Classic Gothic Literature

Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's only novel. It was first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and a posthumous second edition was edited by her sister Charlotte. The name of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors on which the story centres (as an adjective, wuthering is a Yorkshire word referring to turbulent weather). The narrative tells the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them and many around them.

Orphaned as a young child, Mirin O'Malley has been brought up by her grandparents on their isolated, rambling estate Hob's Hallow. Long ago her family prospered due to a deal struck with the mer, the terrifying creatures who live in the depths of the sea: safety for their merchant ships in return for a child of each generation. But for many years the family have been unable to keep their side of the bargain and their fortunes have suffered as a result. When Mirin's grandfather dies, her grandmother puts in train a plan to restore their glory - but at the price of Mirin's freedom.

Ambrosio, the worthy superior of the Capuchins of Madrid, falls to the temptations of Matilda, a fiend-inspired wanton who, disguised as a boy, has entered his monastery as a novice. Ambrosio then falls in love with one of his penitents and finally kills her in order to escape detection. However, he is discovered, tortured by the Inquisition and sentenced to death.

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Franz Kafka's famous story of man-turned-insect, Metamorphosis Winner of AudioFile Earphones...

El padre de Cathy adopta a Heathcliff cuando era un niño hambriento. El niño enseguida se gana el corazón del Padre y de Cathy, sin embargo, Hindley hermano de Cathy lo odia por celos. Cuando el padre muere, Hindley obliga a Heathcliff a trabajar como peón del establo, y este acepta todo tipo de humillaciones por estar cerca de su amada.

In the Gothic towers of the cathedral of Notre-Dame - which has been subjected to decades of degradation and neglect - lives its bell ringer, Quasimodo. Persecuted as wicked and pilloried for his broken appearance, he’s shown kindness only by the alluring Esmeralda, an outsider herself, who fills Quasimodo’s heart with a hope and devotion beyond reason. When she falls victim to the lies of the vengeful and lustful Archdeacon Claude Frollo, only Quasimodo can save her from the gallows. In sanctuary, looming high above Paris, their fates entwine.

Bram Stoker’s legendary Gothic tale is brought to thrilling life in this dramatic full-cast audio production from Jason Damron. Through diary entries, letters, and journal fragments, Dracula unfolds as an immersive sonic experience that captures both the terror and the elegance of Victorian England as Count Dracula’s shadow spreads from Transylvania to London.

In what Henry James called a 'trap for the unwary', The Turn of the Screw tells of a nameless young governess sent to a country house to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Unsettled by a dark foreboding of menace within the house, she soon comes to believe that something malevolent is stalking the children in her care. But is the threat to her young charges really a malign and ghostly presence or something else entirely?

Après un périple éprouvant en Europe centrale, Jonathan Harker, un jeune homme de loi anglais parvient au château du comte Dracula, une bâtisse isolée dans les montagnes de Transylvanie. Il s'y rend à la demande de l'inquiétant aristocrate qui souhaite l'assistance de son cabinet pour s'installer à Londres. Durant son séjour, des évènements effarants font bientôt comprendre à Jonathan Harker qu'il est probablement perdu pour sa fiancée Mina Murray qui attend son retour à Londres.

In Frankenstein, a classic tale of bio-engineering gone horribly wrong, Victor Frankenstein uses body parts of the dead to bring a creature to life. When Frankenstein abandons his experiment in horror, the Monster embarks on a quest that results in the ultimate revenge. In Dracula, a timeless gothic vampire romance, young solicitor Jonathan Harker must shield his fiancé, Mina, from the predations of the insatiable Count Dracula. Mysteriously drawn to the Count, Mina, however, struggles to break free from the psychic grip of the mysterious dark stranger from Transylvania.

The beautiful young Dorian Gray has his portrait painted by society artist Basil Hallward. Admired by all, the dazzling, wealthy, handsome young man has everything anyone could wish for, or so it appears. Oscar Wilde's novel is a masterly study of moral corruption, a tour-de-force of suspense and surprise.

Known for his looks and charm, a young man obsessed with wealth and status will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He sets his sights on a beautiful and innocent college student named Dorothy, intent on marrying her for her family’s money. But when Dorothy becomes pregnant, his careful plans start to unravel, and he begins to take cold, calculating, and drastic measures to protect his future.

Elizabeth Gaskell's chilling Gothic Tales blends the real and the supernatural to eerie, compelling effect. 'Disappearances', inspired by local legends of mysterious vanishings, mixes gossip and fact; Lois the Witch, a novella based on an account of the Salem witch hunts, shows how sexual desire and jealousy lead to hysteria; while in 'The Old Nurse's Story' a mysterious child roams the freezing Northumberland moors.

Count Dracula travels from his castle in the Carpathian mountains to England on a ship in which the entire crew is lost. Upon his arrival, the count entrances Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker, both women doomed to become vampires—unless Jonathan Harker and Professor Abraham Van Helsing can stop Dracula. This unabridged recording of a horror masterpiece brilliantly evokes a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and illuminates the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

This annotated edition of the classic Gothic novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly includes an historical introduction, an overview, study of the themes present in the book, and a list of famous quotes.

Heathcliff, an orphan boy, and Catherine are raised together at Wuthering Heights. Despite the difference in their social position, they eventually fall in love. Though she loves Heathcliff, Catherine chooses to marry Edgar Linton, a wealthy neighbour. Bitter over her rejection, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights. Years later, he returns and marries Edgar's sister for her money. Catherine dies after giving birth to a daughter. Devastated by Catherine's death, Heathcliff is determined to enact his revenge on Edgar and the next generation.

Shirley Jackson's chilling second novel, based on her own experiences and an actual mysterious disappearance Seventeen-year-old Natalie Waite longs to escape home for college. Her father is a domineering and egotistical writer who keeps a tight rein on Natalie and her long-suffering mother. When...

Here 19 classic tales from masters of the genre. The collection comprises 'Schalken the Painter' by J. S. Lefanu; 'Sredni Vashtar' by Saki (H. H. Munro); 'The Room in the Tower' by E. F. Benson; 'Charles Ashmore's Trail' by Ambrose Bierce; 'The Mark of the Beast' by Rudyard Kipling; 'The Castle of Ratcliffe Cross' by J. Wadham; 'The Bead Necklace' by Alice Perrin; 'The Oval Portrait' by Edgar Allan Poe; 'The Leather Funnel' by Arthur Conan Doyle; 'Berenice' by Edgar Allan Poe; and many more.

The King in Yellow is a book of 10 classic short stories about the supernatural. The first four mention "The King in Yellow", a forbidden play which induces despair or madness in those exposed to it. The tales have a macabre undertone, focusing on characters that are inhabitants of the demi-monde.

As she nears the end of her life, Addie Bundren wants nothing more than to be buried in her native Jefferson, Mississippi, far from the miserable backwater surroundings of her married life. A captivating and stylistically innovative work, the narrative revolves around the grim, yet darkly humorous, pilgrimage as the Bundren family sets out to fulfill her last wish.