Edith Wharton has 17 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 32 narrators, with an average listener rating of 2.7★ across 35 ratings. The most-rated is The Age of Innocence.
The Age of Innocence
Summary
Exclusively from Audible Countess Ellen Olenska, separated from her European husband, returns to old New York society. She bears with her an independence and an awareness of life which stirs the educated sensitivity of the charming Newland Archer, engaged to be married to her cousin, May Welland. Though he accepts the society's standards and rules he is acutely aware of their limitations. He knows May will assure him a conventional future but Ellen, scandalously separated from her husband, forces Archer to question his values and beliefs. With their love intensifying where does Archer's ultimate loyalty lie? Wharton's audiobook is a love story that accurately portrays upper-class New York society in the late 19th century due to her insider's view of America's privileged classes. Having grown up in upper-class society, Wharton ended up becoming one of its most shrewd critics. Her depiction of the snobbery and hypocrisy of the wealthy elite, combined with her subtle use of dramatic irony, propelled The Age of Innocence to the position of an instant classic, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1921 and making Wharton the first woman to win the prize. Narrator Biography Having studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, David Horovitch has had a television career spanning over 40 years. One of his most notable roles was in 1984 as Detective Inspector Slack in the first BBC Miss Marple adaptation The Body in the Library. Due to the success of his character, he returned for four Christmas specials. He has had roles in other shows such as Just William (1994), Foyle's War (2002) and Wire in the Blood (2005) as well as film appearances in The Young Victoria (2009), 102 Dalmatians (2000) The Infiltrator (2016) and Mike Leigh's Mr Turner (2014). A long time star of the stage, in 2015 he played the role of George Frideric Handel in All the Angels by Nick Drake at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. As well as narrating numerous audiobooks, David Horovitch also appeared in Audible's multicast drama The Oedipus Plays.
Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
The House of Mirth
Summary
Exclusively from Audible Beautiful, sophisticated and endlessly ambitious Lily Bart endeavours to climb the social ladder of New York's elite by securing a good match and living beyond her means. Now nearing 30 years of age and having rejected several proposals, forever in the hope of finding someone better, her future prospects are threatened. A damning commentary of 20th-century social order, Edith Wharton's tale established her as one of the greatest British novelists of the 1900s. Taking us on a journey through lavish drawing rooms in grand country houses to cold and menacing boarding houses, Wharton addresses the consequences awaiting those who openly dared to challenge the status quo. First published in serial form, The House of Mirth contributed significantly to Edith Wharton's already substantial riches. Accustomed to living a life of privilege, Wharton was able to foster her creative talents from a young age. Working as a published author from the age of 18, Wharton's story is as intriguing and daring as her heroine's. Wedding and then divorcing Edward Wharton, her experience of marriage and consequent heartbreak is usually chronicled in her works. Never the victim however, Wharton went on to receive multiple awards for her writing, as well as the bravery that she demonstrated during the First World War when she organised hostels for refugees, fund-raised for those in need and reported from battlefield frontlines. Usually seen in the company of other great authors including Jack London, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jean Cocteau, Wharton became a literary master whose skill and wit is perfectly captured in this enthralling audiobook. Narrator Biography Celebrated author and stage, film and television actress, Eleanor Bron, lends her iconic voice to the narration of The House of Mirth. Best known for her roles in films such as A Little Princess, Bedazzled, Women in Love, Black Beauty and Alfie, Eleanor's career is as varied as it has been successful. Also not a stranger to the theatre, Bron thrived in classical and modern productions of plays including The Prime of Miss Jean Brody, The Merchant of Venice, Private Lives, All About My Mother and Hedda Gabler. A celebrated writer, Eleanor has published various titles, including Life and Other Punctures, Double Take and The Pillow Book of Eleanor Bron. Further audiobook contributions include A Little Princess by Frances Burnett, The Aeneid by Virgil, The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier and Daniel Deronda by George Eliot.
Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
A Son at the Front
Summary
"What an incalculable sum of gifts and virtues went to make up the monster's daily meal." So observes American expatriate painter John Campton, whose only son is conscripted to military service in France at the beginning of WWI. In Edith Wharton's saga, A Son at the Front, we share the character's anguish as thousands of young men are sacrificed to the insatiable appetite of the war. The lessons are as relevant today as they were almost 100 years ago. This recording includes, as afterword, an essay by war scholar Peter Buitenhuis, Edith Wharton and the First World War. This provides background and context to the narrative, and highlights Wharton's prodigious war charity work and remarkable war correspondence.
