city life. Dreiser's exquisitely rendered details of every strata of social class will resonate with the economic realities of today's world. Lefkow's subtle shifts in vocal inflection and... Read More

Nicholas Boulton's narration of the first Russian novel is an excellent match of voice and text. Lermontov's novel concerns the interactions of two Russian officers serving in the Caucasus in the 1830s. The main character, Pechorin, is a Byronic hero and quite politically incorrect. The antagonist is Grushnitsky, who competes with Pechorin for the affections of Princess Mary.... Read More

Actor Constantine Gregory demonstrates his many talents in this remarkable performance of Dostoevsky's novel. The title literally means demons or devils; the plot concerns a group of individuals who are possessed by the demons of their own lives and ideas. This long work reflects the author's views on how Western European ideas were influencing Russia. As with much of Russian... Read More

Narrator Nicholas Boulton delivers these diary entries about life in Naples, Italy, in the aftermath of WWII in a straightforward journalistic style. Author Lewis, a British intelligence officer, was stationed in Naples as a linguist charged with bridging the gap between the military and civilians. He went on to become a great travel writer, and his poetic style is evident as... Read More

Philosophy is often presented in a dry and dull manner, but that isn't the case when it's delivered by narrator Mark Meadows. In this version of Kierkegaard's masterpiece, Meadows uses good pacing to give the listener an intricate treatment of the biblical story of Isaac's near sacrifice by his father, Abraham, and what this story may mean in the realm of faith in a higher... Read More

Narrator Adam Sims expertly guides the listener through the complex relationships Henry James sets up when European cousins Eugenia and Felix come to America to meet their relations. Sims's soft cadence couples well with James's prose, and his vocal characterizations distinguish the characters clearly. He captures the European brother and sister especially well. Felix's... Read More

Narrator Rupert Degas is a fine mimic and voice actor. His inflection and tone remind the listener of the great English thespians. He performs accents expertly--from South American to Italian to Kiwi--and gives Simon's sprawling audiobook texture and a sense of place. In 1974, the author took a motorbike trip around the world and wrote about it. He became famous for this epic... Read More

Andrew Cullum's narration enlivens Defoe's historical novel about the 1665 plague in London. While Defoe was not an eyewitness, he re-created a realistic picture of the period through his own research. The novel relies heavily on the first-person narrator, who recounts his observations during the plague. Because of this, there is not much opportunity for Cullum to do vocal... Read More

Narrator David Shaw-Parker continues his marvelous tour of Trollope with this audiobook from the Palliser novels. Although the Pallisers are minor characters in this volume, we do get Shaw-Parker's memorable portrayal of the Duke of Omnium, as well as Lady Eustace's almost-but-not-quite-incomprehensible rural Scottish steward, Andy Gowran. Without doing full impersonations,... Read More

The joint tomb of Peter and Heloise Abelard remains one of the most visited sites in Paris even though they died long ago, in the twelfth century. Their story of a love that endured despite the opposition of her family and the Church, and despite his mutilation, has been retold many times, and every version is based on the authentic documents in this audiobook. Of the nine... Read More

Sir Walter Scott's first historical novel takes place during the Jacobite Uprising of 1745. Young Englishman Edward Waverly goes to Scotland in the army but becomes intrigued by the Highlanders' cause and eventually changes his support from the Hanoverians to the Jacobites. David Rintoul's narration gives a natural cadence to Scott's prose. His clear, deep voice emphasizes the... Read More

This audiobook is not only a portrait of a way of life on the edge of extinction. Thesiger is also one of the main sources that author Frank Herbert used in creating his classic novel, DUNE. Laurence Kennedy narrates the story of Thesiger's experiences with the Bedouin of Arabia like a man reminiscing about the best times of his life. He conveys the wit and wonder of an... Read More

Mid-nineteenth-century poet and translator Baudelaire is one of the great progenitors of modern poetry. Jonathan Keeble's excellent narration reminds us just how radical this work was and why parts of it were banned in France as late as 1949. Keeble restrains some of the passionate excesses that are part of Baudelaire's radicalism, preserving the contrasts that let the heights... Read More

Michael Sheen is at his best narrating the two long narrative pieces here, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and a section of the first canto of "Don Juan." In both he's assisted by two fine but unnamed women. He's consistently good throughout the whole anthology. His Blake is prophetic and a bit mad, his Wordsworth is more stately, his Keats more wistful, and so on. The... Read More

Invited by her late father's half sister for a long visit, unsuspecting Kate Malvern arrives at the estate of Staplewood and swiftly becomes entangled in a lurid and dangerous plot. Narrator Jilly Bond creates multiple distinct characters within the large cast, all with discernible classes and personalities. Lady Broome is voiced in an appropriate contralto while Mr. Nidd's... Read More

