Pride and Prejudice (in 25 parts) by Jane Austen Narrated by #JaneAusten250 @BBCSounds #ClassicClub

Celebrating 250 years of Jane Austen

Blurb

First published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular and beloved British novels of all time, maintaining its allure for contemporary readers everywhere and selling millions of copies worldwide. Jane Austen’s novel tells the story of the five unmarried Bennet sisters, daughters of a humble country squire, as they deal with the issues of marriage, manners, and upbringing in English country life.

When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.

My thoughts

It’s not often that I listen to audio books but when I saw that this BBC Sounds adaptation, in conjunction with Noiser Productions, was being narrated by Julie Andrews I was intrigued and soon found myself very much enjoying listening to this version. Julie Andrews has a terrific voice to listen to and renders an excellent reading.

The story is, of course, well known and has had several film and TV adaptations as well as those made for the Radio. This adaptation comes in 25 weekly parts of 30 – 40 minutes in length. It felt a bit drawn out at first but a reasonable pace and a faithful reading which allows a leisurely consideration whether new to the book or not.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it Jane Austen’s characters are brought to life by Andrews and the wit we have come to expect from Austen is nicely delivered. The story is delightful and having read it many years ago and seen a number of the screen, big and small, offerings there is a lovely cosy sense to being able to sit back, relax and let the story flow into your mind.

I am counting this as my Classic Club read although I will no doubt be reading it again in the not too distant future.

Information

Part One Released On: 30 Sep 2025 | each part has a 12 month expiration.

Narrated by Dame Julie Andrews

Comprehensive bio on Classic FM : ‘Julie Andrews: Legendary soprano’s movies, age, children and all you need to know’ (18 December 2023)

A Noiser podcast production.

Recording Engineer: Sam Hamilton | Produced by Katrina Hughes | Script Supervisors: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Ed Baranski and Duncan Barrett | Sound Supervisors: Tom Pink and Oliver Baines | Sound Design by Tom Pink | Audio Editing by Dorry Macaulay | Compositions: Dorry Macaulay | Music Performances by Dorry Macaulay, Oliver Baines, Mia Whittaker, and Moritz Flohr. | Mix and Mastering: Tom Pink

Noisier – podcast: Apple (available on Apple and various – may incur a charge)

Buy the book (various editions)

Amazon | Hive | Bookshop.org (affiliate link) | Your local library | Your local bookshop

The Classics Club

The Classics Club was started on March 7, 2012 by a blogger who wanted to see more people posting about classics literature in the blogosphere. Her goal was to,

“unite those of us who like to blog about classic literature, as well as to inspire people to make the classics an integral part of life.”THE CLASSICS CLUB

She thought about several ideas but finally settled on inviting people to make a list of (at least 50) classic titles they intend to read and blog about within the next five years.

After a few months, the club grew, and it was decided to create a separate site to house everything related to The Classics Club – And this blog was born!

The club moved here in August 2012. So far it has all these members who have read these books.

For more information, please see this page for FAQs on how to join the club, how to submit a post on the Reviews Page, how to submit an event on the Events Page, etc.

My List

Author

Jane Austen (1775–1817) is one of the best known English novelists of all time. She is best remembered today for her novels critiquing the upper classes, in particular Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. Like most female writers of her era, Austen published her works anonymously, and it was only after her death that her name was set to her works.

Books

Other works