Short Classic Literature

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close to her. Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland books have delighted readers and listeners across the globe for more than 100 years. The Wonderland Collection presents three of Carroll's most famous works.

"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and December 1853 issues of Putnam's Magazine, and reprinted with minor textual alterations in his The Piazza Tales in 1856.

Lauren Groff presents nine stories of astonishing insight and variety, each revealing a resonant drama within the life of a 20th-century American woman. In some of these stories, enormous changes happen in an instant. In others, transformations occur across a lifetime---or several lifetimes. Throughout the collection, Groff displays particular and vivid preoccupations.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tells the story of the lawyer Gabriel John Utterson as he investigates some disturbing incidents involving his old friend, the talented doctor Henry Jekyll, and his mysterious and sinister new companion, Edward Hyde. The lawyer is worried about his friend after he changes his will to include Hyde in case of his death or disappearance. Fearing that the doctor is being blackmailed by the stranger, the lawyer sets out to confront him.

Saadat Hasan Manto was a Pakistani writer, playwright, and author considered among the greatest writers of short stories in South Asian history. Siyah Hashiye is a collection of short stories related to the partion of Pakistan and India.

A dazzling collection of magical tales by the world's best-loved storyteller. Perfect for children aged five and up! There are tales of the most powerful enchanters and conjurers in Fairyland in this bumper collection of short stories by Enid Blyton. But their spells don't always go smoothly! From witches who will cast an enchantment at the drop of a pointy hat to cheeky imps in search of spells to make some mischief, there's bound to be trouble!

The Ultimate Classics Collection: Volume Four is the fourth instalment of our wide-ranging classic collections. Volume Four features 12 timeless works that largely focuses on the greats of American and British literature, with novels from Charles Dickens, Edith Wharton, Thomas Hardy, Victor Hugo, and others. Read by a cast of incredible narrators including Miranda Raison, Pearl Mackie, Adam Sims, David Rintoul, and more, this is a chance to expand your listening with some of the greatest authors of all time.

Writing for the Penguin edition, Stevie Davies describes Jane Eyre as an "influential feminist text" because of its in depth exploration of a strong female character's feelings. Primarily of the bildungsroman genre, Jane Eyre follows the emotions and experiences of eponymous Jane Eyre, her growth to adulthood, and her love for Mr. Rochester, the byronic master of Thornfield Hall. The novel contains elements of social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core.

Riuniti in raccolta dallo stesso Buzzati questi racconti brevi rappresentano una vera "summa" del mondo poetico dello scrittore, uno dei maestri nella narrativa italiana contemporanea.

I have been many years training in the way of strategy, called Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, and now, I think I will explain it for the first time. It is now during the first 10 days of the 10th month in the 20th year of Kanei (1645). I have climbed mountain Iwato of Higo in Kyushu to pay homage to heaven, pray to Kwannon, and kneel before Buddha. I am a warrior of Harima province, Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Geshin, age 60 years. With the virtue of strategy, I practice many arts and abilities - all things with no teacher.

The grand-prize winner of a writing contest sponsored by the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper, "The Gold-Bug" was one of Poe's most popular stories during his lifetime. Similar to his ratiocination tales - early versions of what we now call detective fiction - "The Gold-Bug" is full of mystery and adventure and includes a cryptogram, invisible ink, a scarab-like bug, and pirate treasure.

Over 50 great classic short stories, each around 20 minutes in length - perfect for short journeys, bedtime listening and those moments in between.... 'The Khitmatgar' by B. M. Croker, 'The Mummy of Thompson Pratt' by Charles John Cutcliffe Hyne, 'The Ghost at the Blue Dragon' by William J. Wintle, 'A Tropical Horror' by William Hope Hodgson, 'Miracles' by Barry Pain, 'The Dust That Was Barren' by P. C. Wren, 'His Unconquerable Enemy' by W. C. Morrow, 'A Tiger’s Skin' by W. W. Jacobs....

Leo Tolstoy is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all novelists for such works as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. He also wrote a number of outstanding short stories. This is one of his best.

The Call of Cthulhu", written in 1926, is probably Lovecraft's best-known work. Discovering notes left by a deceased relative, the narrator pieces together the whole truth and disturbing significance of the Cthulhu cult. This release also contains the shorter tales "The Festival" and "The Hound", in which gravediggers bring home more than they bargained for!

The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1832, is a grim tale about Mr Hooper, a preacher, who starts wearing a veil over the upper part of his face. He first wore the veil while delivering a sermon on secret sin, and never removes it, despite the dismay of the congregation or the pleas of his fiancée, who leaves him. Mr Hooper develops into Father Hooper, a figure who makes converts of people who imagine themselves to also hide behind the veil.

Leonidas W. Smiley would bet on anything. Horse races, dog fights, cat fights, chicken fights - all were fair game to the gambling nature of Smiley. But he meets his match when a stranger comes into town, and puts his champion jumping frog to the test.

H.G. Wells (1866 -1946) - the master of the genre - created his "scientific romances" and set the standard for futuristic literature that also teemed with both social commentary and a prescient view of the world to come. Enjoy these two classics by the "father of science fiction".

Tadeusz Borowski’s concentration camp stories were based on his own experiences surviving Auschwitz and Dachau. In spare, brutal prose he describes a world where where the will to survive overrides compassion, and prisoners eat, work, and sleep a few yards from where others are murdered; where the difference between human beings is reduced to a second bowl of soup, an extra blanket, or the luxury of a pair of shoes with thick soles; and where the line between normality and abnormality vanishes.

Five tales which range from the jungles of India to the frozen emptiness of the North... In all of them, Kipling's extraordinary powers of description and ability to identify with human aspiration and animal survival are vividly shown. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi must battle with Nag, the cobra, in his territory; Toomai has a unique glimpse of the elephant world, Kotick, the White Seal, searches for sanctuary, while Kotuko has to find food for his starving Eskimo village. Above all, Kipling's love of life in all its variety shines through.

In this series we look at short stories from many of our most accomplished writers. Miniature masterpieces with a lot to say. In this volume we examine some of the short stories of Virginia Woolf. Adeline Virginia Woolf was born in 1882 and was to become a founder of modernist writing. Her background is filled with elements of tragedy that she somehow overcame to become a revered writer. Her mother died when she was 13, her half sister Stella two years later and with that came her first of several nervous breakdowns.