Rookwood: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Rookwood, credited to William Harrison Ainsworth, 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 Rookwood, by William Harrison Ainsworth. Read by Paul Curran. A rich and complex historical Gothic-Adventure story centring on the murky deeds of an ancient family. It is a wonderfully atmospheric piece that combines narrative, poetry, song, and descriptive writing to great effect. The character of Dick Turpin that we know today - the dashing highwaymen and unmatched horseman - can be said to stem directly from this novel, as the most famous part of the book (often published on its own in the past), Turpin's Ride To York, is devoted to him. Although seemingly little known to a modern audience, Ainsworth's 'Rookwood' gave the world the image of the highwayman with which we are all so familiar. (Summary by paulc)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Rookwood
• Author credits: William Harrison Ainsworth
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 53
• Listed recording duration: 16:57:18

Catalogue topics

• gothic
• adventure
• highwayman
• dick turpin

Opening tracks: first 24 of 53

1. 01 - Chapter 00 - Memoir — 11:15
2. 02 - Chapter 00 - To My Mother & Preface — 17:12
3. 03 - Chapter 01 - The Vault — 28:49
4. 04 - Chapter 02 - The Skeleton Hand — 18:52
5. 05 - Chapter 03 - The Park — 27:52
6. 06 - Chapter 04 - The Hall — 12:47
7. 07 - Chapter 05 - Sir Reginald Rookwood — 17:58
8. 08 - Chapter 06 - Sir Piers Rookwood — 7:43
9. 09 - Chapter 07 - The Return — 5:30
10. 10 - Chapter 08 - An Irish Adventurer — 27:32
11. 11 - Chapter 09 - An English Adventurer — 42:55
12. 12 - Chapter 10 - Ranulph Rookwood — 27:42
13. 13 - Chapter 11 - Lady Rookwood — 18:56
14. 14 - Chapter 12 - The Chamber of Death — 5:40
15. 15 - Chapter 13 - The Brothers — 21:17
16. 16 - Chapter 01 - The Storm — 18:30
17. 17 - Chapter 02 - The Funeral Oration — 21:11
18. 18 - Chapter 03 - The Churchyard — 19:58
19. 19 - Chapter 04 - The Funeral — 14:03
20. 20 - Chapter 05 - The Captive — 15:03
21. 21 - Chapter 06 - The Apparition — 27:40
22. 22 - Chapter 01 - A Morning Ride — 18:45
23. 23 - Chapter 02 - A Gipsy Encampment — 36:57
24. 24 - Chapter 03 - Sybil — 23:28

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.