Other books that might interest you

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  Treasure Island | A Sleepy Story...

  Robert Louis Stevenson

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  Step into the thrilling world of "Treasure Island," the classic adventure by Robert Louis Stevenson, narrated by the soothing voice of Elizabeth Grace and produced by Slumber Studios. 
  If restless nights or a wandering mind are keeping you awake, this audiobook is designed to gently lull you into a peaceful and restorative sleep. 
  Close your eyes, relax, and let Elizabeth Grace’s calming narration transport you to the high seas, where young Jim Hawkins embarks on a daring quest for buried treasure. Join him on a journey filled with swashbuckling pirates, mysterious maps, and the legendary Long John Silver—all while easing into a state of deep relaxation. 
  At Slumber Studios, we create tranquil content designed to help you unwind and drift off effortlessly. Our audiobooks features slow, gentle narration paired with soft background music, offering the perfect escape into dreamland. 
  If you’re looking for a soothing way to end your day, this is the perfect choice. Simply press play, get comfortable, and let Elizabeth’s serene voice carry you away on the adventure of "Treasure Island." Wake up feeling refreshed, with a sense of calm and wonder for the day ahead.

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  Désirée's Baby - From their pens...

  Kate Chopin

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  Katherine O'Flaherty was born on the 8th February 1850 in St Louis, Missouri to parents of French and Irish descent. 
  At age 5, she was sent to the Sacred Heart Academy and, apart from a 2 year period at home when her father died, remained there until graduating in 1868.  Whilst there she began writing and became an avid reader of almost anything that crossed her path.   
  Kate married Oscar Chopin in 1870 and the couple moved to New Orleans, and later to the rural setting of Cloutierville, Louisiana to raise their 6 children.  
  In 1882 her husband died leaving her in a deep trench of debt.  Despite her best efforts to turn the businesses around they were sold, and she moved the family back to St Louis and the financial help of her mother.  Sadly, her mother died within the year.  Kate, now struggling with depression, pushed herself to write and gained a local reputation as a writer of short stories that captured the local color and vibrancy of her surroundings.  
  By the early 1890’s her short stories were published nationally.  With this widespread audience also came negative reviews, controversy, and cries of immorality as themes such as interracial relationships, the rights of women and other burning issues of the day were written about. 
  Despite the criticism, which unnerved her, she continued to write though in the main her works, around 100 short stories and two novels, were not attributed with any literary worth. 
  Kate Chopin died from a brain haemorrhage in St Louis Missouri on the 22nd of August 1904.  She was 54. 
  For much of the 20th Century her work was forgotten and out of print.  It was only in early 1970’s, with the rise of feminism and the call for a more just society that she was given the status her works had long described and shone a literary light at.  She is now safely revered as one of America’s great authors.

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  Top 10 Short Stories The - Born...

  Anthony Trollope, G K...

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  The Top 10 – Born in London – An Introduction 
   
  The teeming metropolis of London has a long history of innovation. Amongst its most gilded are the literary talents of its world-famous authors.  From Anthony Trollope and Daniel Defoe to Mary Shelley and Virginia Woolf and many others, have come iconic works that still to this day underpin our culture. 
   
  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  1 - The Top 10 - Born in London - An Introdction 
  2 - The Resurrection of Father Brown by G K Chesterton 
  3 - Salvation of a Forsythe - Part 1 by John Galsworthy 
  4 - Salvation of a Forsythe - Part 2 by John Galsworthy 
  5 - An Unwritten Novel by Virginia Woolf 
  6 - Malachi's Cove by Anthony Trollope 
  7 - The Apparition of Mrs Veal by Daniel Defoe 
  8 - The Death Room by Edgar Wallace 
  9 - The Kit Bag by Algernon Blackwood 
  10 - The Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley 
  11 - The Sexton's Hero by Elizabeth Gaskell 
  12 - Where Was Wych Street by Stacy Aumonier

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  Germinal

  Émile Zola

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  'There is a germ of revolt in every injustice.'
  
