Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

Growing up in a strange dysfunctional family, Paul discovers that he has a unique gift. He is able, with the aid of his rocking horse, to predict the winners of horse races. In order to gain his mother's affection, Paul sets about winning enough money to sate her consuming passion for luxury with one last enormous wager....

The Colonel's body is discovered in the blacksmith's yard, the skull smashed like a crushed eggshell. No man for 40 miles around could have struck such a blow, except the giant of a blacksmith... and the blackmith has a cast-iron alibi. Only the reticent catholic priest Father Brown can deduce the extraordinary truth behind this bizarre murder.

Many stories have stood the test of time, but this selection have entranced audiences for thousands of years and remain as fresh today as they were when first told. A fascinating collection which gives vivid insights into lives in ancient times and the issues that occupied the people of the day.

David Herbert Richards Lawrence (1885-1930) is recognized as one of the greatest English novelists, poets, playwrights and short story writers. His works address such themes as emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct, wrapped up in gripping plots which range from the poignant to the downright creepy.

Poe's eerie story of a strange doppelganger, with a classic twist at the end. William Wilson, from his early schooldays, is dogged and taunted by another boy of similar height and appearance, who bears the same name as himself. Although as young boys they manage to tolerate each other, over time, as Wilson moves through Eton and Oxford and out into the world, his alter ego frequently turns up to thwart him at critical moments in his life.

A wonderful collection of 30 of the greatest detective and mystery stories ever written. Featuring all the great classic sleuths, including Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Max Carrados, Dr. Thorndyke and Madame Rosika Storey. 1. 'Who killed Charlie Winpole?' By Ernest Bramah 2. 'The Blue Cross' by G. K. Chesterton 3. 'The Problem of the Five Marks' by Melville Davisson Post 4. 'The Comedy at Fountain Cottage' by Ernest Bramah 5. 'The Mysterious Card' by Cleveland Moffett 6. 'The Card Unveiled' by Cleveland Moffett

Mark Twain's classic satire on the German language. A must read for anybody learning German or living in a German-speaking country. "The Germans have another kind of parenthesis, which they make by splitting a verb in two and putting half of it at the beginning of an exciting chapter and the other half at the end of it. Can anyone conceive of anything more confusing than that?"

First published in 1900, The Book Of Dragons is one of Edith Nesbit's best loved and most inventive children’s books. Her heroes and heroines are children faced unexpectedly with real live dragons, which are fiery, fierce, ravenous, irritating, grumpy, furry and even gifted cooks! They appear from caves, from the pages of a magical book, at the North Pole or from mysterious dungeons where nobody dares enter.

Adeline Virginia Woolf (January 1882-1941) was an English writer and one of the preeminent modernists of the 20th century. "Kew Gardens" is a short story set in the London botanic garden of the same name on a hot July day. The narrative consists of brief evocative snapshots of four groups of people as they pass by a flowerbed.

A fascinating collection of some of the great - but less well known - fairy tales of all time.

Mary Wilkins Freeman (1852-1930) was an American writer, best known for her stories reflecting the world of women fighting for dignity and independence from men. Her tales typically describe domestic settings and intimate relationships and are told with sensitivity and a poignancy which illuminates a bygone era in vivid detail. "The Revolt of Mother" tells the story of a strong and self-reliant farm wife who defies her obstinate husband by moving her household into his newly built barn.

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English writer of science fiction stories and novels and is frequently credited as being the father of science fiction. The Red Room is the account of the terrifying nocturnal experiences of a young man who volunteers to spend a night in the haunted red room at Lorraine Castle.

O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), an American writer of outstanding short stories, known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and surprise endings. The Last Leaf is the story of two female artists living together in Greenwich village. When one of them, Johnsy, becomes gravely ill with pneumonia, she becomes obsessed with counting the leaves on the ivy outside the window. As the weather gets colder and windier, the leaves fall one by one.

Fifty great classic short stories selected from the works of the best writers of the last century.

Alexander Pushkin's greatest short story. Hermann, a young German officer serving in the Engineers regiment, is obsessed by gambling, although he never indulges in it himself. One night he hears a tale about how a wealthy 87-year-old Countess in St. Petersburg once learned the secret of how to win on three cards from the Duc d'Orleans. He becomes obsessed with learning the secret himself. In pursuit of this aim, he becomes enamoured of the Countess' companion, the beautiful Lizaveta.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928 and 1930. Among her most popular and terrifying tales are the many masterly ghost stories which she wrote in her early career. "Afterward" is a dramatic story of the most mysterious ghost of all. When Ned and Mary Boyne move to a remote and unrenovated manor house in Dorsetshire, their list of desired features includes a resident ghost.

Kipling’s classic tale taken from the Just So Stories. When all the other animals become tame, the cat is reluctant to give up his independence. He devises a clever scheme to gain a seat by the fire and a saucer of cream without having to submit to man.

A delightful folk tale from Romania about a princess who is destined to marry a pig. When the pig arrives at her father's court to woo her, she submits to her fate - but the pig is in reality anything but what he seems. He is a prince who has been bewitched. Unfortunately the witch now tricks the princess into extending the spell - her fate is now to embark on a lengthy quest, hampered by iron sandals, to find her beloved husband and free him from the curse once and for all. Enchanting!

"The Outsider" is one of Lovecraft's earliest and creepiest stories. A man exists alone in a mysterious dark castle, with no memory of how or why he is there. One day he decides to climb the highest tower in the hope of seeing the sky...and in doing so briefly learns the terrible, ghastly, unbearable truth....

William Fryer Harvey (1885-1937) was an English writer of short stories, particularly in the mystery and horror genres. August Heat is one of his best-known stories. It tells a most peculiar tale of James Clarence Withencroft, an artist who is inspired to draw a sketch of a prisoner in the dock being sentenced. Later the same day, he goes out for a walk and happens upon a stonemason's workshop, where he meets the very man he drew in his earlier sketch.