Public Domain (P)2019 Robin Siegerman
The Custom of the Country
Summary
The first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for literature, Edith Wharton stands among the finest writers of early 20th-century America. In The Custom of the Country, Wharton’s scathing social commentary is on full display through the beautiful and manipulative Undine Spragg. When Undine convinces her nouveau riche parents to move to New York, she quickly injects herself into high society. But even a well-to-do husband isn’t enough for Undine, whose overwhelming lust for wealth proves to be her undoing.
Public Domain (P)2003 Recorded Books, LLC
The Writer in the Garden
Summary
The Writer in the Garden adds up to a glorious compendium of writing that is amusing, original, and idiosyncratic. Excerpts span not only the beauties of the garden but such far-reaching topics as weeds, the tribulations of gardening in a cold climate, the dangers of rare plant collecting, the delights of weeding, the pitfalls of growing roses, and the place of "tacky" in a garden. With selections carefully chosen from both sides of the Atlantic, this anthology pays homage to the great garden writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries while, at the same time, introducing the listener to some of the most original voices of today's generation of garden writers. Books on gardening have become a marketing phenomenon. However, this is the first time an anthology of garden writing has appeared on audio. Impeccably read by a group of professional actors, this potpourri of philosophical meanderings, passionate observations, and practical advice is essential listening for all gardeners and garden lovers. The authors include Gertrude Jekyll, Vita Sackville-West, Abby Adams, Edith Wharton, Stephen Lacey, E. B. White, Beverly Nichols, Ken Druse, Eleanor Perenyi, W. S. Merwin, Mirabel Osler, Henry Mitchell, Jamaica Kincaid, Robert Dash, Sara B. Stein, Michael Pollan, M.F.K. Fisher, Anne Raver, Patti Hagan, and Paula Deitz.
©1996 Learning Designs. (P)1996 Learning Designs
The House of Mirth
Summary
The House of Mirth is a novel of manners set against the backdrop of the 1890s New York ruling class. Wharton places her tragic heroine, Lily Bart, in a society that she describes as a ‘hot-house of traditions and conventions.'
©2010 Saland Publishing (P)2010 Saland Publishing
In Morocco
Summary
"To step on board a steamer in a Spanish port, and three hours later to land in a country without a guide-book, is a sensation to rouse the hunger of the repletest sight-seer. The sensation is attainable by any one who will take the trouble to row out into the harbour of Algeciras and scramble onto a little black boat headed across the straits...." A classic of travel writing, In Morocco is Edith Wharton's remarkable account of her journey to that country during World War I. With her characteristic sense of adventure, Wharton set out to explore Morocco and its people, traveling by military jeep to Rabat, Moulay Idriss, Fez, and Marrakech, from the Atlantic coast to the high Atlas. Along the way, she witnessed religious ceremonies and ritual dances, visited the opulent palaces of the Sultan, and was admitted to the mysterious world of his harem.
Public Domain (P)1998 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Age of Innocence
Summary
The Age of Innocence is a 1920 novel by Edith Wharton, and the winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. The title is an ironic comment on the smooth outward manners of New York society in comparison to its inner workings. The narrative revolves around the impending marriage of an upper-class couple, Newland Archer and the beautiful May Welland, which is disrupted by the appearance of the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska who shocks the New York aristocracy with her unconventional manners and revealing clothes. The novel’s underlying theme is the loss of the pre-war world which was destroyed by World War I. The writing is rich in detail, and impressive in its descriptions of the golden age of New York in the 19th century.
Public Domain (P)2019 Woodkeep Audio
The Reef
Summary
The Reef is a celebrated romance novel by American Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Anna Leath, a widow, and her former lover George Darrow. This sweeping romance is set in France.
Public Domain (P)2019 Woodkeep Audio
The Reef
Summary
A challenge to the moral climate of the day, The Reef follows the fancies of George Darrow, a young diplomat en route from London to France, intent on proposing to the widowed Anna Leath. Unsettled by Anna's reticence, Darrow drifts into an affair with Sophy Viner, a charmingly naive and impecunious young woman whose relations with Darrow and Anna's family threaten his prospects for success. The affair becomes the reef on which four lives are in danger of foundering: two of them innocent and two of them burdened with experience and tinged with desperation. This is a story of the drastic effects of a casual sexual betrayal and a clear-eyed assessment of the possibilities and limitations of human love.
