A read-along app for grown-up books
Classic novels with complete LibriVox recordings matched to the text page by page, every speaker in color. Press Listen and Chapter XVI of Wuthering Heights opens in the web reader with Ruth Golding reading — the page turning with the voice, from 1× to 2×.
The Grange · Heathcliff · Chapter XVI
“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!”
What read-along means here
The audiobook and the text are the same object. Press play and the recording starts at the top of the page you are looking at, and stops at the bottom — turn the page and it continues. Speed is yours, from 1× to 2×. Eyes and ears take the same path through the book, which is what keeps a wandering attention on the rails: when one slips, the other holds your place.
Most read-along apps are for children learning to read. This is not one of them. The catalog is Brontë, Dostoevsky, Gaskell, Hamsun — classic novels for adult readers who want to get through serious books and keep the thread. The recordings are complete LibriVox performances by readers people seek out by name, and every speaker on the page keeps their own color.
Quick answers
Which books have read-along audio?
Many, among them Wuthering Heights (read by Ruth Golding), Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility (Karen Savage), The Great Gatsby (Kara Shallenberg), Crime and Punishment, Middlemarch, Jane Eyre, North and South and War and Peace: complete LibriVox recordings, matched to the text page by page.
Does it work offline?
Yes. A book you have downloaded in the app stays readable without a connection.
Is it on iPhone and Android?
iPhone and iPad today. Android is in development — leave an email and we will write to you once, when it ships.
Can I change the narration speed?
Yes: 1×, 1.2×, 1.5×, 1.7×, and 2×. The page sync follows whatever speed you choose.
The chapter above is the actual product. The rest of the book works the same way.
Free on iPhone and iPad. Point your phone’s camera here. On Android?