Audible Free Audiobooks - Page 141 of 366 - Listen anytime, anywhere to an unmatched selection of audiobooks

Clarissa Harlowe, or the History of a Young Lady – Volume 3

Rate this audiobook

Epistolary Fiction, Romance
Chapter: 63 | Listen: 2

Clarissa Harlowe, is the tragic heroine of this story, she is a beautiful and virtuous young lady whose family has become wealthy only recently and now desires to become part of the aristocracy. Originally they planned to concentrate the wealth and lands of the Harlowe’s into the possession of James Harlowe, Clarissa’s brother whose wealth and political power will lead to his being given a title. Clarissa’s grandfather has left her a substantial piece of property upon his death, and a new route to the nobility opens through Clarissa marrying Robert Lovelace, heir to an earldom. James’s response is to provoke a duel with Lovelace, who is seen thereafter as the family’s enemy. James also proposes that Clarissa marry Roger Solmes, who is willing to trade properties with James to concentrate James’s holdings and speed his becoming Lord Harlowe. The family agrees and attempts to force Clarissa to marry Solmes, whom she finds physically disgusting as well as boorish. The story continues to twist and turn through a series of letters written between two women, two men and a variety of other characters which continues throughout the 9 volumes of the book. (Summary by Michele Eaton) [chương_files]

Coquette, Or The History of Eliza Wharton

Rate this audiobook

The classic early American epistolary novel about the seduction and ruin of a passionate young woman. Based on the true story of Elizabeth Whitman, whose lonesome death in childbirth in a Connecticut inn sparked widespread discussion and outrage, the novel went through many editions and innumerable printings in the century after its initial publication in 1797. (Summary by Jon Miller) [chương_files]

Clarissa Harlowe, or the History of a Young Lady – Volume 6

Rate this audiobook

Epistolary Fiction, Literary Fiction
Chapter: 73 | Listen: 7

It tells the tragic story of a heroine whose quest for virtue is continually thwarted by her family, It is generally regarded as Richardson’s masterpiece. This is Volume six out of a series of nine Volumes. Letter 6 read by TriciaG, wib66, Timothy Ferguson and Adonis. ( Michele Eaton ) [chương_files]

Clarissa Harlowe, or the History of a Young Lady – Volume 4

Rate this audiobook

Epistolary Fiction
Chapter: 55 | Listen: 2

Volume 4 continues the story in epistolary form of the despoliation of Clarissa, as all the forces of society and the personal nefariousness of the devilish rake Lovelace conspire to overcome her virtue. One of the earliest and certainly the longest novel in the English language, with a wide-ranging influence not only on the English novel, but also on nineteenth century European literature at large, it is gripping, twisted and a magnificent dramatic soap opera. – Summary by Nicole Lee [chương_files]

Letters to Dead Authors

Rate this audiobook

Epistolary Fiction
Chapter: 22 | Listen: 2

With twenty two letters, addressed to various already deceased authors, Andrew Lang discusses literary subjects with his usual humour and acidity. The impulse for the writing of the letters came, almost as a joke, from the editor of the ‘St. James’s Gazette,’ and sixteen of the letters collected in the volume appeared first in that journal. According to the author, “some of the Letters are written rather to suit the Correspondent than to express the writer’s own taste or opinions”; in all of them, though, the reader will find the charming wit of their author. (Summary by Leni) [chương_files]

Stark Munro Letters

Rate this audiobook

Epistolary Fiction
Chapter: 16 | Listen: 2

“The letters of my friend Mr. Stark Munro appear to me to form so connected a whole, and to give so plain an account of some of the troubles which a young man may be called upon to face right away at the outset of his career, that I have handed them over to the gentleman who is about to edit them. There are two of them, the fifth and the ninth, from which some excisions are necessary; but in the main I hope that they may be reproduced as they stand. I am sure that there is no privilege which my friend would value more highly than the thought that some other young man, harassed by the needs of this world and doubts of the next, should have gotten strength by reading how a brother had passed down the valley of shadow before him.” HERBERT SWANBOROUGH. LOWELL, MASS. – Summary by Arthur Conan Doyle [chương_files]

Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded Volume 2

Rate this audiobook

Epistolary Fiction
Chapter: 114 | Listen: 4

Pamela, tells the story of a 15-year old maidservant named Pamela Andrews, whose country landowner master, Mr. B, makes unwanted advances towards her after the death of his mother. He abducts her, locks her up in one of his estates, and attempts to seduce and rape her. She rejects him but starts to realise that she is falling in love with him. She then attempts to build a relationship with him and to fit in with upper class society. This is a continuation of “Pamela; or Virtue Rewarded”. (Michele Eaton) [chương_files]

Love and Freindship, and Other Early Works

Rate this audiobook

Epistolary Fiction, General Fiction, Short Stories
Chapter: 11 | Listen: 2

This book draws together some of Jane Austen’s earliest literary efforts. It includes “Love & Freindship” and “Lesley Castle” both told through the medium of letters written by the characters. It also contains her wonderful “History of England” and a “Collection of Letters” and lastly a chapter containing “Scraps”. In these offerings, we may see the beginnings of Miss Austen’s literary style. We may also discern traces of characters that we encounter in her later works. G. K. Chesterton in his preface, for example, says of a passage in Love and Freindship; “… is there not the foreshadowing of another and more famous father; and do we not hear for a moment, in the rustic cottage by the Uske, the unmistakable voice of Mr. Bennet?” These works are certainly worth exploring for their own sakes and not simply as historical relics. – Summary by Noel Badrian [chương_files]

My Lady of the Chinese Courtyard

Rate this audiobook

Epistolary Fiction, Family Life
Chapter: 15 | Listen: 2

“I hope that this book, based on letters shown me many years after they were written, will give a faint idea of the life of a Chinese lady. The story is told in two series of letters conceived to be written by Kwei-li, the wife of a very high Chinese official, [the first series were written] to her husband when he accompanied his master, Prince Chung, on his trip around the world.” The second series of letters were written 25 years later to Kwei-li’s mother-in-law as China faces revolution and political intrigue. “They are, therefore, the letters of the present-day Chinese woman of the old school, a woman who had by education and environment exceptional opportunities to learn of the modern world, but who, like every Eastern woman, clings with almost desperate tenacity to the traditions and customs of her race.” (Summary by MaryAnn with material from the Preface) [chương_files]

Clarissa Harlowe, or the History of a Young Lady – Volume 5

Rate this audiobook

Epistolary Fiction
Chapter: 36 | Listen: 3

Volume 5 continues the story in epistolary form of the despoliation of Clarissa, as all the forces of society and the personal nefariousness of the devilish rake Lovelace conspire to overcome her virtue. One of the earliest and certainly the longest novel in the English language, with a wide-ranging influence not only on the English novel, but also on nineteenth century European literature at large, it is gripping, twisted and a magnificent dramatic soap opera. – Summary by Nicole Lee [chương_files]