The Power of Sympathy; or, the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Power of Sympathy; or, the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth, credited to William Hill Brown, 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 Power of Sympathy; or, the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown. Read in English by TriciaG; ToddHW; Larry Wilson; Devorah Allen; Jenn Broda; Availle; KevinS The Power of Sympathy was the first American novel, published in Boston in January 1789. An epistolary novel, it tells the tragic story of the relationship of an orphan girl and a man of good family, with a dramatic twist and tragic ending. It was inspired by an actual scandal in the Apthorp family of Boston, the "Ophelia" and "Martin" related within the story. It was published anonymously, and there has been controversy over the authorship. For over a century his family kept the author's identity secret. Boston antiquarians eventually fixed upon the poet Sarah (Apthorp) Morton as the probable author, despite that she was the sister of the victim and married to the alleged seducer in the real-life scandal. In the autumn of 1894, after the edition used in this recording was published, William Hill Brown's niece broke the long silence and provided proofs that he was the author. (Summary by TriciaG using public domain sources)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Power of Sympathy; or, the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth
• Author credits: William Hill Brown
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 20
• Listed recording duration: 4:15:05

Catalogue topics

• fiction
• novel
• suicide
• letters
• class
• epistolary
• Scandal
• dramatic

Track guide

1. 01 - Dedicatory, Editor’s Introduction, Preface, Dramatis Personae — 11:51
2. 02 - Letters 1-3 — 8:36
3. 03 - Letters 4-6 — 6:44
4. 04 - Letters 7-10 — 9:18
5. 05 - Letter 11 — 24:42
6. 06 - Letters 12-13 — 11:01
7. 07 - Letters 14-20 — 12:55
8. 08 - Letters 21-24 — 18:13
9. 09 - Letters 25-26 — 8:40
10. 10 - Letters 27-28 — 12:40
11. 11 - Letters 29-31 — 15:43
12. 12 - Letters 32-38 — 11:33
13. 13 - Letter 39 — 26:06
14. 14 - Letters 40-41 — 12:13
15. 15 - Letters 42-48 — 9:39
16. 16 - Letter 49 — 9:28
17. 17 - Letter 50 — 9:58
18. 18 - Letters 51-57 — 13:24
19. 19 - Letters 58-62 — 10:58
20. 20 - Letters 63-65 — 11:23

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.