Finnegans Wake cover art

Finnegans Wake

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Finnegans Wake

By: James Joyce
Narrated by: Jim Norton, Marcella Riordan
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

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

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

Finnegans Wake, the greatest avant-garde novel of all time, was first published 70 years ago - and people are still trying to work out what it is about. There is Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker - aka HCE (Here Comes Everyone) - and Anna Livia Plurabelle, but also Finnegan the hod carrier (or was he a giant?), whose wake is the subject of the book. This is a masterly reading of the abridged version, with copious notes aiding comprehension.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)1998 Naxos AudioBooks Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Inspiring Scary

Listeners also enjoyed...

 A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake cover art
James Joyce cover art
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man cover art
Ulysses cover art
Dubliners cover art
The James Joyce BBC Radio Collection cover art
Robert Browning: Selected Poems cover art
Dubliners cover art
Watt cover art
Murphy cover art
Molloy cover art
The Third Policeman cover art
The Unnamable cover art
Remembrance of Things Past: Swann's Way cover art
The Soft Machine: The Restored Text cover art
The Man Without Qualities cover art

Critic reviews

"Listening to Jim Norton and Marcella Riordan is a lot easier than trying to read the book." ( The Guardian)
All stars
Most relevant
Jim and Marcella do the most sublime reading of Joyce's masterpiece. Brings everything to life.

Joyce's masterpiece

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
After listening to and thoroughly enjoying the Naxos editions of Dubliners, Portrait and Ulysses on Audible, I was initially put off buying this audiobook as it is abridged. However, as I haven't been able to find an unabridged recording of Finnegan's Wake anywhere, I decided to give it a go. Having listened to this audiobook I see that it is a good introduction to this notoriously difficult book. It is read beautifully by the same narrators as Ulysses.
Its a shame that there isn't some sort of explanatory guide to Finnegan's Wake available on Audible to go with this, such as Anthony Burgess' "Here Comes Everybody" or a lecture series such as the Great Courses "Joyce's Ulysses" series which I found really helpful in understanding Ulysses in greater depth.

Don't be put off!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I've been a long time James Joyce fan but always felt too intimidated to attempt 'The Wake'. When I saw the audio version on Audible I decided to listen and decide whether I wanted to attempt the full book. And I do! The well acted reading is illuminating and I was able to enjoy the rhythms and musicality of the words as I believe Joyce intended. I would recommend this audio book to any one who lives poetry or James Joyce. My only criticism of the recording would be the 'sign off' at the end, this makes it difficult to skip back to the beginning straight after listening and preserve the circular nature of the novel. Well worth a listen though!

Elucidating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliant performance of wonderful work of literature. I could not have read it without listening at the same time to Jim Norton and Marcella Riordan's inspired reading. The book is funny, witty, and aesthetically engaging. The nonsense text takes on meaning as the he reader gets used to the rhythm and style of the prose.

Tour de force

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Makes no sense - although, I’m sure it’s an easier listen than read. It’s a dream state, which is why it is difficult to follow. That said, it’s an absolute delight to listen to. Worth putting on and going with the flow.

No sense

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