When England's eccentric Larkin family decides to visit Brittany for a summer holiday, the dissimilarity between British and French culture offers opportunities for hilarity. As narrator, Philip Franks has a friendly, upbeat tone and keeps a steady pace throughout the audiobook. His rendering of the dialogue is where his talents especially shine. Franks provides suitable... Read More

If David Shaw-Parker isn't the most subtly funny Duke of Omnium ever, let's give up. The Duke's self-important basso as he courts Madame Max seems to come out of his shoes, and it's an amazing surprise, because by the time Omnium really enters the story, Shaw-Parker has created so many varied characters and voices that you can't imagine he's still got a trick you haven't heard.... Read More

Narrator Laurel Lefkow brings a calm and dignified tone to Edith Wharton's high-society classic. It's a novel full of wry comic observations on the social restraints that bind the upper echelon of New York City society, especially its female members. Lefkow contributes a fitting sense of intelligent restraint without sacrificing the warmth and versatility necessary to keep the... Read More

Jules Verne's fascinating novel takes the listener on a journey beneath the sea to the far reaches of the world. The figure of Captain Nemo provides a dark undercurrent to the optimism of Verne's narrator, Pierre Aronnax. Bill Homewood's narration is truly delightful. His melodic cadence delivers the descriptive prose engagingly, and his vocal characterizations are also... Read More

Narrator Jessica Martin winningly delivers the third in a classic series about a scarecrow who comes to life. The warmly portrayed brother and sister--Susan and John--befriend Worzel Gummidge, who lives on Scatterbrook Farm. Listeners will be charmed by Worzel's voice, which is whiny or friendly, depending on his mood. When he misbehaves, he becomes a traditional scarecrow and... Read More

Boccaccio's medieval collection of short stories finds new life in Naxos's outstanding full-cast performance. A gifted cast of 11 gives this production energy that never tires. Simon Russell Beale narrates Boccaccio's role, opening the audiobook with the author's own introduction. From there, the other actors take turns telling stories just as the speakers do, creating a unique... Read More

Matthew Arnold's poetry is not widely read today, except for "Dover Beach" and perhaps "The Scholar Gipsy," but this selection shows the strengths that made him popular in the nineteenth century. Jonathan Keeble's readings are romantic, as the poems are, and they show the result of careful thought. Arnold's writerly craft and ideas come through. Keeble reads the antique diction... Read More

Naipaul, whose body of writing earned him Nobel laureate status, first came to international attention with this engaging and accessible novel. Narrator Sam Dastor's consistent Trinidadian accent is perfect for its audio performance, making it as fresh and enjoyable as it was to readers when it was published in print nearly 60 years ago. Dastor paces his narration so that it... Read More

Juliet Stevenson's narration is both compelling and soothing as Virginia Woolf's first novel follows a small group of English men and women as they travel from London to the fictional island of Santa Marina in South America. The audiobook's introspective qualities and attention to the female identity create a fascinating picture of Edwardian society. There is a certain fluid... Read More

GOOD WIVES is the second half of Alcott's beloved classic, LITTLE WOMEN. Liza Ross does a lovely job of narrating this abridged version about the March sisters, beginning with Meg's marriage and ending with Jo's. The story is told through narrative and letters, mainly from Amy and Jo's perspectives as they have adventures in Europe and New York, respectively. Ross gives each... Read More

Hobbes's 1651 masterwork of political and ecclesiastical philosophy is generally clear and succinct, though not always easy. Narrator Peter Wickham uses emphasis, tone, pacing, and pauses admirably to convey Hobbes's meaning, but even his clarity may not always get the sense across at first listen, and at times he reads a touch too quickly for the material. There is great... Read More

There are many voices, of many classes and temperaments, for Nicholas Boulton to portray in this audiobook. He meets the challenge with a wide range of British class and regional accents, along with character voices. More of a challenge is the range of moods, from comedy to near-tragedy, and the problematical text, which lacks an ending as well as several chunks toward the end.... Read More

The melodic quality of Henry James's prose is even more so as Juliet Stevenson narrates. Kate Croy, a British beauty without means of her own, and Milly Theale, a wealthy American with no living family, are an interesting pair of opposites. They soon find themselves in the midst of a tragic romantic triangle. Stevenson is masterful in guiding the listener through what could be... Read More

An unnamed governess arrives at a sprawling English estate and immediately finds herself both charmed and mystified by her new charges--the darling young niece and nephew of a wealthy absentee landlord. Ben Elliot, who reads the prologue, and Penelope Rawlins combine a skillful delivery of Henry James's careful nineteenth-century prose with a more modern pace that will keep... Read More

