Publisher: Alien Ebooks
"These are stories, for the most part, of women. And what women! Hogarth and Daumier might have battled for them as models...hags, harlots, spinsters, hoofers, jeunes filles, grandes dames, priestesses..." -- Saturday Review
William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic fiction read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly abridged and remastered stories are now available to download for the first time. A lawyer arrives in Transylvania to help a mysterious Count with the purchase of a house and sets in motion a chain of terrible events. Bruce Alexander captures the dread that suffuses Stoker’s infamous horror story. Johnathan Harker’s discovery at the Gothic castle, and the series of nightmarish incidents back in England that it prompts, will continue to frighten listeners. For fans of Jane Austen (Mansfield Park), Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), Rocket Classic Collection (Emma), Alexandre Dumas (The Count of Monte Cristo), and Leo Tolstoy (The Kreutzer Sonata, and Other Stories 1889 annotated).Show book
A wise man once said ‘The safest place for a child is in the arms of his mother’s voice’. This is a perfect place to start our anthology of female short stories. Some of our earliest memories are of our mothers telling us bedtime stories. This is not to demote the value of fathers but more to promote the often-overshadowed talents of the gentler sex. Perhaps ‘gentler’ is a word that we should re-evaluate. In the course of literary history it is men who dominated by opportunity and with their stranglehold on the resources, both financial and technological, who brought their words to a wider audience. Men often placed women on a pedestal from where their talented words would not threaten their own. In these stories we begin with the original disrupter and renegade author Aphra Behn. A peek at her c.v. shows an astounding capacity and leaves us wondering at just how she did all that. In those less modern days to be a woman, even ennobled, was to be seen as second class. You literally were chattel and had almost no rights in marriage. As Charlotte Smith famously said your role as wife was little more than ‘legal prostitute’. From such a despicable place these authors have used their talents and ideas and helped redress that situation. Slowly at first. Privately printed, often anonymously or under the cloak of a male pseudonym their words spread. Their stories admired and, usually, their role still obscured from rightful acknowledgement. Aided by more advanced technology, the 1700’s began to see a steady stream of female writers until by the 1900’s mass market publishing saw short stories by female authors from all the strata of society being avidly read by everyone. Their names are a rollcall of talent and ‘can do’ spirit and society is richer for their works. In literature at least women are now acknowledged as equals, true behind the scenes little has changed but if (and to mis-quote Jane Austen) there is one universal truth, it is that ideas change society. These women’s most certainly did and will continue to do so as they easily write across genres, from horror and ghost stories to tender tales of love and making your way in society’s often grueling rut. They will not be silenced, their ideas and passion move emotions, thoughts and perhaps more importantly our ingrained view of what every individual human being is capable of. It is because of their desire to speak out, their desire to add their talents to the bias around them that we perhaps live in more enlightened, almost equal, times. Within these stories you will also find very occasional examples of historical prejudice. A few words here and there which in today’s world some may find inappropriate or even offensive. It is not our intention to make anyone uncomfortable but to show that the world in order to change must reconcile itself to the actual truth rather than put it out of sight. Context is everything, both to understand and to illuminate the path forward. The author’s words are set, our reaction to them encourages our change. 01 - The Female Short Story. A Chronological History - An Introduction - Volume 6 02 -A Rich Woman by Katharine Tynan 03 - An Expiation by Arabella Kenealy 04 - Her Murderer by Mary Cholmonderly 05 - The Moving Finger by Rose Champion de Crespigny 06 - Lucy Wren by Ada Radford 07 - A Lost Masterpiece by Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright writing as George Egerton 08 - Talma Gordon by Pauline E Hopkins 09 - The Yellow Wall Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 10 - In the Séance Room by Lettice Galbraith 11 - The Perfect Tribute by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews 12 - The Christ of Toro by Gabriela Cunninghame Graham 13 - Aunt Lindy. A StoShow book
The Man with the Twisted Lip, one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the sixth of the twelve stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine in December 1891. Doyle ranked "The Man with the Twisted Lip'' sixteenth in a list of his nineteen favourite Sherlock Holmes stories.Late at night, Kate Whitney, a friend of Dr. Watson's wife, calls on them. Her husband, Isa, has been absent for several days. Frantic with worry, she begs Dr. Watson to fetch him home from the opium den where he goes. Watson does this; but he also finds his friend Sherlock Holmes in the den, disguised as an old man, seeking for clues among the habitués of the place.The case involves Mr. Neville St. Clair, a prosperous, respectable, punctual man, who is missing. His family's home is in the country, but he visits London every day on business. One day when Mr. St. Clair was in London, Mrs. St. Clair also went to London separately. She happened to pass down Upper Swandam Lane, a "vile alley" near the London docks, where the opium den is. Glancing up, she saw her husband at a second-floor window of the opium den. He vanished from the window immediately, and Mrs. St. Clair was sure that there was something wrong.Famous works of the author Arthur Conan Doyle's: "A Study in Scarlet", "Silver Blaze", "The Hound of the Baskervilles", "The Yellow Face", "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Red-Headed League", A Case of Identity", "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", "The Five Orange Pips", "The Man with the Twisted Lip", "The Blue Carbuncle", "The Speckled Band", "The Engineer's Thumb", "The Noble Bachelor", "The Beryl Coronet", "The Copper Beeches" and many more.Show book
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT THE OFFICIAL BOOK. This is a summary & it does not accompany the official. In this summary book, readers are introduced to "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz, a spiritual guide that aims to offer a pathway to personal freedom and a fulfilling life. Based on the ancient wisdom of the Toltec people, the book presents four agreements that one should adopt as guiding principles in their life. These agreements are simple yet profound tools designed to help individuals find their own personal freedom and a rewarding life.Show book
Macbeth, Shakespeare’s last great tragedy, has remained one of the most popular plays since it’s first performance in 1606 – probably in front of King James. This exciting new audiobook production is directed with fresh imagination by Fiona Shaw who breaks the conventional strait jacket that has hampered the development of Shakespeare on audio. We are as much in the twenty-first century as in medieval Scotland – the tensions, the politics, the struggle for power and dark ambition is part of our lives… This is also reflected in the sound world, with modern machinery and tanks. Macbeth is part of Naxos AudioBooks’ exciting new series of complete dramatisations of the works of Shakespeare, in conjunction with Cambridge University Press. It uses the New Cambridge Shakespeare text, as used by the Royal Shakespeare Company and educational institutions across the world.Show book
A woman trapped in an agonising love affair; a writer avoiding the group seducer at a writers’ retreat; a girl experiencing her first kiss. Set in 1950s England, as well as Italy and France, Midsummer Night in the Workhouse is a collection of short stories written and read by distinguished editor and author, Diana Athill. Written in the late 1950s, these short stories mainly centre around female protagonists. Several stories are based on events from Athill’s own life. From holidays abroad to love affairs and sexual encounters, these brilliant, touching narratives provide subtle snapshots of human experiences and stage portrayals of memory, conflict and adventure. Midsummer Night in the Workhouse is part of the Persephone Audiobook Collection, a series of forgotten classics including neglected fiction and non-fiction by women writers. First published in 1962, this edition includes a preface by the author.Show book
