Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Within a Budding Grove

  • By: Marcel Proust
  • Narrated by: John Rowe
  • Length: 23 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (74 ratings)

$0.00 for first 30 days

Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Within a Budding Grove cover art

Within a Budding Grove

By: Marcel Proust
Narrated by: John Rowe
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Remembrance of Things Past cover art
Sodom and Gomorrah (Cities of the Plain), Part I cover art
Far Eastern Tales cover art
The Aspern Papers cover art
The Tragic Muse cover art
The Custom of the Country cover art
Slaughterhouse-Five cover art
Edward Adrift cover art
Anna Karenina cover art
The Bostonians cover art
The Time Traveler's Wife cover art
The American cover art
The Odd Women cover art
Mrs. Dalloway cover art
Night and Day cover art
The Common Reader Volume 1 cover art

Summary

In the second volume of Proust's great novel, the narrator emerges as an actor in the drama of his own life. Swann has now dwindled into a husband for his former mistress, Odette, and their daughter, Gilberte, becomes the adolescent narrator's playmate and tantalising love object.

We move from Paris to the seaside town of Balbec, from ritualised social performances to midsummer spontaneity and from Gilberte to her successor, Albertine.

In Balbec, the narrator is befriended by the painter Elstir who introduces him both to the craft of painting and to the mysterious 'little band' of girls. An artistic education is thus intricately interwoven with a journey of sexual self-discovery.

This is now the entire audiobook, not in two parts.

©2008 Marcel Proust (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Love Books? You'll Love Audible.

Transform your day

Transform your day

Replace endless scrolling with endless listening. Chores can be fun.

Listen everywhere

Listen everywhere

You can’t turn pages while you drive—but you can press play.

Carry your entire Library

Carry your entire Library

Your stories go where you go. Audiobooks don’t weigh a thing.

Listen and learn

Listen and learn

Discover stories that can change your mind, your well-being, and your life.

Reach your reading goals

Reach your reading goals

Download titles to listen offline, wherever you are in the world.

Find your niche

Find your niche

WIth thousands of titles to explore, there’s something for everyone.

Try for £0.00 £7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

What listeners say about Within a Budding Grove

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    62
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    54
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    44
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

"Like floating down a river..."

Beautiful book and beautifully read. I've heard reading Proust feels like floating river and I couldn't agree more. Listening to Proust however, even better!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

Begin here !

You must , you have to listen, and if you haven’t, you must begin to hear Proust now,neither pretentious nor elitist, I have to admit to never finishing any one of the whole set, but John Rowe drew me in, somehow, it worked, or perhaps it is fifteen years on, and I have more time? I have now completed all, on Audible, and it has been a joy, with the help of Mr Rowe, of course !

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

the reading was beautiful, lyrical and soothing

i loved the book. it was so inciteful of the human spirit and I could identify with so many of the emotions described. beautifully crafted, the sentences were like waves on the ocean going on and on. the pain of young love, growing up, and the comfort of family were all so tenderly portrayed. exquisite.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!