Tag: Jane Austen

10 Great Audiobooks for Fans of Jane Austen

December 27, 2023

One of literature’s most beloved authors, Jane Austen has mesmerized generations of readers with romantic tales like Pride and Prejudice that are set within Regency England. And even if you’ve read her novels before, they’re always worth revisiting as audiobooks.

Spotify recently redesigned the covers for a number of literary audiobook classics, including five from Austen. Working with Spotify designer Jessica Dugan, artist Ariel VanNatter took inspiration from embroidered handkerchiefs to create the detailing and lettering featured on each cover. 

If you’re caught up on your Austen classics, we also have a collection of romantic romps, thrilling whodunits, and non-fiction deep dives to recommend. So keep scrolling to discover 10 great audiobooks for fans of Jane Austen.

Rekindle your love for Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen

Narrated By Hannah Curtis

Austen’s debut novel Sense and Sensibility is a tale of love set in late 18th-century England that has captivated audiences since it was published. After tragedy strikes sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, they find themselves searching for suitable husbands. Each approaches love differently, with one impulsively jumping into romance while the other taking a more prudent path. Elinor feels ill-equipped to compete with the self-centered, fortune-driven society she finds herself in, whilst Marianne’s unshakeable belief in her own feelings makes her susceptible to the designs of unscrupulous men. Can they both find true love?

Mansfield Park

Jane Austen

Narrated By PJ Roscoe

Winding romantic entanglements, mature situations, and familial drama are common in Austen’s literature, but Mansfield Park is one the author’s most complex novels. The book has been lauded for its challenging of the conservative values of the age, and for its masterful artistry which cleverly disguises the social commentary within. When Fanny Price is very young, she is sent away to live with her aunt and uncle at Mansfield Park, a large estate filled with all of Fanny’s insufferable cousins and family members. Her life is full of people mistreating her and acting unpleasant, and generally giving her a difficult time. As Fanny grows older, she faces awkward situations as her cousins begin to fall in love and pair off, and what ensues is a twisting tale of love triangles, mistaken affection, playful seductions, and the pain of young love scorned.

Emma

Jane Austen

Narrated By PJ Roscoe

Told with Austen’s signature charm and wit, Emma is the story of an unusual heroine and the chaos she creates in her friend circle with her antics. It’s a humorous and heartwarming novel that will leave readers amused and enchanted.Emma Woodhouse has successfully played matchmaker for her friend and discovers a new skill. She gets to work meddling in her friends’ affair, convincing them to call off imminent engagements and relationships in favor of ones she creates.The matchmaking quickly gets out of Emma’s hands, and her actions and instructions begin to harm. Though well-intended, her interference spirals, causing difficulties and confusion. And though Emma continues to make matches amongst her friends, the question becomes: Which couples will be together by the end?

Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen

Narrated By PJ Roscoe

Northanger Abbey is Austen’s satirical, self-referential parody of the gothic fiction. This classic coming-of-age story blends over-the-top drama, fascinating characters, and Austen’s patented eloquence. Catherine Moreland is an imaginative 17-year-old who loves to read the dark, mysterious, and romanticized genre. She is at the age that ladies of her era are meant to be courting and settling into lives of leisure. As Catherine begins to navigate the world outside of her family, her naivete and escapism become barriers to society. She begins to fancy herself as a character in a gothic drama. Everyday scenarios become romanticized and dramatic, natural deaths become mysterious, and innocent motives are questioned.

Lady Susan

Jane Austen

Narrated By PJ Roscoe

One of Austen’s earliest completed novels, Lady Susan is a fun glimpse at British society in the 18th century. It’s also a fascinating character study of Lady Susan Vernon, an unscrupulous widow who charms everyone she meets—particularly the men—and is keen on toying with emotions for her own amusement. Told in letters between various characters, Lady Susan follows the coquette’s escapades and influences on her family, and the impact her presence has on their trysts and ties to one another. 

Looking for more Regency romance?

Once Upon a Duke

Erica Ridley

Narrated By Rosie Akerman

Part of the 12 Dukes of Christmas historical romance series, Erica Ridley’s Once Upon a Duke is a heartwarming romance full of reunions and second chances. Due to the terms of an estranged relative’s will, the Duke of Silkridge must revisit the cold, unforgiving mountains where he lost everything he once loved. And as soon as he restores his family legacy, he’ll return to London where he belongs. Noelle Pratchett is immune to charming scoundrels like the arrogant duke. He stole her heart, stole a kiss, and then stole away one night never to return. Now he’s back—and they both know he won’t stay. But how can the Duke resist rekindling the forbidden spark crackling between him and the irresistible spitfire he’d left behind? How can Noelle maintain her icy shields when every heated glance melts her to her core? 

