The Manchester Man: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Manchester Man, credited to Isabella Varley Banks, 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 Manchester Man by Isabella Varley Banks. Read in English by Phil Benson. Jabez Clegg, the Manchester man, floats into this historical novel in 1799, carried downstream by the River Irk in flood. Jabez's rise to commercial success mirrors the rise of the city at the heart of the industrial revolution. Mrs George Linnaeus Banks (nee Isabella Varley) weaves a web of historical fact and fiction in a fast-paced story built around the rivalry between the Jabez and his nemesis Laurence Aspinall, and the fate of Augusta Ashton, who is loved by both but loves only one. An entertaining fictional journey through the early 19th century history of the city of Manchester, the book also has serious points to make about women's choices and domestic violence. (Summary by Phil Benson)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Manchester Man
• Author credits: Isabella Varley Banks
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 49
• Listed recording duration: 15:35:27

Catalogue topics

• Victorian novel
• Lancashire
• English History
• Manchester
• industrial revolution
• domestic violence

Opening tracks: first 24 of 49

1. 01 - Chapter I: The Flood — 16:21
2. 02 - Chapter II: No One Knows — 18:55
3. 03 - Chapter III: How the Rev. Joshua Brookes and Simon Clegg Interpreted a Shakesperian Text — 18:49
4. 04 - Chapter IV: Mischief — 16:58
5. 05 - Chapter V: Ellen Chadwick — 20:53
6. 06 - Chapter VI: To Martial Music — 17:05
7. 07 - Chapter VII: The Reverend Joshua Brookes — 16:16
8. 08 - Chapter VIII: The Blue-Coat School — 17:53
9. 09 - Chapter IX: The Snake — 18:39
10. 10 - Chapter X: First Antagonism — 16:36
11. 11 - Chapter XI: The Blue-Coat Boy — 21:24
12. 12 - Chapter XII: The Gentleman — 10:52
13. 13 - Chapter XIII: Simon's Pupil — 15:19
14. 14 - Chapter XIV: Jabez Goes Out Into The World — 18:30
15. 15 - Chapter XV: Apprenticeship — 17:55
16. 16 - Chapter XVI: In War And Peace — 19:47
17. 17 - Chapter XVII: In The Warehouse — 18:53
18. 18 - Chapter XVIII: Easter Monday — 17:37
19. 19 - Chapter XIX: Peterloo — 27:16
20. 20 - Chapter XX: Action And Reaction — 17:04
21. 21 - Chapter XXI: Wounded — 17:05
22. 22 - Chapter XXII: Mr. Clegg — 17:15
23. 23 - Chapter XXIII: In The Theatre Royal — 15:24
24. 24 - Chapter XXIV: Madame Broadbent's Fan — 17:56

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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.