(P)1995 Blackstone Audio Inc.
NBC University Theater: The Age of Innocence
Summary
NBC University Theater initially started in Chicago with a remit to bring adaptations of classic novels, usually Anglo-American, to a radio audience. Additionally, if listeners signed up, they received college credit to a radio-assisted correspondence course. A study guide, The Handbook of the World's Great Novels, was available for 25 cents. In its later years, it also included short stories and plays and went on to win the distinguished Peabody award. Unlike many other radio shows, University Theater did not pursue glamorous stars for its productions but instead relied on excellent distillations of the novels and first-class acting alongside high production values. But now it is time to enjoy these timeless novels. Let’s begin.
©2019 Deadtree Publishing (P)2019 Copyright Group
The Age of Innocence
Summary
Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence is set against an exclusive society background in which she reveals how Newland Archer is often the victim of, rather than the key player in, the events. The plot is constructed on a pattern of ironic misunderstandings: for example, Newland is unaware that Ellen's decision not to sue for divorce was for his and May's sake rather than to conceal her past. Furthermore, Newland remains largely blind to the manipulations of a wife he persists in seeing as innocent and naive.
©2011 Talking Classics (P)2010 De Agostini UK
The Age of Innocence
Summary
Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s masterful portrait of desire and betrayal which takes place in the sumptuous Golden Age of Old New York, and questions the morals and assumptions of the elite New York society set in the 1870s when "scandal was more dreaded than disease." This is Newland Archer’s world as he prepares to marry the beautiful but conventional May Welland. But when the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York after a disastrous marriage, Archer falls deeply in love with her. Torn between duty and passion, Archer struggles to make a decision that will either courageously define his life—or mercilessly destroy it. Performed by Academy Award winning actress Joanne Woodward who also provided the narration for the 1993 film version of The Age of Innocence.
Public Domain (P)1993, 2014 Dove Audio, Phoenix Books
The Greatest Mysteries of All Time, Volume 6
Summary
The Greatest Mysteries of All Time, Volume 6 is an exciting addition to this series, featuring the most acclaimed writers, past and present. This unique collection of master writers, including Wilkie Collins, Aldous Huxley, and Edith Wharton, edited by multi-award winning mystery connoisseur Otto Penzler, is a delightful mixture of mystery and suspense.
©1998 Phoenix (P)1998 Phoenix
The Age of Innocence
Summary
The Age of Innocence was first published in 1920 by American author Edith Wharton. It is set in the 1870s, in upper-class "Gilded Age" New York City.
Public Domain (P)2020 Museum Audiobooks
The Edith Wharton BBC Radio Drama Collection
Summary
A BBC radio collection of full-cast dramatisations, bringing together Edith Wharton’s most popular and best-loved works. This collection includes full-cast dramatisations of the following novels: The House of Mirth starring Carole Mowlam, Keith Alexander and Alexander John. Madame de Treymes starring Anna Massey, Philip Voss and Valerie Sarruf. Ethan Frome starring Dominic Mafham, Jessica Raine and Laurel Lefkow. The Reef starring Jodhi May, Sian Thomas and Ben Miles. The Custom of the Country starring Rebecca Night, Barbara Barnes, Lorelei King and Tom Hollander. The Age of Innocence starring Eleanor Bron, Ryan McCluskey and Susan Lynch. Phoebe Fox, Francesca Annis and Don Gilet star in The Shadow of a Doubt, a recently discovered play by Wharton. Plus Joseph Ayre reads her short story, 'The Dilettante'. Also included is an episode of Great Lives, in which American social Critic and Author Naomi Wolf discusses the life and work of Edith Wharton with Janet Beer and Matthew Parris and an episode of In Our Time, in which Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Wharton's novels.
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Ethan Frome
Summary
Burdened by poverty and spiritually dulled by a loveless marriage to Zeena, his older and ailing wife, Ethan Frome is emotionally stirred by the arrival of their youthful cousin, Mattie Silver, who becomes employed as household help. Mattie's presence not only brightens a gloomy house but also stirs long-dormant feelings in Ethan. However, their growing love for each other is discovered by the embittered Zeena, and it presages an ending to the tale that is both shocking and savagely ironic.
Public Domain (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC