Free public-domain audiobook
Listen to The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as a free audiobook on iPhone
You can listen to The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson as a free audiobook on your iPhone. Because the book is in the public domain, you can download a free EPUB edition and have it read aloud with natural on-device voices - privately, offline, and without buying an audiobook.
A respectable doctor and a vicious stranger seem mysteriously linked, and a lawyer friend pulls at the thread until the truth comes out. Stevenson built it as a detective story whose solution everyone now knows in advance, yet it still grips. At novella length, it is the shortest complete listen on this list.
Why The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is free to listen to
Published in 1886, Jekyll and Hyde is public domain. Free EPUB editions are everywhere, and its short length makes it a quick listen.
Length: A novella - 10 short chapters, a single evening.
How to listen to The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde on iPhone
- Download a free public-domain EPUB of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks both offer one).
- Move the EPUB to your iPhone via AirDrop, iCloud Drive, email, or a direct download into Files.
- Open the EPUB in a reader app that reads text aloud, or use Apple's built-in Speak Screen to hear the open page.
- Choose a voice and press play. A reader that generates the voice on the device works offline, with nothing uploaded.
Questions & answers
Is Jekyll and Hyde a short read?
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novella of roughly ten short chapters, making it the briefest complete book on this list - most listeners finish it in an evening. That length makes it a good way to test how a public-domain classic sounds with on-device voices before committing to a longer novel.
Does it spoil the story that everyone knows the twist?
Most people know that Jekyll and Hyde are one person, but Stevenson wrote the book as a mystery for characters who do not. Listening for how the lawyer Utterson uncovers the connection, rather than for the reveal itself, is where the tension lives. The atmosphere and prose carry it regardless.