Exclusive: Rosamund Pike Narrates Pride and Prejudice

It’s one of the most famous opening lines in literature, and Rosamund Pike does it justice: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

The actress — who played Jane Bennet in the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice — is the narrator of a new audiobook version from Audible, out Dec. 8. “It’s an extraordinary book,” she says in an interview for Audible, “because it gives people, in surprising ways, a huge amount of joy.”

Hear Pike read the opening passage of the classic novel below.