Try free for 30 days
-
Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh
- Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $16.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
Wuthering Heights
- Penguin Classics
- By: Emily Brontë
- Narrated by: Aimee Lou Wood, Kristin Atherton - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before: of the intense passion between the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and her betrayal of him. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.
-
-
Read beautifully
- By Ebony C on 14-07-2023
-
Failure Is Not an Option
- Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
- By: Gene Kranz
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America's manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA's Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. He participated in the space program from the early days of the Mercury program to the last Apollo mission, and beyond. He endured the disastrous first years when rockets blew up and the United States seemed to fall further behind the Soviet Union in the space race.
-
-
Could not stop listening
- By Mint Swindle on 21-11-2018
-
The Wind in the Willows
- By: Kenneth Grahame
- Narrated by: Michael Hordern
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is a timeless tale of waterside Britain that has been loved by generations of children and acclaimed as a classic. The story of Mole, Ratty, Badger, and Toad, and their escapades, whether messing about on the river or poop-pooping in Toad's shiny new car, cannot fail to enchant.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Robbie on 13-05-2016
-
The Three Musketeers (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Alexandre Dumas, William Robson - translator
- Narrated by: Guy Mott
- Length: 27 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young nobleman d’Artagnan has arrived in Paris intent on joining the guardians of King Louis XIII. He befriends the regiment’s most formidable musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, and together they unite in their commitment to uphold justice. Soon, a royal indiscretion thrusts them into an audacious escapade of courtly intrigue, thwarted romance, and daring rescue. But it’s the Machiavellian schemes of a powerful enemy and the wicked seductions of an ingenious female spy that will be their greatest challenges.
-
Pride and Prejudice
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Rosamund Pike
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Jane Austen’s most beloved works, Pride and Prejudice, is vividly brought to life by Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike ( Gone Girl). In her bright and energetic performance of this British classic, she expertly captures Austen’s signature wit and tone. Her attention to detail, her literary background, and her performance in the 2005 feature film version of the novel provide the perfect foundation from which to convey the story of Elizabeth Bennet, her four sisters, and the inimitable Mr. Darcy.
-
-
Wonderful reading of a gorgeous book
- By Belinda on 23-08-2016
-
The Road
- By: Cormac McCarthy
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America is a barren landscape of smoldering ashes, devoid of life except for those people still struggling to scratch out some type of existence. Amidst this destruction, a father and his young son walk, always toward the coast, but with no real understanding that circumstances will improve once they arrive. Still, they persevere, and their relationship comes to represent goodness in a world of utter devastation.
-
-
a great listen
- By Patrick on 23-03-2020
-
Wuthering Heights
- Penguin Classics
- By: Emily Brontë
- Narrated by: Aimee Lou Wood, Kristin Atherton - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before: of the intense passion between the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and her betrayal of him. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.
-
-
Read beautifully
- By Ebony C on 14-07-2023
-
Failure Is Not an Option
- Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
- By: Gene Kranz
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America's manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA's Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. He participated in the space program from the early days of the Mercury program to the last Apollo mission, and beyond. He endured the disastrous first years when rockets blew up and the United States seemed to fall further behind the Soviet Union in the space race.
-
-
Could not stop listening
- By Mint Swindle on 21-11-2018
-
The Wind in the Willows
- By: Kenneth Grahame
- Narrated by: Michael Hordern
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is a timeless tale of waterside Britain that has been loved by generations of children and acclaimed as a classic. The story of Mole, Ratty, Badger, and Toad, and their escapades, whether messing about on the river or poop-pooping in Toad's shiny new car, cannot fail to enchant.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Robbie on 13-05-2016
-
The Three Musketeers (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Alexandre Dumas, William Robson - translator
- Narrated by: Guy Mott
- Length: 27 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young nobleman d’Artagnan has arrived in Paris intent on joining the guardians of King Louis XIII. He befriends the regiment’s most formidable musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, and together they unite in their commitment to uphold justice. Soon, a royal indiscretion thrusts them into an audacious escapade of courtly intrigue, thwarted romance, and daring rescue. But it’s the Machiavellian schemes of a powerful enemy and the wicked seductions of an ingenious female spy that will be their greatest challenges.
