Best Austen Audiobooks (& Where To Listen To Them)
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2 days ago
Soothing voices for timeless love stories
Audible is working on a new Pride and Prejudice audiobook, voiced by a stellar cast: Marisa Abela as Elizabeth Bennet, Harris Dickinson as Mr. Darcy, Jessie Buckley as Caroline Bingley, Will Poulter as Mr. Wickham and Glenn Close as Lady Catherine de Bourgh. What better news in this, the 250th anniversary year of Jane Austen’s birth? While Audible says ‘this ambitious audio adaptation’ will remain ‘faithful to the original text’, the audiobook platform has teased fans can expect ‘a unique interior perspective from heroine Elizabeth Bennet’ and ‘cinematic sound design’ to ‘build romantic tensions’.
Audible’s new recording of Austen’s most famous novel will be available to subscribers from 9 September 2025. Until then, here are the Jane Austen audiobooks we’re already ardently in love with.
Best Jane Austen Audiobooks
Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Austen’s debut novel is a delightful (and timeless) exploration of the head versus the heart in love. While our practical hero Elinor Dashwood is falling desperately in love with Edward Ferrars – who may or may not be engaged – her more emotional sister Marianne pines after the dashing but unreliable John Willoughby. (Naturally, we’ll find that neither head nor heart is better, and we all need a bit of both.)
Best Audiobook
Audible, narrated by Rosamund Pike
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Austen’s most famous novel also contains her most strong-willed protagonists: Elizabeth Bennet, and the ridiculously wealthy Mr Darcy. Is this the origin of enemies to lovers? The duo firmly loathes each other, but later learn the opposite is true. Expect meddling mothers, insipid parsons, and the genesis of Austen’s preoccupation with the importance of marrying for love.
Best Audiobook
SAGA, narrated by Adjoa Andoh
Mansfield Park (1814)
Mansfield Park is a more sober affair, starring often-overlooked heroine Fanny Price who is shy and timid yet morally upright, and must navigate a household of less virtuous relatives. She is raised by her wealthy aunt and uncle alongside cousins Tom, Edmund, Maria and Julia, but only Edmund treats her with kindness. When Crawford siblings Henry and Mary arrive, everything is thrown into a tailspin – and Fanny’s virtue is put to the test.
Best Audiobook
Audible, narrated by Frances Barber
Emma (1816)
Emma Woodhouse is well-intentioned, perpetually matchmaking and utterly clueless (hence the ‘90s film adaptation). She knows what’s best for everyone’s love lives apart from her own, totally missing the obvious affections of sensible Mr Knightley. A delicious comedy of errors, Emma proves that even the most privileged protagonists can be endearingly and hilariously wrong.
Best Audiobook
Penguin, narrated by Fiona Shaw
Northanger Abbey (1818)
Austen’s marmite novel, Northanger Abbey is a Gothic parody centring on Catherine Morland, a naive young woman with an overactive imagination. When she holidays in Bath with her wealthy neighbours, the Allens, she expects melodrama at every turn. She meets a flurry of new people, and is eventually invited to stay at the titular ancient family estate. Here, she expects dark secrets, hidden passages, perhaps even a murdered wife – and she playfully starts snooping…
Best Audiobook
Penguin, narrated by Emma Naomi
Persuasion (1818)
If you’re typically swayed by a second shot at love, Persuasion is the Austen book for you. Anne Elliot’s love story is a decade in the making: she watches her former love interest Captain Frederick Wentworth try to marry everyone else before finally realising Anne was the one all along. Expect some heartrending love letters, too.
Best Audiobook
Spotify, narrated by Cynthia Erivo
Lady Susan (1871)
Austen’s oldest protagonist is Lady Susan Vernon, a widowed aristocrat who loves to meddle and manipulate. She rules with charm and ruthless efficiency, all in pursuit of the marriages that will prove advantageous for herself and her daughter. Written in epistolary form, it’s a playful glimpse into the darker side of Austen’s contemporary world.
Best Audiobook
Naxos, narrated by Harriet Walter
