Showing results by publisher "Audioliterature" in All Categories

The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe. The audiobook starts with the statement about Crusoe's marriage in England. He bought a little farm in Bedford and had three children. He suffered a distemper and a desire to see "his island." When Providence unhinged him with the loss of his wife, he sets to sail and returns to his island.

"Patricia Brent, Spinster" is a novel by Herbert George Jenkins. Patricia Brent is a "paying guest" at the Galvin House Residential Hotel. One day she overhears two of her fellow "guests" pitying her because she "never has a nice young man to take her out". In a thoughtless moment of anger, she announces that on the following night she is dining at the Quadrant with her fiancé. When in due course she enters the grillroom, she finds some Galvin guests there to watch her.

"Success for a woman means absolute surrender, in whatever direction. Whether she paints a picture, or loves a man, there is no division of labor possible in her economy. To the attainment of any end worth living for, a symmetrical sacrifice of her nature is compulsory upon her." That is the dilemma this powerful and beautifully observed work centers around.

"A Lady of Quality" (1897) is a historical novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Excerpt from the book: "On a wintry morning at the close of 1690, the sun shining faint and red through a light fog, there was a great noise of baying dogs, loud voices, and trampling of horses in the courtyard at Wildairs Hall; Sir Jeoffry being about to go forth a-hunting, and being a man with a choleric temper and big, loud voice, and given to oaths and noise even when in good-humour, his riding forth with his friends at any time was attended with boisterous commotion.

A corpse washes up on a New England beach, handcuffed to a raft. The whole town seems to want desperately to cover up everything and bury the body as fast as possible without even bothering to identify it. Our hero, Chester Kent, is determined to get to the bottom of all this... Nothing is as it seems in this completely engrossing mystery yarn that plays out like walking inside a labyrinth! The listener comes up against constant dead-ends during the tale's unfolding, right up to the surprising and satisfying resolution.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (commonly shortened to "Alice in Wonderland") tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children! It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. Its narrative course and structure, characters and imagery have been enormously influential.

"The Metamorphosis" is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It has been cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is studied in colleges and universities across the Western world. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed (metamorphosed) into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Samsa's transformation is never revealed, and Kafka never did give an explanation.

A classic sci-fi tale by the master Murray Leinster of the last catastrophic stages of our planet and its inhabitants. The true villain of this fascinating piece is excess carbon dioxide! The results on the earth, plant life, animals and humans are vividly imagined and described: giant insects, weird fungi, poisonous air and gases, fighting and conflict amongst humanity... How, or rather, how badly will all of this end?

"The Girl on the Boat" (1922) is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse. The girl from the title is the red-haired, dog-loving Wilhelmina "Billie" Bennett, and the three men are: Bream Mortimer, a long-time and long-suffering suitor of Billie; Eustace Hignett, a shy poet who is cowed by his domineering mother but secretly engaged to Billie at the opening of the tale; Sam Marlowe, Eustace's dashing cousin, who falls in love with Billie "at first sight".

The Lost World (1912) is a novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Edward Malone, a reporter for the Daily Gazette, asks his news editor, McArdle, for a dangerous and adventurous mission in order to impress the woman he loves, Gladys Hungerton. He is sent to interview the cantankerous Professor Challenger, who has become notorious for claims made about his recent expedition to South America. The professor has been plagued by intrusive reporters, and, being a formidable man of great strength, has taken to forcibly ejecting them, despite the resulting police prosecutions.

"The Invisible Man" (1897) is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells. The Invisible Man of the title is Griffin, a scientist who has devoted himself to research into optics and invents a way to change a body's refractive index to that of air so that it neither absorbs nor reflects light and thus becomes invisible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but fails in his attempt to reverse it. What will he do when he runs out of money? Read this book to find out how did Wells finish the story of the use of this still not available but desired invention.

"The Island of Doctor Moreau" (1896) is a classic of early science fiction and remains one of Wells' best-known books, and has been adapted to film and other media on many occasions. The novel is the narration of Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat, and left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, who creates human-like hybrid beings from animals via vivisection.

"The Lone Star Ranger" is a Western novel that takes place in Texas, the Lone Star State, and several main characters are Texas Rangers, a famous band of highly capable law enforcement officers. It follows the life of Buck Duane, a man who becomes an outlaw and then redeems himself in the eyes of the law.

This is a cult classic in the gothic horror and suspense genre! Our hero Richard is a young Englishman abroad in Napoleonic-era France. He falls in love with a mysterious and endangered Countess, whom he glimpsed behind her black veil. To be close to her, he checks into a room in the Dragon Volant (the Flying Dragon), a haunted hotel that has seen many mysterious disappearances.

"The Time Machine" is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. Wells is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposely and selectively forwards or backwards in time. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle.

"A Laodicean" (1881) is a novel by Thomas Hardy. Paula Power inherits a medieval castle from her industrialist father who bought it from the aristocratic De Stancy family. She employs two architects, a local, and a newly qualified from London: George Somerset, who represents modernity. Captain De Stancy, an impoverished scion of the family represents a dream of medieval nobility. Paula is attracted to both men. Somerset leaves believing Paula and the Captain have been married. Paula finds him and they marry.

"As he fled, he had a consciousness of abandoning something - perhaps of deserting something - which brought a strain of regret into this minute of desperate excitement. He felt he was giving up the fight. He, or his counsel for him, had contested the ground with all the resourceful ingenuity known to the American legal practitioner. He was told that, in spite of the seeming finality of what had happened that morning, there were still loopholes through which the defence might be carried on.

Welcome to the wonderful warming humor and equally warming wisdom of these nine essay-like tales, all illustrating the old adage of "Where there's a will, the is a way!" Extract: "The boys of Mr. Fountain's school were delighted when he told them he should take them that evening to a lecture in the town; not that they cared a fig for the lecture, but it was a chance to get out, and in place of the quiet study-room there would be the jolly walk by moonlight down the frozen hillside, with slides and snowballing instead of books.

A wonderfully warm and atmospheric tale by Irving Bacheller of friendship, wisdom, growing up, war and love. The friendship is between the old man Eben, who rescues young orphan Bill from yet another orphanage, as the two migrate from Vermont to Paradise Valley. The wisdom comes from Eben. The growing-up is done by Bill, as well as the partaking in the war (the American Civil War) and the falling in love (the lady's name is Hope).

"The Time Machine" is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. Wells is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposely and selectively forwards or backwards in time. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle. The book's protagonist is an English scientist and inventor, identified by a narrator simply as the Time Traveller.