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen

KJ Charles

Narrated By Martyn Swain

In KJ Charles’ The Secret Lives of Country Gentleman, Gareth Inglis is a lonely, prickly man who was abandoned by his father. While he is used to disappointment, he still longs for connection. He falls head over heels with a charming stranger, but everything goes wrong and he’s left alone again. When Gareth’s father dies, he transforms from a shabby London clerk into Sir Gareth, with a family he doesn’t know and a grand house on the remote Romney Marsh. But the Marsh is a bleak, bare place notorious for its ruthless gangs of smugglers and deadly secrets. And when Gareth finds himself threatened from every side he must learn to trust those around him. 

Want a thriller featuring one of Jane Austen’s most notorious villains?

The Murder of Mr. Wickham

Claudia Gray

Narrated By Billie Fulford-Brown

In Claudia Gray’s The Murder of Mr. Wickham, an imagined mystery blending the styles of Jane Austen and Agatha Christie, a summer house party turns into a thrilling whodunit when Austen’s notorious villain meets a sudden and suspicious end. The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma—characters beloved by Austen fans— are throwing a party at their country estate, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.

Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. The unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.

Learn more about Jane Austen’s world

Mad and Bad

Bea Koch

Narrated By Rengin Altay

Bea Koch’s Mad and Bad takes the Regency, a world immortalized by Austen, and reveals the independent-minded, standard-breaking real historical women who lived life on their terms. Examining broader questions of culture in chapters that focus on the LGBTQIA+ and Jewish communities, the lives of women of color in the Regency, and women who broke barriers in fields like astronomy and paleontology, Mad and Bad looks beyond popular perception of the Regency into the even more vibrant, diverse, and fascinating historical truth.

Our Tempestuous Day

Carolly Erickson

Narrated By Simon Prebble

The tumult and opulence of England’s Regency era burst from the pages in Our Tempestuous Day, a work of literary nonfiction from historian Carolly Erickson. When dementia forced King George III to vacate his throne, the kingdom slipped into a decade marked with excess, scandal, and riots. Hoping to control the crisis early on, Parliament appointed the king’s unpopular son Prince George IV as Regent or caretaker. But for the next nine years, this substitute ruler shocked the nation with his drunkenness, his mistresses, and his wanton spending. 

Ready for more? Check out some great literary classics to listen to here.

Spotify’s ‘Gay Pride & Prejudice’ Marries a Beloved Classic With Queer Stories and Scripted Fiction Podcasts

June 15, 2022

The cast and crew of Gay Pride & Prejudice (L-R Ronald Peet, Vella Lovell, Zackary Grady, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Justin Mikita, Blake Lee) on the red carpet ahead of their Tribeca Film Festival Panel: “A Romantic Comedy Event: Gay Pride and Prejudice.”

Photo: The cast and crew of Gay Pride & Prejudice (L-R Ronald Peet, Vella Lovell, Zackary Grady, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Justin Mikita, Blake Lee) on the red carpet ahead of their Tribeca Film Festival Panel: “A Romantic Comedy Event: Gay Pride and Prejudice.” Credit: Getty.

Few writers have made their mark on the literary canon quite like Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice—her saga of courtship, candor, class, and, ultimately, love and marriage—has been the subject of much adaptation, interpretation, and admiration since its 1813 publication. It’s a personal favorite of playwright Zackary Grady, who, after the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage, set out to work on a script for a queer, modern stage adaptation. Around the start of the pandemic, his idea transitioned from one on the stage to a fully auditory performance—spurring the new fiction podcast Gay Pride & Prejudice.  

The Spotify Original podcast and Gimlet production follows Bennet, a 30-something gay man navigating dating and avoiding commitment in Boston, over the course of a year. The 10-episode saga—chapters run approximately 20 minutes each—stars Blake Lee as Bennet; Ronald Peet as a brooding, ex-football-playing Darcy; Tony Award–winner Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Colin; and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Vella Lovell as Charlotte. Jesse is also an executive producer alongside her husband, Justin Mikita, and Mimi O’Donnell, Gimlet’s Head of Scripted Fiction. Gay Pride & Prejudice debuted in time for Pride Month and new episodes are released every Wednesday. 

The production, which has been in the works for over six years, is one that has been treated with utmost care—as well as incredible levity. “Having someone who’s such a fanatical Jane Austen fan being charged with this has been really fun because [Zackary’s] left a lot of breadcrumbs for people who are big fans of Jane Austen,” Jesse told For the Record. Yet Zackary, fan as he is, looked at his task through a sober lens. “The purpose of an adaptation is not to nerd out, it’s to tell a good story,” he explained. And to tell a good story, Zackary indebted his setting with intention.  

A time and place for everything

“Gay Pride & Prejudice takes place from June 2015 to June 2016, so it is a period piece,” Zackary told For the Record. “And I leaned into anything that happened in that year—that was really our world and our backdrop. And what it meant to be queer through that year was very different than it is today. It feels like a time capsule already, which is both great and sad how much has changed so quickly.”

Zackary’s first impression of Pride and Prejudice was that it was “very gay” in its original telling. “They go to balls and have drama. Oh, so they’re gay,” he joked. So when the 2015 ruling occurred and Zackary realized there was finally an opportunity to tell this version of the story, he seized the opportunity. And with this backdrop came the opportunity for new evolutions of the beloved characters to unfold. 

“The way that Zackary wrote it to be so irreverent in the period that it’s set in, I didn’t feel like I had to play any kind of game with matching my character up with the Darcy that I had encountered in reading, or in other adaptations or interpretations,” said Ronald. “So it felt like all of us had free range to make our characters extremely original.” 

Ronald’s other half in the show, Blake, agreed. “Every rom-com started with [books like Pride and Prejudice],” Blake explained. “But I didn’t feel like I had to play the Lizzie Bennet from the books. There were just these moments that came through in his writing that I felt were so true to the original character, but we still got to make it our own thing.”

The entire cast, though, is clear-eyed about the relevance of Gay Pride & Prejudice’s setting today. “Hopefully the podcast serves as a reminder of how much this legislation, these decisions, impact people’s lives in such a small, nuanced way,” Zackary said. “It’s more than just laws; it’s people’s lives. And I think we forget that, and I hope that our story contains a picture of fully rounded queer people and reminds us that it’s not just a marriage certificate. It’s so much more than that.” 

Adapting and queering characters

Fans who listen to Gay Pride & Prejudice will encounter a cast of characters who represent many facets of the LGBTQ community—and give a voice not only to different races and sexualities, but also to those who are HIV+. This is conveyed through casting, scripting, and use of voice and audio queues. 

“It was important to represent the diversity in the community,” Justin told For the Record. “We also have some ideas for future seasons that would expand even further upon the world and and be inclusive of trans, nonbinary, and pansexual stories. We really wanted to make it feel authentic and inclusive without feeling forced. And it was very important for us to find a cast that also reflected the stories that we’re telling.” 

Some of the characters even flipped common conventions—such as the gay best friend trope—on their heads. “To me it’s just real life,” reflected Vella, who plays Charlotte, the token straight best friend. “In real life, it’s not just straight white men with one Black sexy friend. Everyone is a star of their own story, and everyone has different supporting characters, and I think it’s so much fun to play with that. This is real life for this particular story and this particular perspective.” 

A work of audio fiction

If marriage is a key theme of the podcast, it’s also a prominent one between the creative team and Gimlet. “Audio always lends itself well to playwrights,” noted Mimi. 

Transforming a play-based script into an audio-focused production isn’t always seamless. So that’s where Mimi comes in. “Some of the sound queues are written into the scripts already,” she noted. “I always try to get the writers to think about that ahead of time. So when the scripts are being developed, we have sound designers and engineers at Gimlet who then also weigh in. And then a lot of this transformation actually happens in post production.”

Zackary fell in love with the audio medium throughout the process as well. “Fiction podcasting is an opportunity to tell stories in such a clear way,” he said. “Audio helped the story be clearer because it was Bennet keeping his friends together while they were apart—through phone calls, text messages, voicemails—something that we couldn’t adequately convey when they were all in the same room, as they were in the original stage play. Yet we don’t even have a name for audio fiction yet. We compare it to television. We compare it to film. But it’s really its own medium.” 

Jesse also noted how excited he is for fiction podcasts to come into their own. “I find myself listening to scripted podcasts a lot more, and I love the medium,” he noted. “I’m a stage actor first, and I started doing TV and a little bit of film. So now this is another whole section of the entertainment industry that I can play with. That as an actor, as a producer, is really exciting.”

A new gaze

Gay Pride & Prejudice is part of a more recent trend embracing celebratory, over-the-top, and even satirical depictions of queer life and community in mainstream media. This is a noticeable and impactful change that Jesse sees in the new content. 

“When you’re talking about queer storytelling, it suddenly takes on this very somber, serious tone,” he said. “I mean, that’s the stuff I grew up with. I’m 46 years old, and so some of the first queer content I remember seeing always had to do with people dying of AIDS. And these are stories that are very, very important. I mean, Angels in America is one of the best pieces of writing ever. But, we’re also allowed to be flirty and fun. There are still moments in this podcast that are very serious and heartbreaking, but I wanted it to be a romp, and I think it is. We deserve that. The gays deserve a romp.”

Listen in on the tale of Bennet and Darcy in the latest episodes of Gay Pride & Prejudice every Wednesday throughout June.