Classics audiobooks

Circe

By: Madeline Miller
Narrated by: Perdita Weeks
Length: 12 hours 8 minutes
Abridged: No

"A bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story," this #1 New York Times bestseller is "both epic and intimate in its scope, recasting the most infamous female figure from the Odyssey as a hero in her own right" (Alexandra Alter, The New York Times).

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born.... Read more »

Troy

By: Stephen Fry
Narrated by: Stephen Fry
Length: 11 hours
Abridged: No

In this brilliant conclusion to his bestselling Mythos trilogy, legendary author and actor Stephen Fry retells the tale of the Trojan War.

Full of tragic heroes, intoxicating love stories, and the unstoppable force of fate, there is no conflict more iconic than the Trojan War. Troy is the story of the epic battle retold by Fry with drama, humor,... Read more »

Heroes

By: Stephen Fry
Length: 15 hours 1 minutes
Abridged: No

In this sequel to the bestselling Mythos, legendary author and actor Stephen Fry moves from the exploits of the Olympian gods to the deeds of mortal heroes.

Perseus. Jason. Atalanta. Theseus. Heracles. Rediscover the thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of the Greek myths. Whether recounting a tender love affair or a heroic triumph, Fry deftly... Read more »

A Thousand Ships

By: Natalie Haynes
Narrated by: Natalie Haynes
Length: 8 hours 33 minutes
Abridged: No

“With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism, Natalie Haynes gives much-needed voice to the silenced women of the Trojan War.”—Madeline Miller, author of Circe

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, a gorgeous retelling of the Trojan War from the perspectives of the many women involved in its causes and consequences—for fans of...

Beowulf: A New Translation

By: Maria Dahvana Headley
Narrated by: JD Jackson & Maria Dahvana Headley
Length: 4 hours 8 minutes
Abridged: No

"Narrator JD Jackson addresses his listener as "bro" in this decidedly contemporary retelling of the classic saga...His brilliant performance captures all the artistry, wit, and immediacy of this fresh translation, and breathes new life into what for most has been a literary fossil." -- AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner

A new,...

Their Eyes Were Watching God

By: Zora Neale Hurston
Narrated by: Ruby Dee
Length: 6 hours 44 minutes
Abridged: No

“A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.” —Zadie Smith

One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love...

CATCH-22

By: Joseph Heller
Narrated by: Jay O. Sanders
Length: 19 hours 58 minutes
Abridged: No

This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller’s masterpiece with a new introduction; critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos; and much more.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

Now a Hulu limited series starring... Read more »

Shōgun

By: James Clavell
Narrated by: Ralph Lister
Length: 53 hours 33 minutes
Abridged: No

After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen—Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but...

The Razor's Edge

By: W. Somerset Maugham
Narrated by: Michael Page
Length: 11 hours 6 minutes
Abridged: No

A compelling novel of self-discovery and the search for meaning from the author of The Painted Veil

The Great War changed everything and everyone, and Larry Darrell is no exception. Though his physical wounds from the war heal, his spirit is changed almost beyond recognition. He leaves his betrothed, the beautiful and devoted Isabel; studies...

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

By: Anonymous
Narrated by: Bill Wallis
Length: 5 hours 42 minutes
Abridged: No

The famous Middle English poem by an anonymous English poet is beautifully translated by fellow poet Simon Armitage in this edition. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight narrates in crystalline verse the strange tale of a green knight who rudely interrupts the Round Table festivities one Yuletide, casting a pall of unease over the company and... Read more »

Foundation

By: Isaac Asimov
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Length: 8 hours 37 minutes
Abridged: No

The first novel in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series

SOON TO BE AN APPLE TV+ SERIES, COMING 9/24/21 • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
 
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the... Read more »

The Great Gatsby

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Narrated by: Tim Robbins
Length: 5 hours 3 minutes
Abridged: No

An undisputed masterpiece of twentieth-century literature, perfect for Fitzgerald lovers and classics collectors alike.

Set against a backdrop of jazz music, bootlegging, and lavish parties, The Great Gatsby is the story of Midwesterner Nick Carraway’s curious introduction to the decadent world of his mysterious, wealthy neighbor Jay Gatsby,...

