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Vanity Fair
- Narrated by: John Castle
- Length: 31 hrs and 1 min
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Publisher's summary
Exclusively from Audible
Set during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, this classic gives a satirical picture of a worldly society. The audiobook revolves around the exploits of the impoverished but beautiful and devious Becky Sharp who craves wealth and a position in society. Calculating and determined to succeed, she charms, deceives and manipulates everyone she meets.
A story of early 19th-century English society, it takes its title from the place designated as the centre of human corruption in John Bunyan's 17th-century allegory Pilgrim's Progress.
Receiving popular and critical success on first publication, the novel is considered Thackeray's masterpiece, and this satire of society is as relevant now as when it first appeared. In 2003, Vanity Fair was listed at Number 122 on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's best-loved books.
Thackeray was born in Calcutta in 1811. After his father's death, he was sent to be educated in England at five years old, while is mother remarried in India. The canings and abuses he received in private boarding schools formed a basis for some of his work as did the culture of Anglo-Indians which also featured prominently.
Narrator Biography
After training at RADA, John's professional career began in 1964 at the Regent's Park Theatre.
Film credits include Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up, The Lion in Winter, Man of La Mancha, King David, Antony and Cleopatra, Robocop 2 and The Sparrow. Theatre credits include Bloody Sunday (The Tricycle Theatre), Claudius in Hamlet (National Theatre), Rat in the Skull (Duke of York's Theatre), End Game (Tron Theatre, Glasgow), Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (London Shakespeare Group), Infidelities (The Boulevard Theatre), and Breaking the Code (The Comedy Theatre). Television credits include Tracate Middoth, The Fixer, Spooks, Poirot, Silent Witness, The Holocaust on Trial, Casualty, Princes in the Tower, Gods and Generals, Fight Against Slavery, Ben Hall, I, Claudius, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and Lillie.
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While saying "I love you" speaks volumes, there are times when you yearn to express your feelings for a loved one—whether a cherished friend, serious crush, or your soul mate—in a way that's more creative, more eloquent, more memorable...in a word: quotable. For those times, there's no better source to turn to than great authors. We've collected some of most tender, most romantic, and most passionate quotes from the world's most-loved authors.
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Story
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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Quietly, subtly sweet and heartwarming
- By T. on 03-26-12
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Agnes Grey
- By: Anne Brontë
- Narrated by: Emilia Fox
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Having lost the family savings on risky investments, Richard Grey removes himself from family life and suffers a bout of depression. Feeling helpless and frustrated, his youngest daughter, Agnes, applies for a job as a governess to the children of a wealthy, upper-class, English family. Ecstatic at the thought that she has finally gained control and freedom over her own life, Agnes arrives at the Bloomfield mansion armed with confidence and purpose.
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Loved it
- By Kerry on 05-22-10
By: Anne Brontë
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Agnes Grey
- By: Anne Bronte
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Written when women---and workers generally---had few rights in England, Agnes Grey exposes the brutal inequities of the rigid class system in mid-19th-century Britain. Agnes comes from a respectable middle-class family, but their financial reverses have forced her to seek work as a governess.
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Make.it.stop.
- By Wayne on 03-18-22
By: Anne Bronte
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Anna Karenina
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 35 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky.
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Need to Disclose and Highlight Name of Translator
- By Charles B on 08-27-18
By: Leo Tolstoy
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The American
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Self-made American millionaire Christopher Newman arrives in Paris brimming with hope and optimism, excited to experience the culture and, hopefully, find the perfect woman to become his wife. After a chance encounter with American expatriate friends, his attention is drawn to Madame de Cintré, 25-year-old widowed daughter of the late Marquis de Bellegarde. Having fallen on hard times, the centuries-old aristocratic family permits Newman's courtship to proceed; however, they later persuade the widow to break off her engagement to the nouveau-riche businessman.
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excellent reading
- By Andorboth on 12-03-22
By: Henry James
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The Mill on the Floss
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Laura Paton
- Length: 20 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Maggie Tulliver has two lovers: Philip Wakem, son of her father’s enemy, and Stephen Guest, already promised to her cousin. But the love she wants most in the world is that of her brother Tom. Maggie’s struggle against her passionate and sensual nature leads her to a deeper understanding and to eventual tragedy
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Great compassion
- By nina lalumia on 12-26-16
By: George Eliot
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Man and Wife
- By: Wilkie Collins
- Narrated by: Nicolas Boulton
- Length: 23 hrs
- Unabridged
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Published 10 years after Collins’s most popular novel The Woman in White, Man and Wife centres on the confused and inequitable marriage laws of 19th-century Britain, reflecting the author’s own antipathy toward the institution. The plot follows the fortunes of a woman who, committed to marriage with one man, comes to believe that she may have inadvertently married his friend, according to the archaic laws of Scotland and Ireland.
