Is He Popenjoy ?


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.4 stars; 49 reviews)

Trollope returns in Is He Popenjoy to two of his favorite subjects: property and inheritance. As in "Doctor Thorne," the issues are complicated by the specter of possible illegitimacy. Lord George Germain, a thoroughly respectable, upstanding, if not particularly bright younger son with new wife, rather expects to inherit a title, since his vicious and dissolute elder brother, the Marquis of Brotherton, who lives in Italy, shows no signs of settling down and producing heirs. Then comes a thunderbolt in the form of a letter from the Marquis suddenly claiming that he has, late in life, married an Italian widow and sired a son. This little boy, if he is indeed legitimate, is Lord Popenjoy and the heir to the marquisate.

But is he legitimate? Are his parents in fact properly united in holy wedlock? And were they so at the time of his birth on alien soil? How on earth to find out? The book, which starts almost as a comedy of manners (and perhaps also a comedy of manors), takes on a darker and more sardonic tone with this mystery, and with some other suspected and actual romantic entanglements which are not entirely in the aristocratic Victorian rule-book. Among the large cast of characters are two memorable foreigners: the repellent German feminist Baroness Bannmann, and the rather more attractive American version, Amelia Q. Fleabody (not, of course, to be confused in any way with the real Elizabeth Peabody, who under another name, lies at the heart of Henry James's The Bostonians).(Summary by Nicholas Clifford) (20 hr 40 min)

Chapters

01 - Introductory Number One 21:07 Read by Barry O'Neill
02 - Introductory Number Two 19:10 Read by Barry O'Neill
03 - Life at Manor Cross 20:24 Read by bobolink
04 - At the Deanery 18:19 Read by bobolink
05 - Miss Tallowax is Shown the House 22:23 Read by Reeses118
06 - Bad Tidings 21:07 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
07 - Cross Hall Gate 17:15 Read by bobolink
08 - Pugsby Brook 15:30 Read by bobolink
09 - Mrs. Houghton 23:43 Read by Barry O'Neill
10 - The Dean as a Sporting Man 13:46 Read by Barry O'Neill
11 - Lord and Lady George go up to Town 20:54 Read by bobolink
12 - Miss Mildmay and Jack de Baron 19:23 Read by bobolink
13 - More News from Italy 17:20 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
14 - 'Are we to Call Him Popenjoy ?' 22:57 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
15 - 'Drop It' 20:16 Read by Barry O'Neill
16 - All is Fish that Comes to his Net 16:33 Read by Barry O'Neill
17 - The Disabilities 19:24 Read by Reeses118
18 - Lord George up in London 19:38 Read by Reeses118
19 - Rather 'Boisterous' 19:04 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
20 - Between Two Stools 18:07 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
21 - The Marquis Comes Home 21:45 Read by Barry O'Neill
22 - The Marquis Amongst Friends 20:14 Read by Barry O'Neill
23 - The Marquis Sees his Brother 20:56 Read by Barry O'Neill
24 - The Marquis Goes into Bretherton 17:39 Read by Barry O'Neill
25 - Lady Susanna in London 18:45 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
26 - The Dean Returns to Town 20:15 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
27 - The Baroness Banmann Again 20:37 Read by CrowGirl
28 - What Matter if She Does' 17:16 Read by CrowGirl
29 - Mr. Houghton Wants a Glass of Sherry 22:02 Read by NoelBadrian
30 - The Dean is Very Busy 14:11 Read by Rebecca Thomas
31 - The Marquis Migrates to London 19:40 Read by bobolink
32 - Lord George is Troubled 27:20 Read by bobolink
33 - Captain de Baron 19:11 Read by Barry O'Neill
34 - A Dreadful Communication 18:18 Read by Barry O'Neill
35 - 'I Deny It' 23:56 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
36 - Popenjoy is Popenjoy 23:12 Read by novelreader
37 - Preparations for the Ball 18:42 Read by Rebecca Thomas
38 - The Kappa Kappa 18:14 Read by Rebecca Thomas
39 - Rebellion 17:57 Read by Barry O'Neill
40 - As to Bluebeard 22:03 Read by Barry O'Neill
41 - Scumberg's 22:37 Read by bobolink
42 - 'Not Go!' 24:20 Read by bobolink
43 - Real Love 10:52 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
44 - What the Brotherton Clergymen Said About It. 14:42 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
45 - Lady George at the Deanery 16:56 Read by Steve Gough
46 - Lady Sarah's Mission 23:04 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
47 - That Young Fellow in There 15:29 Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
48 - The Marquis Makes a Proposition 23:30 Read by fshort
49 - 'Wouldn't you Come Here - For a Week ?' 14:11 Read by Rebecca Thomas
50 - Rudham Park 19:02 Read by Rebecca Thomas
51 - Guss Mildmay's Success 23:49 Read by S.Nevets
52 - Another Lover 10:46 Read by Rebecca Thomas
53 - Poor Popenjoy 16:22 Read by bobolink
54 - Jack de Baron's Virtue 15:50 Read by bobolink
55 - How Could He Help It 23:21 Read by Maggie Smallwood
56 - Sir Henry Said it was the Only Thing 22:14 Read by Maggie Smallwood
57 - Mr. Knox Hears Again from the Marquis 18:20 Read by Barry O'Neill
58 - Mrs. Jones' Letter 18:21 Read by Barry O'Neill
59 - Back in London 22:36 Read by novelreader
60 - The Last of the Baroness 22:03 Read by novelreader
61 - The News Comes Home 25:38 Read by Barry O'Neill
62 - The Will 13:47 Read by Barry O'Neill
63 - Popenjoy is Born and Christened 21:59 Read by bobolink
64 - Conclusion 11:40 Read by bobolink

