The Winter of Our Discontent cover art

The Winter of Our Discontent

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Winter of Our Discontent

By: John Steinbeck
Narrated by: David Aaron Baker
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Ethan Allen Hawley has lost the acquisitive spirit of his wealthy and enterprising forebears, a long line of proud New England sea captains and Pilgrims. Scarred by failure, Ethan works as a grocery clerk in a store his family once owned. But his wife is restless and his teenage children troubled and hungry for the material comforts he cannot provide. Then a series of unusual events reignites Ethan's ambition, and he is pitched on to a bold course, where all scruples are put aside.

Steinbeck's searing examination of the evil influences of money, immorality, greed and ambition on America drew acclaim from the Nobel Committee, who hailed him as an 'independent expounder of the truth'.

©1961 John Steinbeck (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Classics
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Grapes of Wrath (Dramatised) cover art
Suttree cover art
For Whom the Bell Tolls cover art
Babbitt cover art
The Town cover art
The House of the Dead cover art
The Listening Walls cover art
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest cover art
Mistletoe Mysteries cover art
Main Street (Annotated): 100th Anniversary Edition cover art
Middlemarch cover art
Brave New World cover art
Anna Karenina cover art
Parable of the Sower cover art
War and Peace cover art
Collected Stories cover art

Critic reviews

"Returns to the high standards of The Grapes of Wrath and to the social themes that made his early work...so powerful." (Saul Bellow, author of Herzog)

What listeners say about The Winter of Our Discontent

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

What makes a good man?

Oh boy, where to begin. For someone like me, who is not terribly familiar with the American greats and who is completely new to Steinbeck, this book was a dish - a true delicacy. Ethan Allen Hawley is a man of high moral standards living in a world marred by dishonesty and corruption. He is a well educated war veteran down on his luck. An heir to a proud family name who does not seem to be able to live up to his ancestral legacy. Some might say that he is too honest, too good. Then as the novel unfolds the contradictions start piling. Is he just a bit out of touch with reality? Maybe too self-righteous, too self-obsessed? Or is he a rattlesnake waiting to shed his skin? At the end of the day, what makes a good man? A part of me dearly wishes the author had provided a clear-cut answer. But that would not do, would it? It is up to each of us to reckon with the mess of questions and contradictions that is the reality of Mr. Ethan Allen Hawley an come to his own answers and conclusions.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great, balanced narration

Lovely reading of a classic novel. The novel is very deep even though the form is reserved and the language is accessible

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful writing.

This is my favourite book.I’ve read it many times and now that my sight isn’t so good I thought I’d listen to it but was slightly worried that the narration might jar with what I had in my head.In fact it couldn’t have been better.John Steinbeck was a genius and I think this is his best novel and beautifully read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fabulous prose by Steinbeck

Great characters & narration on this book . Story very dark at times but ending gives hope

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!