Rappaccini's Daughter

By: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Narrated by: Jeff Harding

A short story from the British Library Tales of the Weird collection Evil Roots. First published in 1844, "Rappaccini’s Daughter" is one of the oldest short story examples of botanical Gothic. The story is set in Padua and follows botanist Giacomo Rappaccini’s garden of poisonous plants. A student from the university of Padua falls for a maiden in the luscious garden, but he soon learns some troubling information about his beloved’s true nature....

©2022 Nathaniel Hawthorne (P)2022 Isis Audio

Good story - did not like the Italian accent

I'm happy that I was finally able to read this short story by listening to it. However, I did not like the Italian that was used in some of the characters. The main MMC had a regular American/British accent, but why was it necessary to effect an Italian accent, especially the housekeeper's, which was so difficult to follow? Maybe I'm missing something important in the time/place that was used in this setting besides the fact that Padua had one of the earliest botanical gardens. Anyway, I'm aware that there other recordings of this great story. If I had time, I would probably compare all of them to find one without the accent or one that was easier to listen to.