Classics

A tale of betrayal, revenge, loyalty, and redemption, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a true classic. Hester Prynne settles in a little town in Puritan-era Massachusetts while awaiting her husband’s arrival from England. Hester becomes pregnant, exposing her sin in the eyes of the townsfolk. Her penalty: wearing an embroidered A on her bosom for the remainder of her life. When Hester’s husband arrives in the town anticipating a joyous reunion with his young wife, he instead begins a cankering quest to uncover the father of Hester’s child.

As the Revolution rages in France, a seafarer named Peyrol, a master-gunner in the French republican navy, pirate, and for nearly 50 years, rover of the outer seas, comes to the end of a lifetime lived on the seas and seeks refuge in a remote farmhouse on the French Riviera. As he attempts to settle into a peaceful existence, Peyrol struggles to redefine himself and returns to the sea for one final voyage.

Mackenzie Menter performs Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s famous 1892 tale of a woman’s decent into madness. The unnamed narrator secretly keeps a journal and chronicles her decent into madness while subjected to her doctor-husband’s severe postpartum rest cure. She begins to see that a woman is trapped in the suffocating wallpaper that envelops her room, and she becomes determined - at all costs - to free her. 

In The Fox, two young women living on a small farm during the First World War find their solitary life interrupted. As a fox preys on their poultry, a human predator plans to prey on the women. The Captain’s Doll explores the complex and intimate relationship between a German countess and a married Scottish soldier in occupied Germany, while in The Ladybird a wounded German prisoner of war has a disturbing and profound influence on the Englishwoman who visits him in the hospital. 

Anne of the Island was published in 1915 covering her from the ages of 18 to 22. This is the third story of Anne Shirley where she earns her BA at Redmond College. In this book, she enjoys new and old friends at Redmond, living together at Patty's Place chaperoned by Aunt Jamesina. Gilbert proposes to Anne and she rejects him - but you must listen to the story to know the rest!

Left impoverished upon the death of her aunt, Emma Watson has no option but to be reunited with her estranged father and siblings. Initially delighted with her new life - including the fashionable society balls to which she now has access - Emma soon realizes that her family harbors many ill feelings, not least those springing from the sisters' hopes - and disappointments - in snaring a husband. So when the eligible and suitably rich Tom Musgrove begins to transfer his affections from her sister Margaret to Emma, the result can only be further sibling rivalry and unrest.

The world's first and longest magical fantasy HOSHRUBA (1883-1893) was compiled in the Urdu language in Lucknow by two of its greatest story-tellers, Syed Muhammad Husain Jah and Ahmed Husain Qamar, wrote a fantasy in the Urdu language whose equal had not been heard before, and which has never been rivaled since. It was called Tilism-e Hoshruba. The writers claimed that the tale had been passed down to them from storytellers going back centuries: It was a part of the beloved oral epic, The Adventures of Amir Hamza which had come to the Indian subcontinent via Persia.

In a dream landscape radiant with jewels, a father sees his lost daughter on the far bank of a river: "my pearl, my girl". One of the great treasures of the British Library, the fourteenth-century poem Pearl is a work of poetic brilliance; its account of loss and consolation has retained its force across six centuries. Jane Draycott in her new translation remakes the imaginative intensity of the original.

Beautiful, flirtatious, and recently widowed, Lady Susan Vernon seeks an advantageous second marriage for herself, while attempting to push her daughter into a dismal match. A magnificently crafted novel of Regency manners and mores that will delight Austen enthusiasts with its wit and elegant expression.

Pregnant and unmarried, 17-year-old Irene Thelliston has been sent home from India in disgrace to live with her aunt in rural Ireland. Only one person knows her secret: Lady Mary Harling, a fellow passenger on her sea voyage, who pities her misfortunes and solemnly swears never to divulge her secret. Years later, to Lady Mary's horror, the beautiful Irene arrives in London and becomes engaged to her son, Conrad, who has a secret of his own, having spent seven years in a madhouse after a broken heart left him insane.

The Age of Innocence is a 1920 novel by Edith Wharton, and the winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. The title is an ironic comment on the smooth outward manners of New York society in comparison to its inner workings. The narrative revolves around the impending marriage of an upper-class couple, Newland Archer and the beautiful May Welland, which is disrupted by the appearance of the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska who shocks the New York aristocracy with her unconventional manners and revealing clothes.

