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The Picture of Dorian Gray audiobook vs book: which should you choose?

A short gothic novel built around one bargain and told by one all-knowing narrator. Against that, the Preface of epigrams may not be on the recording, and no audio listing says which of the two versions of the novel it uses.

Read vs Listen·Verdict last reviewed 23 October 2026·6 min read

Short answer: for The Picture of Dorian Gray audiobook vs book choice, we say listen on Audible (65% confidence, leaning). Russell Tovey reads Audible Studios’ 2017 recording in 8 hours 35 minutes, unabridged; it leads Audible US and sits second on Audible UK behind Edward Petherbridge’s 8 hour 5 minute reading. No page confirms which recording reads the Preface. One narrator and a praised recording point to audio, while Wilde’s ornate prose points to print.

Confidence 65%, which puts it in the leaning band. Bands run from close call at 50 to 64, through leaning at 65 to 79 and clear at 80 to 94, up to clear cut at 95 and above.

What this book actually is

The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s only novel. It first appeared in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in July 1890, a 13-chapter version the editor had already cut by about 500 words, and was expanded to 20 chapters for Ward, Lock and Company in April 1891, with a new Preface of epigrams, the character of James Vane and more of Dorian’s background. Harvard University Press published the uncensored 1890 typescript in 2011. The book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895.

Enthralled by his own portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty, and under Lord Henry Wotton’s influence leads a double life while only the painting shows the damage. Penguin calls it an “alluring, evergreen adult fairy-tale”; Robert McCrum, “an arresting, and slightly camp, exercise in late-Victorian gothic”. The Penguin Classics paperback, edited by Robert Mighall, runs 304 pages. Ben Barnes reads the Penguin Classics audiobook, with Mighall’s introduction.

The case for reading it

The strongest case for print is the Preface. In the 1891 text Wilde opens with a page of epigrams on art and criticism that stands apart from chapter 1, a manifesto for art for art’s sake, and it reads as a list to be taken one line at a time. No audio page says whether Tovey, Petherbridge or Barnes reads it, so a listener may simply not get it. The Penguin Classics edition also adds Mighall’s introduction and notes, and no recording includes them except Barnes’s, which has the introduction.

Beyond that, the print case rests on the prose: LitCharts describes Wilde’s style as “opulent and aestheticized” and “deliberately kept formal and aristocratic”. Critics praise the novel as a whole rather than sentence by sentence, and Wilde’s biographer Richard Ellmann is unimpressed by parts of it. The Kindle edition, at 304 pages, suits anyone who wants to take Wilde’s wit at their own pace, or who wants to be sure of the 1891 text.

The case for listening to it

It is a short novel built on one main idea, told by one all-knowing narrator, with a small cast. Jane Eyre and Rebecca got a Listen verdict for the same reasons, and the same applies here. Tovey’s reading, at 8 hours 35 minutes, is a single evening at 2x.

Listeners on Audible UK say Tovey’s “outstanding narration brought the characters to life” and that his voice adds “a sense of necessary seediness to the style”. Petherbridge, the UK store’s lead listing, draws the same warmth: “the most perfect voice for this, or indeed any, classic novel”. Out magazine called Tovey’s voice “smooth, velvety” on release and Audible’s article on the best classic audiobooks calls his narration “chilling”, though that praise is promotional or retailer editorial rather than an independent review or award. The listener judgements are consistent across hundreds of ratings.

Get the audiobook8h 35m, read by Russell Tovey

Listen on Audible

The audiobook in detail

Audible UK and Audible US sell the same spread of readings in a different order. On the UK store Edward Petherbridge (Audible Studios, 8h 5m) leads, then Russell Tovey (Audible Studios, 26 October 2017, 8h 35m), then Ben Barnes (Penguin Classics, 2019, 8h 25m). On the US store Tovey leads, then Barnes. Both Tovey and Petherbridge are solo, unabridged and equal productions, so the newer recording is scored, following the site rule; it also has the most ratings. Petherbridge’s listing carries a 2007 release date against a 2014 copyright line, a conflict no page explains. At 1.5x Tovey takes about 5 hours 43 minutes, at 2x about 4 hours 18 minutes.

Simon Vance (7h 44m) and Greg Wise (9h 15m) are also unabridged on Audible UK. Stephen Fry (5h 16m) and Michael Sheen (3h 18m) are abridged, so the two most famous names on the list give you less than the whole book. Audible US adds Edoardo Ballerini reading Nicholas Frankel’s uncensored 1890 edition (7h 10m), the only recording tied to a named text. No page states which text any other recording uses.

Who should ignore this verdict

Readers who want the Preface for certain, or who want to compare the 1890 and 1891 texts, should take the Kindle edition or Frankel’s uncensored edition on Audible US. Anyone who has already fallen for Petherbridge’s or Barnes’s voice from a sample need not switch to Tovey: all three are unabridged and the verdict would be the same.

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