To the Lighthouse

By: Virginia Woolf

Narrated by: Nicole Kidman

To the Lighthouse is Virginia Woolf’s arresting analysis of domestic family life, centering on the Ramseys and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland in the early 1900s. Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut), who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Woolf in the film adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Hours, brings the impressionistic prose of this classic to vibrant life.

Split into three parts, the story observes Mrs. Ramsay, Mr. Ramsey, and their children at their vacation house on the Isle of Skye. While the novel follows seemingly trivial events between the family members, the plot takes a backseat to philosophical introspection, which gave the novel its fame as an icon of modernist literature. The Ramseys' quest to recapture meaning creates a powerful allegory of man’s impermanent battle with the tangible world.

Explore more titles performed by some of the most celebrated actors in the business in Audible’s Star-Powered Listens collection.©1927 Virginia Woolf (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"If Virginia Woolf herself can’t narrate her 1927 novel To the Lighthouse, then Nicole Kidman - who won an Oscar for her role as Woolf in 'The Hours' - is the next best thing. With her cut-glass Australian enunciation, Kidman skips nimbly between the minds of each character at the Ramsays’ Scottish summer cottage, slowing and softening to convey the sobriety of Mrs. Ramsay’s maternal guilt ('she was certain that he was thinking, we are not going to the Lighthouse tomorrow; and she thought, he will remember that all his life'), and tightening her voice to reiterate time and again one houseguest’s sneer that women 'can’t paint, can’t write.'” (The New York Times Book Review)

Beautiful reading by Nicole Kidman

A difficult read by lovely to listen to. Much easier to follow the audible version.

It picks up if you give it a chance.

Not sure why I stuck with it. Kidman wasn't clicking in the first few chapters. I was surprised they didn't go back and rerecord them later to get a better take. But when she found her voice I got drawn in more and more. Woolf's rhythmic and repetitive writing is hypnotic, like waves in a sea of words, but never overwhelming. While I didn't really know what was what or who was who in the first part, like I was eavesdropping on strangers' conversations and town gossip while on summer vacation, the second part of the book clicked for me psychologically, deftly adding details to the canvas to make an impressive impressionistic collage of images and thoughts.

I loved it!

Nicole Kidman does a fantastic job.
Beautiful wring, beautiful story!
Much easier to listen to the book than to read it one’s self.

Good

I enjoyed the read and the narration was amazing. The only problem was that It was a little difficult to keep along with the story line.

Narrator Nicole Kidman was terrific

Little over my head at times but didn’t matter I just listened to the beautiful words of Virginia Woolf a wonderful writer