10 Great Audiobooks for Fans of Jane Austen

One of literature’s most beloved authors, Jane Austen has mesmerized generations of readers with romantic tales like Pride and Prejudice that are set within Regency England. And even if you’ve read her novels before, they’re always worth revisiting as audiobooks.

Spotify recently redesigned the covers for a number of literary audiobook classics, including five from Austen. Working with Spotify designer Jessica Dugan, artist Ariel VanNatter took inspiration from embroidered handkerchiefs to create the detailing and lettering featured on each cover. 

If you’re caught up on your Austen classics, we also have a collection of romantic romps, thrilling whodunits, and non-fiction deep dives to recommend. So keep scrolling to discover 10 great audiobooks for fans of Jane Austen.

Rekindle your love for Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen

Narrated By Hannah Curtis

Austen’s debut novel Sense and Sensibility is a tale of love set in late 18th-century England that has captivated audiences since it was published. After tragedy strikes sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, they find themselves searching for suitable husbands. Each approaches love differently, with one impulsively jumping into romance while the other taking a more prudent path. Elinor feels ill-equipped to compete with the self-centered, fortune-driven society she finds herself in, whilst Marianne’s unshakeable belief in her own feelings makes her susceptible to the designs of unscrupulous men. Can they both find true love?

Mansfield Park

Winding romantic entanglements, mature situations, and familial drama are common in Austen’s literature, but Mansfield Park is one the author’s most complex novels. The book has been lauded for its challenging of the conservative values of the age, and for its masterful artistry which cleverly disguises the social commentary within. When Fanny Price is very young, she is sent away to live with her aunt and uncle at Mansfield Park, a large estate filled with all of Fanny’s insufferable cousins and family members. Her life is full of people mistreating her and acting unpleasant, and generally giving her a difficult time. As Fanny grows older, she faces awkward situations as her cousins begin to fall in love and pair off, and what ensues is a twisting tale of love triangles, mistaken affection, playful seductions, and the pain of young love scorned.

Emma

Told with Austen’s signature charm and wit, Emma is the story of an unusual heroine and the chaos she creates in her friend circle with her antics. It’s a humorous and heartwarming novel that will leave readers amused and enchanted.Emma Woodhouse has successfully played matchmaker for her friend and discovers a new skill. She gets to work meddling in her friends’ affair, convincing them to call off imminent engagements and relationships in favor of ones she creates.The matchmaking quickly gets out of Emma’s hands, and her actions and instructions begin to harm. Though well-intended, her interference spirals, causing difficulties and confusion. And though Emma continues to make matches amongst her friends, the question becomes: Which couples will be together by the end?

Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey is Austen’s satirical, self-referential parody of the gothic fiction. This classic coming-of-age story blends over-the-top drama, fascinating characters, and Austen’s patented eloquence. Catherine Moreland is an imaginative 17-year-old who loves to read the dark, mysterious, and romanticized genre. She is at the age that ladies of her era are meant to be courting and settling into lives of leisure. As Catherine begins to navigate the world outside of her family, her naivete and escapism become barriers to society. She begins to fancy herself as a character in a gothic drama. Everyday scenarios become romanticized and dramatic, natural deaths become mysterious, and innocent motives are questioned.

Lady Susan

One of Austen’s earliest completed novels, Lady Susan is a fun glimpse at British society in the 18th century. It’s also a fascinating character study of Lady Susan Vernon, an unscrupulous widow who charms everyone she meets—particularly the men—and is keen on toying with emotions for her own amusement. Told in letters between various characters, Lady Susan follows the coquette’s escapades and influences on her family, and the impact her presence has on their trysts and ties to one another. 

Looking for more Regency romance?

Once Upon a Duke

Part of the 12 Dukes of Christmas historical romance series, Erica Ridley’s Once Upon a Duke is a heartwarming romance full of reunions and second chances. Due to the terms of an estranged relative’s will, the Duke of Silkridge must revisit the cold, unforgiving mountains where he lost everything he once loved. And as soon as he restores his family legacy, he’ll return to London where he belongs. Noelle Pratchett is immune to charming scoundrels like the arrogant duke. He stole her heart, stole a kiss, and then stole away one night never to return. Now he’s back—and they both know he won’t stay. But how can the Duke resist rekindling the forbidden spark crackling between him and the irresistible spitfire he’d left behind? How can Noelle maintain her icy shields when every heated glance melts her to her core? 

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen

In KJ Charles’ The Secret Lives of Country Gentleman, Gareth Inglis is a lonely, prickly man who was abandoned by his father. While he is used to disappointment, he still longs for connection. He falls head over heels with a charming stranger, but everything goes wrong and he’s left alone again. When Gareth’s father dies, he transforms from a shabby London clerk into Sir Gareth, with a family he doesn’t know and a grand house on the remote Romney Marsh. But the Marsh is a bleak, bare place notorious for its ruthless gangs of smugglers and deadly secrets. And when Gareth finds himself threatened from every side he must learn to trust those around him. 

Want a thriller featuring one of Jane Austen’s most notorious villains?

The Murder of Mr. Wickham

In Claudia Gray’s The Murder of Mr. Wickham, an imagined mystery blending the styles of Jane Austen and Agatha Christie, a summer house party turns into a thrilling whodunit when Austen’s notorious villain meets a sudden and suspicious end. The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma—characters beloved by Austen fans— are throwing a party at their country estate, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.

Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. The unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.

Learn more about Jane Austen’s world

Mad and Bad

Bea Koch’s Mad and Bad takes the Regency, a world immortalized by Austen, and reveals the independent-minded, standard-breaking real historical women who lived life on their terms. Examining broader questions of culture in chapters that focus on the LGBTQIA+ and Jewish communities, the lives of women of color in the Regency, and women who broke barriers in fields like astronomy and paleontology, Mad and Bad looks beyond popular perception of the Regency into the even more vibrant, diverse, and fascinating historical truth.

Our Tempestuous Day

The tumult and opulence of England’s Regency era burst from the pages in Our Tempestuous Day, a work of literary nonfiction from historian Carolly Erickson. When dementia forced King George III to vacate his throne, the kingdom slipped into a decade marked with excess, scandal, and riots. Hoping to control the crisis early on, Parliament appointed the king’s unpopular son Prince George IV as Regent or caretaker. But for the next nine years, this substitute ruler shocked the nation with his drunkenness, his mistresses, and his wanton spending. 

Ready for more? Check out some great literary classics to listen to here.