Reviews

LibriVox is a no whining zone


(5 stars)

Well, it should be. Please be aware these free audiobooks come to you through the generosity of volunteers. The vast majority of people would not feel free to complain (we're not talking constructive, or critique type comments: you know whining when you hear it) because they realize these books are gifts from people 99% of us don't even know. And complaints always beg the question, could you do it better? Then volunteer. Otherwise, zip that whining lip! ANNOUNCEMENT: Though I have only moral right to do it, I have just unilaterally proclaimed whining about LibriVox volunteers and their output as kapu, taboo, tabu, and forever banned. More on punishment later.

Readers (most) fantastic; awful story


(2 stars)

Ive been a lover of Trollope for over 30 years and this is by far the most disappointing work of his Ive ever encountered. Cringe-y gender dynamics, awful women characters, thoroughly ungratifying story lacking interesting plot twists and tying loose ends. But by far the worst is the number of major characters who either hope for or delight in the death of a little 1/2 Italian child, and the birth of the 100% English one who replaces him is supposed to be a happy ending. The readers are what keeps one engaged, save two who only read one chapter apiece but insist on amateur theatrics (and get the interpretations all wrong because theyre bad at it and haven't read the rest of the book). But truly, lovers of Trollope can skip this one without any self-recrimination or remorse.

I know I finished it


(3 stars)

I'm not whining. I swear, but this book is so convoluted, and most of the characters so repellent, that the most salient memory I have is of those whistling ssss's! Maybe a filter on the microphone? It's a muddled melodrama of a plot, and toward the end I think even the author got tired of navigating through it.


(2 stars)

so sorry but bobolink really should review his reading,his ssssss are unbearable ,cannot continue, listening . I am such a great fan of librevox.

is he popenjoy


(4 stars)

Easy listening, enjoyable but not his best I would say...


(5 stars)

an absolutely perfect reading of a perfectly lovely book. thank you

Why do so many readers have difficulty pronouncing the word marquis?


(5 stars)


(4 stars)

Bobolink reads so softly that it ruins the chapters he reads.