Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The People of the Abyss

  • By: Jack London
  • Narrated by: David McCran
  • Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (8 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

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.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The People of the Abyss

By: Jack London
Narrated by: David McCran
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £11.99

Buy Now for £11.99

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.

Summary

The People of the Abyss (1903) is a book by Jack London about life in the East End of London in 1902. He wrote this first-hand account after living in the East End (including the Whitechapel District) for several weeks, sometimes staying in workhouses or sleeping on the streets. In his attempt to understand the working-class of this deprived area of London the author stayed as a lodger with a poor family. The conditions he experienced and wrote about were the same as those endured by an estimated 500,000 of the contemporary London poor. London also used the expression "the people of the abyss" in his later dystopian novel The Iron Heel (1907).

©2021 Bookstream GmbH (P)2021 Bookstream GmbH
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

London Labour and the London Poor cover art
Jack London: John Barleycorn cover art
The Road cover art
The Scarlet Plague [Classic Tales Edition] cover art
Victorian London cover art
The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 cover art
Norman: Through My Eyes: A Social and Personal History of Leicester cover art
London in the Twentieth Century cover art
The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream cover art
Incomparable World cover art
A Cuppa Tea and an Aspirin cover art
A Child of the Jago cover art
Three Men in a Boat (AmazonClassics Edition) cover art
Ragged Trousered Philanthropists cover art
Diary of a Pilgrimage cover art
Twelve Years a Slave cover art

What listeners say about The People of the Abyss

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A book everyone should read

A very vivid insight into the grim hardship of life at the turn of the last century in the Whitechapel area of London.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Terrible narrator, spoils it...

Really struggling with this because of the awful narration, feels like a wasted credit 😤

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Shocking.

This book is an eye opening exposure of the overwhelming poverty in the East End of London at the beginning of the 20th century. Well worth reading. Jack London's personal experience of living there incognito and his writing skills make this a fascinating though deeply troubling book. In spite of all its faults, the Welfare state has eliminated most of the extreme poverty depicted in this book. We are so fortunate to be living now and not then.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!