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The Old Maid
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
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The Old Maid
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Summary
The story follows the life of Tina, a young woman caught between the mother who adopted her - the beautiful, upstanding Delia - and her true mother, her plain, unmarried ‘aunt’ Charlotte, who gave Tina up to provide her with a socially acceptable life.
The three women live quietly together until Tina’s wedding day, when Delia’s and Charlotte’s hidden jealousies rush to the surface. Originally serialized in The Red Book magazine in 1922, The Old Maid is an examination of class and society as only Edith Wharton could undertake.
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What listeners say about The Old Maid
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- C. A. Harfleet
- 05-03-22
Excellent writing and performance
I love Edith Wharton.always understated but with humanity and depth. Beautifully narrated. Entirely sympathetic to the story and style
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Prof P. M. King
- 06-07-22
Perfection
A moving, restrained, balanced little gem. A defining Wharton novelette in which the mores and attendant dilemmas of a long gone era are vividly evoked with a humour and compassion that keeps them timelessly fresh.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Patti O'Kane
- 22-04-24
Emotional and Uplifting
For such a short story the author gives such vivid descriptions of the characters and their emotions
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M. Coakley
- 24-01-23
Another Wharton Gem
A wonderful story from The Gilded Age era . Very moving. The narration was excellent.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S.MH.
- 14-03-22
Perfect in every way
Beautiful story- and there is simply no better narrator for Edith Wharton than Eleanor Bron.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JAO
- 28-02-20
A Gem
Classic Edith's Wharton; crisp writing, attention to detail and credible three-dimensional characters. An enjoyable two hours and forty-seven minutes.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- richard2
- 03-01-23
This is a wonderful story
full of subtlety and deep feeling. The two protagonists are extraordinary characters, and their dilemma is truly a tragic one. I loved the reading - excellent.
I can’t help feeling this might have made a great 1940s film with Aunt Charlotte being played by Bette Davis !
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 19-05-23
Stunning
So moving, exquisite writing and so sensitively narrated. I have discovered Edith Wharton via audible and it’s a revelation!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Pamela
- 23-12-21
Nothing is New!
As the saying goes there's no tale like an od tale. And no doubt this is a truism simply because, despite the march of time and changes in social manners and mores, people are people.
The novella concerns the choices made when people are too young to understand their own personalities and what they need and want from life. Then for the rest of people's lives, these decisions play out and they live through those irreversible decisions.
Delia, well-married to dull Jim, rejected passion and is conventionally a success. Cousin Charlotte followed her heart once and doomed herself to be an old maid. In the balance between them is Tina, officially a mysterious foundling.
To be truthful I am not sure how much I got out of this book and offers a bleak landscape of people's lives. And for me, it is the pointless polarizing discussions about a subject that can never be resolved.
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1 person found this helpful