Vanity Fair (version 2)


Read by Helen Taylor

(4.8 stars; 224 reviews)

One of the great Victorian novels by an author at the height of his powers, Vanity Fair follows the fortunes of the calculating, upwardly-mobile Becky Sharp and her gentle, good-hearted friend Amelia Sedley as they leave their boarding school and embark upon their lives in Vanity Fair – the social climbing, wealth-obsessed world of Regency England in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. - Summary by Helen Taylor (35 hr 18 min)

Chapters

Chiswick Mall 20:44 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Miss Sharp and Miss Sedley Prepare to Open the Campaign 27:12 Read by Helen Taylor
Rebecca is in Presence of the Enemy 20:28 Read by Helen Taylor
The Green Silk Purse 37:12 Read by Helen Taylor
Dobbin of Ours 32:00 Read by Helen Taylor
Vauxhall 36:32 Read by Helen Taylor
Crawley of Queen's Crawley 21:39 Read by Helen Taylor
Private and Confidential 27:13 Read by Helen Taylor
Family Portraits 21:28 Read by Helen Taylor
Miss Sharp Begins To Make Friends 17:25 Read by Helen Taylor
Arcadian Simplicity 44:03 Read by Helen Taylor
Quite a Sentimental Chapter 25:32 Read by Helen Taylor
Sentimental and Otherwise 35:45 Read by Helen Taylor
Miss Crawley At Home 53:49 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Rebecca’s Husband Appears for a Short Time 26:27 Read by Helen Taylor
The Letter on the Pincushion 25:41 Read by Helen Taylor
How Captain Dobbin Bought a Piano 24:30 Read by Helen Taylor
Who Played on the Piano Captain Dobbin Bought 37:30 Read by Helen Taylor
Miss Crawley At Nurse 31:46 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Captain Dobbin Acts as the Messenger of Hymen 27:52 Read by Helen Taylor
A Quarrel About an Heiress 25:45 Read by Helen Taylor
A Marriage and Part of a Honeymoon 25:15 Read by Helen Taylor
Captain Dobbin Proceeds on His Canvass 17:59 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Mr. Osborne Takes Down the Family Bible 38:37 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which All the Principal Personages Think Fit to Leave Brighton 56:48 Read by Helen Taylor
Between London and Chatham 23:19 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Amelia Joins Her Regiment 19:05 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Amelia Invades the Low Countries 27:24 Read by Helen Taylor
Brussels 38:35 Read by Helen Taylor
The Girl I Left Behind Me 27:52 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Jos Sedley Takes Care of His Sister 35:42 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Jos Takes Flight, and the War Is Brought to a Close 49:16 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Miss Crawley’s Relations Are Very Anxious About Her 31:42 Read by Helen Taylor
James Crawley’s Pipe is Put Out 50:14 Read by Helen Taylor
Widow and Mother 33:22 Read by Helen Taylor
How to Live Well on Nothing a Year 25:36 Read by Helen Taylor
The Subject Continued 43:38 Read by Helen Taylor
A Family in a Very Small Way 43:46 Read by Helen Taylor
A Cynical Chapter 28:14 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Becky Is Recognized by the Family 25:20 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Becky Revisits the Halls of Her Ancestors 33:59 Read by Helen Taylor
Which Treats of the Osborne Family 22:07 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which the Reader has to Double the Cape 27:35 Read by Helen Taylor
A Round-about Chapter between London and Hampshire 30:25 Read by Helen Taylor
Between Hampshire and London 26:48 Read by Helen Taylor
Struggles and Trials 24:01 Read by Helen Taylor
Gaunt House 25:06 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which the Reader Is Introduced to the Very Best of Company 33:14 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which we Enjoy Three Courses and a Desert 21:25 Read by Helen Taylor
Contains a Vulgar Incident 27:19 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which a Charade Is Acted Which May or May Not Puzzle the Reader 54:40 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Lord Steyne Shows Himself In A Most Amiable Light 29:14 Read by Helen Taylor
A Rescue And A Catastrophe 26:01 Read by Helen Taylor
Sunday After the Battle 23:56 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which the Same Subject is Pursued 43:30 Read by Helen Taylor
Georgy is Made a Gentleman 34:54 Read by Helen Taylor
Eothen 24:22 Read by Helen Taylor
Our Friend the Major 32:09 Read by Helen Taylor
The Old Piano 31:19 Read by Helen Taylor
Returns to the Genteel World 16:58 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which Two Lights Are Put Out 40:15 Read by Helen Taylor
Am Rhein 28:56 Read by Helen Taylor
In Which We Meet An Old Acquaintance 32:35 Read by Helen Taylor
A Vagabond Chapter 47:08 Read by Helen Taylor
Full of Business and Pleasure 22:34 Read by Helen Taylor
Amantium Irae 44:09 Read by Helen Taylor
Which Contains Births, Marriages, and Deaths 51:26 Read by Helen Taylor

Reviews

Timeless novel, excellent reader


(5 stars)

I have been waiting for months for this second version of VF to come out. Because the free books on this app are from the nonprofit Librivox, the first version of an audio book is often not so well read. I check the Librivox.org website catalog to make a selection and then listen to it on this app. Helen Taylor is a brilliant reader who brings the story to life from the first sentence. Vanity Fair is one of the great 19th century classics, and she does it great justice. I am going to look for more of her readings. Have fun!


(5 stars)

This production of "Vanity Fair" earns every superlative: outstanding, superb, extraordinary, insuperable. I've listened to dozens of audiobooks, mostly ones I've paid for, and have happily noted the generally high quality of the medium. Helen Taylor's performance rises to the highest level and stays there throughout this long, wonderful novel. Her characterizations, pronunciation (including of other languages), inflection, pacing, and other acting and reading qualities are nothing short of astonishing. Truly, I am grateful and cannot recommend this audiobook more highly.

Superb reading! Absolutely superb!


(5 stars)

I’ve read Vanity Fair twice, and yet this beautiful reading showed me more than I had discovered myself. This book is two hundred years old, yet still full of basic truths about human nature - it just glows. (It’s the most fabulous piece of sarc, also.) I wish that every person unfortunate enough to have seen the trashy, false, shallow Reese Witherspoon film will be able to read or hear this marvelous work. Thank you, Helen Taylor. Superb reading. (Why the French wigs, Librivox?)

Superb reader! She is masterful with diverse voices.


(4 stars)

This is a very long book -- like a successful long-running TV series. I found myself wondering if it was originally a magazine serial that the author wanted to keep going as long as its ratings were high. I was a bit surprised when it all came together at the end in a coherent story arc.

oh for more stars!


(4.5 stars)

this reader is superb! the story, if listeners are unfamiliar, follows the meteoric rise and fall and rise and sort of fall of the enchanting schemer Rebecca Sharp as this penniless orphan, the daughter of a dancer at the opera, worms her way into several families of "the best people."

Amazing!


(5 stars)

Beautifully read. The novel is given a proper attention to all details, every character is given a specific tone and voice in regards to their own personality. Every nuance in speech is attend to which only makes reading and hearing the novel a greater experience. Excellent job!


(5 stars)

This witty and wise story about human nature is read to perfection by Helen Taylor. The book is quite long and I loved going into the lives of the characters and walking along with them. Thackeray must have been quite an amazing person, I loved his wry observations.

A classic narration


(5 stars)

Many narrators have tackled Thackaray's monumental novel but few have delivered it with such charm and command as Helen Taylor. Beautifully paced, and with an impressive range of character voices, this is a sheer delight for the listener. Definitely a five star perfomance!