The Magic Skin cover art

The Magic Skin

 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.

The Magic Skin

By: Honoré de Balzac
Narrated by: John Bolen
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 £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

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

 "The possession of power, no matter how enormous, does not bring the knowledge how to use it." Raphael, a failed writer, deep in debt, and unrequited in love, is about to take a suicidal plunge into the Seine River. Just in time, he discovers the "Magic Skin" in an antiquity shop. Its supernatural powers grant every wish but it extracts a terrible toll! This parable depicts the malaise of 19th century France.©2002 Tantor Media Incorporated Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Vendetta cover art
Le Pere Goriot cover art
Father Goriot cover art
Cousin Bette cover art
The Lady of the Camellias cover art
A Confession cover art
The Count of Monte Cristo cover art
The Lady with the Dog & Other Stories (AmazonClassics Edition) cover art
The Blithedale Romance cover art
Of One Blood; or The Hidden Self (AmazonClassics Edition) cover art
The Picture of Dorian Gray: AOG Edition cover art
A Woman of No Importance cover art
First Love cover art
The Ultimate Gothic Horror Collection: Novels and Stories from Edgar Allan Poe; Bram Stoker, Henry James, Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde; and More cover art
The Professor cover art
The House of the Seven Gables cover art
All stars
Most relevant
Balzac is a loved Parisian companion of many a jaunt to a g?te. Give the guy a break, you need the absolute of the French countryside to enjoy this one fully. Not to everyone?s taste, but then you pass many caravans on Le Franciliene and though bound for campsites we?re all still on holiday, aren?t we?

What a poor production of ?La Peau de chagrin.? One of the true French greats really grates here ? having to turn my speakers right up to get any sort of reasonable delivery. ?In-audible?, I think is more appropriate.

The Chagrin is in the listening??.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator is too monotone for anyone to enjoy listening to him. He has an odd accent too.

Great story but painful delivery

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is, I think, the worst read audiobook I have ever listened to. It is so badly read that it is not possible to follow or understand the story. Pauses in all the wrong places, pseudo-French accents (as if one needed this) for the dialogue, and the said (un)French accents make it almost impossible to hear, much less comprehend, what is going on. Had I known in advance, I should never have bought it. Pity, as I understand it's a great novel!

The Magic Skin

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
All direct speech is read in a faux French accent and is completely unintelligible. The pronunciation of French words and places is incorrect.

Terrible audio. Headache inducing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator does ALL the dialogue in an execrable French accent. Like inspector Clouseau- except this isn’t a comedy.
An insult to Balzac.
Avoid.

Worst narration ever

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