The Red and the Black is a historic novel by French author Stendhal and tells the life of young Julien Sorel, an ambitious young carpenter's son turned priest, who secretly models his behaviour after the heroics of Napoleon, in an era when the great man had only recently died at St Helena.

Julien Sorel - intelligent, handsome and who is determined to rise above his humble peasant origins. Stendhal presents the reader with a satirical plot that will involve you in passions, intrigues, last-minute reversals and, mostly, the hypocrisy by which society operates.  

With remarkable skill, Stendhal manages to hold Julian's character up to excoriating examination while leaving us with some measure of sympathy for his young hero as he romantically pursues, first, the wife of his local mayor, then the haughty young daughter of a nobleman who has employed him as a personal secretary. Combining penetrating psychological insights with scathing social satire, The Red and the Black is rightly regarded as one of the great classics of French literature. 

Stendhal was a pen name for French writer Marie-Henri Beyle (1783 - 1842), who hated the English. Highly regarded for the acute analysis of his characters' psychology and considered one of the early and foremost practitioners of realism. The Red and the Black was translated by Horace B. Samuel and first published in 1916. Audiobook read by Peter Dann, running time 18 hours, 40 min. Unabridged full version.