Nelson Algren was a renowned writer, known for his penetrating and influential social novels such as The Man with the Golden Arm and A Walk on the Wild Side. Originally published in 1935, Somebody in Boots was Algren’s first novel, based on his experiences living in Texas during the Great Depression. A wonderful companion to Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, this new edition of Somebody in Boots features an introduction by Colin Asher, the author of a biography of Algren. 

The Tale of Genji is an exquisitely crafted classic work of Japanese literature written in the 11th century. Some consider it to be the world's first novel, or the first modern or psychological novel. The narrative of 54 chapters is embellished by hundreds of little poems spread like a string of pearls through the prose. The story recounts the life of Hikaru Genji, the son of an ancient Japanese emperor and a concubine. Removed from the line of succession, Genji pursues a series of love affairs and a career as an imperial officer.

"The Old Man of the Sea" is a farcical comedy about a young man, George Wright, who tries to win a lady’s hand by pretending to be the only heir of a rich uncle. Of course, the plan does not go smoothly. The young lady’s mother hits it off with Mr. Kemp, the “rich uncle,” who pursues his own interests, whilst the other suitor, Mr. Hills, gets entangled in the twists and turns of the hilarious plot. 

"The Happy Prince" is a short story by Oscar Wilde, about a swallow and a statue. The swallow who remained behind when his flock flew to Africa for the winter, befriends a golden and bejewelled statue of a prince. Witnessing the poverty and suffering in the city, the statue asks the swallow to take his jewels and use them to help the poor. One by the swallow takes the gemstones, and ultimately also the gold plating, stripping the statue bare. But because it waited so long, it succumbs to the cold of winter. 

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, Margaret Mitchell's great novel of the South is one of the most popular books ever written....

Inspired by The Hobbit, and begun in 1937, The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy that J.R.R. Tolkien created to provide "the necessary background of history for Elvish tongues"....

On the 75th anniversary of its publication, this outstanding work of literature is more crucial and relevant today than ever before....

C.S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly-wise old Devil to his nephew, Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man....

Like every other hobbit, Bilbo Baggins likes nothing better than a quiet evening in his snug hole in the ground, dining on a sumptuous dinner in front of a fire....

Harper Lee’s Pulitzer prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep south - and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred....

The Fellowship has been forced to split up. Frodo and Sam must continue alone towards Mount Doom, where the One Ring must be destroyed....

Audible Originals takes to the high seas to bring to life this timeless tale of pirates, lost treasure maps and mutiny....

The Return of the King is the towering climax to J. R. R. Tolkien’s trilogy that tells the saga of the hobbits of Middle-earth and the great War of the Rings....

By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.....

Ray Bradbury's internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of 20th-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future, narrated here by Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins....

This new audio edition, authorized by Fitzgerald's estate, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal....

One of Jane Austen’s most beloved works, Pride and Prejudice, is vividly brought to life by Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)....

Get ready for an adventure tale in its purest form, a thrilling and elegantly told account of a group of British schoolboys marooned on a tropical island....

Narrator Dan Stevens ( Downton Abbey) presents an uncanny performance of Mary Shelley's timeless gothic novel, an epic battle between man and monster at its greatest literary pitch....

From the author of The Christmas Hirelings comes this Audible Exclusive production of Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s classic sensation novel Lady Audley’s Secret....

Steinbeck’s tale of commitment, loneliness, hope, and loss remains one of America’s most widely read and beloved novels....

One of the most beloved novels of our time, Watership Down is an epic journey, a stirring tale of adventure, courage, and survival....

Ponyboy can count on his brothers....

Past the rusted gates and untrimmed hedges, Hill House broods and waits….

Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him....

Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a titanic figure among the world's great authors, and The Brothers Karamazov is often hailed as his finest novel....

Often called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is at once an epic of the Napoleonic wars, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the Russian spirit....

Meditations is former U.S. President Bill Clinton's favorite book. This audio consists of a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161-180 AD, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy....

Its famous opening line, "Call me Ishmael," dramatic in its stark simplicity, begins an epic that is widely regarded as the greatest novel ever written by an American....

The great adventure story tells of Odysseus, a veteran of the Trojan War, who - through a landscape peopled with monsters, sea nymphs, evil enchantresses, and vengeful gods....

Ernest Hemingway said, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn....

Sixteenth-century Spanish gentleman Don Quixote, fed by his own delusional fantasies, takes to the road in search of chivalrous adventures....

Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature....

This novel provides a highly charged examination of human suffering and human sacrifice, private experience and public history, during the French Revolution....