Bernice by Susan Glaspell audiobook.

Genre: drama

Bernice is already dead when the curtain rises, yet her presence fills every corner of her country house on an autumn afternoon. Her grieving father, Mr. Allen, and the longtime servant Abbie brace themselves for the arrival of the people who knew Bernice most intimately and, perhaps, least clearly: Craig Norris, her celebrated husband whose betrayals have left old wounds, Laura (Mrs. Kirby), Craig's well-meaning but conventional sister, and Margaret Pierce, Bernice's closest friend and a sharp-minded reformer who refuses to let society rewrite Bernice into a simple legend. As the mourners gather in the living room beside the closed door of the room beyond, talk turns into a reckoning. Was Bernice's death an accident of frailty, an act of despair, or something stranger: a final message aimed at the living? Each character seizes on a different interpretation, and their need to claim Bernice's meaning threatens to expose what they demanded from her in life. Built around Glaspell's haunting device of the 'absent center,' Bernice is a quiet, riveting drama of love, ownership, and the dangerous power of being misunderstood.

For ad-free listening try our premium subscription

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:26:38) Chapter 2

(01:07:55) Chapter 3

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices