Shirley

By: Charlotte Brontë

Narrated by: Georgina Sutton

Following the tremendous success of Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë returned to pen a novel every bit as romantic and compelling as her first, but with deeper, heartier themes as she captured the social and political currents of the newly industrialized United Kingdom of 1812. Set in a chaotic time in England, during the height of the Napoleonic Wars, Caroline Helstone's world is turned upside down when she meets the vivacious Shirley Keeldar. Shirley becomes a beacon of light for Caroline as the two become close friends. However, Caroline is soon shocked to discover that Shirley has won the affections of Robert Moore, the impoverished mill owner whom she loves. Fully representative of Yorkshire life at the time, Brontë's second novel is completely gripping, unrelenting and utterly wrenching in its portrayal.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2014 Naxos AudioBooks

I was pleasantly surprised

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. It was great and kept me wanting to hear more, the entire way through it.

Savor - don't rush

Look at the cover - get a canoe and just glide around on that pond. Listen to the birds. If you want the flavor of life, politics, religion and economics in late 18th early 19th century England, I would add this work to those of Elizabeth Gaskell and Frances Burney, and of course Austen and the rest of the Bronte collection. There is an air of optimism before the darkness of Dickens. Shirley and Caroline won't jerk tears from your eyes, but I could feel the intensity of their responses to social constraints. And for me, I have gained much to nuance my historical studies of the era.

At first, I was put off by the excessive sagacity-in-dialog, but in my second pass through, I decided that, ala Shakespeare, the perceptions, interactions and converse were highly stylized versions of what people might really say to each other. Maybe as they would have said things after a period of reflection. When was the last time you saw a modern soliloquy? And I thus enjoyed them as a counterpoint to the fast-paced shallow interactions that surround us today in popular literature and media.

So enjoyable

Loved the voice of the narrator. I knew nothing of the story line ahead of time and was so pleasantly surprised. I did have to listen to the first chapter twice to get my bearings. Peaceful, quiet, artful.

Excellent vocalizations by the narrator

The reader used a variety of accents and voice inflections to portray the cast of characters which was very effective.

The best narrative

The narrator is by far the best I have heard. The voices, accents and narrative...beautiful