Kitty Alone - audiobook Sabine BARING-GOULD (1834 - 1924) Kate Quarm is a bright and sensitive girl. She lives with her aunt and uncle at Coombe Cellers, a farmhouse, eating house and store occupying a promontory in the estuary of the Teign, in the south of Devon. Kate's father is a dreamer, always off on the next get-rich-quick scheme, wandering across the countryside with his donkey cart. It seems that no one has the time or the inclination to try to understand Kitty and she is left very much Read more [...]
The Wood Beyond the World - audiobook William MORRIS (1834 - 1896) The Wood beyond the World is a fantasy novel by William Morris, perhaps the first modern fantasy writer to unite an imaginary world with the element of the supernatural, and thus the precursor of much of present-day fantasy literature. His use of archaic language has been seen by some modern readers as making his fiction difficult to read, but brings a wonderful atmosphere to the telling. Morris considered his fantasies a revival Read more [...]
Alice Adams audiobook Booth TARKINGTON (1869 - 1946) A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Alice Adams chronicles the attempts of a lower middle class American midwestern family at the turn of the 20th century to climb the social ladder. The eponymous heroine is at the heart of the story, a young woman who wants a better place in society and a better life. As Gerard Previn Meyer has stated, "Apart from being the contribution to social history its author conceived it to be, [Alice Adams] is something Read more [...]
Life in the Clearings Versus the Bush audiobook Susanna MOODIE (1803 - 1885) As a middle class Englishwoman Moodie did not particularly enjoy "the bush", as she called it. She and her husband moved to Belleville in 1840, which she referred to as "the clearings". Here she described urban life, including religion, art, and education, especially as compared to relative lack of these things in "the bush". She studied the Family Compact and became sympathetic to the moderate reformers led by Robert Read more [...]
Rainbow Valley audiobook Lucy Maud MONTGOMERY (1874 - 1942) Rainbow Valley, the seventh book in the Anne of Green Gables series explores the world of Anne & Gilbert's six children along with the exploits of the Merediths, the children of the town's new minister. With no mother and an absent-minded father, the Meredith children are not being properly brought up. This leads to their many adventures causing the ladies of the town to gossip, risking their father's job. These kind-hearted, but misguided Read more [...]
Far From The Madding Crowd audiobook Thomas HARDY (1840 - 1928) Far From The Madding Crowd is Hardy's fourth novel. It centres on the lives of five characters: Gabriel Oak, Bathsheba Everdene, Mr Boldwood, Sgt. Troy and Fanny Robin. The plot involves love, loyalty, death and betrayal and all this is delivered to us in Hardy's most eloquent prose. The images of character and nature are painted for our mind's eye with sublime style. Finally, but not least, Hardy's use of the Greek chorus is unsurpassed Read more [...]
The Jungle audiobook by Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) It is the end of the 19th century. Like thousands of others, the Rudkus family has emigrated from Lithuania to America in search of a better life. As they settle into the Packingtown neighborhood of Chicago, they find their dreams are unlikely to be realized. In fact, just the opposite is quite likely to occur. Jurgis, the main character of the novel, has brought his father Antanas, his fianc?e Ona, her stepmother Teta Elzbieta, Teta Elzbieta's Read more [...]
The Age of Innocence audiobook Edith WHARTON (1862 - 1937) Edith Wharton became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with this 1920 novel about Old New York society. Newland Archer is wealthy, well-bred, and engaged to the beautiful May Welland. But he finds himself drawn to May's cousin Ellen Olenska, who has been living in Europe and who has returned following a scandalous separation from her husband. (Introduction by Elizabeth Klett) Proof listened by Stav Nisser & Betty Read more [...]
Pride and Prejudice audiobook Jane AUSTEN (1775 - 1817) Jane Austen's classic novel chronicles the events in the lives of the Bennet family. Take a family with five unmarried daughters and a lack of wealth, throw in a new wealthy neighbor or two, plus a whole regiment of soldiers in town, and add a heaping spoonful of pride and a pinch of prejudice. Mix it all together and you get a story full of tears and laughter, embarrassment and pride, and, of course, love. (Summary by Annie Coleman) Genre(s): Read more [...]
