The Well-Beloved cover art

The Well-Beloved

 Preview

The Well-Beloved

By: Thomas Hardy
Narrated by: Robert Powell
Listen for free

About this listen

 Set on the Isle of Slingers, this novel follows the exploits of Jocelyn Pierston, a sculptor who falls in love successively with three generations of island women, seeking female perfection, just as he strives to realise the ideal woman in stone.Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Classics

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Return of the Native cover art
Classic Romance cover art
Far from the Madding Crowd & The Return of the Native cover art
Desperate Remedies cover art
The Trumpet-Major cover art
Hardy: The Mayor of Casterbridge cover art
A Pair of Blue Eyes cover art
Tess of the D'Urbervilles cover art
All Souls' Night cover art
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens cover art
David Copperfield cover art
Jane Eyre cover art
The Ultimate Ghost Stories Collection: Novels and Stories from Edgar Allan Poe, M.R. James, Charles Dickens, Henry James, and More cover art
Hard Times cover art
Rogue Herries cover art
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol: A Radio Dramatization cover art
All stars
Most relevant
Lesser known Hard nove. Enjoyable walking my home island with the characters. Great narrator. Do listen.

Fickle Love on Portland and in London

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not Hardy's best and his portrayal of the ageism prevalent against women of a certain age jars with modern sensibilities or at least it should. Still the conceit of a sculptor with an idealised version of womanhood in the flesh as opposed to stone is as ever nicely worked. The various complications of changing relationships including the round robin jiltings are reminiscent of a Shakespearen plot or less charitably a soap opera .The Wessex description of the "Island" ie Portland Bill and the export of Portland stone by ship to London are of historical interest. There are some echoes of Hardy's personal life .

Ineresting but not brilliant

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

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I like Thomas Hardy novels, but despite this one being read by one of my favourite voice actors, it was not enough to hold my attention. The story rambles and I lost all sympathy with the protagonist. I didn't finish the book.

Would you ever listen to anything by Thomas Hardy again?

Yes.

What does Robert Powell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

He has a beautiful voice and reads very well, bringing his characters to life. He manages to read the female parts in a very believable way, as well, which is no mean feat.

Did The Well-Beloved inspire you to do anything?

Only to stop reading it! To be honest, it did get me to sleep quite well on a number of nights, which is no bad thing since I often find it difficult. But then, probably almost any book read by Robert Powell would have done that job.

Any additional comments?

I'm glad I tried it, since it was one of the few Hardy's I have never read.

Love the voice, but it's not enough

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A strange little book. One of Hardy’s later works and the last of his novels to be published. More lighthearted than his usual work. Worth reading but not on the same level as Tess or The Mayor Casterbridge.

Hardy’s Quirky Rom-Com

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Robert Powell makes the book come alive. The story is so unusual but really captivating as we see in the three ages some constants but with subtle changes through aging.

A really enjoyable story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews