Showing results by narrator "Simon Hester" in All Categories

John Bunyan's classic allegory of the Christian journey of pilgrimage has never lost its power to teach the important truths of faith. A Pilgrim's Progress speaks to us as plainly as it has to generations before about the simple yet profound truths of the Christian faith. Narrated by Simon Hester with original music.

An author who kills off his hero in so dramatic a fashion relatively early in that hero’s literary career (and then of course returns him to life in an equally dramatic manner) has, perhaps, little else to offer us in the final stories of his famous character. Yet in this final series of short stories Conan Doyle does not cease from developing his famous detective, giving us a fascinating selection of tales.

"White Nights" is one of Dostoyevsky's shorter works told from the standpoint of an ultimate introvert, brought briefly out of his shell by love. It might have been written 170 years ago, but certain aspects of it are very relatable to the modern listener, especially to those of us who gravitate toward solitude and introversion.

Two boys—one a prince, the other a pauper—look so much alike that no one can tell them apart! Join them in the days of old England as they switch places—the prince becoming a pauper and the pauper becoming a prince.

In this 1914 collection of short stories by P.G. Wodehouse, listeners are beckoned into the whimsical universe of P.G. Wodehouse, where wit dances hand in hand with charm. Through these stories, Wodehouse showcases his mastery of the short form, offering vignettes that sparkle with his trademark humor and keen observation of human nature.

Wild rabies runs rampant through the woods. The foxes are gaining ground, boldly making their way into the village. In Dichtersruhe, an insular yet charming haven stifled by the Swiss mountains, these omens go unnoticed by all but the new parish priest. The residents have other things on their mind: literature. Everyone’s a writer - the nights are alive with reworked manuscripts. So when the devil turns up in a black car claiming to be a hot-shot publisher, unsatisfied authorial desires are unleashed and the village’s former harmony is shattered.

The Russia of the mid 19th century was a period in which the society was awash with a myriad of philosophical ideas as it became increasingly influenced by the West. The writer instinctively reacts against Utopian ideals and sees in himself the proof that such a philosophy is doomed.

The violent clash between the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of St John on the island fortress of Malta serves as the backdrop to Eight-Pointed Cross. Young siblings Domenicus and Katrina Montesa live under constant threat of raids by the Ottoman Turks, the staunchest enemies of the Christian knights. All the while, hundreds of leagues away in Istanbul, Demir's dream of becoming an imperial horseman in the Sultan's cavalry is his only salvation against relentless torment by his cruel brother.

One would think that after the momentous events of 1969 H.G Wells’ science fiction adventure The First Men in the Moon would have lost any fascination for the modern listener. Yet, of course, Wells is never concerned merely with the mechanics of science fiction. It is surely the human reaction to these events that grips us and causes us to return again and again to this story.

The ghosts of war leave no footprints. When legendary Ottoman seaman Dragut Rais attacked the Maltese islands in 1551, his army left Gozo a smoking ruin emptied of its entire population. Among the 5,000 carried into slavery is Augustine Montesa, father of Domenicus and Katrina. Wounded and broken, Domenicus vows to find his father, even if it means abandoning Angelica, his betrothed.

Far from its popular image, the story of Frankenstein as told by Mary Shelley is not a tale that finds horror in a hideous "monster", or a "crazed" scientist. The darkness in the narrative is found in the profound loneliness of both Creator and Created, as they seek one another in a tragic cycle of unfulfilled longing and revenge.

This powerful novel, first published in 1818, still surprises and shocks us with the fundamental questions about the moral boundaries of human discovery, and helps us to question what it means to be human.

The enigmatic and diminutive priest continues to fathom the deepest of mysteries in a set of 11 fascinating stories which are set in such diverse locations as a Mexican Hotel, an English Seaside Pier, and an Oxford University Garden. Chesterton presents his humble and blinking detective as an almost childlike contrast to the bizarre and dark machinations of the fallen world.

The shadow of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes would inevitably fall across much of the crime fiction that followed that most famous of detectives. However, in 1910, G.K Chesterton's unassuming, devout, and unprepossessing Father Brown made his first appearance and proved no less of a fascinating figure who would stands firmly on his own two ecclesiastical feet. Head Stories presents the first in a series of the complete Father Brown, read by Simon Hester with original music.

Jerome. K. Jerome allows us to laugh, with and at, both himself and ourselves, in his writing. As we peruse his “Idle Thoughts” on subjects ranging from babies to ambition, from dogs to poverty, we find that the dust of over a hundred years have not dimmed the mirror in which we look. Jerome, as in his other comic works, presents a seeming stream of consciousness that can shift in a moment from the ridiculous to the sublime, from self-deprecation to intense longing.

Today we take for granted the exploration of the fascinating submarine depths of the oceans, so ubiquitous are its many representations on our screens. It is therefore surprising to realise that in his thrilling 1869 novel Jules Verne was anticipating much which was then not even imagined by science. The enigmatic Captain Nemo takes his awe-inspiring Nautilus around the Oceans of the world exploring the deep with its wonders and horrors.

Once again, Alice enters into an imaginary world full of nonsense, color, and paradox. This time, she enters through a mirror and, as one might expect, everything becomes back to front. She is on a quest to become a queen in a fantastical game of chess meeting both help and hindrance in a cast of unforgettable characters such as Humpty Dumpty and the White Knight.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel which shocks us still. The sensibilities of its original Victorian readership may have blanched at the exoticism and barely disguised eroticism which drip from Wilde’s prose, but for us today who barely look twice at such things, we find something much more horrific at the heart of the book.

Perhaps the most famous and most accessible of Dickens' stories, which can be enjoyed every year afresh at Christmastime, as we never tire of the inspirational story of Scrooge's redemption and transformation.

Edward Prendick finds himself floating perilously in the ocean after having been shipwrecked. He is picked up and saved by the curious Dr. Montgomery, a medical man travelling with a cargo of various wild animals. Prendick soon finds himself once again adrift at sea after an argument with a hostile and drunken captain.

In the pursuit of Christian maturity and guidance, few works have stood the test of time with as much reverence and wisdom as The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. Written in the 15th century, its profound insights continue to resonate with seekers of truth across generations. This timeless masterpiece simply and clearly points us towards Jesus Christ as the authour of faith and the exemplar of Christian living.