  Part of Zola's ambitious twenty-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart, Germinal is one of the most notable novels written in the French tradition and is often considered Zola's masterpiece.
  
  First serialised in the periodical Gil Blas in 1884, Germinal is a profoundly gripping novel that explores the harsh realities of industrial life in nineteenth century France. When Étienne Lantier arrives in the town of Montsou in search for work, he is confronted by the brutal conditions endured by the coal miners: gruelling shifts, meagre wages and backbreaking labour. As Étienne immerses himself in the community, he takes it upon himself to become a voice for the labourers and a leader in their fight for justice. As tensions rise and a minor's strike begins to brew, Zola candidly depicts a devastating spiral into violence and despair. Through vivid characters and uncompromising realism, Zola movingly captures the human cost of capitalism with a blossoming hope for revolution. This audiobook edition is beautifully narrated by David Rintoul.
  Émile Zola (1840 – 1902) was a French novelist, playwright and journalist. He was also a keen adopter of naturalism, famed for his realistic depictions of characters and their environments. Nominated for the first and second Nobel Prizes in Literature in 1901 and 1902, Zola's work is still widely read and respected today.

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  Russian Short Story The - Volume...

  Anton Chekhov, Helena Blavatsky,...

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  The Russian novel has a reputation that is immense, both in narrative and in length.  Unquestionably though the ideas, themes and characters make many novels rightly revered as world class, as icons of literature. 
   
  Perhaps an easier way to enjoy a wider selection of the Russian heritage, with its varied and glorious literary talents, is with the short story.  These gems sparkle and beguile the mind with their characters and narrative, exploring facets of society and the human condition that more Western authors somehow find more difficult to navigate, or to explore, explain and relate to.   
   
  The Russian short story is, in many respects, in a genre of its own.  It is at its captivating best whether it’s an exploration of real-life experiences, through fantasy and fables and on to total absurdity. 
   
  In a land so vast it is unsurprising that it is a world almost unto itself. Cultures and landscapes of differing hues are packed together bound only by the wilful bonds and force of Empire. 
   
  The stories in this collection traverse the decades where one might be a serf under an absolute monarch, and the reality of that was pretty near to slavery, into an emancipation of sorts in the fields, or towns under the despotic will of landowners and the rich into the upheavals of Empire and then the overthrow of the ruling class and its replacement by the communists, who promised equality for all and delivered a society where the down-trodden remained the lowest yet vital cog of the state machine and its will.  
   
  Whilst Tolstoy, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Pushkin and Chekhov are a given in any Russian collection we also explore and include Andreyev, Korolenko, Turgenev, Blavatsky and many others to create a world rich and dense across a sprawling landscape of diverse people, riddled with the class and unfairness in perhaps some of the most turbulent times that Russia has ever experienced. 
   
  01 - The Russian Short Story - Volume 4 - An Introduction 
  02 - The Sentry by Nikolai Lyeskov 
  03 - A Witch's Den by Helena Blavatsky 
  04 - The General's Will by Vera Jelihovsky 
  05 - The Old Bell Ringer by Vladimir Korolenko 
  06 - The Shades, A Phantasy by Vladimir Korolenko 
  07 - The Signal by Vsevolod Garshin 
  08 - Dethroned by I N Potapenko 
  09 - The Kiss by Anton Chekhov 
  10 - The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov 
  11 - The Bet by Anton Chekhov 
  12 - Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov

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  The Canterville Ghost

  Oscar Wilde

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  The story is about a family who moves to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead nobleman, who killed his wife and was starved to death by his wife's brothers. The home of the Canterville Ghost was the ancient Canterville Chase, which has all the accoutrements of a traditional haunted house. Descriptions of the wainscoting, the library panelled in black oak, and the armour in the hallway characterise the setting. Wilde mixes the macabre with comedy, juxtaposing devices from traditional English ghost stories such as creaking floorboards, clanking chains, and ancient prophecies.

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