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Intricate plot, good dialogue, desperately needed an editor
- By Seth on 07-25-21
By: Wilkie Collins
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Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Norma West
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Previously unpublished in unabridged audio, these three works (one novel unpublished in her lifetime and two unfinished fragments) reveal Jane Austen's development as a great artist.
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For the Austen Addict
- By Joseph R on 09-09-09
By: Jane Austen
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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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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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Narrator creates the listen
- By connie on 02-06-12
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Before marrying, Emma Bovary believed she would enter a life of luxury and passion like the sentimental stories she'd read in her novels and magazines. Now married to an ordinary country doctor her life is not the romantic ideal she imagined and seeks an escape through having extra-marital affairs. This devastating spiral into deceit and despair leads to catastrophic consequences. Emma Bovary continues to be enjoyed to this day because of its profound humanity, still as fresh today as when it was first written.
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Fantastic Narrator
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What listeners say about Vanity Fair
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- A.
- 09-17-12
Circle of life
Where does Vanity Fair rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Ranks in middle of all the books to which I've heard.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Vanity Fair?
Can't think of any particularly memorable moment. Maybe that is why this book came in at middle.
Have you listened to any of John Castle’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
First time listening to John Castle. Will look for more of his work.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Thought perspective of civilians interesting when battle of Waterloo was taking place. Can't say any particular point "moved" me.
Any additional comments?
Often wondered what the plot was leading to. Then reminded myself it was very reflective of life's patterns...not always an end in sight. Pettiness consumes too much of our attention and energy.
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Performance
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Story
- Janey
- 04-22-12
Truly a story without a hero.
Would you listen to Vanity Fair again? Why?
Yes. To concentrate on the characters.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Vanity Fair?
When I realized that there wasn't a constant hero and differences in each of the characters.
What does John Castle bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
He brings the characters to life.
Any additional comments?
A great book.
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- Andrea
- 05-31-18
Wow, wow, wow!!!
Had me on edge the entire time!! Wonderful book!!! I love the classics!! Becky is off the hook!
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- P. Williams
- 05-29-21
Wonderful Story!
I can’t think why I had not read this book before now. I think I remember starting it in the print version and not getting past the first chapter or two . Listening to it is a gift. It’s a long book and it took several weeks of of intermittent listening but well worth it!
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- Kindle Customer
- 03-26-23
The Great Granddaddy of Reality TV
Lest we ever put airs on the 19th Century as somehow more refined than our own, Vanity Fair proves that there's been an audience for unredeemable characters for centuries. Thackeray's voice both condemns the misadventures of the often immoral upper class while also indulging in it's stories with gossipy relish. A long and fanciful take worthy of click bait today. It does vere off into fanciful prose that describe the Society of the time in such a way that can be frustrating for a modern listener used to books more plot driven than driven by characters of questionable character. Even when they are awful, you do develop an attachment to them, for no one is wholy bad or wholy good, but most are in-between, even the worst can do good and the good be awful. The performance is nuanced enough to aid in understanding the antiquated writing style, and does a good job of engaging the listener with different character voices that aren't silly or grating. You get the sense that Thackeray is reading his own novel or at least dishing up the most delightful gossip with you as you both share a glass of port in a grand drawing room of old.
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- Julie Gray
- 12-30-17
Great narration makes this classic even better!
What a book. It was a bit of a marathon to listen to but with the exception of two or three chapters in the latter part of the book (about Pumpernickle) I was thoroughly entertained both by the story and the narrator, John Castle, who pulled out all the stops in his witty narration of a very witty book. Thackeray wrote about the class system in England in the early 19th century with scathing wit and love her or hate her, Becky Sharp is one of the most memorable characters in English literature. I definitely give this book a thumbs up.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jonathon Horel
- 06-19-18
Origins of an Antiheroine
This book has been on my list for a long, long time and now that I've read it I am not disappointed.
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Overall
- night owl
- 11-17-17
Delightful
A delightful book from beginning to end. Great narration transports us to the tongue and cheek world of Vanity Fair
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- Thomas C. Clack
- 03-04-20
I heard the whole story at last!
This book was forced upon me in high school and I never could get thru it. This reading by John Cast is excellent. He pronounces every word perfectly, whether it is in French, German, Irish, Upper class or lower. It was a joy to listen to the whole story and I will treasure my old school copy of the book now. Highly recommended!
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- Carolyn Calabrese
- 07-14-15
Perfect reading, perfect book
What a wonderful performance of one of one of my all-time favorite books. John Castle brings Thackeray's biting satire to life so thoroughly that I was sad when it was over. If you are at all a fan of Vanity Fair, purchasing this audio book is a wise investment.
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