Classics audiobooks

The Custom of the Country

By: Edith Wharton

Narrated by: Grace Conlin

Length: 14 hours 29 minutes

Abridged: No

One of Edith Wharton’s most acclaimed works, The Custom of the Country is a blistering indictment of materialism, power, and misplaced values. Its heroine, Undine Spragg, is one of the most ruthless characters in all of literature, as selfishly unscrupulous as she is fiercely beautiful. When her family acquires a small fortune, they leave... Read more

Smoke

By: Ivan Turgenev

Narrated by: Stuart Langton

Length: 6 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

Written by one of Russia’s literary masters, Smoke is both a poignant love story and a brilliant socio-political study. Marked with a barbed wit and a visionary modernism, it became the center of a famous philosophical breach between Turgenev and Dostoevsky.On the brink of marriage, Grigorii Litvinov visits the fashionable European spa of... Read more

Salambo

By: Gustave Flaubert

Narrated by: Fred Williams

Length: 12 hours 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Beyond the gardens of Hamilcar’s palace, beyond the walls of Carthage, the Roman hordes stood waiting to annihilate the noblest city of ancient Africa. Within the city, all was madness—the houses were filled with the screams of women and the streets teemed with terrified men. The veil of the goddess Tanit, sacred to Carthage, had fallen to... Read more

Howards End

By: E. M. Forster

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Length: 11 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

In this vibrant portrait of Edwardian England and the many intricacies of class relations in English society during the turn of the century, two families with conflicting values are brought together by an inheritance dispute over a charming country house called Howards End. Sisters Margaret and Helen Schlegel and their brother Tibby place their... Read more

A Modern Mephistopheles

By: Louisa May Alcott

Narrated by: C. M. Hébert

Length: 5 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: No

Known for her beloved children’s classics, Louisa May Alcott’s true zeal was for writing sensational literature, which she chose to have published anonymously or under a pseudonym. Her favorite of these works was A Modern Mephistopheles.This chilling tale of greed, lust, and deception opens on a midwinter night when Felix Canaris, a despairing... Read more

Jacob’s Room

By: Virginia Woolf

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Length: 6 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

This impressionistic novel by Virginia Woolf marks the author’s first move toward the experimentation for which she would later become recognized. Through a montage of passing images, conversations, and stream-of-consciousness monologues, it tells the story of Jacob Flanders, an idealistic and sensitive young man attempting to reconcile his love... Read more

Not George Washington

By: P. G. Wodehouse & Herbert Westbrook

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 5 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

This rollicking semi-autobiographical novel weaves a tale of Wodehouse’s early days as a writer, romance gone awry, and the colorful characters he encountered.James Orlebar Cloyster, in order to marry his true love, embarks on a scheme of such clever deception that he very nearly manages to ruin both his romance and his career.Told from multiple... Read more

Antic Hay

By: Aldous Huxley

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 9 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

Theodore Gumbril, a mild young Oxford tutor, has become thoroughly dismayed by the formality of college life and the staid British institutions of learning. An impetuous need for celebration, even rebellion, possesses him. He and his bohemian companions embark on wild and daring bacchanalian adventures that steer them resolutely away from... Read more

Framley Parsonage

By: Anthony Trollope

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 18 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

Mark Robarts, a young vicar, is newly arrived in the village of Framley. With ambitions to further his career, he seeks connections in the county's high society. He is soon preyed upon by a local member of parliament to guarantee a substantial loan, which Mark in a moment of weakness agrees to—despite knowing the man is a notorious debtor—and... Read more

Heart of Darkness

By: Joseph Conrad

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 3 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

Compelling, exotic, and suspenseful, Heart of Darkness is far more than just an adventure story. The novel explores deep into the dark regions of the hearts and souls of its characters and into the conflicts prevalent in more "primitive" cultures. It is also a striking picture of the moral deterioration that can result from prolonged... Read more

Christmas Is a Sad Season for the Poor

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 24 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with a... Read more

The Swimmer

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 26 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with a... Read more

The Sorrows of Gin

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 38 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with a... Read more

The Season of Divorce

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 25 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with a... Read more

The Brigadier and the Golf Widow

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 38 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with a... Read more

Preface

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is the preface to the twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still... Read more

O City of Broken Dreams

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 46 minutes

Abridged: No

Performed by Blythe DannerHere is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York... Read more

O Youth and Beauty!

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 24 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with a... Read more

The Five-Forty-Eight

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 35 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with a... Read more

The Jewels of the Cabots

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 40 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with a... Read more

The Death of Justina

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 23 minutes

Abridged: No

Read by Meryl StreepHere is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was... Read more

The Chaste Clarissa

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 27 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with a... Read more

The Enormous Radio

By: John Cheever

Narrated by: Meryl Streep, Ben Cheever & Peter Gallagher

Length: 30 minutes

Abridged: No

Performed by Meryl StreepHere is one of twelve magnificent stories, originally part of The John Cheever Audio Collection, in which John Cheever celebrates—with unequaled grace and tenderness—the deepest feelings we have.As Cheever writes in his preface, ""These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York... Read more

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

By: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard

Length: 7 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

These delightful stories of the famous hawkeyed detective are told by his friend and foil, Dr. Watson. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle draws us into nineteenth-century London—hansom cabs, train rides, and foggy nights—where Holmes astutely solves the most complex and perplexing cases of the day. Among the short stories included in this collection is "The... Read more