The Family of Love: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Family of Love, credited to Thomas Middleton; Thomas Dekker; Lording Barry, 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 The Family of Love by Thomas Middleton; Thomas Dekker; Lording Barry. Read in English by David Lawrence; ToddHW; alanmapstone; Rob Marland; KHand; Peter Tucker; Andrew Utley; Hamlet; Sonia; Leanne Yau; Tomas Peter; Nemo; Stoofy; ScarlettG; Sandra Schmit The Family of Love is an early Jacobean city comedy, first published in 1608. Published anonymously, the play was long attributed to Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker, although more recent scholarship suggests that Lording Barry may be the sole author. The play satirises the supposed sexual lasciviousness of the Familia Caritatis or "Family of Love," the religious sect founded by Henry Nicholis in the 16th century. Maria is in love with Gerardine but her uncle, Glister the physician, opposes the match. Gerardine pretends to depart for a long ocean voyage, leaving a trunk containing his earthly possessions to Maria, but when Maria opens the trunk she finds Gerardine inside. Meanwhile, Glister cheats on his wife with the Familist wife of Purge the apothecary. Two dim-witted gallants, Gudgeon and Lipsalve, try to bed every woman they meet and want nothing more than to gain access to the secretive Familist Meeting House, which rumor has it is a bastion of free-love. With the help of Dryfat the merchant and Club the apprentice, Gerardine stages a mock trial with the intention of teaching everyone a lesson. - Summary by Wikipedia and Rob Marland

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Family of Love
• Author credits: Thomas Middleton; Thomas Dekker; Lording Barry
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 6
• Listed recording duration: 2:37:49

Catalogue topics

• satire
• religion
• London
• city comedy
• bawdy

Track guide

1. 01 - Dramatis Personae — 1:20
2. 02 - Act 1 — 26:13
3. 03 - Act 2 — 26:11
4. 04 - Act 3 — 29:34
5. 05 - Act 4 — 34:12
6. 06 - Act 5 — 40:19

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.