Bleak House: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Bleak House, credited to Charles Dickens, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Read in English by Peter John Keeble Bleak house is one of Dickens finest achievements. It was written for serialisation in 1853 when Dickens was at the peak of his career. Monthly sales substantially exceeded his previous bestseller David Copperfield. Dickens' mastery of the English language comes to the fore in this book. It is an energetic book: a complex mystery story revolving around the heroine Esther Summerson and her path from childhood to marriage. During the course of Esther’s narration Dickens introduces some wonderful and unforgettable characters, and at the same time provides a searing indictment of the laws’ corruption and self-serving interests which prevailed during that time. He pokes fun at the languid and landed aristocracy and questions the societal indifference to the poor. Detection, black comedy, farce, and tragic ruin run through the story. Critics at the time were unenthusiastic but the public were enthralled by it! - Summary by Peter John Keeble

Recording facts

• Recording title: Bleak House
• Author credits: Charles Dickens
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 68
• Listed recording duration: 10:04:35

Catalogue topics

• dickens
• novel
• London
• society
• england
• 19th century
• 1853

Opening tracks: first 24 of 68

1. 00 - Preface — 5:47
2. 01 - In Chancery — 16:55
3. 02 - In Fashion — 18:09
4. 03 - A Progress — 44:33
5. 04 - Telescopic Philanthropy — 28:00
6. 05 - A Morning Adventure — 32:19
7. 06 - Quite at Home — 49:56
8. 07 - The Ghost's Walk — 24:58
9. 08 - Covering a Multitude of Sins — 46:48
10. 09 - Signs and Tokens — 34:25
11. 10 - The Law-Writer — 26:22
12. 11 - Our Dear Brother — 34:14
13. 12 - On the Watch — 34:15
14. 13 - Esther's Narrative — 34:29
15. 14 - Deportment — 47:51
16. 15 - Bell Yard — 33:47
17. 16 - Tom-all-Alone's — 21:10
18. 17 - Esthers Narrative — 32:02
19. 18 - Lady Dedlock — 39:06
20. 19 - Moving On — 32:16
21. 20 - A New Lodger — 33:31
22. 21 - The Smallweed Family — 40:19
23. 22 - Mr Bucket — 30:06
24. 23 - Esther's Narrative — 42:10

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.