Romola
George Eliot
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
George Eliot's own favorite among her novels, this novel tells the story of Romola, the intelligent daughter of a blind scholar, who is falling in love with a man who is going to change her life and the politics of Florence in a way she doesn't like. Set in 15th century Florence, it is "a deep study of life in the city of Florence from an intellectual, artistic, religious, and social point of view".
Summary by Stav Nisser and Wikipedia. (23 hr 11 min)
Chapters
00 - Introduction | 20:34 | Read by Sandra G |
01 - The Shipwrecked Stranger | 35:05 | Read by Sandra G |
02 - Breakfast for Love | 10:39 | Read by Sandra G |
03 - The Barber's Shop | 24:38 | Read by David Goldfarb |
04 - First Impressions | 7:26 | Read by David Goldfarb |
05 - The Blind Scholar and his Daughter | 39:36 | Read by Martina Hutchins |
06 - Dawning Hopes | 33:29 | Read by David Goldfarb |
07 - A Learned Squabble | 12:52 | Read by David Goldfarb |
08 - A Face in the Crowd | 30:50 | Read by Kalynda |
09 - A Man's Ransom | 17:44 | Read by Kalynda |
10 - Under the Plane-Tree | 32:37 | Read by musil |
11 - Tito's Dilemma | 10:50 | Read by musil |
12 - The Prize is nearly grasped | 33:59 | Read by Phil Chenevert |
13 - The Shadow of Nemesis | 16:48 | Read by Vsilverlining |
14 - The Peasants' Fair | 42:12 | Read by Sandra G |
15 - The Dying Message | 30:11 | Read by Sandra G |
16 - A Florentine Joke | 32:38 | Read by Lucinda Gainey |
17 - Under the Loggia | 13:30 | Read by David Goldfarb |
18 - The Portrait | 13:12 | Read by David Goldfarb |
19 - The Old Man's Hope | 9:05 | Read by David Goldfarb |
20 - The Day of the Betrothal | 20:15 | Read by Terry Goodyer |
21 - Florence expects a Guest | 21:42 | Read by SallyMc |
22 - The Prisoners | 15:53 | Read by Terry Goodyer |
23 - After-Thoughts | 6:58 | Read by David Goldfarb |
24 - Inside the Duomo | 15:14 | Read by David Goldfarb |
25 - Outside the Duomo | 10:04 | Read by Terry Goodyer |
26 - The Garment of Fear | 10:44 | Read by Terry Goodyer |
27 - The Young Wife | 21:07 | Read by Terry Goodyer |
28 - The Painted Record | 10:22 | Read by Amy Gramour |
29 - A Moment of Triumph | 15:34 | Read by kittyandcheese |
30 - The Avenger's Secret | 22:08 | Read by kittyandcheese |
31 - Fruit is Seed | 11:39 | Read by kittyandcheese |
32 - A Revelation | 26:22 | Read by Sandra G |
33 - Baldassarre makes an Acquaintance | 16:13 | Read by Terry Goodyer |
34 - No Place for Repentance | 23:17 | Read by Terry Goodyer |
35 - What Florence was thinking of | 9:08 | Read by Vsilverlining |
36 - Ariadne discrowns herself | 27:42 | Read by Phil Chenevert |
37 - The Tabernacle Unlocked | 13:42 | Read by Sergio Baldelli |
38 - The Black Marks become Magical | 20:50 | Read by Sergio Baldelli |
39 - A Supper in the Rucellai Gardens | 51:39 | Read by Elaine Webb |
40 - An Arresting Voice | 24:02 | Read by Sandra G |
41 - Coming Back | 8:56 | Read by Sandra G |
42 - Romola in her Place | 20:25 | Read by Felicity C |
43 - The Unseen Madonna | 18:01 | Read by LizMourant |
44 - The Visible Madonna | 15:54 | Read by LizMourant |
45 - At the Barber's Shop | 23:03 | Read by LizMourant |
46 - By a Street Lamp | 22:13 | Read by Sandra G |
47 - Check | 8:01 | Read by Sandra G |
48 - Counter-Check | 15:38 | Read by Sandra G |
49 - The Pyramid of Vanities | 16:51 | Read by Felicity C |
50 - Tessa Abroad and at Home | 26:04 | Read by Phil Chenevert |
51 - Monna Brigida's Conversion | 12:22 | Read by Sandra G |
52 - A Prophetess | 15:28 | Read by Amy Gramour |
53 - On San Miniato | 14:56 | Read by Sandra G |
54 - The Evening and the Morning | 9:37 | Read by Sandra G |
55 - Waiting | 9:30 | Read by Vsilverlining |
56 - The Other Wife | 30:43 | Read by Sandra G |
57 - Why Tito was Safe | 14:17 | Read by kittyandcheese |
58 - A Final Understanding | 15:18 | Read by Sandra G |
59 - Pleading | 21:35 | Read by Sandra G |
60 - The Scaffold | 14:58 | Read by kittyandcheese |
61 - Drifting Away | 12:35 | Read by Phil Chenevert |
62 - The Benediction | 11:36 | Read by kittyandcheese |
63 - Ripening Schemes | 30:47 | Read by Felicity C |
64 - The Prophet in his Cell | 22:30 | Read by Felicity C |
65 - The Trial by Fire | 18:16 | Read by David Goldfarb |
66 - A Masque of the Furies | 10:09 | Read by David Goldfarb |
67 - Waiting by the River | 15:45 | Read by David Goldfarb |
68 - Romola's waking | 21:43 | Read by David Goldfarb |
69 - Homeward | 7:29 | Read by David Goldfarb |
70 - Meeting Again | 11:18 | Read by David Goldfarb |
71 - The Confession | 15:40 | Read by David Goldfarb |
72 - The Last Silence | 7:46 | Read by David Goldfarb |
73 - Epilogue | 9:33 | Read by David Goldfarb |
Reviews
Not my favorite
Paul Busman
On a positive notice, the readers of Romula are all quite good with no difficult accents or distracting mispronounciations. The negative for me is that Romula deals much more with Florentino politics and infighting than I found interesting. This is just my personal preference so don't let it deter you for giving it a try As usual, Eliot's writing is very insightful.
Really quite interesting
Lynette C.
This does start slow if you're expecting action. but when you embrace the richness in exposition, it becomes not only quite interesting, but entertaining as well. The LibriVox readers did a fine job. I should have read this ages ago (have owned a copy, unread, for decades), but listening to it now while painting my houses trim has been very good.
Meh
KAB
Other reviewers are right in saying it takes a while to get going. There isn't enough story for the length of time it took to tell it. I skipped almost-entire chapters for their rambling, & there is a lot of content that really doesn't bear on the story. Overall, I don't know why Eliot thought this book so great, although I think it could have been had it been more consise.
LOUIS Deegan
Some readers were very good. Sadly some reader's pronunciation was do bad that they couldn't pronounce the main characters properly.