Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

$0.00 for first 30 days

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 Chateau cover art

The Chateau

By: William Maxwell
Narrated by: Karl Miller
Try for £0.00

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

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

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.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Folded Leaf cover art
They Came Like Swallows cover art
The Fledgling cover art
The Friendly Air cover art
Other People's Houses cover art
The Two Hotel Francforts cover art
The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury cover art
The Corner Shop cover art
The Foundling Boy cover art
Now, Voyager cover art
The Late Breakfasters cover art
Villa on the Riviera cover art
The Complete Short Stories cover art
The Wine Dark Sea cover art

Summary

It is 1948 and a young American couple arrive in France for a holiday. It is their chance to immerse themselves in the culture and language, and they arrive full of anticipation and enthusiasm. But the countryside and people are war-battered and their reception at the Chateau Beaumesnil, where they begin their stay, is not all the open-hearted Americans could wish for. Every encounter leaves them with more questions. Why are they not welcomed as citizens of the nation that liberated Europe? What are the secrets in the family?

©1961 William Maxwell (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"I can think of few novels… that have such romantic authority as The Chateau, fewer still so adult in vitality, so alight with humour." (Elizabeth Bowen)
"No one else… can capture as Maxwell does a sense of life in the balance, of a moment appreciated…. The beauty of some sentences is like a stab of light." ( Chicago Tribune)

Love Books? You'll Love Audible.

Transform your day

Transform your day

Replace endless scrolling with endless listening. Chores can be fun.

Listen everywhere

Listen everywhere

You can’t turn pages while you drive—but you can press play.

Carry your entire Library

Carry your entire Library

Your stories go where you go. Audiobooks don’t weigh a thing.

Listen and learn

Listen and learn

Discover stories that can change your mind, your well-being, and your life.

Reach your reading goals

Reach your reading goals

Download titles to listen offline, wherever you are in the world.

Find your niche

Find your niche

WIth thousands of titles to explore, there’s something for everyone.

Try for £0.00 £7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

What listeners say about The Chateau

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

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

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

Not Maxwell's best

Having read a couple of his honest, personal and intriguing stories, I kept reading, waiting for the story to develop but it never did. Dull chronicle of a young couple's holiday in post war France

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
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Moving

A beautifully and sensitively written book. Perfect for lovers of France and the French. The state of the country in the immediate post WW2 period is interestingly drawn and you empathise with the problems of the two young Americans.
Unusually there is a part two which answers many of our questions seven years later
The only complaint is the pronunciation of many English words by the reader

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

The French accent is horrendous!

Its a good story beautifully written. I found the French accent excruciating though and therefore made it offputting

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

Delightful book

A gem of a novel from a superb writer and beautifully read - love the French accent.

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
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Banality posing as Literature

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

I find it difficult to believe that anybody with even the minimum interest it decent or literate writing could find this, badly edited, and horrendously read work of interest. Populated as it is by wooden characters existing in a landscape which reads like a third rate travel guide it is without exception the worst book I have downloaded since joining Audible.

What was most disappointing about William Maxwell’s story?

No one thing was "MOST DISAPPOINTING" it was more than a disappointment from the end of the first chapter so badly written and read was this work.

How could the performance have been better?

Find somebody who can read and has a knowledge of the French Language, accents and correct pronunciation.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

My reaction should be self evident from the review I have already written.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!