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The House of Mirth
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
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The House of Mirth
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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.
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What listeners say about The House of Mirth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 03-09-22
Excellent reading
My second read of this well observed and highly insightful story of the interwoven lives of those in society at that time.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cynthia
- 05-04-15
Absolute Perfection
Exceeded my expectations. Classic Wharton with perfect narration by Eleanor Bron. I was unable to stop listening, which for me is rare.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 16-09-22
To fall in the gilded age
Superbly read by Eleanor Bron, in this novel of the gilded age and New York high society we meet a society beauty who seems to have all she needs. But seeming is just seeming because she does not yet have a husband.
Through a combination of bad luck, her own high minded distaste for dishonest compromise and her ambivalent attachment to a man who might be worthy of her, but unable to supply the material luxury she feels should be her due.
Then her fall begins because, when the veneer is stripped back, the carefree world she coverts is really just a flourish of money and power. Those that have neither must become playthings and adornments. And, of course, victims.
A fine companion piece to the author’s better known The Age of Innocence, this is almost a great novel. It is diminished by the bathos of its final chapters as melodrama threatens. All the same there is much of the highest merit to compensate for any failings.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 14-03-23
Fascinating view of women’s lives in 1900
Thank goodness for the suffragettes and feminism. Quite a depressing book but I loved the descriptions of Paris fashions, milliners. All those horrible or weak male characters. No female emancipation and the women lucky enough to have money were largely predatory.
Fascinating! Eleanor Bron - superb.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Pinkers
- 22-02-24
A masterpiece
Edith Wharton never lets us down. This early work is her best, setting the formula/agenda of what is to come.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Julie Bail
- 15-10-10
Wonderful Wharton, Beautifully Read
This is a favourite book of mine, a modern classic and Eleanor Bron reads it beautifully. Poor stunning Lily Bart. This is such a complex, moving portrait of a beauty, a fine spirit and the fashionable and established society she lives in, raising questions about integrity, worth, status etc in a complulsive story.
If you enjoy it, do listen to The Age of Innocence too, it may be even better.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Patricia
- 27-06-12
Highly Recommended
I came to this book late - following a quiz I thought I'd already read it but had confused it with a Henry James novel. Don't delay! Beautifully read, as well as written. And tragic - it's too easy today to dismiss the significance of moral standards of past ages. How lucky we are today.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- "turkeyboy128"
- 14-03-23
immersive and unputdownable
i finished this book in two days and nights! i had to get to the end.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- C.Wood
- 23-02-23
wonderful!
I was gripped from beginning to end as the inner message slowly reveals itself .The voiceover is incredible, one can't believe it's not really the character being played.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Scriptwriter
- 18-04-22
A masterpiece
Edith Wharton’s prose is beyond compare. This is an exquisite,heartbreaking story and it is beautifully read by Eleanor Bron.
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