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Tono-Bungay by Herbert George Wells

Step into the shadowed corridors of a vanishing world, where the gilded decay of English aristocracy collides with the relentless march of industrial…

Tono-Bungay by Herbert George Wells
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Runtime: 15 hr 11 min · Watch the full audiobook on YouTube · Subscribe to Ion Books

Step into the shadowed corridors of a vanishing world, where the gilded decay of English aristocracy collides with the relentless march of industrial ambition. *Tono-Bungay* is a searing portrait of a society in flux, a place where tradition frays under the weight of unchecked capitalism and moral compromise. At its heart lies George Ponderevo, a man torn between the crumbling elegance of his past and the brutal pragmatism of a future he cannot escape. Through his eyes, H.G. Wells weaves a haunting tapestry of disillusionment—a world where ideals clash with greed, and the pursuit of progress exacts a devastating toll. The air hums with the tension of a civilization unraveling: lavish estates crumble into dust, while the scent of opportunism wafts through the streets of a new industrial order. George’s journey is one of fractured identity, a spiral through love, betrayal, and the corrosive allure of power. Every page pulses with the existential dread of a man who sees the scaffolding of society erode beneath him, yet is bound to the machinery of its destruction. The novel’s brilliance lies in its unflinching dissection of ambition and the hollow triumphs of modernity, rendered in prose as sharp and incisive as it is elegiac. Wells, the visionary who once imagined time machines and Martian invasions, turns his gaze inward here, crafting a deeply human story of personal and societal collapse. The result is a masterpiece of social realism, where the stakes are both intimate and universal. With its richly drawn characters, biting satire, and profound meditation on the fragility of integrity in a world driven by profit, *Tono-Bungay* lingers like a question mark in the psyche of an era—and ours. This is not merely a novel of its time, but a mirror held to the soul of progress, demanding to be heard.

Summary generated by AI model Qwen 3

Public domain & narration

The edition shown here comes from Project Gutenberg, which publishes only books that are in the US public domain.

The narration is the LibriVox recording read by William Tomcho, Delmar H Dolbier and Jules Hawryluk. LibriVox volunteers dedicate their recordings to the public domain.

Ion Books adds the synchronized scrolling text and video, so you can read along while you listen, for free.

Full Playlist

Watch the full playlist on YouTube

Full Videos

YouTube Short

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Chapters

  1. Chapter 1: Bk First, Ch First, Parts 1-3 (31:54) · watch
  2. Chapter 2: Bk First, Ch First, Parts 4-6 (31:27) · watch
  3. Chapter 3: Bk First, Ch First, Parts 7-9 (27:29) · watch
  4. Chapter 4: Bk First, Ch Second, Parts 1-4 (34:49) · watch
  5. Chapter 5: Bk First, Ch Second, Parts 5-8 (20:43) · watch
  6. Chapter 6: Bk First, Ch Third, Parts 1-3 (42:55) · watch
  7. Chapter 7: Bk First, Ch Third, Parts 4-7 (26:43) · watch
  8. Chapter 8: Bk Second, Ch First, Parts 1-3 (42:34)
  9. Chapter 9: Bk Second, Ch First, Parts 4-6 (26:18)
  10. Chapter 10: Bk Second, Ch Second, Parts 1-3 (35:26)
  11. Chapter 11: Bk Second, Ch Second, Parts 4-6 (16:35)
  12. Chapter 12: Bk Second, Ch Third, Parts 1-2 (30:38)
  13. Chapter 13: Bk Second, Ch Fourth, Parts 1-3 (39:11)
  14. Chapter 14: Bk Second, Ch Fourth, Parts 4-6 (30:59)
  15. Chapter 15: Bk Second, Ch Fourth, Parts 7-9 (20:15)
  16. Chapter 16: Bk Second, Ch Fourth, Parts 10-11 (19:46)
  17. Chapter 17: Bk Third, Ch First, Parts 1-3 (35:21)
  18. Chapter 18: Bk Third, Ch First, Parts 4-6 (21:33)
  19. Chapter 19: Bk Third, Ch Second, Parts 1-3 (25:18)
  20. Chapter 20: Bk Third, Ch Second, Parts 4-6 (33:25)
  21. Chapter 21: Bk Third, Ch Second, Parts 7-10 (45:13)
  22. Chapter 22: Bk Third, Ch Third, parts 1-3 (34:38)
  23. Chapter 23: Bk Third, Ch Third, Parts 4-7 (43:27)
  24. Chapter 24: Bk Third, Ch Fourth, Parts 1-3 (41:21)
  25. Chapter 25: Bk Third, Ch Fourth, Parts 4-7 (34:43)
  26. Chapter 26: Bk Fourth, Ch First, Parts 1-3 (23:14)
  27. Chapter 27: Bk Fourth, Ch First, Parts 4-6 (20:37)
  28. Chapter 28: Bk Fourth, Ch First, Parts 7-9 (24:53)
  29. Chapter 29: Bk Fourth, Ch Second, Parts 1-4 (27:55)
  30. Chapter 30: Bk Fourth, Ch Third, Parts 1-4 (22:09)

Full text

This work is too long to show on one page. Read it on Project Gutenberg · download ebook.txt

Sources

Raw pipeline data (admin)