The Age of Innocence

By: Edith Wharton

Narrated by: Susie Berneis

Set in the 1870s, Edith Wharton examines the American elite culture on the East Coast. Newland Archer is a lawyer and heir to one of New York City's most prominent families. He is arraigned to be married to May Welland.

Newland is pleased with the prospect, until he meets Countess Ellen Olenska, May's older cousin. Suddenly, Newland begins to doubt his arranged marriage and society's shallow rules as his attraction to Ellen increases.

Public Domain (P)2013 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Review of the performance

There are several adaptations of The Age of Innocence available on Audible, and before purchasing this one, I spent some time reading reviews, focusing on the performance reviews. Most adaptations had mixed performance reviews. Although there were no reviews of this version, I decided to give it a try. Susie Berneis does a fine job reading this novel. Although the accent of Madame Olenska is very faint (none existent sometimes), I thought that it was appropriate for the character. She does a good job with the male voices and a very good job with May Welland. Was pleased with this purchase.

Best performance of a great novel

I tried two other narrators before finding this version. It's more than satisfactory, neither detracting from nor adding much to the book. The book itself deserves it reputation as a masterpiece, though it's somewhat of a Rorschach test. Romantics and realists (or skeptics, as you like) will react very differently to the characters and draw opposite conclusions from the ending. If you find yourself at times getting impatient, do stick it out. The last few pages totally re-define what has happened. Can't say more without spoilers- give it a try.