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Villette

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Villette

By: Charlotte Brontë
Narrated by: Davina Porter
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Summary

Hailed as Charlotte Brontë’s “finest novel” by Virginia Woolf, Villette is the timeless semi-autobiographical tale of Lucy Snowe. Left with no family and no money, Lucy goes against her own timid nature and travels to the small city of Villette, France, where she becomes a school teacher in Madame Beck’s school for girls. During her stay, she falls in love—twice—and discovers an independent, inner strength rarely seen in women of her time.

Public Domain (P)2006 Recorded Books, LLC Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Romance
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After Jane Eyre this was hard going for me. Started well, then I struggled through from middle to end. Although it did improve my French! Slower and less eventful. I hate to say it but too descriptive and truncated

Hard going

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This book proves just how brilliant Charlotte Brontë was. The plot is intricate, twisty and eventful. The characters are vivid and complex. The narrator Lucy is a wonderful proxy for the reader, as she slowly realises her situation and develops her independence. It is easy to see why Jane Eyre is more popular–Villette is subtler and more French. But if you are a lover of nineteenth century fiction, you can’t let this one by.

David Porter is a great reader. Her voice is clear and supple. She captures several of the characters extremely well, especially Modeste Beck and Paul Emmanuel.

Masterful novel, beautifully read

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I love this book, listening to it is great as it’s quite a wordy book to read, I read it 20 years ago and had forgotten a lot. It feels such a real tale (and it has parallels with Charlotte Brontë’s own experience), it describes her depression and need for love and friendship and paints picture of a young woman with few advantages and who wanted to taste a bit more of life. As the Rolling Stones said, you don’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.

Classic that is kind of obscure but really modern

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If you could sum up Villette in three words, what would they be?

This is a classic and worth reading for that alone. It also gives a social history.

For me it was spoilt by unenthusiastic reading and by not including a translation of some of the most important parts of the text which was, at times, in French. I have heard this done by footnote references and this would only be needed where the French is relevant to the plot etc.

Delivery is all.

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This is one of my favourite books and there is so much to enjoy in the writing. Lucy’s adventures are fascinating and the portrayal of mental illness is very striking.

The English narration is very good - unfortunately the French, while pretty, is not very accurately pronounced, and is actually difficult to understand in places (I speak French and had to rely on my memory of the dialogue from the book). So the untranslated French is a problem for those who don’t know French, and the narration is a problem for those who do!

An old favourite

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