The Virginia Woolf Collection cover art

The Virginia Woolf Collection

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Virginia Woolf Collection

By: Virginia Woolf
Narrated by: Tilda Swinton, Jessie Buckley, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Kirby, Adetomiwa Edun, Andrea Riseborough, Tracy Ifeachor, Samuel Barnett, Johnny Flynn, Juliet Stevenson
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £31.99

Buy Now for £31.99

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

Four books...one groundbreaking author.

Mrs Dalloway (1925)

One day; two lives. Mrs Dalloway prepares for a party, whilst a First World War veteran treads the same streets. Follow 24 hours in the lives of two extraordinary people, each of them recovering from the First World War. A hostess and a soldier come together...in the most unexpected of ways. Kristin Scott Thomas performs.

To the Lighthouse (1927)

A family’s summer holidays see them return to the Isle of Skye over days and years, sailing boats and enduring wars. As we follow the slow unfolding of the Ramsays' fortunes, both children and adults grow, love, lose. Listed as one of the best novels of the 20th century. Jessie Buckley performs.

A Room of One’s Own (1929)

Based on a series of lectures to women’s colleges, this collection of essays first published in 1929 explores a female’s need to have space to create, exist...survive. A must-listen for anyone exploring the roots of feminism - or simply what it is to be a woman. A provocative and pervasive listen that remains relevant to listeners of any age. Tilda Swinton performs.

The Waves (1931)

A dreamscape novel that follows six characters united by a single friend. Set against a stunning English coastal landscape, the novel dares to be one of Woolf’s most inventive narratives as it explores the journey from childhood to adulthood and beyond that - death, and all that we may learn. Vanessa Kirby, Adetomiwa Edun, Andrea Riseborough, Tracy Ifeachor, Samuel Barnett, Johnny Flynn and Juliet Stevenson perform.

Public Domain (P)2021 Audible, Ltd
Classics Funny
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

H.G. Wells: The Science Fiction Collection cover art
The Jane Austen Collection cover art
Slaughterhouse-Five cover art
Jane Eyre cover art
The Trial cover art
The Brontë BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
Emma [Naxos Edition] cover art
The Poems of T. S. Eliot cover art
Anna Karenina cover art
I Capture the Castle cover art
Ulysses cover art
Beloved cover art
The Return of the Native cover art
Shakespeare: The Complete Works cover art
The Chekhov Collection of Short Stories cover art

What listeners say about The Virginia Woolf Collection

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    66
  • 4 Stars
    34
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    9
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    84
  • 4 Stars
    25
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    52
  • 4 Stars
    27
  • 3 Stars
    19
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    7

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

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

Mrs Dalloway

Only listened to the first one as I’ve got so many others I’d like to listen to, but it’s lovely! A really gentle, perceptive story. KST reads it beautifully!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Utterly Sublime

Kristin Scott Thomas, Mrs. Dalloway was worth the Credit alone, this is probably the definitive performance of Virginia Woolf's work, utterly sublime.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

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

Pure and beautiful

Not an easy listen, took me several months to finish (I needed to take mental health breaks between each book), but it was worth it. Carried out in extremely high quality, beautiful performances. Worthy to the works of Woolf.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Depressing listen

Very gloomy listening for car journeys. Engagingly read and atmospheric but more cheerful listening needed.

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
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful readings of extraordinary writing

What a beautifully curated performance! I loved this journey through some of Wolfe’s most famous works some of which I’d read before, others which I experienced for the first time. It took me several weeks to listen and savour this wonderfully evocative writing which recreates past times and meditates on the passing of time.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Excellent, but not perfect

Mrs Dalloway was a good story but nothing special, though the performance of Scott Thomas was lovely. To The Lighthouse is one of the finest novels I have ever read/listened to and the performance of Jessie Buckley is a sensation. A Room of One's Own is a fantastic essay and Swinton's performance does more than enough justice to the work. Finally, on The Waves, I found the novel near impossible to follow, though the performances remain top notch.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

To the lighthouse review only

Absolutely loved chapter 17, going round the table into everyone's thoughts as they shift through the meal. It's a perfect standalone piece of pure mastery.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

The title resonates in every splash

A masterpiece of literature that is truly made to sound like the sea, yet like real people too - by Woolf and the actors alike.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Beautiful writing

Elegantly written. Will never get tired of her work. A great collection & a treasure of stories.

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
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely sublime for fans of Virginia Woolf

I note with sadness that some of the reviewers here were disappointed because they were 'waiting for something to happen' - among other complaints. Such a shame that those reviewers clearly are not familiar with Virginia Woolf's works and her writing style ('stream of consciousness'). It is true enough that her books could be described as 'not an easy read' with perhaps the only exception being Orlando, which is not represented in this audio collection.
As a devotee of Ms Woolf myself, however, this was a glorious experience. I wasn't fully engaged by Jessie Buckley's narration of To The Lighthouse, but Kristin Scott Thomas' rendering of Mrs Dalloway was wonderful, perfect, and the ensemble cast for The Waves made what is indeed a challenging reading experience a rich journey into the thoughts and lives of six friends - it was easier to keep in your head who was telling their story, because of the different voices.
But I was most delighted and surprised by the always superb Tilda Swinton's reading of A Room of One's Own. Of course I've previously read this essay and found it enlightening and interesting but... I had to work at it. Hearing Ms Woolf's words in Tilda's thoroughly soothing and expressive voice meant I absorbed it better, and what an insightful, witty and still entirely relevant essay it is.
I thoroughly recommend this audio collection to anybody who appreciates Virginia Woolf's works. I can't imagine these books being narrated any better.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

32 people found this helpful