The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia

A duke receives an oracle so alarming that he pulls his family out of public life and hides them in the countryside, forbidding his two daughters to marry. Naturally, this is precisely when two shipwrecked princes (brave, brilliant, and instantly lovestruck) arrive in Arcadia. Since the princesses are kept from all male company, the princes resort to disguise: one as a shepherd, and one, spectacularly, as an Amazon warrior-woman, a masquerade that causes chaos in every direction as duke, duchess, and daughter all fall for the wrong person.

Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia was the most beloved work of English prose of its age. Shakespeare borrowed from it, and its blend of romance, comedy, philosophy, and sudden peril set the template for centuries of fiction. It is an Elizabethan pleasure-garden of a book: ornate, playful, and far funnier than its reputation suggests, with songs and eclogues scattered along the way like fountains.

At roughly 332,500 words, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia runs about 37 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.

The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia 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:

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