Elsie Venner
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Bernard Langdon is close to earning his degree in medicine when his family finds itself in financial difficulties, forcing Langdon to interrupt his studies for a time in order to earn money with which to fund the rest of his degree. He therefore leaves Boston in order to teach at a school in a village in the area. One of his students is Elsie Venner, a seventeen year-old girl, who is avoided by her peers and keeps apart. Somehow, Elsie exerts a great fascination on Langdon, as there is something distinctly different about her with her strangeness and quick temper.
Elsie Venner is one of Oliver Wendell Holmes' "medicated novels", in which he explores a medical condition of a character. Holmes was teaching at Harvard Medical School when this book was published, and he chose to let a professor of medicine narrate the story. Elsie Venner is notable for its strong Boston local colour, being at the same time the book in which Holmes coined the term "Boston Brahmin". - Summary by Carolin (15 hr 57 min)
Chapters
Prefaces | 8:32 | Read by BettyB |
The Brahmin Caste of New England | 10:26 | Read by BettyB |
The Student and his Certificate | 24:40 | Read by Ashley M. |
Mr. Bernard tries his Hand | 37:36 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Moth flies into the Candle | 23:25 | Read by Deon Gines |
An Old-Fashioned Descriptive Chapter | 29:34 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Sunbeam and the Shadow | 23:20 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Event of the Season, part 1 | 38:23 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Event of the Season, part 2 | 35:57 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Morning After | 31:11 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Doctor orders the Best Sulky | 9:13 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Doctor calls on Elsie Venner | 19:03 | Read by Deon Gines |
Cousin Richard's Visit | 30:51 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Apollinean Institute | 26:12 | Read by Deon Gines |
Curiosity | 30:41 | Read by Deon Gines |
Family Secrets | 22:13 | Read by Deon Gines |
Physiological | 30:36 | Read by Deon Gines |
Epistolary | 28:22 | Read by Deon Gines |
Old Sophy calls on the Reverend Doctor | 36:59 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Reverend Doctor calls on Brother Fairweather | 18:21 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Spider on his Thread | 25:24 | Read by Deon Gines |
From without and from within | 24:54 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Widow Rowens gives a Tea-Party, part 1 | 29:59 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Widow Rowens gives a Tea-Party, part 2 | 26:28 | Read by Deon Gines |
Why Doctors differ | 32:23 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Wild Huntsman | 27:53 | Read by Deon Gines |
On his Tracks | 23:18 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Perilous Hour, part 1 | 24:49 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Perilous Hour, part 2 | 22:59 | Read by Deon Gines |
The News reaches the Dudley Mansion | 35:14 | Read by Deon Gines |
A Soul in Distress | 20:45 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Secret is Whispered, part 1 | 25:13 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Secret is Whispered, part 2 | 26:12 | Read by Deon Gines |
The White Ash | 21:00 | Read by Deon Gines |
The Golden Cord is loosed | 32:09 | Read by Deon Gines |
Mr. Silas Peckham renders his Account | 33:45 | Read by Deon Gines |
Conclusion | 9:30 | Read by Deon Gines |
Reviews
Unique blend...
Phxjennifer
This story is a unique blend of medicine, melodrama, romance, social satire, scientific speculation, and theology; something for everyone! (Attention Editors: in several places, between chapters mostly, the narrator is heard practicing a phrase several times or clearing her throat. )