Bleak House

Charles Dickens

Simon Vance (Narrator)

01-01-99

32hrs 58min

Abridgement

Unabridged

Genre

Fiction/Classics

As low as $0.00
Play Audio Sample

01-01-99

32hrs 58min

Abridgement

Unabridged

Genre

Fiction/Classics

Description

“Dickens could not have performed better than [Simon Vance] does here. With a motley cast of characters to challenge the skill of any narrator, his brilliant dramatizations range from a homeless street urchin to an arrogant barrister, from a canny old windbag to a high-minded heroine who deserves the happy ending Dickens affords her. [Vance] is also persuasive as the indignant voice of the author himself, attacking both the injustice of the law and the cruel indifference of society. This may be one of the most Dickensian novels Dickens ever wrote. Highly recommended.” Library Journal (starred audio review)

A Crime Reads Pick of Legal Thrillers in the Classics

Bleak House opens in a London shrouded by fog—a fog that swirls most densely about the Court of Chancery, where the obscure case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce lies lost in endless litigation, slowly devouring an inheritance in legal costs.

Against this ominous background, Dickens’ rich tapestry of a novel weaves together the fortunes and desires of several characters whose fates are tied to the case: Ada and Richard, two young orphans who stand to inherit and wish to marry when they do; the worthy John Jarndyce, their voluntary guardian while the case is pending; and Esther Summerson, Jarndyce’s protégée, whose romance is complicated by torn loyalties and whose heritage is shrouded in mystery and scandal. This darkly comic portrait of London society is often regarded as Dickens’ best.

Praise

“Dickens could not have performed better than [Simon Vance] does here. With a motley cast of characters to challenge the skill of any narrator, his brilliant dramatizations range from a homeless street urchin to an arrogant barrister, from a canny old windbag to a high-minded heroine who deserves the happy ending Dickens affords her. [Vance] is also persuasive as the indignant voice of the author himself, attacking both the injustice of the law and the cruel indifference of society. This may be one of the most Dickensian novels Dickens ever wrote. Highly recommended.” Library Journal (starred audio review)

Bleak House represents the author at a perfectly poised late-middle moment in his extraordinary art.” The Guardian (London)

“Features one of his most holy of heroines…He brilliantly projects Esther as his type of ideal woman, with her modesty, perceptiveness, and moral responsibility.” The Telegraph (London)

Bleak House is one of the greatest novels by one of the giants of English literature. It is also, in the words of one legal scholar, ‘the ultimate indictment of law, lawyers, and the legal system in the English language.’” Crime Reads

Bleak House is a satirical look at the Byzantine legal system in London as it consumes the minds and talents of the greedy and nearly destroys the lives of innocents—a contemporary tale indeed.” Amazon.com

“Perhaps his best novel…When Dickens wrote Bleak House he had grown up.” G. K. Chesterton, English author and theologian

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Details
More Information
Language English
Release Day Dec 31, 1998
Release Date January 1, 1999
Release Date Machine 915148800
Imprint Blackstone Publishing
Provider Craig Black
Categories Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Classics, Literary Fiction, Literature & Fiction, Classics, Evergreen Classics, Evergreen Classics, Literature & Fiction, Classics, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult
Author Bio
Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was born in Landport, Portsmouth, England, the second of eight children in a family continually plagued by debt. A legacy brought release from the nightmare of debtors’ prison and child labor and afforded him a few years of formal schooling. He worked as an attorney’s clerk and newspaper reporter until his early writings brought him the amazing success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. He was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and he remains popular, responsible for some of English literature’s most iconic characters.

Narrator Bio
Simon Vance

Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.

Overview

A Crime Reads Pick of Legal Thrillers in the Classics

Bleak House opens in a London shrouded by fog—a fog that swirls most densely about the Court of Chancery, where the obscure case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce lies lost in endless litigation, slowly devouring an inheritance in legal costs.

Against this ominous background, Dickens’ rich tapestry of a novel weaves together the fortunes and desires of several characters whose fates are tied to the case: Ada and Richard, two young orphans who stand to inherit and wish to marry when they do; the worthy John Jarndyce, their voluntary guardian while the case is pending; and Esther Summerson, Jarndyce’s protégée, whose romance is complicated by torn loyalties and whose heritage is shrouded in mystery and scandal. This darkly comic portrait of London society is often regarded as Dickens’ best.

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