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  The Faraway Bride

  Stella Benson

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  We rely on your support to help us keep producing beautiful, free, and unrestricted editions of literature for the digital age. Will you support our efforts with a donation ? For unconvincing reasons Old Sergei Malinin has gone blind; the family's woes are compounded when their shop in Chi-tao-kou, Manchuria is raided by the Red Army. They're left relying on what little money can be scraped together from their daughter Anna's sewing and their son Seryozha's timberwork. Luckily, Old Sergei, ever the businessman, has remembered that ten years ago he lent his old friend Gavril Ilitch Isaev two hundred yen, a sum that, with interest, would now be immensely valuable to the Malinins. The money is in Seoul, but a three week walk through the Korean mountains to a city sounds like the perfect adventure to Seryozha, and the unexpected appearance of an English-educated Chinese lawyer who happens to know the way is enough to tip Anna over the edge into agreeing with the plan. The Faraway Bride (alternately titled Tobit Transplanted for the British market) is Stella Benson's best known work. The story, liberally cribbed from the tale of Tobit from the Apocrypha, is rehomed to late 1920s Manchuria, a setting characterized by political unrest and emigration. The resulting jumble of languages and cultures leads to a perhaps surprisingly comic take on the subject, but one that's full of great empathy for the main characters. Stella Benson (died 1933) was a major literary figure of the early 20th century. Their work has endured across generations and continues to be read and studied worldwide. As a work of classic literary fiction, The Faraway Bride exemplifies the narrative craft and social insight that defined great storytelling of its era. Literary fiction of this period was characterized by careful attention to character psychology, social milieu, and the moral questions that animated public discourse.

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  Brightness Falls - From their...

  Mary Butts

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  Mary Frances Butts was born on 13th December 1890 in Poole, Dorset. 
  Her early years were spent at Salterns, an 18th-century house overlooking Poole Harbour.  Sadly in 1905 her father died, and she was sent for boarding at St Leonard's school for girls in St Andrews. 
  Her mother remarried and, from 1909, Mary studied at Westfield College in London, and here, first became aware of her bisexual feelings.  She was sent down for organising a trip to Epsom races and only completed her degree in 1914 when she graduated from the London School of Economics.  By then Mary had become an admirer of the occultist Aleister Crowley and she was given a co-authorship credit on his ‘Magick (Book 4)’. 
  In 1916, she began the diary which would now detail her future life and be a constant reference point for her observations and her absorbing experiences. 
  During World War I, she was doing social work for the London County Council in Hackney Wick, and involved in a lesbian relationship.  Life changed after meeting the modernist poet, John Rodker and they married in 1918. 
  In 1921 she spent 3 months at Aleister Crowley's Abbey of Thelema in Sicily; she found the practices dreadful and also acquired a drug habit.  Mary now spent time writing in Dorset, including her celebrated book of short stories ‘Speed the Plough’ which saw fully develop her unique Modernist prose style. 
  Europe now beckoned and several years were spent in Paris befriending many artists and writing further extraordinary stories.   
  She was continually sought after by literary magazines and also published several short story collections as books. Although a Modernist writer she worked in other genres but is essentially only known for her short stories.  Mary was deeply committed to nature conservation and wrote several pamphlets attacking the growing pollution of the countryside. 
  In 1927, she divorced and the following year her novel ‘Armed with Madness’ was published.  A further marriage followed in 1930 and time was spent attempting to settle in London and Newcastle before setting up home on the western tip of Cornwall.  By 1934 the marriage had failed. 
  Mary Butts died on 5th March 1937, at the West Cornwall Hospital, Penzance, after an operation for a perforated gastric ulcer. She was 46.

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  Around The World In Eighty Days

  Verne Jules

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  What begins as a wager among gentlemen at London’s prestigious Reform Club quickly turns into the most thrilling adventure of the 19th century. Phileas Fogg, a punctual and enigmatic Englishman, bets that he can traverse the globe in just eighty days—a feat deemed impossible by many. With his devoted yet impulsive valet, Passepartout, at his side, Fogg races against time across steamships, trains, and even elephants, encountering unexpected obstacles and colorful characters at every turn. 
  Set against the backdrop of a rapidly modernizing world, Around the World in Eighty Days is a spirited tale of daring travel, unshakable resolve, and the clash between logic and chaos. Jules Verne’s iconic novel remains a timeless celebration of curiosity, innovation, and the human drive to explore.

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  The Yellow Crayon

  E. Phillips Oppenheim

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  A secret society of European idealists has a new leader, and the American who married their most dangerous member wants him out. Oppenheim kept his father's leather books for twenty years and wrote at night, then produced a hundred and fifty novels of embassies, sleeping cars and men who are never quite what their passports say — the man who invented the modern thriller's furniture.

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  The Club of Queer Trades

  G. K. Chesterton

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  Welcome to the whimsical world of "The Club of Queer Trades"! 
  In this collection of tales, G.K. Chesterton invites you to join a secret society unlike any other. Published in 1905, these stories weave a tapestry of mystery, humour, and imagination, showcasing Chesterton's unparalleled wit and flair for the unconventional. 
  At the heart of this collection lies the notion of "queer trades" – professions so unique and eccentric that they defy conventional classification. From an organisation which specialises in injecting adventure and fantasy into humdrum lives, to a company whose sole purpose is to detain people, each story introduces us to characters whose occupations challenge our perceptions and expectations. 
  Head Stories Audio presents " The Club of Queer Trades" by G.K Chesterton, narrated by Simon Hester. With original music.

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  The Hound of the Baskervilles

  Arthur Conan Doyle

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  A chilling mystery stalks the misty moors… 
  In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle delivers one of the most iconic and atmospheric tales in the Sherlock Holmes canon. When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead under suspicious circumstances near his estate on the Devonshire moors, whispers of a family curse resurface—one involving a terrifying spectral hound. Fearing for the safety of the new heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, Dr. James Mortimer seeks the help of master detective Sherlock Holmes. 
  Joined by the ever-loyal Dr. Watson, Holmes unravels a tangled web of deception, ancient legends, and sinister schemes. As the fog rolls over the moor, danger closes in, and the line between superstition and reality begins to blur. 
  Narrated with gripping intensity by Luke Oldham, this classic detective novel combines Gothic suspense, psychological drama, and the brilliance of Holmes’s deductive reasoning to keep listeners riveted until the final, unforgettable revelation.

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