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Villette cover art

Villette

By: Charlotte Brontë
Narrated by: Mandy Weston
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Summary

Long overshadowed by Jane Eyre, Villette is widely admired as one of Charlotte Bronte's finest works. This story of a young teacher at a girlâ¿¿s school in the city of Villette is a particular challenge for the young reader, for it requires maturity of vision, a fine narrative sense - and a command of French! Mandy Weston, a newcomer to Naxos AudioBooks, tells the story magnificently.
©2007 Naxos Rights International (P)2007 Naxos Rights International

What listeners say about Villette

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent reading

This is my favourite audiobook! Of course because of Charlotte Bronte's novel, but the reading of Mandy Weston makes it so much more felt. Lucy Snow's musings, restraints are thouroughly full of sense. Other characters are given their own personality. The chemistry between the personages are sparkling. I am hearing this one over and over again.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderfully read

I grew impatient at times, but there are some lovely bits to this book and it really is fantastically well read. Mandy Weston somehow manages to make Lucy Snowe a warmer, fuller character yet without betraying the spirit of the text. I'm not sure about giving the characters French accents when their words are translated, but I suppose it was an easy way to distinguish characters.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Deeply thoughtful, and a touching love story

Psychological character study, religious and philosophical meditation, and above all - a Romance with a touch of the Bronte Gothic, 'Villette' is all this and more. It is the story of Lucy Snowe, a young, orphaned English girl struggling to make her own way in life, who comes to live in the French town of Villette. It is a thoughtful, satisfying novel, with all the strength and beauty of Bronte's poetic language and vision. It is perhaps not as directly accessible as 'Jane Eyre' or even 'Shirley', it feels more mature in style, more thoughtful. It is a wonderful expression of the creative and spiritual mind of Charlotte Bronte, and a touching love story.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Did I really just read that?

Beautifully bizarre. Critically correct
A trippy euro novel that says much. Love it. Well ahead of its time

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Completely compelling

My impulse purchase of Vileltte on a £3.99 deal was a stroke of genius. I loved the story of Lucy Snowe - a mature masterpiece by Charlotte Bronte - I can believe it is not more well known. I am utterly taken in and want to start listening to it again. Today!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Repays a little patience

Am I there only male reviewer here? All here unfolds in a little world of a few strongly delineated characters, the chief of which is the narrator - she is infuriatingly self effacing most of the time but that is part of the fascination.

A marvellous writer really, managing external scenes and inner life with skilful insertions of present tense. The whole thing is like a finely worked miniature. I’m glad I did not give in to occasional impatience with this as the reward was very satisfying.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

French

I thoroughly enjoyed the reader's different English and Irish accents. I loved listening to her reading the book as long as it was in English. However, I'm very disappointed in the French, which is clearly not fluent nor natural. As a fluent speaker, I have been very annoyed at not even being able to understand what is being said at times because of the inaccurate pronunciation. Loved the story though!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating and Brilliant

I had started this book and was not enamoured or sympathetic to the heroine. I thought her self satisfied and precious. I lost the book and so downloaded this version. Thanks to Mandy Weston's brilliant rendition my sympathies about faced and I loved and empathised with Lucy Snow. Please can we have much much more of Mandy Weston's lovely and tallented voice. She is a very welcome edition to Audible Books. It makes such a difference to a book as to who is reading aloud.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Unexpected French

I was taken aback by the amount of school girl French I needed to remember but I managed. The book was read very well and I enjoyed the old fashioned English. I was glad I stuck to it and listened to the whole book, very enjoyable and I would recommend to others.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Needs a better reader

What didn’t you like about Mandy Weston’s performance?

This book needed the reader to pay more careful attention to sense and sentence structure, and which words to emphasise. In particular, it seems to me fairly evident that Mandy Weston is not a natural French speaker. Why would you choose anyone to read this novel who didn't speak French fluently? The editor should have been more picky and, at least, needed to make sure that the French was accurately pronounced.

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2 people found this helpful