Sylvia's Lovers


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.5 stars; 70 reviews)

The novel begins in the 1790s in the coastal town of Monkshaven. Sylvia Robson lives with her parents on a farm, and is loved by her rather dull Quaker cousin Philip. She, however, meets and falls in love with Charlie Kinraid, a sailor on a whaling vessel, and they become engaged, although few people know of the engagement. But Charlie gets press-ganged and has to leave without a word... (Summary from Wikipedia) (17 hr 18 min)

Chapters

01 - Monkshaven 22:15 Read by Sonja
02 - Home From Greenland 22:27 Read by Angel5
03 - Buying a New Cloak 23:16 Read by Angel5
04 - Philip Hepburn 21:32 Read by Cate Mackenzie
05 - Story of The Press-Gang 24:51 Read by Angel5
06 - The Sailor's Funeral 30:15 Read by Angel5
07 - Tête-à-tête - The Will 25:31 Read by Cate Mackenzie
08 - Attraction and Repulsion 22:07 Read by Amanda Martin Sandino
09 - The Specksioneer 20:18 Read by Amanda Martin Sandino
10 - The Refractory Pupil 20:15 Read by Cate Mackenzie
11 - Visions of The Future 31:06 Read by Cath Garde
12 - New Year's Fete; Part 1 23:16 Read by Amanda Martin Sandino
13 - New Year's Fete; Part 2 24:37 Read by Linda Velwest
14 - Perplexities 21:11 Read by Angel5
15 - Partnership 22:01 Read by Cate Mackenzie
16 - A Difficult Question 30:43 Read by Cath Garde
17 - The Engagement 21:46 Read by Lauren McCullough
18 - Rejected Warnings 27:24 Read by Lauren McCullough
19 - Eddy In Love's Current 23:00 Read by Cate Mackenzie
20 - An Important Mission 13:28 Read by Elizabeth Klett
21 - Loved and Lost 16:58 Read by Elizabeth Klett
22 - The Rejected Suitor 13:06 Read by Elizabeth Klett
23 - Deepening Shadows 17:13 Read by Cate Mackenzie
24 - Retaliation 22:00 Read by Angel5
25 - Brief Rejoicing 25:18 Read by Zarnaz
26 - Coming Troubles 30:17 Read by Angel5
27 - A Dreary Vigil 23:01 Read by Angel5
28 - Gloomy Days 24:20 Read by Cate Mackenzie
29 - The Ordeal 23:22 Read by Angel5
30 - Wedding Raiment 32:28 Read by LilyAnne
31 - Happy Days 24:37 Read by Angel5
32 - Evil Omens 18:46 Read by Cate Mackenzie
33 - Rescued From The Waves 22:16 Read by Angel5
34 - An Apparition 20:00 Read by Angel5
35 - A Reckless Recruit 19:03 Read by Cate Mackenzie
36 - Things Unutterable 19:03 Read by Diana Majlinger
37 - Mysterious Tidings 27:28 Read by Angel5
38 - Bereavement 20:56 Read by Cate Mackenzie
39 - The Recognition 24:20 Read by LilyAnne
40 - Confidences 23:19 Read by LilyAnne
41 - An Unexpected Messenger 15:13 Read by Diana Majlinger
42 - The Bedesman of St. Sepulchre 21:28 Read by Angel5
43 - A Fable At Fault 15:50 Read by Cate Mackenzie
44 - The Unknown 19:33 Read by Angel5
45 - First Words 17:16 Read by Cate Mackenzie
46 - Saved and Lost 30:16 Read by Linda Velwest

Reviews


(5 stars)

Elizabeth Gaskell is so talented at creating complicated characters who you both love and hate. Her stories have the way of appealing to such common experiences as loss and confusion and relationships of families, including the way that the feelings inthese things change with passing time. Sylvia’s Lovers is a sad story in the opinions of modern readers but when compared to her peers like Dickens, are perfectly normal in their events. Having just read her other books, this is far more heart wrenching but just as splendidly written.

Unrequited Love


(5 stars)

Sylvia's Lovers is an excellent story and the narrators do it justice. As another reviewer stated I too do not like narration by different readers in the same book but it was very well done here. Highly enjoyable and the story, which lagged at first, became so very engaging! Lost a few nights of sleep because I could not stop listening and wanted to know what happened next. Thank you LibriVox and especially the narrators.

wonderful twisted tale of love


(5 stars)

first let me praise the readers. i often avoid books on librivox when each chapter is read by a different person. but many of the readers for this book did a fine job! only a few chapters had readers that only did a so-so job, sadly the last chapter was one of those readers and if kind of lost all the emotion because the character voices she used were awkward. but overall good audio and recommended! the story follows a girls in her early teens through her early twenties. her love of a sailor, and her cousins love for her, the twists and turns that leave so many unhappy in/out of love. the story is not overly sappy, so i think many men will enjoy it just as much as women. but the down side was that sin and justice were misused to explain the ending. i find some faults with the way the author twisted the bible, but in all the the characters followed the bibles course for what happens when serious problems arise in marriage - but events of life are not punishments by god. romans6:23 death itself is punishment

Wish I was a member of a book club to have people to discuss it


(5 stars)

Wonderful novel but what does this author have against happy endings? There were just so many opportunities for Sylvia to reform her selfish ways but of of course that did not occur. Sad because I think most women yearn for a husband like Philip. This story reminds me of the metaphor 'don't cast pearls before swines', Poor Hester! Poor Philip!

Fine story, good enough recording


(4 stars)

It was a bit distracting to have changing narrators, but as it is a free copy I don't feel it is really my place to complain and I followed along just fine. As for the story, not my favorite, but it's the kind of story I suspect could grow on me over time and I did enjoy it more than I thought I was going to at first.

A mixed pleasure


(3 stars)

i am so grateful to the volunteers who read for us....thank you all. this story, very much of a bygone era, would have benefited from having a single reader and my sympathies go to those trying an accent which I would never have been able to attain. so a mixed experience but one which pays off if one sticks with it.

Long but lovely


(4 stars)

A very descriptive novel with a lot of personal growth and character development. An abrupt ending without a great deal of closure was such a shame to such a drawn out novel but I really enjoyed listening to this book ❤️

Quite a story - Talented author


(5 stars)

Interesting, seems true to life but sad story. Readers thank you for reading with clarity and accents that bring the story alive.