Pride and Prejudice

Mrs. Bennet has five daughters, no sons, and an estate that will pass to a distant cousin. So when a wealthy bachelor rents the neighboring manor, the marriage campaign begins at once. Her second daughter, Elizabeth, is too sharp and too proud to play along, especially after she overhears the rich Mr. Darcy dismiss her as merely "tolerable." The two spend the rest of the novel sparring, misjudging each other, and slowly discovering how wrong a first impression can be.

Two centuries on, Austen's dialogue still lands like it was written yesterday. Every drawing-room exchange is a fencing match, and Elizabeth Bennet remains one of the most companionable narrator-heroines in English fiction. It's a comedy and a romance that doubles as a demolition of the society it's set in, and it sparkles when spoken.

At roughly 128,700 words, Pride and Prejudice runs about 14½ hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

Pride and Prejudice is in the public domain, so the complete text is free on Project Gutenberg and LoudReader has the entire Project Gutenberg catalog built in. To listen:

1. Download LoudReader for Mac or iPhone (free, no account).
2. Search for “Pride and Prejudice” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

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