As an Amazon Associate and eBay Partner, toptenpick.com earns from qualifying purchases. Prices and availability are subject to change.
Almost every unabridged audio edition of The Count of Monte Cristo — including the most-recommended one, Bill Homewood’s reading for Naxos — is built on the same public-domain anonymous 1846 English translation, not Robin Buss’s more modern, less-bowdlerized 2003 Penguin Classics version. As of this writing there is no widely available, clearly credited audiobook narration of the Buss translation from a major publisher, so the real choice among unabridged editions comes down to narrator and production quality rather than translation. The picks below are all confirmed unabridged (45-60 hours, not the 1-3 hour dramatized adaptations that also circulate under this title) with runtimes and publishers verified against current listings.
| # | Product | Price | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill Homewood (Naxos AudioBooks) | $25-$45 (1 Audible credit or included with Audible/Kindle Unlimited membership) | Amazon |
| 2 | John Lee (Blackstone Publishing) | $20-$40 (1 Audible credit or similar) | Amazon |
| 3 | B.J. Harrison (Saga Egmont, Classic Tales Edition) | $20-$40, often free through library apps (Libby/OverDrive) | Amazon |
| 4 | Alan Munro (Trout Lake Media) | $20-$40 | Amazon |
| 5 | Guy Mott (AmazonClassics / Brilliance Audio) | $20-$40 | Amazon |
| 6 | Richard Matthews, billed as Simon Vance (Random House Audio) | $20-$35 | Amazon |
| 7 | David Clarke (LibriVox, solo reading) | Free | Amazon |
| 8 | LibriVox collaborative edition (multiple volunteer readers) | Free | Amazon |
The picks, in detail
Bill Homewood (Naxos AudioBooks)
The single most-cited unabridged reading of the novel: a full-cast-adjacent solo performance from a veteran British audiobook narrator, running the complete anonymous-translation text.
- Unabridged, 52 hours 41 minutes
- Anonymous 1846 English translation
- British narration
- Naxos AudioBooks production
- Widely regarded as the benchmark unabridged version
- Strong character differentiation across a huge cast
- Uses the older, more formal 1846 translation rather than a modern one
- Long enough that it’s a real time commitment at listening speed 1x
John Lee (Blackstone Publishing)
An Audie Award winner (2009, Solo Narration – Male) known for smooth pacing and clear character voicing across the novel’s sprawling revenge plot.
- Unabridged, approximately 47 hours
- Anonymous 1846 translation
- Blackstone Publishing production
- Audie Award-winning narration
- Award-recognized performance
- Slightly shorter runtime than Homewood’s reading at a brisk pace
- Same public-domain translation as most other options here
- Older recording; production polish is more basic than newer editions
B.J. Harrison (Saga Egmont, Classic Tales Edition)
From the host of the long-running Classic Tales Podcast, a warm, character-voiced reading aimed at listeners who want an engaging performance rather than a flat read-through.
- Unabridged, roughly 55-60 hours
- Anonymous 1846 translation
- Saga Egmont / Classic Tales Edition production
- Wide array of distinct character voices
- Podcast-honed narration style with real vocal variety
- Widely available across Audible, Kobo, Chirp, and library apps via OverDrive/Libby
- Runtime estimates vary by source (55-60h), so double-check the listing before buying
- Character voices are a matter of taste — some listeners prefer a plainer read
Alan Munro (Trout Lake Media)
A steady, unhurried American-accented reading from a small audiobook press that specializes in classic-literature narration.
- Unabridged, 55-57 hours depending on listing
- Anonymous 1846 translation
- Trout Lake Media production
- American narration (an alternative to the mostly-British field)
- One of the few American-accented unabridged readings
- Consistent, clear pacing for long-haul listening
- Less well-known than the Homewood or John Lee editions
- Trout Lake also sells an abridged Peter Batchelor edition of this title — confirm you’re buying the Munro unabridged version
Guy Mott (AmazonClassics / Brilliance Audio)
Amazon’s own classics imprint edition, useful if you want tight Whispersync integration between the AmazonClassics ebook and audiobook.
- Unabridged, 55 hours 37 minutes
- Anonymous 1846 translation
- Brilliance Audio production for AmazonClassics
- Released 2020
- Whispersync-compatible with the matching AmazonClassics Kindle edition
- Widely available on Audible US, UK, and Canada
- Narration is competent but less distinctive than the award-winning readings above
- Locked to the AmazonClassics translation choice (same anonymous text)
Richard Matthews, billed as Simon Vance (Random House Audio)
An older Random House Audio production, now distributed through Libro.fm, from a narrator who has recorded extensively under both names for classic literature.
- Unabridged, 43 hours 13 minutes — the shortest full unabridged edition listed here
- Anonymous 1846 translation
- Random House Audio production, originally released 1989
- Shortest true-unabridged runtime, useful if 50+ hours feels daunting
- Buying through Libro.fm supports independent bookstores instead of Audible
- Oldest production in this list; audio quality reflects its 1989 origin
- Narrator name inconsistency (Matthews vs. Vance) across storefronts can cause confusion when searching
David Clarke (LibriVox, solo reading)
A free, single-narrator public-domain recording — the best free option if you want one consistent voice rather than LibriVox’s usual chapter-by-chapter volunteer split.
- Unabridged, 54 hours 16 minutes
- Anonymous 1846 translation (public domain text)
- Solo British narration
- Free download via LibriVox/archive.org
- Completely free and legal (public domain)
- One consistent narrator start to finish, unlike LibriVox’s multi-reader editions
- Volunteer recording, not a professional studio production — audio quality varies by chapter
- No professional editing or post-production polish
LibriVox collaborative edition (multiple volunteer readers)
The classic crowd-read LibriVox version, split by chapter across many volunteer narrators — free, but with a different voice every few chapters.
- Unabridged, approximately 49 hours 48 minutes
- Anonymous 1846 translation (public domain text)
- Multiple volunteer readers, mixed accents
- Free download via LibriVox/archive.org
- Completely free and legal
- Multiple editions exist on LibriVox if one reader’s chapters don’t suit you
- Voice and audio quality changes every few chapters as readers rotate
- Least polished listening experience of any option here
Buying tips
- Check the translation before you check the narrator: virtually every unabridged audiobook currently sold or streamed uses the same public-domain anonymous 1846 English translation, which is more formal and, in a few places, more heavily cut of risque material than Robin Buss’s 2003 Penguin Classics translation. If you specifically want the Buss text, read it in print or ebook — an audio edition of it is not reliably available as of this writing.
- Runtime is your best abridgment check: a real unabridged edition runs 43-60 hours depending on narrator pace. Anything listed under about 20 hours is abridged, and anything under 3 hours is a dramatization or retelling, not the full novel.
- “Best audiobook” often just means “best narrator” here, since the text is usually identical across editions — sample a few minutes of each narrator’s style (pacing, accent, how they handle Dumas’s huge cast of aliases) before committing to 50+ hours.
- If budget matters more than production polish, the LibriVox editions are free, legal, and unabridged — the David Clarke solo reading is the more consistent of the two free options.
As an Amazon Associate and eBay Partner, toptenpick.com earns from qualifying purchases. Prices and availability are subject to change.