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Evelina

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Evelina

By: Frances Burney
Narrated by: Dame Judi Dench, Finty Williams, Geoffrey Palmer
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About this listen

Fanny Burney's wickedly funny satire follows the trials and romantic adventures of the young and beautiful Evelina as she tries to make her way through 18th-century Britain handicapped by her three great problems: being poor, being illegitimate - and being a girl.

Evelina was a raging best seller when it was first published in 1778 and is widely credited with being the first of the great British domestic novels. Burney was a direct influence on her immediate follower, Jane Austen, who used some of the final lines from Burney’s novel Cecilia for one of her own fairly successful novels: "...if to pride and prejudice you owe your miseries...to pride and prejudice you will also owe their termination".

Public Domain (P)2008 Silksoundbooks Limited Classics Drama & Plays Funny Witty
All stars
Most relevant
I had never heard of Frances Burney before but now I wonder why she is not better known, as this story was every bit as delightful as Jane Austen.

I cannot speak highly enough of the narration. Finty Williams was a perfect choice for the role, and of course Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer were excellent also. An engaging and enchanting performance, just wonderful.

stunning

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I must admit, I was surprised at the straight talking feminism in this piece. Loved it.

astonishingly modern

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Gosh, you can see the influence of Fanny Barney on Jane Austin’s writing. Great story to housework or decorate to.

Evelina

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A very enjoyable book, light, funny and romantic at times, interspersed with serious problems and farcical situations. You can clearly see Jane Austen had been heavily influenced by Frances Burney's writing and spotting some similar themes, names and turns of phrase made it very comfortable to listen to. That being said it's much longer and far more critical of its era's treatment of women and class and more direct with it's observations of some of the worst characters. The performance by all the narrators is excellent.

The reason it's not 5 stars is most likely due to a change in times (more than 200 years) I didn't really understand the motivations of some of the characters (even after they had been explained) but I imagine it's from a lack of understanding of the time and expectations of their society. Likewise, the romance wast particularly convincing as an epsitolery it rather told than showed the romance. It was also very long, and at times overly gushing which made it drag in places. 

I will definitely look into some of her other works. 

Wonderfully performed

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I thoroughly enjoyed this! Fascinating social history. Cads, swooning, villains, intrigue, scandal and 80 year old poor women being forced to race - for bets!

Narration and plot

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