This collection of stories is told in the lively tradition of an oral storyteller by narrator Sagar Arya. He tells these tales of love and separation with humor and gravitas, evoking a range of emotions for which the author's writing is well known. Postmen, shopkeepers, fathers, and young children are a few of the many characters that people these narratives. Arya captures the... Read More

Clare Wille's performance may help listeners appreciate Behn's tragic romance despite the story's seventeenth-century prose. It features the star-crossed love of a noble (and highly emotional) African king who is tricked into slavery. Wille's pace can be a touch quick, but she aids understanding through her clarity of enunciation and her astute interpretations of emotion,... Read More

Kipling is not known as a fantasist, but this audiobook features Puck, one of Shakespeare's fairies--or "people of the hills," the author's own preferred term. Other characters include one of the old gods and a number of people magicked out of history for the amusement and education of a pair of English children. Narrator Peter Kenny's varied British accents are wonderful; a... Read More

Among the great Victorian novelists, only Hardy and Dickens consistently addressed issues of class. Narrator Nicholas Rowe gives a clear portrayal of the accents and diction of various classes, ranging from rural servants to King George III. It's sometimes hard to distinguish the three major female characters' voices, but the men are clear and distinctive. Those who aren't... Read More

How do you bring an early Christian literary classic to life for a new generation? You have Mark Meadows narrate it. Listeners will hear Augustine's angst and concern as he confesses sin after sin. They also will feel the questions welling up from deep within as Augustine wrestles with God while looking for salvation from his many sins. The prospect of forgiveness and knowledge... Read More

Rarely do listeners encounter as unique a protagonist as Naipaul's Ralph Singh. He lives in London, though he grew up in the Caribbean and even shared ruling power for a time on the island with an Afro-Caribbean politician. Sam Dastor's strong narration enlivens Singh as he remembers his childhood and political career. Dastor ensures that Singh's disillusionment becomes evident... Read More

Narrator Bill Homewood slips easily into the persona of Axel, the nephew of a well-known professor with whom he travels to Iceland to begin a journey to the center of the earth. It's the nineteenth century, and Axel is a reluctant adventurer, clearly wanting to please his uncle but feeling nostalgic for home almost from the beginning of the journey. Much of the audiobook is... Read More

This classic gothic novel is filled with mystery, romance, and horror. Narrators Nicholas Boulton and Georgina Sutton tell Matthew Lewis's sordid tale of a monk who was left at the steps of an abbey as a baby and the strange cast of characters he is surrounded by as an adult. Boulton and Sutton share the storytelling, each bringing his or her best to the performance. This tale... Read More

Siân Thomas narrates this audiobook with a zest and a reverence that suit the content beautifully. The story explores the relationship between two opposites--Magda, an intellectual who seeks human bonds as part of her outgoing personality, and Emerence, an illiterate caretaker who works for Magda and whose distant, aloof nature makes Magda uneasy. Thomas is a precise narrator,... Read More

With this performance, narrator Adam Sims sounds both historical and contemporary, bridging the time span between James's nineteenth-century novel and the present day with style. His brisk pace and youthful tone seem modern, while his sharp-edged, superbly enunciated syllables hark back to an earlier time. This dichotomy works to the listener's advantage: One feels transported... Read More

Narrator Benjamin Soames presents listeners with snapshots of nine scientists and their impactful discoveries in this collective biography. The scientists are Copernicus, Pascal, Halley, Linnaeus, Davy, Volta, Babbage, Humboldt, and, finally, Oppenheimer. The scientists' work covers a variety of scientific fields including astronomy, geometry, physics, and chemistry. Each bio... Read More

Trollope's final Barsetshire novel brings back many characters in an audiobook that combines mystery and romance. Narrator David Shaw-Parker uses his rich, resonant voice to establish and differentiate those characters through tone and accent, giving the impression of a full-cast performance. He excels naturally at male voices; women's voices are not as distinctive and are... Read More

David Timson’s performance makes the Greek historian Herodotus a character, not just the narrator of his histories. He sounds like an amiable, garrulous uncle—worldly, cheerful, by turns credulous and skeptical. That character fits the audiobook and helps keep it entertaining. But Timson also shows respect for Herodotus as a historian—rather than just a tall-tale spinner—by not... Read More

Narrator Peter Wickham lends a necessary tone of discovery and excitement to Darwin's seminal work, in which he outlines his theory of evolution. Wickham injects the thrill of discovery into his reading, a useful counterbalance to the occasionally overwhelming lists of examples that Darwin employs to illustrate his theory. Wickham responds to the systematic and factual tone of... Read More

Dorian Gray is one of Wilde's most iconic characters, referenced consistently in any number of contemporary art forms. Loyal to this tradition, Greg Wise offers a timeless narration of this audiobook. His classic British voice--elegant and erudite--moves languidly between formally proper and ironic. Wise is the quintessential narrator of this type of novel; his laconic style... Read More