Preview
  • Maid in Waiting

  • The Forsyte Chronicles, Book 7
  • By: John Galsworthy
  • Narrated by: David Case
  • Length: 10 hrs
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (113 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Maid in Waiting

By: John Galsworthy
Narrated by: David Case
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.56

Buy for $15.56

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Maid in Waiting is the beginning novel in the last trilogy of John Galsworthy's Forsyte Chronicles. In this seventh installment, the story continues of the lives and times, loves and losses, fortunes and deaths of the fictional but entirely representative family of propertied Victorians, the Forsytes.

The Forsyte Chronicles has become established as one of the most popular and enduring works of 20th century literature, described by the New York Times as "A social satire of epic proportions and one that does not suffer by comparison with Thackeray's Vanity Fair...[a] whole comedy of manners, convincing both in its fidelity to life and as a work of art."

John Galsworthy received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1932.

Family matters: don't miss our other titles in The Forsyte Chronicles.
©1998 Phoenix Recordings (P)1998 Phoenix Recordings
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"[Galsworthy] has carried the history of his time through three generations, and his success in mastering so excellently his enormously difficult material, both in its scope and in its depth, remains an extremely memorable feat in English literature." (Anders Osterling, Nobel Prize presentation speech, 1932)

What listeners say about Maid in Waiting

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    65
  • 4 Stars
    19
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    61
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    47
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    5

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

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

Finally happiness in the family

I think anyone who loves a good tale well told will love this novel with one foot in the Victorian era and the other well planted in modernity"
The concerns I have with Galsworthy's earlier novels as being overly self-conciously satyrical, seem to be able to allow the characters to tell the story themselves instead of following the heavy hand of the author" I did not find the reader's highly dramatic interpretation of the story of love of place and family to get in the way as much as it did in the earlier novels.
Dinny is a strong and appealing character as she embodies the most positive of English traits. Read this book and disappear in to it. Have fun in there. I did.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

The Forsyte Chronicles, books 1-9 are currently available on Audible Plus. This is number 7. Each book is so well written, and I have enjoyed each one so far. They are fine examples of great writing such as you just don’t see today.

This particular book has quite a feminist bent (without the author saying so, of course). Very strong female characters, and some existential themes as well.

The narration is superb!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Couldn’t connect

This book is well written but I never really connected with the char so the way I did with the Forsytes, flawed as they were. Not bothering with the next one.

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
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

This One Will Hook You

A very catchy story with an adept narrator, surprising spots of wit which may make you laugh out loud. although what appears to be a classic English drawl in delivery is a bit much for this American, the narrator is very effective in his characters, even those which are female.

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

Great writing but bizarre pivot in story focus

I love the way Galsworthy writes, but why he suddenly wrote about a bunch of characters we hadn't been introduced to yet is beyond me. it is call The Forsyte Saga, after all. I hope he gets the Forsytes in the next 2 books.

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

Excellent

Galsworthy never disappoints, and I enjoyed the theatrical read by the narrator. Highly recommend this.

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

good, but....

Wonderful writing and narration, though the use of
the n-word became very tiring- knowing that in the time of the writing of the book this was the way many white people spoke doesn’t make it any more disheartening to a person of color, it’s just the sad state of the history of nations and racism.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

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

Amazing narration and exquisite language

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

John Galsworthy is well deserving of a Nobel prize in literature. And David Case brings these books alive in a way that I could no do by reading them myself. The language is exquisite, and the narration is perfect. I've read all the books in the series up to now. Highly recommended.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful