Indian Summer: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Indian Summer, credited to William Dean Howells, 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 Indian Summer by William Dean Howells. Read by Leonard Wilson. This novel is a mellow but realistic story that captures the feel of that delightful time of the year. Theodore Colville, a sophisticated American gentleman, has just entered his middle years as he returns to a scene, Florence, Italy, that played an important part in his early manhood. It was here nearly twenty years earlier that he first fell in love, seemingly successfully until a sudden and harsh rejection. Now that his career as a newspaper editor has ended, he is barely ensconced in the Italian city when he meets a lady from his past, a close friend of his lost love. Lina Bowen, now a widow with a young daughter, is an attractive and charming socialite among the American residents of Florence. Also living with her at this time as a temporary ward is a beautiful young girl just blossoming into womanhood, Imogene Graham. Colville, formerly rather shy, has become an exceedingly witty conversationalist. He quickly becomes a favorite with young Effie Bowen and Imogene Graham. Miss Graham indicates a disdain for the shallow young men that she has met and is highly attracted to the urbane, intelligent Mr. Colville, who becomes a regular member of the congenial little coterie. However, Imogene seems to be too devoted to this older gentleman, and Colville does not discourage her. Mrs. Bowen, who apparently is captivated by his charm as well, begins to feel overshadowed by her lovely young ward. This is the core of the intriguing plot. Howells’ characters are totally believable in their thoughts, their motivations, their words, and their actions. The dialogue is delightful, both in the lighter conversations and in the more passionate speeches. Aided by the social milieu of expatriates in a historic city of art and culture, the story moves at first slowly and pleasantly, but begins to build inexorably toward an emotional crisis. This novel is a very engrossing and satisfying tale of people that we become truly interested in. ( Summary by Leonard Wilson )

Recording facts

• Recording title: Indian Summer
• Author credits: William Dean Howells
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 24
• Listed recording duration: 10:42:19

Catalogue topics

• adventure
• historical fiction
• nature
• romance
• satire

Track guide

1. 01 - Chapter 1 — 19:54
2. 02 - Chapter 2 — 19:28
3. 03 - Chapter 3 — 26:11
4. 04 - Chapter 4 — 22:45
5. 05 - Chapter 5 — 22:55
6. 06 - Chapter 6 — 26:26
7. 07 - Chapter 7 — 47:23
8. 08 - Chapter 8 — 41:44
9. 09 - Chapter 9 — 31:20
10. 10 - Chapter 10 — 20:04
11. 11 - Chapter 11 — 50:02
12. 12 - Chapter 12 — 15:14
13. 13 - Chapter 13 — 30:56
14. 14 - Chapter 14 — 24:17
15. 15 - Chapter 15 — 33:54
16. 16 - Chapter 16 — 40:31
17. 17 - Chapter 17 — 20:05
18. 18 - Chapter 18 — 28:58
19. 19 - Chapter 19 — 17:18
20. 20 - Chapter 20 — 38:15
21. 21 - Chapter 21 — 16:41
22. 22 - Chapter 22 — 22:04
23. 23 - Chapter 23 — 21:32
24. 24 - Chapter 24 — 4:33

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.