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Villette
- Narrated by: Mandy Weston
- Length: 20 hrs and 3 mins
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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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Lady Audley's Secret
- By: Mary Elizabeth Braddon
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Abridged
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A fast-paced Victorian thriller that will delight audiences today as it did 100 years ago, Lady Audley's Secret has subterfuge, kidnapping, jealousy, and fraud, all thrown into the mix and shaken up for good measure.
A mystery which keeps a listener guessing until the last moments, this production is a must-listen for anyone who enjoys playing detective.
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Narrator creates the listen
- By connie on 02-06-12
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The Phantom Coach
- A Connoisseur's Collection of the Best Victorian Ghost Stories
- By: Michael Sims
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Ghost stories date back centuries, but those written in the Victorian era have a unique atmosphere and dark beauty. Michael Sims, whose previous Victorian collections Dracula’s Guest (vampires) and The Dead Witness (detectives) have been widely praised, has gathered twelve of the best stories about humanity’s oldest supernatural obsession. The Phantom Coach includes tales by a surprising and often legendary cast, including Charles Dickens, Margaret Oliphant, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, and Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as lost gems by forgotten masters such as Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and W. F. Harvey. Amelia B. Edwards’s chilling story gives the collection its title, while Ambrose Bierce ("The Moonlit Road"), Elizabeth Gaskell ("The Old Nurse’s Story"), and W. W. Jacobs ("The Monkey’s Paw") will turn you white as a sheet. With a skillful introduction to the genre and notes on each story by Sims, The Phantom Coach is a spectacular collection of ghostly Victorian thrills.
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Excellent Narration and Great Selection of Stories
- By Robert on 05-03-15
By: Michael Sims
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The Mill on the Floss
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Laura Paton
- Length: 20 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Maggie Tulliver has two lovers: Philip Wakem, son of her father’s enemy, and Stephen Guest, already promised to her cousin. But the love she wants most in the world is that of her brother Tom. Maggie’s struggle against her passionate and sensual nature leads her to a deeper understanding and to eventual tragedy
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Great compassion
- By nina lalumia on 12-26-16
By: George Eliot
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Agnes Grey
- By: Anne Brontë
- Narrated by: Emilia Fox
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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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
- By Kerry on 05-22-10
By: Anne Brontë
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The Dead Secret
- By: Wilkie Collins
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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A masterful blend of Gothic drama and romance, Wilkie Collins' mystery novel is an exploration of illegitimacy and inheritance. Set in Cornwall, the plot foreshadows The Woman in White with its themes of doubtful identity and deception and involves a broad array of characters. The "secret" of the book's title is the true parentage of the book's heroine, Rosamond Treverton, which has been written down and kept in an unused room at Porthgenna Tower. This is where, 20 years later, much of the novel's action is set.
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Only complaint is I wish it were longer
- By alisammeredith on 03-15-22
By: Wilkie Collins
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A good story ruined by the narrator
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Excellent performances of an abridged version
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In her daring first novel, the youngest Brontë sister drew upon her own experiences to tell the unvarnished truth about life as a governess. Like Agnes Grey, Anne Bronte was a young middle-class Victorian lady whose family fortunes had faltered. Like so many other unmarried women of the 19th century, Bronte accepted the only "respectable" employment available - and entered a world of hardship, humiliation, and loneliness.
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Unexpected love for this Novel
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With neither friends nor family, Lucy Snowe sets sail from England to find employment in a girls's boarding school in the small town of Villette. There, she struggles to retain her self-possession in the face of unruly pupils, a headmistress who spies on her staff, and her own complex feelings: first for the school's English doctor and then for the dictatorial professor, Paul Emmanuel.
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A change of career!!
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The Brontë BBC Radio Drama Collection
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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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One of Jane Austen's most popular novels. Arrogant, self-willed, and egotistical, Emma is her most unusual heroine.
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Wonderful listen
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InAudio presents the The Brontë Sisters Collection with three timeless classics from Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë.
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very badly done
- By Stacia R. Lemke on 09-27-22
By: Charlotte Brontë, and others
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Agnes Grey
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Overall
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Written when women---and workers generally---had few rights in England, Agnes Grey exposes the brutal inequities of the rigid class system in mid-19th-century Britain. Agnes comes from a respectable middle-class family, but their financial reverses have forced her to seek work as a governess.
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Make.it.stop.
- By Wayne on 03-18-22
By: Anne Bronte
What listeners say about Villette
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Chloe
- 01-14-08
classical heart
Mandy Weston reads the story of wry, tender little Lucy Snow with great heart and subtle understanding. I enjoyed every minute.
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26 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Diana
- 05-12-11
A beautiful, amazing book
I love Charlotte Bronte, her sisters and everything about this particular book. First of all, the narration is sublime. I can't wait to have Mandy Weston hired over and over again, to read book after book, especially of this time period. She is up there with Josephine Bailey who is one of my very favorite narrators. Villette is a masterpiece. It is too bad that Jane Eyre so overshadowed Charlottes other books. I loved Villette. I love the protaganist of Lucy Snowe. I lived in this book, I could barely function in this century while I was engrossed in this audio!!! More people, who love this genre need to hear this book, its just wonderful.