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man audiobook by James Joyce (1882-1941) This is James Joyce's first novel, the semi-autobiographical story of a young Irish boy who struggles with family, country, and religion to become an artist and a man. (Summary by Peter Bobbe) (FULL Audiobook)   A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Cover to the first edition, B. W. Huebsch, 1916 Author James Joyce Language English Genre Novel Publication date 29 December Read more [...]
Country of the Pointed Firs audiobook by Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896) is considered Jewett's finest work, described by Henry James as her "beautiful little quantum of achievement." Despite James's diminutives, the novel remains a classic. Because it is loosely structured, many critics view the book not as a novel, but a series of sketches; however, its structure is unified through both setting and theme. Jewett herself felt that her strengths as a writer Read more [...]
Washington Square audiobook by Henry James (1843-1916) Washington Square is a short novel by Henry James. Originally published in 1880 as a serial in Cornhill Magazine and Harper's New Monthly Magazine, it is a structurally simple tragicomedy that recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, domineering father. The book is often compared to Jane Austen's work for the clarity and grace of its prose and its intense focus on family relationships. James was hardly Read more [...]
The Europeans audiobook by Henry James (1843 -- 1916) The Europeans: A sketch is a short novel by Henry James, published in 1878. It is essentially a comedy contrasting the behaviour and attitudes of two visitors from Europe with those of their relatives living in the 'new' world of New England. The novel first appeared as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly for July-October, 1878. James made numerous minor revisions for the first book publication. (Summary by Wikipedia)(FULL Audiobook)   The Read more [...]
The American audiobook by Henry James (1843-1916) One of James's early novels, The American plunges right in to one of the writer's most enduring subjects, that of the innocent, or at least inexperienced, American abroad, seeking to come to terms with the social customs and conventions of an old European aristocracy (think of Daisy Miller, Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove and others). The aptly named Christopher Newman, having made a small fortune from business in California, has come Read more [...]
Anne of Green Gables audiobook Anne of Green Gables is a bestselling 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Written as fiction for readers of all ages, the literary classic has been considered a children's novel since the mid-twentieth century. It recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, a young orphan girl mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a middle-aged brother and sister who have a farm on Prince Edward Island and who had intended to adopt a boy to help them. The Read more [...]
Dorothy Dale audiobook From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Dorothy Dale series was published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate under the house pseudonym Margaret Penrose. This was Stratemeyer's first "Girls Series". Main characters Dorothy Dale Major Dale Ned & Nat White Tavia Travers List of Books in the Series Dorothy Dale: A Girl of Today (1908) Dorothy Dale at Glenwood School (1908) Dorothy Dale's Great Secret (1909) Dorothy Dale and Her Chums (1909) Dorothy Dale's Queer Read more [...]
Adam Bede audiobook George ELIOT (1819 - 1880) Adam Bede, the first novel written by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans), was published in 1859. It was published pseudonymously, even though Evans was a well-published and highly respected scholar of her time. The novel has remained in print ever since, and is used in university studies of 19th century English literature. The story's plot follows four characters rural lives in the fictional community of Hayslope—a rural, pastoral and Read more [...]
Night and Day audiobook Virginia WOOLF (1882 - 1941) Night and Day (1919) is a novel by Virginia Woolf. Set in Edwardian London, Night and Day contrasts the daily lives of two friends, Katharine Hilbery and Mary Datchet. The novel examines the relationships between love, marriage, happiness, and success. (Wikipedia) Genre(s): General Fiction Language: English     Night and Day First edition cover Author Virginia Woolf Country United Kingdom Language English Genre Novel Publisher Duckworth Publication Read more [...]
The Portrait of a Lady audiobook by Henry James (1843-1916) The Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine in 1880-1881 and then as a book in 1881. It is the story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who "affronts her destiny" and finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. Like many of James's Read more [...]