English Pronunciation Audio

Narrator Nadia May gives "a spirited reading, using skillful phrasing
to interpret the text. She gives the characters distinct voices and captures their
personalities perfectly."AudioFile

"The greatest artist that has ever written."George Eliot, writer

Jane Austen here tells the story of Elinor and Marianne, two sisters who represent
"sense" and "sensibility," or restraint and emotionalism. The impetuous Marianne falls
passionately in love with John Willoughby, who seems to be a romantic lover but in
reality is an unscrupulous fortune hunter. Meanwhile, Elinor and Edward Ferrars feel
a mutual attraction; yet he is secretly engaged to another woman. Each sister is
deserted by the young man from whom she has been led to expect an offer of marriage.
Elinor bears her deep disappointment with quiet dignity while Marianne violently
expresses her grief.

Eventually the two sisters are happily settled, Elinor with Edward, when he is at last freed
of a commitment he deeply regretted, and Marianne with a quiet, worthy man, once she
sees that her passionate "sensibility" would hardly have brought her happiness.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born at Steventon, England, and later moved to Bath. She began to write early for her own and her family's amusement. Her novels, set in her own English countryside, depict the daily lives of provincial middle-class families with wry observation, a delicate irony, and a good-humored wit. She is now considered by many scholars to be the first great woman novelist.

Nadia May has been nominated as an AudioFile Golden Voice five years running and is a winner of thirteen AudioFile Earphones Awards. She is the co-founder of TheatreFirst, a theater company in the San Francisco Bay Area where she currently lives.