The Battle of Life
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The Battle of Life
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Narrated by:
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Rob Goll
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Amanda Friday
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By:
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Charles Dickens
About this listen
The Battle of Life: A Love Story, published in 1846, is the fourth in Charles Dickens' series of "Christmas Books," five novellas with strong social and moral messages that he published during the 1840s. It is preceded by A Christmas Carol (1843) The Chimes (1844) and The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) and followed by The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848).
The story takes place in an English village that stands upon the site of a historic battle. In this village, Dr. Jeddler, a good-natured widower, lives with his two daughters, Grace and Marion, and their servants, Clemency Newcome and Ben Britain. The story opens on the anniversary of the battle, a day which is not only Marion's birthday but also that of her betrothed, Alfred Heathfield, in the doctor's ward. Alfred is leaving the village to complete his studies and hopes on his return to claim Marion's hand. Three years later, Alfred's Christmas homecoming is marred by the discovery that Marion has vanished and is believed to have eloped with a local libertine, Michael Warden.
Though Dr. Jeddler's philosophy is to view life as a gigantic practical joke, the battleground upon which they live is seen by the other characters as a metaphor for the battles faced in life, hence the title. The Battle of Life is the only one of the Christmas novellas not to feature a supernatural element, though in common with the other four stories, the ending is a happy one.
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-
Story4 out of 5 stars 205
This is the story of a young country workman obsessed by his ambition to become an Oxford student, interwoven with his fraught relationships with two women.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Staggering
- By Tad Davis on 02-16-10
By: Thomas Hardy
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Cranford
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Prunella Scales
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 583
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 477
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 475
A vivid and affectionate portrait of the residents of an English country town in the mid-19th century, Cranford describes a community dominated by its independent and refined women, relating the adventures of Miss Matty and Miss Deborah, two middle-aged spinster sisters striving to live with dignity in reduced circumstances. Through a series of satirical vignettes, Gaskell sympathetically portrays changing small town customs and values in mid-Victorian England....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Quietly, subtly sweet and heartwarming
- By T. on 03-26-12
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The Idiot [Blackstone]
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 22 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,093
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 812
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Story4 out of 5 stars 820
Prince Myshkin, is thrust into the heart of a society more concerned with wealth, power, and sexual conquest than the ideals of Christianity. Myshkin soon finds himself at the center of a violent love triangle in which a notorious woman and a beautiful young girl become rivals for his affections. Extortion, scandal, and murder follow, testing the wreckage left by human misery to find "man in man."
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5 out of 5 stars
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Intense and painfully sad
- By Tad on 04-27-12
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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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Overall4 out of 5 stars 104
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Story4 out of 5 stars 86
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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4 out of 5 stars
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Narrator creates the listen
- By connie on 02-06-12
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The Best Ghost Stories Ever Told
- Best Stories Ever Told
- By: Stephen Brennan - editor
- Narrated by: J. M. Badger, Imelda Pot
- Length: 24 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 224
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 200
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 199
A big, brilliant, spooky collection of classic and contemporary ghost stories that will make you hesitate before turning off that light.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A very mixed review
- By Michael Mayer on 08-05-15
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Middlemarch
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 35 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,147
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,666
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,629
Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best Audible book ever
- By Molly-o on 12-25-11
By: George Eliot
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The Warden
- By: Anthony Trollope
- Narrated by: Nigel Hawthorne
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 55
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
Set in the world of the Victorian professional and landed classes, the story centres on Mr Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity who is nevertheless in possession of an income from a charity far in excess of the sum devoted to it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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a delight
- By Janet on 12-22-08
By: Anthony Trollope
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Lady Audley's Secret
- By: Mary Elizabeth Braddon
- Narrated by: Olivia Poulet
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,975
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,825
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,815
From the author of The Christmas Hirelings comes this Audible Exclusive production of Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s classic sensation novel Lady Audley’s Secret. English actress Olivia Poulet gives an assured and captivating narration; a cornerstone of the genre and a scandal at the time of its publication, Lady Audley’s Secret is an entertaining and shocking tale of high drama and shifting perceptions.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Classic 19th Century “sensation novel”
- By Susan on 08-20-19
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The Mayor of Casterbridge
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 316
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 282
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 280
This audiobook is about the rise and fall of Michael Henchard. While out-of-work he gets drunk at a fair and impulsively sells his wife and baby for five guineas to a sailor. Eighteen years later he is reunited with his wife and daughter, who discover that he has gained wealth and respect and is now the most prominent man in Casterbridge. Though he attempts to make amends he is no less impulsive and once again loses everything due to bad luck and his violent, selfish and vengeful nature.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Tangled Webs
- By Joseph R on 12-22-09
By: Thomas Hardy
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Felix Holt, The Radical
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 279
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 225
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Story4 out of 5 stars 223
Relinquishing thoughts of a materially rewarding life, the respectably educated Felix Holt returns to his native village in North Loamshire and becomes an artisan. He is a forceful young man of honor, integrity, and idealism, burning to participate in political life so that he may improve the lot of his fellow artisans.
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4 out of 5 stars
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four and a half stars
- By connie on 01-02-08
By: George Eliot
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The Bostonians
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 24
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24
Taking place in Boston, Massachusetts, a decade after the Civil War, The Bostonians tells the story of two cousins who battle for the affections of and control over an enchanting prophetess. While visiting his cousin Olive Chancellor, a fierce feminist deeply involved in the Suffragette movement, Basil Ransom, a Confederate Civil War veteran turned lawyer, attends a speech by the talented young orator Verena Tarrant. Basil quickly falls in love with Verena, although he disagrees with her politics; Olive, however, sees her as the future of the women's rights movement.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A satire that turns tragic
- By Tad Davis on 08-23-20
By: Henry James
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The Count of Monte Cristo (Dramatized)
- By: Orson Welles
- Narrated by: Orson Welles
- Length: 59 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 55
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Starring Orson Welles, Anges Moorehead, and Ray Collins, The Count of Monte Cristo is a tale of revenge and retribution. Edmond Dantès, a young, energetic sailor, is falsely accused of treason on his wedding day and incarcerated in the forbidding Château d'If. His escape and ultimate revenge on those who wronged him makes this one of the most thrilling stories in French literature, as compelling now as when it was first published in 1846.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
- By Stefanie on 05-19-14
By: Orson Welles
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Orley Farm
- By: Anthony Trollope
- Narrated by: Flo Gibson
- Length: 25 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
Lady Mason's trial for forgery and perjury shocks the neighborhood. A cast of unforgettable characters views her with disdain, compassion, and disbelief. And then there are the love stories....
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1 out of 5 stars
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Dreary effort
- By Sharon on 08-03-13
By: Anthony Trollope