Love Letters of Dorothy Osborne


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(3.7 stars; 7 reviews)

A lively, interesting and important collection of 17th century love-letters written by an English lady, against the background of the Civil War and the Restoration [summary by hefyd]

After refusing a long string of suitors put forth by her family, including her cousin Thomas Osborne, Henry Cromwell (son of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell) and Sir Justinian Isham, in 1655 Dorothy Osborne married Sir William Temple, a man with whom she had carried on a lengthy clandestine courtship that was largely epistolary in nature. It is for her letters to Temple, which were witty, progressive and socially illuminating, that Osborne is remembered. Only Osborne's side of the correspondence survived and comprises a collection of seventy-seven letters held in the British Library. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Note: This reading contains all the letters in the correspondence but leaves out the editorial comments. (6 hr 16 min)

Chapters

01 - Letters 1-5 24:29 Read by Rhonda Federman
02 - Letters 6-10 20:51 Read by Landii
03 - Letters 11-15 26:13 Read by Anna Simon
04 - Letters 16-20 27:05 Read by Annise
05 - Letters 21-25 27:23 Read by breathe
06 - Letters 26-30 24:27 Read by Neeru Iyer
07 - Letters 31-35 24:08 Read by Ruth Golding
08 - Letters 36-40 40:16 Read by Ruth Golding
09 - Letters 41-45 23:48 Read by Anna Simon
10 - Letters 46-50 31:31 Read by Rhonda Federman
11 - Letters 51-55 39:44 Read by Anna Simon
12 - Letters 56-60 19:28 Read by Anna Simon
13 - Letters 61-65 17:29 Read by breathe
14 - Letters 66-71 18:08 Read by Rhonda Federman
15 - Letters 72-80 6:39 Read by Ezwa
16 - Letters 81-83 5:18 Read by Ruth Golding

Reviews


(5 stars)

The first reviewer is in error in referencing the American Civil War {1861-1865} and Reconstruction {1865-1877}: these letters were written by an English woman during the English Civil War {1642-1651} and Restoration (of the monarchy) {1660}.


(0.5 stars)

Whoever wrote the description of this books needs to check up on his/her history. They state the book took place against the backdrop of the civil war and reconstruction. However, the civil war took place 100 years after these letters were written, according to the info given.