Ralph the Heir: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Ralph the Heir, credited to Anthony Trollope, 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 Ralph the Heir by Anthony Trollope. Read in English by Arnold. As usual, Trollope creates a nice variety of characters of different English classes, sentiments and positions. The primary themes are the inheritance of property, extravagance or reason in the spending of assets, the mating of young people, and the electoral practices of the time. The election chapters are based on Trollope's own experiences when he ran for Parliament. There are, of course, many subplots which allow Trollope to express, through dialog, his opinions about greed, snobbery, work ethics and dandyism. Trollope probably regretted the duplicative naming of his characters after a while; we have two Gregory Newtons, uncle (and present Squire of Newton) and one of his nephews. Then there are several Ralphs: the (deceased) father, Ralph his son (the heir), and Ralph (not the heir) the son of the uncle Gregory! As they appear, Trollope has to interject "not the heir", or "the other Ralph". Ralph the heir is an extravagant, easy living young man who has spent himself into debt, and is faced with having to either sell his right to the family property, or marrying a wealthy tradesman's (a breeches maker cutely named Mr. Neefit) daughter. Four young women are major characters, and these are sought by the two Ralphs, young Gregory, and a bootmaker, Ontario Moggs (don't you love the names?). These include the fairly sedate daughters of the family lawyer, a ravishing West Indian beauty come to live with them, and the tradesman's daughter. There are the classic novel "misunderstandings" from errors in communication; while the reader knows the real circumstances, the characters can't resolve issues apparently standing in the way of love or friendship. This is one of the few novels in which the reader can applaud such a misunderstanding, keeping the undeserving heir from unmerited success in his wooing. ( Arnold Banner)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Ralph the Heir
• Author credits: Anthony Trollope
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 58
• Listed recording duration: 23:24:26

Catalogue topics

• victorian
• entail
• electioneering

Opening tracks: first 24 of 58

1. 01 - Sir Thomas — 27:21
2. 02 - Popham Villa — 28:37
3. 03 - What Happened On The Lawn At Popham Villa — 21:27
4. 04 - Mary Bonner — 22:16
5. 05 - Mr. Neefit And His Family — 36:12
6. 06 - Mrs. Neefit's Little Dinner — 21:28
7. 07 - You Are One Of Us Now — 21:09
8. 08 - Ralph Newton's Troubles — 34:12
9. 09 - Ontario Moggs — 21:30
10. 10 - Sir Thomas In His Chambers — 22:34
11. 11 - Newton Priory — 27:34
12. 12 - Mrs. Brownlow — 26:57
13. 13 - Mr. Neefit Is Disturbed — 27:18
14. 14 - The Rev. Gregory Newton — 19:31
15. 15 - Clarissa Waits — 29:55
16. 16 - The Cheshire Cheese — 22:14
17. 17 - Ralph Newton's Doubts — 22:44
18. 18 - We Won't Sell Brownriggs — 15:42
19. 19 - Polly's Answer — 17:07
20. 20 - The Conservatives Of Percycross — 33:18
21. 21 - The Liberals Of Percycross — 17:19
22. 22 - Ralph Newton's Decision — 28:34
23. 23 - I'll Be A Hypocrite If You Choose — 21:31
24. 24 - I Find I Must — 27:52

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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.