The Grapes of Wrath

By: John Steinbeck
Narrated by: Dylan Baker
Length: 21 hours
Abridged: No

John Steinbeck's powerful evocation of the suffering and hardship caused by the Great Depression, and a panoramic vision of the struggle for the American Dream, The Grapes of Wrath includes a critical introduction by Robert DeMott in Penguin Modern Classics. 'I've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags, I don't want him satisfied.'... Read more »

The Odyssey

By: Homer
Narrated by: Ian McKellen
Length: 13 hours 2 minutes
Abridged: No

The Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of every man's journey through life. In the myths and legends that are retold here, the energy and poetry of Homer's original is captured in a bold, contemporary idiom, giving us an edition of The Odyssey that is a joy to listen to, worth savoring treasuring for its sheer lyrical mastery. This... Read more »

Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection

By: Arthur Conan Doyle
Narrated by: David Clarke
Length: 67 hours 53 minutes
Abridged: No

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. He is the creation of Scottish born author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A brilliant London-based detective, Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess, and is renowned for his skillful use of deductive... Read more »

Crossing to Safety

By: Wallace Stegner
Narrated by: Richard Poe
Length: 12 hours 23 minutes
Abridged: No

One of the finest American authors of the 20th century, Wallace Stegner compiled an impressive collection of accolades during his lifetime, including a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a National Book Award, and three O. Henry Awards. His final novel, Crossing to Safety is the quiet yet stirring tale of two couples that meet during the Great... Read more »

Passing

By: Nella Larsen
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 4 hours 5 minutes
Abridged: No

First published in 1929, Passing is a remarkable exploration of the shifting racial and sexual boundaries in America. Larsen, a premier writer of the Harlem Renaissance, captures the rewards and dangers faced by two negro women who pass for white in a deeply segregated world. Read more »

Anna Karenina

By: Leo Tolstoy
Narrated by: Davina Porter
Length: 36 hours 42 minutes
Abridged: No

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." This is the famous opening sentence of Tolstoi's epic love story between Anna Arkadyevna Karenina and her Count Vronsky. Anna Karenina (1877) by Leo Tolstoy is a classic story of love and tragedy against the backdrop of pre-revolutionary Russia. The extravagant and... Read more »

Lolita

By: Vladimir Nabokov
Narrated by: Jeremy Irons
Length: 11 hours 26 minutes
Abridged: No

Awe and exhiliration--along with heartbreak and mordant wit--abound in Lolita, Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of... Read more »

Jane Eyre

By: Charlotte Bronte
Narrated by: Alison Larkin
Length: 21 hours 44 minutes
Abridged: No

“Narrating the story of Jane Eyre showed me that the bravery it takes for an unwanted orphan to forge her own path in life was as great in 1847 as it is today.” (Alison Larkin)
The epic love story of the plain, unloved orphan with an indomitable spirit who becomes a great romantic heroine despite all odds still resonates with millions of fans all... Read more »

The Death of the Heart

By: Elizabeth Bowen
Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
Length: 13 hours 8 minutes
Abridged: No

The Death of the Heart is perhaps Elizabeth Bowen's best-known book. As she deftly and delicately exposes the cruelty that lurks behind the polished surfaces of conventional society, Bowen reveals herself as a masterful novelist who combines a sense of humor with a devastating gift for divining human motivations.

In this piercing story of... Read more »

The Pursuit of Love

By: Nancy Mitford
Narrated by: Bessie Carter
Length: TBA
Abridged: No

Mitford's most enduringly popular novel, The Pursuit of Love is a classic comedy about growing up and falling in love among the privileged and eccentric.

Mitford modeled her characters on her own famously unconventional family. We are introduced to the Radletts through the eyes of their cousin Fanny, who stays with them at Alconleigh, their... Read more »

Death Comes for the Archbishop

By: Willa Cather
Narrated by: David Ackroyd
Length: 7 hours 41 minutes
Abridged: No

Willa Cather's best known novel is an epic--almost mythic--story of a single human life lived simply in the silence of the southwestern desert. In 1851 Father Jean Marie Latour comes to serve as the Apostolic Vicar to New Mexico. What he finds is a vast territory of red hills and tortuous arroyos, American by law but Mexican and Indian in custom... Read more »

Wise Blood

By: Flannery O'Connor
Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
Length: 4 hours 56 minutes
Abridged: No

Flannery O'Connor's astonishing and haunting first novel is a classic of twentieth-century literature. It is the story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old caught in an unending struggle against his innate, desperate faith. He falls under the spell of a "blind" street preacher named Asa Hawks and his degenerate fifteen-year-old daughter. In an... Read more »