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Shirley
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 25 hrs and 58 mins
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Publisher's summary
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Villette
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The unapologetic intensity with which Emily Brontë wrote this story ensures that it will forever be considered one of the greatest works of English literature. A passionate tale of a chaotic and often violent love, Wuthering Heights transcends your average romance and, with its Gothic undertones, takes the listener on a journey through one man's lustful hunt for revenge.
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The Divine Ms. Porter delivers as always
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Overall
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Performance
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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.
-
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Beautiful
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By: Charlotte Brontë
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Dombey and Son
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 39 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Dombey and Son is vintage Dickens and explores the classic themes of betrayal, cruelty and deceit. Dombey's dysfunctional relationships are painted against a backdrop of social unrest in industrialized London, which is populated by a host of fascinating and memorable secondary characters. The complete and unabridged novel is brought spectacularly to life by veteran reader David Timson.
-
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Utterly incredible!
- By Amazon Customer on 03-12-12
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Wuthering Heights
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- By: Emily Brontë, Ann Dinsdale - introduction
- Narrated by: Joanne Froggatt, Rachel Atkins - introduction
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The unapologetic intensity with which Emily Brontë wrote this story ensures that it will forever be considered one of the greatest works of English literature. A passionate tale of a chaotic and often violent love, Wuthering Heights transcends your average romance and, with its Gothic undertones, takes the listener on a journey through one man's lustful hunt for revenge.
-
-
Almost Peerless
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By: Emily Brontë, and others
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- Narrated by: Anne Hancock
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Immediately following the success of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott sat down to write An-Old Fashioned Girl, expanding on the subject of rich versus poor that she explored in her first novel. It’s a story of a country mouse and a city mouse: 14-year-old Polly Milton travels to Boston for a stay with her friend Fanny Shaw. The wealthy Shaws’ way of life is foreign to Polly who tries to adapt but is quickly labeled “old-fashioned”. Fanny and her friends dress and behave as their elders do, flirting with boys and gossiping.
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Okay
- By selene on 07-15-18
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Probably the most shocking of the Brontës' novels, this novel had an instant and phenomenal success and is widely considered to be one of the first sustained feminist novels. A mysterious widow, Mrs. Helen Graham, arrives at Wildfell Hall, a nearby old mansion. A source of curiosity for the small community, the reticent Helen and her young son Arthur are slowly drawn into the social circles of the village.
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A good story ruined by the narrator
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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.
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Narrator creates the listen
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The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton, through vignettes of his life, portrays a character who is hard to like and easy to ridicule. Many people do ridicule as well as slander and despise him, until his suffering shocks them into fellowship and sympathy.
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Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol: A Radio Dramatization
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Story
The Colonial Radio Theatre pulls out all the stops in this magnificent production of the Charles Dickens classic Christmas story! This full cast dramatization features a powerful music score - from the magnificent, booming opening of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" to the frightening tones of "The Ghost of Christmas Future". It's a holiday treat both you and your family will enjoy for years to come.
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great performance
- By Paul Pedraza on 11-23-22
By: Charles Dickens, and others
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North and South
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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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....
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Delightful
- By Sally on 01-04-10
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Ruth
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Eve Matheson
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The orphaned heroine Ruth, apprenticed to a dressmaker, is seduced by wealthy Henry Bellingham who is captivated by her simplicity and beauty. Their affair causes her to lose her home and job to which he offers her shelter, only to cruelly abandon her soon after. She is offered a chance of a new life though shamed in the eyes of society by her illegitimate son. When Henry reappears offering marriage she must choose between social acceptance and her own pride.
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Fallen Woman Finds Redemption
- By Susan on 12-06-12
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Little Women
- By: Louisa May Alcott
- Narrated by: Rebecca Burns
- Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Little Women is the story of a wife and her four daughters living in genteel poverty in the environs of Boston while the father is away as a chaplain in the Union Army during the Civil War.
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historical artifact
- By D. Littman on 11-25-06
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First Love
- By: Ivan Turgenev
- Narrated by: David Troughton
- Length: 2 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Turgenev's Famous Novel...
- By Douglas on 01-16-14
By: Ivan Turgenev
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On the Origin of Species
- By: Charles Darwin
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Abridged
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Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and a life-long committed Darwinist, abridges and reads this special audio version of Charles Darwin's famous book. A literally world-changing book, Darwin put forward the anti-religious and scientific idea that humans in fact evolved over millions of generations from animals, starting with fish, all the way up through the ranks to apes, then to our current form.
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A Perfect Abridgement
- By M on 05-28-09
By: Charles Darwin
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Tess of the D'urbervilles
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Jennifer Dixon
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Tess of the d'Urbervilles is the 19th century novel lately thought to be one of the inspirations of E .L.James' Fifty Shades of Grey. It depicts the life of an impressionable, naive, somewhat educated young woman who yearns to be free to live her own life, but finds herself constricted by the bonds of the sexual, religious and socially hypocritical customs that have surrounded her from birth.
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Jenny Dixon
- By Amazon Customer on 08-09-15
By: Thomas Hardy
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very badly done
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very badly done
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Perfect!!
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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.
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Loved it
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The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
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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.
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Excellent performances of an abridged version
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The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
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Probably the most shocking of the Brontës' novels, this novel had an instant and phenomenal success and is widely considered to be one of the first sustained feminist novels. A mysterious widow, Mrs. Helen Graham, arrives at Wildfell Hall, a nearby old mansion. A source of curiosity for the small community, the reticent Helen and her young son Arthur are slowly drawn into the social circles of the village.
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A good story ruined by the narrator
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By: Anne Brontë
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The Brontë BBC Radio Drama Collection
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- Original Recording
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A stunning collection of the Bronte sisters' novels, adapted by the best-selling author Rachel Joyce. The collection includes Agnes Grey, Jane Eyre, Shirley, The Professor, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Villette and Wuthering Heights.
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Great introduction to the Brontes
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By: Anne Brontë, and others
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The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
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The story of a woman's struggle for independence from an abusive husband. Helen 'Graham' has returned to Wildfell Hall in flight from a disastrous marriage and to protect her young son from the influence of his father. Exiled to the desolate moorland mansion, she adopts an assumed name and earns her living as a painter. Gilbert Markham, a local man intrigued by the beautiful young 'widow' offers his friendship but becomes distrustful when her reclusive behaviour sparks rumours and speculation.
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My favorite Bronte book
- By Carole T. on 03-04-12
By: Anne Brontë
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Villette
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Questo ultimo romanzo di Charlotte Bronte è da alcuni considerato il suo capolavoro; da molti la sua opera più matura sia come contenuti che come modernità di scrittura. "Villette" è il nome di una città immaginaria del continente dove una giovane donna inglese approda "in cerca di fortuna", si potrebbe dire, se in realtà la sua non fosse quasi una scelta obbligata, intrapresa per la necessità di sopravvivere e per la fuga da un deserto affettivo.
By: Charlotte Brontë
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Wuthering Heights
- An Audible Exclusive Performance
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- Unabridged
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The unapologetic intensity with which Emily Brontë wrote this story ensures that it will forever be considered one of the greatest works of English literature. A passionate tale of a chaotic and often violent love, Wuthering Heights transcends your average romance and, with its Gothic undertones, takes the listener on a journey through one man's lustful hunt for revenge.
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Almost Peerless
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The Glimpses of the Moon
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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.
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Great love story
- By Margaret on 02-03-23
By: Edith Wharton
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Shirley
- Penguin English Library
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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- Abridged
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Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore has introduced labour saving machinery to his Yorkshire mill, arousing a ferment of unemployment and discontent among his workers. Robert considers marriage to the wealthy and independent Shirley Keeldar to solve his financial woes, yet his heart lies with his cousin Caroline, who, bored and desperate, lives as a dependent in her uncle’s home with no prospect of a career. Shirley, meanwhile, is in love with Robert’s brother, an impoverished tutor - a match opposed by her family.
