Category: Drama Audiobooks

One of the most universally loved and admired English novels, Pride and Prejudice, is easily a favorite amongst the works of Jane Austen. Set in England in the early 19th century, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s five unmarried daughters and the parents’, especially the hovering, perpetually in a state of nerves mother’s attempt to marry their daughters well. Very soon into the book the rich and eligible Mr. Bingley and his status-conscious friend, Mr. Darcy, have moved into their neighborhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane, Darcy has difficulty adapting to local society and repeatedly clashes with the second-eldest Bennet daughter, Elizabeth, both of them suffering from their own forms of pride and prejudices. Darcy, against all his norms, difference in social standing, family wishes for him, etc. , falls in love with her, only to be rejected when he proposes, due to her vast misjudgment of his true character. Over time she begins to see where she has been wrong, but can she learn to love him, will he still love her, can they both overcome all that has previously stood against them to make a happy life together? Austen’s unbeatable skill at writing weaves a tale with many enjoyable characters, delightful humor, suspenseful moments, and true and unmitigated love.

10 Hours and 40 Minutes

Continue reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The seventh book in the Anne of Green Gables series, Rainbow Valley turns the focus to Anne and Gilbert’s children. Jem, sturdy and reliable, not a great talker but a good all-round student, he loves to investigate things, constantly experimenting and observing. Walter, has all his mother’s vivid imagination and love for beauty, he is thought of by the Glen St. Mary boys as girly because he never fights and rarely plays sports, preferring to read books alone, but his tender nature is endearing. Nan and Di, are the Ingleside twins. Nan has many friends, and is very lady-like, imitating her mother’s tricks, graces and poses. She also inherited her mother’s vivid imagination. Di, looks like her mother and favors her father in qualities and personality, having his practical bent and common sense, as well as his twinkling sense of humor. Shirley, is quiet and doesn’t like to be forced to talk, liking to play on his own. He is known as the little brown boy, because he has brown eyes, hair and skin. Rilla, the youngest, is very proud, hates to be teased or to be classed with lower people. She has silly beliefs and ideas, and a n overriding fear of being unladylike. The other main characters of the book are the four young Merediths, the somewhat neglected children of the new Presbyterian minister in town, as well as Mary Vance, an orphaned girl whom the children save from starvation and find a home for with Mrs. Marshall Elliott.

Rainbow Valley is sure to delight readers who love the works of L.M. Montgomery, as they come to know the  varied personalities and antics of the Blythe children and their friends!

7 Hours and 22 Minutes

Continue reading Rainbow Valley by Lucy Maud Montgomery

The eighth book in the Anne of Green Gables series, Rilla of Ingleside draws the focus once again to a singular heroine, now Anne and Gilbert’s youngest daughter Rilla, named after the beloved Marilla. Rilla, almost fifteen, is spirited, sweet, and full of life, with bright hazel eyes and dazzling smile, a most lovable and endearing character. On the cusp of heading out into the world, she can’t think any further ahead than going to her very first dance at the Four Winds lighthouse, and getting her first kiss from handsome Kenneth Ford, she hopes. But, there are much bigger things beyond her sight; there is a war going on, World War I, which will test the courage and maturity of the young, and change the lives of everyone forever.

Another great work from Montgomery, she successfully gives historical insight into what was done for the war efforts on the home front, how it affected those at home, and gives a view into how wartime affects the lives of all. Of course, as always, she draws you in with her characters and weaves a tale that is provoking, tearful, and delightful all at the same time.

8 Hours and 30 Minutes

Continue reading Rilla of Ingleside by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen’s first published novel, focuses on the lives and loves of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, two daughters of Mr. Dashwood, by his second wife. They have a younger sister, Margaret, and an older half-brother named John. When their father dies, the family estate passes to John, and the Dashwood women are left in reduced circumstances. The novel follows the Dashwood sisters to their new home, a cottage on a distant relative’s property, where they experience both romance and heartbreak and, in turn, encounter the sense and sensibility of life and love. Sense and Sensibility includes a wonderful cast of colorful supporting characters, as well as of course, Austen’s trademark dry wit and ironic narration.

10 Hours and 55 Minutes

Continue reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

The tale of John Peerybingle, the good-hearted carrier, and his young wife Mary (‘Dot’), interwoven with the story of poor toymaker Caleb Plummer, his beloved blind daughter Bertha, and the harsh old toy merchant Tackleton, who is due to marry May Fielding, a childhood friend of Dot. Comic relief is provided by Tilly Slowboy, the disaster-prone nursemaid of John and Dot’s baby, and Boxer, the family dog. The cricket who chirps on the family hearth assumes fairy form to save the day when disaster looms in the form of a mysterious stranger. Sentimental? Certainly – but this, the third (1845) of Dickens’ short Christmas books, is as charming and irresistible as its predecessors A Christmas Carol (1843) and The Chimes (1844).

The novella is subdivided into chapters called ‘Chirps’, similar to the ‘Quarters’ of The Chimes or the ‘Staves’ of A Christmas Carol.

3 Hours and 53 Minutes

Continue reading The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens

Mr Pickwick, founder of the Pickwick Club, sets out with his three friends, Tupman, Snodgrass, and Winkle, to observe the world. They intend to travel to places in England remote from London, and observe their findings which they send back to the Club. In their journeys, they continually get themselves into all sorts of difficult but comical situations, from which they must extricate themselves, often with the assistance of Mr Pickwick’s personal servant, Sam Weller.

29 Hours and 50 Minutes

Continue reading The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens