Showing results by narrator "Andy Harrington" in All Categories

First published in 1869, Little Women is the story of four sisters growing up against the background of the American Civil War. Alcott wrote the book at the urging of the publisher, Thomas Niles, who was seeking a story about girls that would have popular appeal. Although it was commenced essentially as a children's book, it developed into something of a bildungsroman, which touches on more serious issues such as the difficulties faced by single-parent families, the death of a sibling, and fractured relationships.

The little known first novella of Charlotte Bronte, The Green Dwarf is a story of adventure, subterfuge, romance, and danger. Lady Emily Charlesworth is awaiting the return of her lover, Leslie, who is a down-on-his luck artist. However, the dastardly, coldhearted Colonel Percy is also vying for her heart and will stop at nothing to make Emily his own.

Spring Awakening (German: Frühlings Erwachen) was the first major play by Frank Wedekind. It was written in the early 1890s but, due to opposition from censorship authorities, was not presented on stage until 1906. The play explores two contentious themes: the development of adolescent sexuality and the repressive nature of the German education system.

Young Danny Mitchell's life seems to be falling apart. First his father died, then his mother moved them away from his life in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to the small river town of Martins Ferry, Ohio. Yet when he finds his father's boyhood journal, things start looking up as he and some neighborhood kids begin exploring the haunts of his late father. But Danny's life is about to get an even bigger shock.

Lovers' Vows is Elizabeth Inchbald's controversial adaptation of the German play Das Kind der Liebe (The Love Child) by August von Kotzebue. Though it met with great success both on stage and in print, some were concerned discussion of premarital sex and the leveling of social rank. Today, it is best known as the play that the Mansfield Theatricals rehearse in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.

Published in 1871, Little Men is a sequel to the novel, Little Women. It tells the continuing story of Jo March, who has married Professor Bhaer, with whom she now runs a small school.

In January 1817, Jane Austen began work on Sanditon, but died a few months later, leaving it unfinished. The surviving fragment begins the story of Charlotte Heywood, a sheltered young woman who is invited to the up-and-coming resort town of Sanditon. While there, she meets a host of memorable characters, drawn with Austen's classic wit and insight, including a fortune-hunting fop, a domineering dowager, and a hoard of hypochondriacs.

Camilla and Nick fall hard. She's finally ready to find love. He is not expecting to. Nick's enemy has been threatening him for a while now. And now that he has Camilla, he's concerned for her safety. He reveals to her the truth of things, but she stays at his side against his better judgement. But when the threats become too much, Camilla gives him an ultimatum. Either he reaches out to his estranged family for help with the matter or she can't do this.

Marilla "Rilla" Blythe, the youngest daughter of Gilbert and Anne Blythe, is nearly 15 when the First World War begins making news. Seemingly overnight, the men of the town are being called up to enlist. Rilla, who had long yearned for adulthood, finds new responsibilities as the war wages on.

Ben Loory returns with a second collection of timeless tales, inviting us to enter his worlds of whimsical fantasy, deep empathy, and playful humor, in the signature voice that drew listeners to his highly praised first collection. In stories that eschew literary realism, Loory's characters demonstrate richly imagined and surprising perspectives, whether they be dragons or swordsmen, star-crossed lovers or long-lost twins, restaurateurs dreaming of Paris or cephalopods fixated on space travel.

Between 1895 and 1901 H. G. Wells wrote six science fiction novels, which have become among the most celebrated examples of the genre. In this collection, Wells explores a number of topics that have since become very common subjects in science fiction, including time travel, celestial beings, eugenics, alien invasion, and space exploration.

While playing outside on the farm in Kansas, Dorothy, and Toto happen upon the Shaggy Man, who asks for directions to Butterfield. The pair is happy to show him the way, but the road splits into seven different paths and Dorothy is unsure which is the correct choice. After some debate, the group decides to take the seventh path where they run into an adorable little boy named Button Bright who cannot seem to stop getting lost. Further down the road, they encounter Polychrome, who is the daughter of the Rainbow.

The Marvelous Land of Oz is book two in the Oz series by L. Frank Baum. In this story, we meet a young boy named Tip. His guardian Mombi is a wicked witch and Tip is always met with anger and abuse. One day Tip has had enough and seeks revenge on the witch, building a wooden man with a pumpkin for a head, hoping to frighten Mombi. His plan backfires and while not fooled, Mombi demonstrates her own power by bringing the aptly named Jack Pumpkinhead to life. Not yet done with her abuse, Mombi informs Tip she will turn him into a stone statue as punishment for his deceit.

The Three Sisters is Anton Chekhov's 1901 play about the Prosorov family, who are stuck in a provincial Russian town. The sisters - Olga, Masha, and Irina - fantasize about one day returning to Moscow. Meanwhile, their brother Andrey courts village girl Natasha, and the family socializes with the soldiers stationed nearby. Dreams, longing, and illicit love drive the action of Chekhov's comic drama.

Severin is a passionate man who falls head over heels in love (or maybe lust?) with the beautiful young widow Wanda, begging her to treat him as her slave. Torn between pleasure and the fight against his own self-esteem, Severin submits to his mistress while Wanda discovers her own pleasure in her domination, an action that previously made her scoff. Deemed scandalous at the time of publication, this novel is a classic that opens a dialogue about human attraction and gender power struggles.

The Frozen Deep was originally written as a play by Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens. With Dickens himself gracing the stage as Wardour, the play was met with success, drawing audiences to tears night after night, and even performing for Queen Victoria herself. Drawing on reports of the real-life Franklin expedition of 1845, in which a crew had set out from England to discover the North Passage and disappeared without a trace, Collins and Dickens recreated the events of the ill-fated journey.

What's going on at the Pink Piñata? Three things: 1. A bizarre poker tournament with real characters from the poker world. 2. A mysterious puzzle taking place behind the scenes. 3. Poker strategy. Yes, this is also a poker strategy book that can improve your tournament play, but shh! Most people don't hear it that way. Welcome to the Pink Piñata!

This insane story is based on true events, and isn't for the faint of heart. It involves loan sharks, baseball bats, guns, alcohol, cocaine, gambling, and the scariest thing of all: human nature.

This collection was first published in 1916 and contains some of Frost’s most famous poems, including "The Road Not Taken", "Hyla Brook", and "Birches". Frost’s dedication reads: "To You - who least need reminding that before this interval of the South Branch under black mountains, there was another interval, the Upper at Plymouth, where we walked in spring beyond the covered bridge; but that the first interval of all was the old farm, our brook interval, so called by the man we had it from in sale."

Hero and Leander is a Greek myth concerning the tragic story of two lovers. One was a priestess of Aphrodite who lived in a tower in Sestos, and the other a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait. Leander fell in love with Hero and would swim every night across the Hellespont to spend time with her, with Hero's lamp at the top of her tower as his guiding light, and they shared a warm summer of love.