The Confessions of a Well-Meaning Woman (Annotated)

Enriched Edition. A Drawing Room Satire of Class, Marriage, Vanity, and Good Intentions in Edwardian SocietyBy Stephen McKenna
Listen with Sir Michael Caine™ and 1,000+ voices
Length7h 12m

About this audiobook

The Confessions of a Well-Meaning Woman is a deft social novel of manners, shaped as the self-revelation of a woman whose benevolent intentions repeatedly collide with vanity, convention, and the subtler cruelties of class. McKenna writes with urbane irony, psychological tact, and the polished dialogue associated with early twentieth-century British fiction, placing private conscience against the public rituals of drawing rooms, marriages, reputations, and charitable intervention. The book belongs to that post-Edwardian tradition in which comedy becomes a diagnostic instrument for moral and social unease. Stephen McKenna, educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, moved easily within the political, literary, and upper-middle-class circles he so often anatomized. Best known for novels such as Sonia, he possessed an insider's knowledge of privilege and its evasions. His work frequently examines the disjunction between professed ideals and lived conduct, and this novel's title itself suggests his recurring fascination with self-justification, social performance, and the uneasy ethics of "good intentions." Recommended to readers of refined social satire, this book will appeal especially to admirers of E. F. Benson, Compton Mackenzie, and late Henry James. It rewards those interested in character, irony, and the moral ambiguities hidden beneath civilized behavior. This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience. - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.

Audiobook details

GenreHumor, General Fiction
Length7 hrs 12 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 27, 2023
LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1The Confessions of a Well-Meaning Woman (Annotated)
87.
21.
98.
32.
109.
43.
1110.
54.
1211.
Show all chapters
65.
1312.
76.
14Memorable Quotes

More from Stephen McKenna

Lost In TranslationAudrey Davis9h 15m4.4 (235)Free
The Life of DaiDai Henwood, Jaquie Brown8h 2m4.6 (790)$26 · $0.00
Welcome to PawneeJim O'Heir6h 24m4.5 (5.3K)$24 · $0.00
Going PostalTerry Pratchett13h 36m4.5 (163.8K)$33 · $0.00
Woman UninterruptedBrodie Kane7h 1m4.6 (562)$24 · $0.00
1984 & Animal Farm (Annotated)George Orwell15h 54m4.5 (220.8K)$1.99 · $0.00
Kingsblood Royal (Annotated)Sinclair Lewis14h 42m4.6 (264)$2 · $0.00
This Is Going to HurtAdam Kay5h 47m4.4 (444.7K)$24 · $0.00
You Will Get Through This NightDaniel Howell6h 56m4.4 (11.8K)$24 · $0.00
Northanger Abbey (Annotated)Jane Austen10h 7m4.5 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
My Dear HamiltonStephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie23h 7m4.4 (63.6K)$46 · $0.00
THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS & SCREWTAPE PROPOSES A TOAST (Annotated)C. S. Lewis5h 6m4.4 (471K)$2 · $0.00
BufferingHannah Hart5h 55m4.4 (12.4K)$24 · $0.00
The Office BFFsJenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey8h 26m4.3 (45.4K)$26 · $0.00
The Collected Stories of Dorothy ParkerDorothy Parker8h 36m4.3 (13.6K)$1 · $0.00
LambChristopher Moore15h 22m4.3 (211.3K)$33 · $0.00
The Importance of Being Earnest (World's Classics Series)Oscar Wilde4h 10m4.3 (467.3K)$1.99 · $0.00
#IMomSoHardKristin Hensley, Jen Smedley7h 19m4.3 (7.3K)$24 · $0.00
Mixed PlateJo Koy8h 18m4.3 (7.1K)$26 · $0.00
Over the TopJonathan Van Ness5h 50m4.3 (87.3K)$24 · $0.00
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.6 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver21h 3m4.5 (949.4K)$46 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic NovelFrancis Scott Fitzgerald4h 45m4.6 (9.3K)$18 · $0.00
Something Like LoveBeverly Jenkins10h 21m4.6 (2.7K)$29 · $0.00
Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m4.6 (2.6K)$18 · $0.00
The Old Man and the Sea (Annotated)Ernest Hemingway4h 27m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
White HotIlona Andrews13h 18m4.5 (136.9K)$5 · $0.00
The Ghost by the Billabong (The Matilda Saga, #5)Jackie French14h 58m4.6 (773)$33 · $0.00
Cast in BloodMichelle Sagara16h 35m4.6 (607)$33 · $0.00
The Captain Blood Trilogy (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini29h 20m4.6 (1K)$3 · $0.00
Ship of the Line (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith11h 13m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The George Orwell CollectionGeorge Orwell24h 46m4.5 (14.4K)$12 · $0.00
ShivajiRanjit Desai25h 13m4.6 (3.1K)$24 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 38m4.5 (9.2K)$2 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
When God Calls the HeartBrian Bird, Michelle Cox3h 24m4.6 (439)$10 · $0.00
Five Little IndiansMichelle Good10h 34m4.5 (64.5K)$29 · $0.00
Lolth's WarriorR. A. Salvatore13h 20m4.6 (2.4K)$33 · $0.00

You may also like

MiddlemarchGeorge Eliot34h 44m4.2 (224.8K)$21 · $0.00
Cousin HenryAnthony Trollope7h 23m3.7 (1.8K)$2.30
The Palliser Novels: Complete 6 Book CollectionAnthony Trollope182h 37m4.5 (1.6K)$1 · $0.00
The Age of Innocence (Annotated)Edith Wharton13h 4m4.1 (236K)$2 · $0.00
Can You Forgive Her? (Unabridged) (Annotated)Anthony Trollope34h 44m4.0 (21.4K)$0.99 · $0.00
Lady Susan (Annotated)Jane Austen3h 53m3.8 (67.3K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Palliser Novels: Complete 6 Book Collection (Annotated)Anthony Trollope182h 35m4.4 (2.1K)$2 · $0.00
Vanity FairMakepeace Thackeray35h 5m4.0 (158.7K)$2 · $0.00
The Palliser NovelsAnthony Trollope172h 39m4.3 (1K)$1 · $0.00
PersuasionJane Austen8h 10m4.3 (916.5K)$10 · $0.00
Lady SusanJane Austen2h 27m3.8 (76.1K)$4.70 · $0.00
The Parade's End Tetralogy: Some Do Not, No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up & Last PostFord Madox Ford38h 27m4.0 (9.6K)$2 · $0.00
Can You Forgive Her? (The Classic Unabridged Edition) (Annotated)Anthony Trollope34h 50m4.1 (11.7K)$0.99 · $0.00
Tartuffe; Or, The HypocriteMolière2h 16m4.0 (58.9K)$0.99 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of George Eliot (Annotated)George Eliot169h 40m4.5 (2.2K)$3 · $0.00
HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHTAnthony Trollope37h 43m4.0 (8.3K)$1.99 · $0.00
Lady SusanJane Austen2h 33m3.8 (65K)$15
Clarissa (Annotated)Samuel Richardson104h 27m4.1 (16.4K)$0.99 · $0.00
Lady SusanJane Austen2h 23m3.7 (70.1K)Free
LucindaAnthony Hope9h 37m3.1 (10)$2 · $0.00