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French audiobooks · B1 to C2

Free French audiobooks, by level

13 classic French books, recorded in full by LibriVox volunteers, playing right here. Every one is also in the SparkAI reader, so you can follow the text while you listen.

Choose your level

B11 audiobookClear, story-driven classics for intermediate learners: adventure and short tales.

Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours · Jules Verne, 1872

Phileas Fogg bets he can go round the world in 80 days. Fast-moving adventure.

B18 h 0537 recordings

Listen12 min · read by Alex Foster, Carl Manchester, Christophe and others
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app
B26 audiobooksClassic short stories and novels with richer vocabulary.

Lettres de mon moulin · Alphonse Daudet, 1869

Stories from a windmill in Provence: Monsieur Seguin's goat, the Pope's mule, the three low masses.

B24 h 2325 recordings

Listen2 min · read by Naf
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app

Voyage au centre de la Terre · Jules Verne, 1864

A professor, his nephew and a guide climb down an Icelandic volcano toward the centre of the Earth.

B28 h 0845 recordings

Listen9 min · read by Cebes, Emy, Filippo Gioachin and others
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app

Cinq semaines en ballon · Jules Verne, 1863

Crossing Africa by hot-air balloon, Verne's first novel.

B29 h 3644 recordings

Listen17 min · read by Bernard
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app

Contes de la bécasse · Guy de Maupassant, 1883

Short stories told around a hunting dinner in Normandy.

B24 h 1417 recordings

Listen6 min · read by Bernard, Didier
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app

Contes du jour et de la nuit · Guy de Maupassant, 1885

Maupassant short stories, including La Parure (The Necklace).

B25 h 5821 recordings

Listen11 min · read by Christiane Jehanne, Cocotte, Frédéric Surget and others
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app

Boule de suif · Guy de Maupassant, 1880

A coachload of travellers flees the Prussian army. Maupassant's masterpiece of hypocrisy.

B24 h 1412 recordings

Listen94 min · part 1 of 3 · read by Christian, Claude Covo-Farchi, Didier and others
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app
C15 audiobooksLiterary classics: longer sentences, older and more formal French.

Le Horla · Guy de Maupassant, 1887

The diary of a man who believes an invisible being is taking over his life.

C13 h 4814 recordings

Listen52 min · read by Naf
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app

Le Grand Meaulnes · Alain-Fournier, 1913

A schoolboy stumbles into a mysterious party at a lost estate and spends years searching for it.

C16 h 2946 recordings

Listen12 min · read by Christiane Jehanne
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app

Candide · Voltaire, 1759

A naive young man discovers that this is not the best of all possible worlds.

C13 h 5330 recordings

Listen6 min · read by Bernard
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app

Zadig · Voltaire, 1747

A wise man's misadventures in ancient Babylon, a satire on fate.

C13 h 0220 recordings

Listen12 min · read by Christiane Jehanne, Margot, Martine and others
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app

Madame Bovary · Gustave Flaubert, 1857

A doctor's wife in Normandy dreams of a life like the novels she reads.

C113 h 1235 recordings

Listen23 min · read by Nadine Eckert-Boulet
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app
C21 audiobook17th-century verse: the fables every French child learns.

Fables (livres I–VI) · Jean de La Fontaine, 1668

The fables every French person knows: the crow and the fox, the ant and the grasshopper. 17th-century verse.

C20 h 4423 recordings

Listen1 min · read by Christina Zhu, Claire Goget, Ezwa and others
A LibriVox recording, in the public domain.
Read along in the app

How to listen to a book you can't follow yet

Questions

Are these audiobooks free?

Yes. They're recordings made by LibriVox volunteers of books in the public domain, so they're free for everyone. They play right here.

Can I read the text while I listen?

Yes: every book here is also in the SparkAI reader, with the recording of each chapter at the top of the page and a tap-to-translate for any word.

What level do I need?

These are original, unsimplified classics, so they start at about B1. Below that, listen to the graded stories and videos for your level first.

Who reads them?

Native and fluent French-speaking volunteers. Some books are read by one person, others by several, one chapter each.

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