A Simple Story cover art

A Simple Story

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

A Simple Story

By: Elizabeth Inchbald
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £17.99

Buy Now for £17.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Published in 1791, A Simple Story concerns Miss Milner, who announces her passion for her guardian, a Catholic priest, thereby breaking through the barriers of his religious vocation and society’s standards for proper female behaviour.

Central themes of the novel include the importance of proper education for women. Elizabeth Inchbald was a dramatist and actress and this can be detected in her narrative, particularly her lively dialogue. The novel was well received on its publication, with one reviewer writing that "Mrs Inchbald has discovered the true path which she ought to pursue".

In several respects A Simple Story anticipates the writing of Jane Austen, especially in Inchbald’s concise and ironic style. Here it is given a delightful reading by the acclaimed actress Juliet Stevenson.

Public Domain (P)2022 Naxos AudioBooks UK Ltd.
Classics Witty Celebrity

Listeners also enjoyed...

Belinda cover art
The Nether World cover art
Sense and Sensibility (Seasons Edition - Fall) cover art
Uncle Silas cover art
Camilla cover art
The Female Quixote cover art
Clarissa, or The History of a Young Lady, Volume 1 cover art
Jane Austen's Greatest Novels cover art
The Odd Women cover art
Emma (Seasons Edition - Spring) cover art
The Tragic Muse cover art
Sartor Resartus cover art
Northanger Abbey & The History of England and Persuasion & Poems cover art
Anna of the Five Towns cover art
Hide and Seek cover art
East Lynne cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Well narrated. It is a simple story but a pleasant enough listen. Mores pretty quickly.

Pleasant enough

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Juliet Stevenson is a great actress but she reads this novel like a robot. She never enters into the spirit of the story, and destroys its drama and humour. She made everything sound miserable. I tried increasing the narration speed to 1.1 or 1.2 which helped a little. The story is interesting but it would be better to read the book rather than listen to this. I returned this audiobook to Audible.

Poor narration kills this story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.