Wuth. Hts · Read by Ruth Golding · 14 h 49 min
Wuthering Heights audiobook — free, and it reads along
Ruth Golding’s LibriVox recording of the complete novel — matched to the text page by page in Chromatics. Press play and the page you see is the page you hear, at any speed from 1× to 2×. When the page ends, so does the audio.
Wuth. Hts · Grange Park · 1784
This page really plays.
The panel on the right is a page from Chapter XVI as the app renders it — Heathcliff at the exact moment grief tips into curse, the scene banner above, the audio controls below. The play button works — it plays exactly this page of the recording and stops where the page stops, which is what reading along means here.
With JavaScript off, you still get the page and the colors; the recording itself lives at LibriVox either way.
“May she wake in torment!” he cried, with frightful vehemence, stamping his foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion. “Why, she’s a liar to the end! Where is she? Not there—not in heaven—not perished—where? Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer—I repeat it till my tongue stiffens—Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you—haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”
Wuth. Hts · The plain facts
What this is, plainly
The recording is Ruth Golding’s performance for LibriVox — a complete, unabridged reading by one of LibriVox’s most admired narrators, in the public domain like the novel itself. Audible sells several fine Wuthering Heights narrations, and if you want a celebrity cast, that is where to find one. This one is free, and it does something the others do not: it reads along with you. The text is on the page, every speaker in their own color, and the recording follows your place — not the other way round.
Wuthering Heights is one of the featured classics in Chromatics right now, which means the whole experience — colors, scene banner, audio — is free in full. If you keep losing track of who is speaking while you listen, the family tree untangles the cast once and for all.
Wuth. Hts · 34 chapters · 14 h 49 min
The chapters
Thirty-four chapters, 14 hours 49 minutes at 1×. At 1.5×, call it a long weekend on the moors.
Durations are the actual chapter files, to the second.
Wuth. Hts · Public domain · Since long before your grandparents
Why this audiobook is free
No trial, no trick: the novel has been out of copyright for over a century, and LibriVox recordings are public domain from the day they are made. There are several honest ways to listen free, and only one of them is ours:
| Where | What you get | Reads along with the text? |
|---|---|---|
| Chromatics (this one) | Golding’s recording matched page by page, every speaker in color, 1–2× speed | Yes — that’s the feature |
| LibriVox / Internet Archive | The same recording as MP3 or M4B files to download and keep | No — audio only |
| YouTube & Spotify | Various uploads of public-domain recordings, ads depending | No — audio only |
| Audible & co. | Paid studio narrations, subscription or purchase | No — audio only |
| At this speed | The whole novel takes |
|---|---|
| 1× | 14 h 49 min |
| 1.25× | about 11 h 51 min |
| 1.5× | about 9 h 53 min |
| 2× | about 7 h 25 min |
Wuth. Hts · Asked and answered
Quick answers
Is the Wuthering Heights audiobook really free?
Yes — the 1847 novel has been out of copyright for over a century, and LibriVox recordings are public domain from birth. Free to stream, download, or read along with in Chromatics.
How long is it?
14 hours 49 minutes unabridged at 1×; the speed table above does the rest of the arithmetic. Chapter XVII — Isabella’s escape — is the giant of the set.
Who narrates it?
Ruth Golding, one of LibriVox’s most admired narrators. If you want a celebrity cast, Audible sells several; they don’t read along.
Can I read along while I listen?
In Chromatics, yes — the page you see is the page you hear, every voice in its own color, the chain of narrators tracked in the banner. The demo panel above plays a real page of Chapter XVI, right here.
Fourteen hours of Ruth Golding, the text following along in color, free in full while the book is featured.
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