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Stephanie
- 03-31-10
Parlez vous francais?
There is a lot of French in this book, if you don't understand it you will miss things, not hard to guess but still its annoying.
The reading is good, easy to listen to but the story is very long and there isn't that much that happens and its a totally rubbish ending.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Deveny
- 10-30-12
Not Anti Catholic....Individualistic
What did you love best about Villette?
I dearly loved this novel by Charlotte Bronte. I have a great love for British Classic Novels and Mandy Weston so beautifully brought this story to life with her narrative. I was disheartened to read the prior review and thought to bring to light an alternate perspective of this novel. I believe Bronte created in Miss Lucy Snowe and M. Paul Emanuel the very contrasts in religion of the period. While Lucy voiced her opinion (albeit objections) of the Catholic faith during her forced education, and yes it was truly forced as is clearly advised to the reader, Paul offered the opposing view as a devout Catholic. Lucy complements the essence of the Catholic faith (the attributes of the faith in which are demonstrated by Paul) and renounces what she feels is a materialistic invasions on the purity of the faith. During this time period the ambition of the Roman Catholic Church across Europe can be argued as having been to assume the role of the dominating faith, repressing Protestantism as well as other emerging faiths. The story is less about religion itself and more about how the differing religious views play a vital role in the separation of Lucy and Paul. It is a beautifully written novel with descriptive elements that allow the listener to envision Lucy's world. Her solace outward countenance rivaled by her internal struggles, turmoils, and discoveries of her own self rarely displayed to her colleagues within the novel but rather to the listeners ear, engage the listener and create sympathy, empathy and a reverence for the character. Many times throughout the novel my chest ached at the suppression of Lucy's feeling and her determination to "put aside such things".
To the young and old readers alike, this novel is a gem, a treasure. I look forward to listening to it over and over again as I do not yet believe I have been enlightened to all this novel has to offer, nor may I ever. The lessons, or revelations, are so numerous from psychological, theological and cultural views, I believe Bronte's masterpiece could be studied for generations.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Maggie
- 07-02-10
prepare yourself!
the heroine of this book has a station in life that is below all the other people that she interacts with but amazingly is their superior in all respects. her private thoughts tell the reader of her superiority which may be a silent bolster to the character but comes across as sheer condescension. trapped in circumstances she takes the blows issued by the smarmy characters surrounding her who control her life while she makes her private judgments of them. that seems to be the entire purpose of our dear perfect Lucy Snowe in Villette. a structurally fully developed novel that disappoints in action and in verisimilitude.
alas. a young reader can learn how to be condescending and superior to others by reading villette.
HOWEVER, Mandy Weston, the reader, is EXCELLENT! one of the finest i've heard.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Listener
- 03-18-10
Bypass This One
The narrator is OK, but the story is really uneventful and bland with too many references to the "reader" and too much french. It's difficult to stay with what story there is.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Carole T.
- 05-13-12
Not for Everyone
This is a work strange and perverse. The heroine makes Jane Eyre seem even-tempered. So it is not for those who want a pleasant romantic storyline. There's much of interest here: some really well-drawn characters and vivid description. Of interest to students and admirers of the Victorian era and women's place in it. Lucy Snowe (the narrator and heroine) is full of anger and repression and is therefore a heck of a psychological study in herself. The plot is nearly non-existent. Best, I think, for those who are interested in the role of women in society in general, and in the character and talent of the Brontes in particular.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Angelica Delight
- 06-15-18
Beautiful reading of an inspiring story
Villette was a gentle story, more like riding along with a woman as an intimate friend in her journey. To outward appearances, not a whole lot happened but inwardly and amidst minor daily adventures, she is evolving into her own person, and testing her coping with loneliness and disappointments and in the process manifesting her values and formidable strengths in the world. Villette fulfilled the reason why I love this genre so much, the sweetness and excellence of language, the emphasis on properties of the spirit and character. As a heroine, Lucy's heroics were all about facing her demons and rising to the occasion despite difficulties---it was a tale of every day courage. All that said, I may have drifted away or made it through only slowly, if it were not for the stunning, poetic, and perfectly nuanced ready by Mandy Weston. She made all the characters come into bloom with her sensitivity and sense of pitch, intonation, flavor and accents. I loved listening to her brogue as well as the French, even when I did not understand (the latter--the book has footnotes to explain it)---her voice reading is like listening to beautiful music and added so many layers of enjoyment on top of what was already a very sweet book
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5 people found this helpful
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- N. K. Shapiro
- 06-08-16
Bronte's masterpiece
Does it surpass Jane Eyre? It's more real and more somber, urban rather than provincial. A portrait of the artist and what she wished to say about the life of a female genius in her times.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Merlin
- 05-23-14
a novel about state of mind
I was a little disappointed in Villette. The narration is fine. But the novel is almost painfully lacking in any real events. The best thing about it is the subtle representation in Lucy Snowe, the narrator, of desires that she is not fully aware of. But she is a frustratingly cold and uncurious personality. She's so turned in on herself, so reluctant to actually do anything, that the novel becomes boring at times.
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4 people found this helpful