Callista: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Callista, credited to John Henry Newman, 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 Callista by John Henry Newman. Read in English by Carol Pester Callista, A Tale of the Third Century, was written by John Henry Newman, who was a scholarly and personable Anglican theologian who became a Catholic priest and cardinal, bringing a good number of Protestant friends along with him into the Roman faith. He wrote Callista as the fruit of a challenge (dare we say “bet”?) with Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman that each man would write a novel about the early church. Wiseman wrote Fabiola and Newman wrote Callista, publishing it in 1855. The title character is a beautiful and talented, but unhappy Greek woman living in pagan Roman North Africa in the third century. She is wooed by a lonely young Christian man, for whom she shows little interest, though she deeply desires to know more about his Christian faith. However, the third century was a dangerous time for Christians, with the onset of persecution under the Emperor Decius. The colorful cast of characters react to the persecution in different ways, but some are put to the ultimate test of whether they will maintain their faith at the price of torture and painful death. Cardinal Newman's writing style is often lively, and occasionally humorous, especially in his conversations. But there is no denying that modern readers may find parts of it quite wordy, particularly in the descriptions of geography (beware Chapter 1!). Most readers are likely to find themselves caring very much about the characters, and cheering for their victories, in addition to learning quite a bit about 3rd century history along the way. (summary by Carol Pelster)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Callista
• Author credits: John Henry Newman
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 36
• Listed recording duration: 10:38:18

Catalogue topics

• martyrdom
• early christianity

Opening tracks: first 24 of 36

1. 01 - Chapter 1 — 22:51
2. 02 - Chapter 2 — 18:11
3. 03 - Chapter 3 — 8:02
4. 04 - Chapter 4 — 14:06
5. 05 - Chapter 5 — 20:49
6. 06 - Chapter 6 — 21:29
7. 07 - Chapter 7 — 25:06
8. 08 - Chapter 8 — 19:44
9. 09 - Chapter 9 — 32:17
10. 10 - Chapter 10 — 21:53
11. 11 - Chapter 11 — 23:45
12. 12 - Chapter 12 — 16:04
13. 13 - Chapter 13 — 24:11
14. 14 - Chapter 14 — 14:15
15. 15 - Chapter 15 — 17:11
16. 16 - Chapter 16 — 16:45
17. 17 - Chapter 17 — 16:20
18. 18 - Chapter 18 — 21:43
19. 19 - Chapter 19 — 24:43
20. 20 - Chapter 20 — 13:10
21. 21 - Chapter 21 — 6:16
22. 22 - Chapter 22 — 29:59
23. 23 - Chapter 23 — 16:15
24. 24 - Chapter 24 — 12:23

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.