Jennie Gerhardt
Theodore Dreiser

Narrated By: Lloyd James

Duration: 13 hours and 19 minutes

What to expect

Jennie Gerhardt is the tragic story of an innocent, caring, beautiful young girl from an extremely poor family who throughout her life is drawn into affairs with two different men from a much higher social class. How members of her family, the family of one of the wealthy men, and society in general react to her situation is the basis of this classic story.

Jennie Gerhardt was Theodore Dreiser’s first true commercial success and is generally regarded as one of his best novels.

Genre

Classic fiction

Listen to a sample

“The best American novel I have ever read, with the lonesome but Himalayan exception of Huckleberry Finn.”

“Jennie remains a true heroine who is willing to love, knowing she will become a social outcast. Hers is, Dreiser shows, a fully considered decision, albeit driven by need and distorted by the Victorian double standard, made in awareness of its consequences.”