Irish Idylls: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Irish Idylls, credited to Barlow, Jane, 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 Irish Idylls by Jane Barlow. Read by James E. Carson Irish Idylls is a collection of short stories about Irish peasantry during the 19th Century. Ms Jane Barlow, an Irish lass, having, unbelievably, an uncertain date of birth, has a turn of phrase that delights and simultaneously enmeshes the reader/listener with compassion for her tableau. She captures the tune and lilt of dialogue so delightfully. A tiny sample: "So, by hook or by crook, Lisconnel holds together from year to year, with no particular prospect of changes; though it would be safe enough to prophesy that should any occur, they will tend towards the falling in of derelict roofs, and the growth of weeds round deserted hearthstones and crumbling walls." Although of high social standing, I suspect she might have been a “left-footer” but maybe not, her sympathies lying so dramatically with local Irish peasants of her acquaintance. She portrays a decided antipathy toward English rule/subjection of these peasants along with a rather stark anti-clerical and anti-religious leaning, which I find somewhat unusual for the time. But there it is at the end of the day. This book, Irish Idylls, published in 1893, was perhaps her greatest success and was followed by a sequel Strangers at Lisconnel in 1895, which, God willing, we may also get to in due course. I do hope I get a chance to sing an Irish ballad somewhere herein. (Summary by JCarson)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Irish Idylls
• Author credits: Barlow, Jane
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 9
• Listed recording duration: 8:34:07

Catalogue topics

• short stories
• Ireland
• peasant life

Track guide

1. 01 - Section 01 — 1:02:40
2. 02 - Section 02 — 1:01:53
3. 03 - Section 03 — 1:03:24
4. 04 - Section 04 — 1:01:45
5. 05 - Section 05 — 1:01:10
6. 06 - Section 06 — 1:00:43
7. 07 - Section 07 — 1:02:36
8. 08 - Section 08 — 1:01:39
9. 09 - Section 09 — 18:20

Listen to this recording

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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.