-
Pride and Prejudice
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Rosamund Pike
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Jane Austen’s most beloved works, Pride and Prejudice, is vividly brought to life by Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike ( Gone Girl). In her bright and energetic performance of this British classic, she expertly captures Austen’s signature wit and tone. Her attention to detail, her literary background, and her performance in the 2005 feature film version of the novel provide the perfect foundation from which to convey the story of Elizabeth Bennet, her four sisters, and the inimitable Mr. Darcy.
-
-
Wonderful reading of a gorgeous book
- By Belinda on 23-08-2016
-
The Road
- By: Cormac McCarthy
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America is a barren landscape of smoldering ashes, devoid of life except for those people still struggling to scratch out some type of existence. Amidst this destruction, a father and his young son walk, always toward the coast, but with no real understanding that circumstances will improve once they arrive. Still, they persevere, and their relationship comes to represent goodness in a world of utter devastation.
-
-
a great listen
- By Patrick on 23-03-2020
-
Frankenstein
- By: Mary Shelley
- Narrated by: Dan Stevens
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Narrator Dan Stevens ( Downton Abbey) presents an uncanny performance of Mary Shelley's timeless gothic novel, an epic battle between man and monster at its greatest literary pitch. In trying to create life, the young student Victor Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control, setting into motion a long and tragic chain of events that brings Victor to the very brink of madness. How he tries to destroy his creation, as it destroys everything Victor loves, is a powerful story of love, friendship, scientific hubris, and horror.
-
-
Great way to get through a classic
- By DoctorFirefly on 19-09-2017
-
David Copperfield
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage
- Length: 36 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Between his work on the 2014 Audible Audiobook of the Year, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel, and his performance of Classic Love Poems, narrator Richard Armitage ( The Hobbit, Hannibal) has quickly become a listener favorite. Now, in this defining performance of Charles Dickens' classic David Copperfield, Armitage lends his unique voice and interpretation, truly inhabiting each character and bringing real energy to the life of one of Dickens' most famous characters.
-
-
Cop a feel of this heap of a read
- By Philip on 30-03-2017
-
The Invisible Man
- By: H. G. Wells
- Narrated by: John Banks
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A mysterious stranger in a long-sleeved coat, with a bandaged face and wide-brimmed hat, arrives in a small English village. But his incongruous appearance is nothing compared to the secret of the clandestine experiments he is undertaking...With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin - the new guest at The Coach and Horses - is at first assumed to be a shy accident-victim. But the true reason for his disguise is far more chilling....
-
-
Classic
- By Anonymous User on 06-11-2020
-
Gulliver's Travels
- Penguin English Library
- By: Jonathan Swift
- Narrated by: Hugh Laurie
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A savage and hilarious satire, Gulliver's Travels sees Lemuel Gulliver shipwrecked and adrift, subject to bizarre and unnerving encounters with - among others - quarrelling Lilliputians, philosophising horses, and the brutish Yahoo tribe that change his view of humanity - and himself - forever. Swift's classic of 1726 portrays mankind in a distorted hall of mirrors as a diminished, magnified, and finally, bestial species, presenting us with a comical yet uncompromising reflection of ourselves.
-
-
not great
- By Anonymous User on 22-05-2020
-
Lord Jim
- By: Joseph Conrad
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his many years on the high seas as a mariner, mate, and captain, Joseph Conrad created unique works, including Heart of Darkness, that have left an indelible mark on world literature. First published in 1899, his haunting novel Lord Jim is both a riveting sea adventure and a fascinating portrait of a unique outcast from civilization.
-
The Secret Agent
- By: Joseph Conrad
- Narrated by: David Horovitch
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our agent, a man named Mr Verloc, minds his own business while he keeps his shop in London's Soho, alongside his wife, who attends to her aged mother and disabled brother. Their lives are turned upside down when Verloc is reluctantly employed to plant a bomb and destroy an observatory in London. What was once the perfect bomb plot inevitably turns awry and Verloc, his family and his associates are forced to face the consequences.
