Barry Lyndon cover art

Barry Lyndon

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £15.23

Buy Now for £15.23

About this listen

Barry Lyndon, first serialized in 1844, is a swashbuckling romp through the aristocratic Europe of the 18th century. The central character, a roguish Irishman, narrates most of the story in the first person, relating his adventures as a soldier in both the British and Prussian armies; as a gambler and confidence man under the guidance of his uncle, a practiced fraud; and as a fortune hunting gigolo in search of wealthy widows and heiresses. Although Barry is a most unsavory character, he is not without his charms.

Barry Lyndon represented a new kind of fiction: the novel without a hero. (Thackeray would later expand these ideas in his most popular novel, Vanity Fair.) The story contains Thackeray's best plot development and contains some of the best prose he ever wrote. Many listeners will hear an echo of Henry Fielding in this magnificent story, though Thackeray's belief that chance was the most overriding factor in most men's fortunes was definitely at odds with the philosophy of his predecessor. Barry Lyndon is a stirring narrative delivered in a rip-roaring whirlwind of a novel.

Public Domain (P)2012 Audio Connoisseur Classics Adventure
All stars
Most relevant
Charlton Griffin is a great reader of the classics and his renderings of Dickens are top class. He certainly does his best with this book, but as the proverb goes: “You cannot make a silk purse out of a pigs ear”. The novel is tedious and dull, so much so that I gave up after a few hours of listening.

Dull and Tedious Book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.