Clarissa, Volume 1

A milestone in the history of the novel, Samuel Richardson’s epistolary and elaborate Clarissa follows the life of a chaste young woman desperate to protect her virtue.

When beautiful Clarissa Harlowe is forced to marry the rich but repulsive Mr. Solmes, she refuses, much to her family’s chagrin. She escapes their persecution with the help of Mr. Lovelace, a dashing and seductive rake, but soon finds herself in a far worse dilemma. Lovelace is a devil in disguise: he promptly imprisons Clarissa, and is determined to break her will.

Terrifying and enlightening, Clarissa weaves a tapestry of narrative experimentation into a gripping morality tale of good triumphing over evil.

Read by Lucy Scott, Roger May, Katie Scarfe, Nigel Pilkington, Hayward B. Morse, Anna Bentinck, Paul Panting, Teresa Gallagher, John Foley, Samuel West

The recording is divided into three volumes.