Other books that might interest you

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  A Little Joke - From their pens...

  Anthony Hope

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  Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins was born on 9th February 1863 in Clapton, London.  
  He was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead, Marlborough College and Balliol College, Oxford.  Hope trained as a lawyer and barrister and was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1887. Despite what was thought to be a promising legal career he had literary ambitions and wrote in his spare time. 
  His early works appeared in various periodicals of the day but for his first book ‘A Man of Mark’ (1890), with no publisher interested, he published with his own resources.  
  More novels and short stories followed, including the mildly successful ‘Mr Witt's Widow’ in 1892. Hope even found time to run as the Liberal candidate for Wycombe in the election that same year but was unsuccessful. 
  His first major literary success came with ‘The Dolly Dialogues’, a collection of previously published magazine pieces followed very quickly by his instant classic, ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’. He now gave up the vestiges of his legal career to pursue writing full-time. 
  Despite never again reaching the same pinnacle of success he was popular and wrote prolifically across novels, plays and of course, short stories though his writing output rapidly diminished after the war. 
  In 1918 he was knighted for his contribution to propaganda efforts during World War I.  
  His short stories are delicate, mannered and often surprising with their wit, humour and interplay of characters who say one thing and usually mean another.  He was very definitely a writer of escapist rather than serious fare but they are no less enjoyable for that. 
  Anthony Hope died of throat cancer on 8th July 1933 at his country home, Heath Farm at Walton-on-the-Hill in Surrey. He was 70.

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  Mr Pim Passes By

  A. A. Milne

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  A.A. Milne will be forever associated with the timeless "Winnie the Pooh" books. In the Pooh stories and in his poetry for children Milne was able to enter the world of childhood in a unique way. Adults continue to enjoy the books as precious windows into their own childhood memories but also because the writing has a wry and winsome humour that speaks to any age. Yet Milne was a successful writer of humour long before he created these children's masterpieces, producing a fine body of articles, novels and plays. 
  "Mr Pim Passes By" is Milne's own adaptation of his successful play of the same name, first produced in 1919 and running for 246 performances. 
  The somewhat self-centred and over comfortable world of George Marden is suddenly disrupted by the arrival of the somewhat aged and confused Mr Pim. This seemingly routine social visit throws George and his family into a comic situation which raises serious questions about a past determined to rear its disturbing head! 
  Head Stories Audio presents " Mr Pim Passes By" by A. A. Milne - narrated by Simon Hester. With original music.

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  The Masque of the Red Death

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  Title: The Masque of the Red Death 
  Author: Edgar Allan Poe 
  Narrator: Jonathan Dunne 
  Original Publication: 1842 
  Public Domain: Yes 
  Series Placement: Number 24 in the Timeless Terrors series 
  Description: 
  The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe is a chilling, gothic tale of inevitability, mortality, and the inescapable reach of death. Set within the opulent yet isolated halls of Prince Prospero’s abbey, the story follows a decadent masquerade intended to shut out the horrors of a deadly plague. Poe’s vivid imagery and symbolic architecture of the castle build a suffocating atmosphere of dread, culminating in an unforgettable confrontation with the ultimate horror. 
  Narrated by Amazon bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance captures the story’s tense rhythm, eerie symbolism, and grim inevitability, blending gothic atmosphere with psychological terror. While the text is in the public domain, this narration is an original work and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne. 
  This audiobook is part of Timeless Terrors, a series dedicated to resurrecting classic horror — works from masters of the macabre, retold in haunting new performances for a modern audience. 
  Listeners should be prepared to confront the haunting specter of death itself, the oppressive splendor of the masked court, and the stark reminder that no walls, wealth, or revelry can hold back the end.

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  A Christmas Carol

  Charles Dickens

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  On Christmas Eve, miser Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley, who warns Scrooge that three more ghosts will visit him before the night is over—the ghost of Christmases Past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas yet to come.
  
  One of the greatest Christmas stories ever written comes to life in this performance by Academy-award winning actor, Paul Scofield.

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  The Blue Castle

  L. M. Montgomery

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  The Blue Castle is a 1926 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, best known for her novel Anne of Green Gables (1908).
  The story is set during the early 1900s in the fictional town of Deerwood, located in the Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada. Deerwood is based on Bala, Ontario, which Montgomery visited in 1922. Maps of the two towns show similarities.
  This novel is considered one of L.M. Montgomery's few adult works of fiction, along with A Tangled Web, and is the only book she wrote that is entirely set outside of Prince Edward Island. It has grown in popularity since being republished in 1990. The book was adapted for the stage twice; in 1982 it was made into a successful Polish musical, and ten years later Canadian playwright Hank Stinson authored another version, The Blue Castle: A Musical Love Story.
  alancy is, at twenty-nine, the old maid of the Stirling clan, which is a reputable family that has lived in the same region for over fifty years. As an only child, her entire life has been spent with her nagging mother, her perpetually down-trodden aunt, and a gossipy extended family, who, in spirit of the Victorian and middle class, actively discourage happiness and treat Valancy like a child, telling her what to do every day and constantly comparing her with her beautiful cousin, Olive, putting her down, and calling her by the baby name "Doss." Her only respites come from daydreaming of her "Blue Castle" and the handsome men who would reside in it with her, along with reading the nature books of John Foster.

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  Tono-Bungay - Book the First:...

  H. G. Wells

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  Herbert George "H. G." Wells (1866 - 1946) was an English writer.
  He was prolific in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is called a "father of science fiction"
  BOOK THE FIRST: THE DAYS BEFORE TONO-BUNGAY WAS INVENTED: Most people in this world seem to live "in character"; they have a beginning, a middle and an end, and the three are congruous one with another and true to the rules of their type. You can speak of them as being of this sort of people or that. They are, as theatrical people say, no more (and no less) than "character actors." They have a class, they have a place, they know what is becoming in them and what is due to them, and their proper size of tombstone tells at last how properly they have played the part.

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