Dame Emma Thompson and Florence Pugh to narrate Austen audiobooks

Dame Emma Thompson, Claire Foy and Florence Pugh are among the actresses who will lend their voices to new Jane Austen audiobooks.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Billie Piper will also take part in The Jane Austen Collection for Audible, featuring six of the author’s best-loved novels.

Each story will be a hybrid of narration and full cast dramatisation.

The Morning Show star Mbatha-Raw will narrate Sense And Sensibility, about the Dashwood sisters and their pursuit of happiness.

Foy will read Pride And Prejudice, telling the story of the Bennet family and their five unmarried daughters as they seeks to make advantageous matches.

Piper will read Mansfield Park, the story of young Fanny Price, who is adopted into the household of her wealthy uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, while Pugh will read Persuasion, about Anne Elliot, who deeply regrets being persuaded to break off her engagement to naval officer Frederick Wentworth.

Dame Emma, who previously won an Oscar for adapting the screenplay of Sense And Sensibility will read Emma, about spoiled matchmaker Emma Woodhouse and Northanger Abbey, a Gothic coming-of-age tale about teenage Catherine Morland.

The Jane Austen Collection will be released on Audible on November 5, and made available to Audible members for one credit, with a full run time of 32 hours.