The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories

Written by Kate Chopin

Narrated by Harriet Seed

Edna Pontellier has everything that a woman and mother should want – two wonderful sons, a husband, and good financial fortune. But still, she feels like something may be missing. While vacationing with her family, she meets a young man who shows affection and opens her mind to adventure and freedom.

Edna’s desire for freedom and independence begins to fester in her heart, and she finds that she is increasingly disenchanted with the responsibilities of motherhood. She begins to shirk responsibilities and live as she wants, rather than how society expects. Her journey towards independence is difficult and met with much opposition from all sides in her life, and she is torn between two conflicting worlds.

This collection also includes many of Kate Chopin’s short stories, which further expand on the themes of womanhood in the southern United States, Creole culture, religious skepticism, and female independence and intellectualism. The short stories included in this collection are “Beyond the Bayou,” “Ma’ame Pelagie,” “Desiree’s Baby,” “A Respectable Woman,” “The Kiss,” “A Pair of Silk Stockings,” “The Locket,” and “A Reflection.” These short stories demonstrate Kate Chopin’s lyrical and emotional writing abilities, and are staples of the Southern literature genre.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spotify Audiobooks
• Release date: Oct 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781094244839

Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin, born Katherine O'Flaherty (1850-1904), was an American writer of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. Chopin is best known for her novel The Awakening, and for her short story collections, Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). Of French and Irish descent, her work depicted the various ethnic groups of Louisiana, especially of Creoles, with sensitivity and wit, and featured vivid descriptions of the natural environment there. After her husband died in 1882 and left her $42,000 in debt, Chopin took up writing to support her family of six children. Though popular, her serious literary qualities were overlooked in her day, and she is now seen as an important early American feminist writer.