Adam Bede cover art

Adam Bede

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Adam Bede

By: George Eliot
Narrated by: Nadia May
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

About this listen

 George Eliot's first full-length novel is the moving, realistic portrait of three people troubled by unwise love.

Adam Bede is a hardy young carpenter who cares for his aging mother. His one weakness is the woman he loves blindly: the trifling town beauty, Hetty Sorrel, delights only in her baubles - and the delusion that the careless Captain Donnithorne may ask for her hand.

Betrayed by their innocence, both Adam and Hetty allow their foolish hearts to trap them in a triangle of seduction, murder, and retribution. Only in the lovely Dinah Morris, a preacher, does Adam find his redemption.

Public Domain (P)1995 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural Heartfelt
All stars
Most relevant
Beautiful lyrical writing and a fantastic performance. Kept me awake several nights wanting to hear more.

Wonderful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A wonderful unabridged version with enjoyable narration by Nadia May (except for Tottie who is a pain anyway!) the whole saga is slow to set up, but George Elliot needs this to establish the background and develop a fascinating listen.

A wonderful rendition

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Eliot’s first novel has its faults, overly long and overly sentimental, but it’s a great story for all that. A genuinely shocking insight into the customs and beliefs of our forefathers.

Flawed but Rewarding

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this book. On the whole the narrator read well, though I did find the over long pauses after each sentence spoilt the flow of the book.

A must read classic

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

What did you like most about Adam Bede?

I loved the narration, which made all the characters wonderfully sympathetic. I liked the exposition of spiritual dialogue, and that the story did NOT leave me feeling dissatisfied, the way Hardy's similar novel: Jude the Obscure does.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Adam Bede?

The annoying mother Lisbeth, yet a very sweet scene of her enjoying the company of her son, stroking his hair and such.

What about Nadia May’s performance did you like?

Wonderful accent and tone which brought the characters into my field of likeability.

Fall in Love with Adam Bede

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