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definitely worth getting the full version
- By J. Johnson on 03-26-19
By: Charlotte Brontë
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Romola
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Lucy Scott
- Length: 22 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in the turbulent years following the death of Lorenzo de' Medici, George Eliot's fourth novel, Romola, moves the stage from the English countryside of the 19th century to an Italy four centuries before her time. It tells the tale of a young Florentine woman, Romola de' Bardi, and her coming of age through her troubled marriage to the suave and self-absorbed Greek Tito. Slowly Tito's true character begins to unfurl, and his lies and treachery push Romola toward a more spiritual path, where she transcends into a majestic, Madonna-like role.
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Listened to it 4 times in a row
- By Theodoc on 12-14-21
By: George Eliot
What listeners say about Shirley
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Joseph R
- 09-15-09
"As Romantic As Monday Morning"
I have read this book many times since the seventies but this was my first time with the audio version. I knew the story or thought I knew the story but Anna Bentinck's performance allowed me to understand things which I had missed entirely. She is wonderful. Her voice reveals the subtle humor and touches of playfulness of the story. The oppressive sense of loneliness or despair which figure in the Bronte sisters' works, Agnes Grey, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights or Villette is somehow replaced with optimism and hope.
Charlotte Bronte had a dust-up with her publisher over his praise of Jane Austen. Charlotte had some negative thoughts about Austen and was not shy in expressing them. After listening to this story, I now wonder if she wasn't influenced a bit after all. The Charlotte who wrote Jane Eyre and the one who wrote Shirley seem to be different writers. This story has dirt under the fingernails. Not to overstate the case, the sprinkle of comic characters would suggest an Austen influence. Now I have done it! The Bronte sisters will rise from their graves to pummel me as I sleep.
My title quotes the author describing her story I think with accuracy. If she were a portrait artist, her paintings would be in the fashion of Vincent van Gogh's "The Potato Eaters" or in the harsh interplay of shadow and light on the canvas of Edgar Degas. Charlotte Bronte paints with fine brush strokes one color, one image after another, piling them on the canvas until the ungainly rough features of her story takes form. Yet, there are even flashes of Johannes Vermeer's delicate brush strokes, brilliant colors and of love shinning in the eyes of the "Girl with the Pearl Earring". Sometimes she paints the delicate beauty of flower gardens in moonlight evenings but also of harsh, glaring Monday mornings, the gritty, sometimes mean realities and human flaws.
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70 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Zuleika
- 06-04-09
Holy Mackerel!
First, Anna Bentinck gives a spectacular performance. She is clear, well-paced, and gives different characters to all of the major persona. Not an easy task in a book that you need a playbill for just to keep up. I'll definitely seek out more by her.
"Shirley" is something of a sleeper in the Bronte canon. It's an interesting treatise on the independence and status of women in the early 19th century -- long before there was much feminist activism. The book has an interesting political and economic aspect. A quick look at the Wikipedia page on Luddites will put things in context if your British history is as lacking as mine.
But it is also tragically romantic and downright steamy even at points. Perhaps it's just a modern perspective that sees this as so obvious, but it is hard to imagine how this wasn't considered scandalous by Victorian moral standards. Of course, everyone keeps their clothes on, both feet on the floor and no one ever does anything more than briedly hold hands.
My book club selected this as our "long" summer read, and two of us finished before June had barely begun. Worth a read!
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43 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Wii Fit Momma
- 09-07-08
My love of the Classics
I recently fell in love with classic novels (less than a year) & I have found Charlotte Bronte's novels superb. The use of descriptive language makes me realize how much we (as a society) have lost with the growth in technology. No one utilizes language in this imaginative manner anymore! Shirley is an excellent, heart-warming novel. It is the perfect companion to any task or hobby.
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20 people found this helpful
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Overall
- connie
- 06-06-08
a better listen than read
This was proof to me of the value of audiobooks! I picked up my paperback of "Shirley" several times over the last 20 years but never got past the introductory chapters. As a listen, I very much enjoyed "Shirley" as a 19th century novel-romance and for the characters and the commentary on women's roles. I was disappointed in it as an "industrial novel," but I guess it's the best the experience a Bronte could furnish. I thought Gaskill's later "North-South" was a better example of that sub genre, but I do not find Gaskill's novels as satisfying a reading (or listening) experience.
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19 people found this helpful
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- Tad Davis
- 03-20-17
Loved it!
I loved this novel - it's one of my favorite Brontë novels, possibly even more so than "Jane Eyre." The pages are filled with affection and good humor. It's hard to believe it was written during a period that saw all of Charlotte Brontë's siblings die, one after the other. There are dark deeds here, and gloomy prospects, but all resolves in the end: a devotee of Jane Austen (which I also am) couldn't wish for anything better.
History impinges on the story: the Napoleonic Wars are in progress, Wellington is campaigning in Spain, and Luddite riots are damaging and destroying newly mechanized mills.Yorkshire is hard hit. Brontë meets this head-on, and while I wish she had gone into more detail there, she does make it a linchpin of her plot.
Anna Bentinck is an outstanding narrator. One of the main characters especially - Caroline, sometimes also known as Cary or Lina - is mostly a passive observer, and it would have been easy for her to come across as dull and dispirited; yet Bentinck's reading of her is almost sprightly. Caroline is quiet but is not without humor. It's a tough balancing act, because the title character, Shirley, IS a very sprightly, assertive, and unusual character. Yet Bentinck is able to fully characaterize her while still giving Caroline her due.
I've been on a campaign to read all the Brontë novels. In doing so I've discovered treat after treat. This is one of the best.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Diana
- 05-31-11
Nothing can stop me from loving Bronte
This novel is long, 24 hours of listening pleasure. It was so very interesting, considering it is a historical piece. I love learned about the Napolean era and the effects it had on England. Charlotte weaves in the characters within this terrible time in history. The narrator is excellent. I was lost in time once again. I am amazed that Charlotte wrote and completed this book during a span of which her 3 remaining siblings died. Her brother, Ann Bronte, and Emily Bronte. She is definitely a novelist I would have liked to meet!
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12 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Virginia Waldron
- 12-30-07
Shirley
This is not Charlotte Bronte's best book and at times it is a bit tedious but an enjoyable experience in spite of this.
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12 people found this helpful
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- Kristina
- 01-31-18
Best story I have listened to in years
I still can't believe this book has escaped me for nearly fifty years...it's now my favorite from Charlotte Bronte. For me, this story sort of has it all: great, sympathetic characters, many different story threads that come together beautifully, compelling protagonists, historical context, a bit of mystery, a bit of love story, terrific narration, and an excellent pace.
I look forward to listening to this again very soon.
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9 people found this helpful
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- A close reader
- 04-11-16
Bronte Heaven
Although it's not as spectacular as Jane Eyre and not as psychologically compelling as Villette, Shirley still gives you 20 some hours of Brontë heaven. Bronte is one of our greatest writers ever to have lived. She writes from and about the soul.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Listener
- 02-20-10
Not good!
I really wanted to like this book, but it's so hard to be interested in. I gravitate to mid 19th century english fiction and I like historical novels. This has both, but the is so boring. Characters are described, but I don't feel any connection to them. I haven't completed the book (it's a drudge to turn on this book), but I wanted to warn others. The narrator is only OK - she struggles with the accents and too many of the characters are extremely nasily. Really - move on to something else - this is such a disappointment. At least this book made me investigate the Luddite era, so I did learn something - but much more from Wikpedia than from this story.
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