The Return of the Native: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Return of the Native, credited to Thomas Hardy, 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 public domain recording of Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native. Like all of Hardy's work, The Return of the Native (1878) is passionate and controversial, with themes and sympathies beyond what a good Victorian would ever admit. A modern and honest novel of chance and choice, faith and infidelities, this dark story asks what is free will and what is fate? What is the true nature of nature, and how do we fit together? Can we fit together? A tragedy set in the barren land of Edgon Heath. Our heroine, Eustacia, is proud, passionate, cruel, fickle, avaricious, and desperate. She burns every life she touches, never able to find the mad love and exotic world she dreams of. Our supposed hero, Clym, is modest, steady, plain, moral, and dutiful. He is satisfied returning from Paris to the simple comfort of home. When they come together, the Heath will come apart. Originally released as five books, in classic tragic form, a sixth, tacking on a "happy ending," was added by editor and public pressure. (Summary by Marlo Dianne)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Return of the Native
• Author credits: Thomas Hardy
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 49
• Listed recording duration: 17:35:22

Opening tracks: first 24 of 49

1. ROTN - Preface — 2:30
2. ROTN - Book 1 - 01 — 13:01
3. ROTN - Book 1 - 02 — 16:40
4. ROTN - Book 1 - 03 — 53:01
5. ROTN - Book 1 - 04 — 12:16
6. ROTN - Book 1 - 05 — 31:27
7. ROTN - Book 1 - 06 — 37:10
8. ROTN - Book 1 - 07 — 16:44
9. ROTN - Book 1 - 08 — 12:28
10. ROTN - Book 1 - 09 — 26:30
11. ROTN - Book 1 - 10 — 24:54
12. ROTN - Book 1 - 11 — 22:27
13. ROTN - Book 2 - 01 — 12:18
14. ROTN - Book 2 - 02 — 11:55
15. ROTN - Book 2 - 03 — 13:37
16. ROTN - Book 2 - 04 — 26:12
17. ROTN - Book 2 - 05 — 17:25
18. ROTN - Book 2 - 06 — 26:36
19. ROTN - Book 2 - 07 — 21:53
20. ROTN - Book 2 - 08 — 25:30
21. ROTN - Book 3 - 01 — 13:34
22. ROTN - Book 3 - 02 — 22:59
23. ROTN - Book 3 - 03 — 36:47
24. ROTN - Book 3 - 04 — 20:46

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.