Showing results by publisher "Audioliterature" in All Categories

"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".

Narrating from her deathbed, Mathilda, a young woman barely in her twenties, writes her story as a way of explaining her actions to her friend, Woodville. Her narration follows her lonely upbringing and climaxes at a point when her unnamed father confesses his incestuous love for her. Mathilda has also been seen as an example of redefining female Gothic narratives which includes the first person female narrator having more control over the story than was common at the time.

Along with the fight for survival in the wild, comes a poignant melodrama by James Oliver Curwood with a side order of mystery! A beautiful young wife dies shortly after giving birth to a girl. She is appeased by the lovely violin playing of a starving boy who came to their cabin for food. The mystery of the violin player's past and how his life connects with those in the small trading village is what makes this tale so special.

"Eugene Oneguine" (1833) is a novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin. The work is admired for the artfulness of its verse narrative as well as for its exploration of life, death, love, world-weariness, convention and passion. Excerpt from the book: Having performed his service truly, Deep into debt his father ran; Three balls a year he gave ye duly, At last became a ruined man. But Eugene was by fate preserved, For first "madame" his wants observed, And then "monsieur" supplied her place; The boy was wild but full of grace.

"Joe Kenmore heard the airlock close with a sickening wheeze and then a clank. In desperation he turned toward Haney. 'My God, we've been locked out!' Through the transparent domes of their space helmets, Joe could see a look of horror and disbelief pass across Haney's face. But it was true! Joe and his crew were locked out of the Space Platform. Four thousand miles below circled the Earth. Under Joe's feet rested the solid steel hull of his home in outer space. But without tools there was no hope of getting back inside. Joe looked at his oxygen meter. It registered thirty minutes to live."

"The Dancing Girls" is a short story collection by author Edna Ferber. The other stories in the collection are: "Old Lady Mandle", "Long Distance" and "One Hundred Percent". As almost always with the great Edna Ferber, the stories celebrate the ordinary humanity in all its fragility and resilience facing most of the things life throws at it.

"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.

"Howards End" is a novel by English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist E. M. Forster. It was first published in 1910. "Howards End" is considered by some to be Forster's masterpiece. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked "Howards End" 38th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It's about social conventions, codes of conduct, and personal relationships in turn-of-the-century England. This is also a story of difference between the middle class and the poor.

What's that old saying? Never trust a beautiful woman... perhaps, perhaps not. This is an effective mystery and detective yarn by James Hay that will please fans of the classic genre. A typical set up in the classical Agatha Christie style; a detective visiting a mansion is suddenly forced to investigate the murder of a young woman on the premises and everyone there - including himself - might be up for grabs as potential killer; as alibis start to crumble and lies and silences abound...

"Kidnapped" is a historical adventure, a "boys' novel" by Robert Louis Stevenson. The full title of the book gives away major parts of the plot and creates the false impression that the novel is autobiographical.

"Ethan Frome" is a novel by Edith Wharton, set in the fictional New England town of Starkfield. There a visiting engineer tells the story of his encounter with Ethan Frome, a man with a history of thwarted dreams and desires. The accumulated longing of Frome ends in an ironic turn of events. His initial impressions are based on his observations of Frome going about his mundane tasks in Starkfield, and something about him catches the eye and curiosity of the visitor, but no one in the town seems interested in revealing many details about the man or his history -or perhaps they are not able to.

"The White Linen Nurse" is a romance by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott. Excerpt from the book: The White Linen Nurse was so tired that her noble expression ached. Incidentally her head ached and her shoulders ached and her lungs ached and the ankle-bones of both feet ached quite excruciatingly. But nothing of her felt permanently incapacitated except her noble expression. Like a strip of lip-colored lead suspended from her poor little nose by two tugging wire-gray wrinkles her persistently conscientious sickroom smile seemed to be whanging aimlessly against her front teeth.

"The Sky Is Falling" is a science fiction classic: Computer engineer Dave Hansen is transported from Earth to a world reminiscent of Ancient Egypt, where the rules of science and physics are replaced by the rules of magic. Hanson was summoned to help save the world's sky from collapsing. The sky is a literal dome that arches above the world, with the sun and stars not massive celestial bodies trillions of miles away, but smaller lights that move about within the dome of the sky.

"Underground Man" written by French sociologist, criminologist and social psychologist Gabriel Tarde is a science fiction novel published in 1905 in London. Gabriel Tarde depicts the collective functioning of a society which has taken refuge in the heart of a frozen earth, completely cut off from nature. In the complete nonattendance of all species with the exception of humankind, they decided to construct a new world in the light of affection and excellence and scholarly interests.

"The Adventures of Pinocchio" by Carlo Collodi is a fairy novel, about the mischievous adventures of an animated marionette named Pinocchio and his father, a poor woodcarver named Geppetto. It is considered a canonical piece of children's literature and has inspired hundreds of new editions, stage plays, merchandising and movies, such as Walt Disney's iconic animated version and commonplace ideas such as a liar's long nose.

"Hunters Out of Space" is a science fiction novel by Joseph E. Kelleam. Excerpt from the book: "Both hands of the clock were pointing upward. And I was half-asleep, and half-dreaming. Remembering all the friends I had - most of them scattered to the four winds by now. And that best friend of all, Doctor Jack Odin! I wondered where he was and how he had fared since he disappeared into that dark cave in Texas. Suddenly I became aware of a flickering light above me. I looked up. I had thought that the lights were winking, but they were not.

Harrington Strong (pseudonym of Johnston McCulley and creator of Zorro) gives us one of his typically effective and suspenseful detective stories: our hero Sidney Prale returns to New York from Honduras after ten years. He has made a fortune and now wants to invest it on Wall Street... Things don't go smoothly from here on. He finds himself sabotaged at every moment and accused of murder. With a hired private detective, he intends to get to the bottom of the mess he is in.

An important early American work on human sexuality and marriage by Henry Stanton. Might seem a bit outdated and puritanical indeed by today's standards, but in its time a sorely needed educational piece that thankfully does not put the male over the female in overall superiority.

"In the Closed Room" (1904) is a short novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Excerpt from the book: "In the fierce airless heat of the small square room the child Judith panted as she lay on her bed. Her father and mother slept near her, drowned in the heavy slumber of workers after their day’s labour. Some people in the next flat were quarrelling, irritated probably by the appalling heat and their miserable helplessness against it. All the hot emanations of the sun-baked city streets seemed to combine with their clamour and unrest, and rise to the flat in which the child lay gazing at the darkness.

"A Little Princess" is a beloved classic of English children's literature. Captain Crewe, a wealthy young English widower, enrolls his seven-year-old daughter Sara, who has been living in India, at Miss Minchin's boarding school for girls in London, in order to prepare her for a future life in society. Crewe dotes on his daughter, ordering and paying for her special treatment at the school, such as her own room fitted with extra luxuries, her own maid, and her own carriage for rides.