Editorial reviews
After a half dozen sub-par narrations of Joseph Conrad's electrifying and polarizing classic portrait of colonization, Audible has taken matters in its own hands, enlisting dreamy dramatist Kenneth Branagh for voice work that is sure to finally hit the five-star mark. Branagh has won numerous top awards for his acting and directing, both on stage and in film. Audible has chosen wisely in Branagh, who is already well practiced in giving definitive voice to editions of beloved works from the likes of Shakespeare, Chekhov, and C.S. Lewis.
This time around, Branagh brings his charming brand of gravitas to Charles Marlow, a trenchant observer who sails down the Congo toward the end of the 19th-century for a chilling and unforgettable look at what the ivory trade has done to the soul of civilization. As his tiny ship navigates deeper into the jungle toward Kurtz, mysterious wunderkind of the inner station who is almost worshipped by the savage natives, Branagh slowly and gracefully melts into Marlow's chatty paranoia with an instinct for madness that the actor so well acquainted with Hamlet is expected to deliver. Branagh is by turns invigorating and haunting as Marlow emerges from the heart of darkness to perform an act of merciful deceit on the ailing Kurtz's behalf.
Famously criticized by postcolonial scholars for its portrayal of all Africans as less than human, and then equally famously adapted into Francis Ford Coppola's horrifying Vietnam portrait Apocalypse Now, this novel has survived a century of brutal treatments that nevertheless do not mar the beauty of the original text. Whether you treasured this book in high school English class or thought it was too boring to be worth your full attention, Joseph Conrad's essential best work is now finally ready for a proper revisiting thanks to Kenneth Branagh's superior narration. —Megan Volpert
Publisher's Summary
Prose that demands to be read aloud requires a special kind of narrator. For the Audible Signature Classics edition of Joseph Conrad’s atmospheric masterpiece, Heart of Darkness, we called upon four-time Academy Award nominee Kenneth Branagh.
Branagh’s performance is riveting because he reads as though he’s telling a ghost story by a campfire, capturing the story’s sense of claustrophobia, while hinting at the storyteller Marlow’s own creeping madness. Heart of Darkness follows Captain Marlow into the colonial Congo where he searches for a mysterious ivory trader, Kurtz, and discovers an evil that will haunt him forever.
With this landmark work, Conrad is credited with bringing the novel into the twentieth century; we think Branagh brings it into the twenty-first.
Stay tuned for more one-of-a-kind performances from actors David Hyde Pierce, Leelee Sobieski, Tim Curry, and more, only from Audible Signature Classics.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 25-09-2020
An exceptional performance!
An utterly exceptional performance by Kenneth Branagh. His imaginative and articulate performance gives a great depth and richness to Conrad’s story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott Goldsmith
- 20-09-2017
A stand out classic
Any additional comments?
This was the first time I had read / listened to this tale, very quickly you could tell you were listening to a classic.
Everything about this book is enjoyable, well deserving of its place upon the literary classics shelf.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Erica
- 17-03-2022
Wow
Most certainly a lesson in both how to write and tell a story. My first Conrad novel. An absolute privilege.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert
- 07-04-2023
Wonderful to revisit this book after many years
I wish I had this recording available when studying heart of Darkness at school and later at university. Branagh’s narration is perfect and brings the story alive. Wonderful stuff.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Russell Ayres
- 11-10-2023
A fine reading of a great work
While I would not say Brannagh’s voice would’ve occurred to me as Marlow’s, he does a fine job of it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 30-07-2020
Heart of Darkness
Colonisation is bad and I feel very sad for the elephants. A product of its time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 15-09-2020
Greater than I ever thought possible
Greater than I ever thought possible. a shattering story of colonial adventurism as seen through the eyes of the protagonist
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark Houlihan
- 19-07-2017
Branagh makes you feel you are there
A great performance by Branagh makes you feel you are with Marlow in heart of darkness.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alicia
- 19-07-2017
Exceptional
Beautiful writing and an exceptional reading from Kenneth Branagh - makes you realise the difference a good narrator can make. A short listen, very worthwhile.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ben M.
- 15-08-2021
Gorgeous
An extraordinary, powerful and affecting book, beautifully narrated. I have read it previously but gained more from the telling. A delight.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!