Short Classics

Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story of Christmas in Five Staves when he was 31. Now with numerous adaptations for film, television, radio, stage - and indeed in audio - it has become an essential part of Christmas for many. Raconteurs Audio has created this collection to include Dickens’ two Christmas novellas, The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth, as well as some of his lesser known short stories with a Christmas theme.

Sherlock Holmes was created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard. Holmes first appeared in print in 1887's A Study in Scarlet, the character's popularity became widespread with the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891.

Through his imagined journals of Adam and Eve, Mark Twain wrote what has been called “one of the great love stories of all time.” Mandy Patinkin and Betty Buckley bring Adam and Eve to life, capturing the expected humor as well as the tender eloquence of Twain’s most personal, heartfelt writing. In one of his last recordings, Walter Cronkite provides an illuminating commentary on how the author came to reinterpret the Genesis story.

A young mongoose protects his human family from two murderous cobras. English Nobel laureate Kipling's best story from The Jungle Book collection, "Rikki Tikki Tavi" has been adapted many times to film and television.

Kate Croy is secretly engaged to Merton Denscher, a journalist who lacks money. By chance, Kate befriends Milly, an American heiress, and learns she is suffering from a fatal illness. Kate devises a scheme to maximize their combined assets: she encourages Merton to take an interest in Milly and marry her. Kate intends to make him a rich widower whom she herself can marry. But such well-laid plans are not enough for the subtlety of the heart.

One of the greatest of all horror writers, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) also composed pioneering tales that seized upon the scientific developments of an era marked by staggering change. In this collection of 16 stories, he explores such wide-ranging contemporary themes as galvanism, time travel and resurrection of the dead.

Five great American short story writers, dating from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, are represented here. Different in atmosphere and writing style, they nevertheless caught the mood and concerns of the day in a way that was distinctly American.

Men Without Women is Ernest Hemingway's second collection of short stories and his first publication since the blockbuster debut of The Sun Also Rises. Here, Hemingway revisits and explores several of his familiar genres and locales (including the bullfighting and boxing rings) and adds two stories involving his favorite protagonist, Nick Adams.

Here are the greatest stories of one of the greatest writers working in any genre today. All ten of the stories gathered here are Hugo or Nebula award winners - some even have the distinction of winning both. With a new Introduction by the author and personal afterwords to each story, plus a special look at three of Willis' unique public speeches - this is unquestionably the collection of the season, an audiobook that every Connie Willis fan will treasure.

A wonderful collection of short stories selected for children including "Hansel and Gretel", "Treasure Island", "Sleeping Beauty", and "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi".

Andrew Lang (1844 - 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, and literary critic. His 12 collections of fairy tales are known as Andrew Lang's Coloured Fairy Books or Andrew Lang's Fairy Books of Many Colors. The third in the series, the Green Fairy Book, contains tales from around the world, from Grimm (“The White Snake” and “Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle”), France de Caylus, Fenelon, Kletke, and D'Aulnoy. The stories include "The Crystal Coffin", "The Three Snake-Leaves", "The Riddle", "Jack My Hedgehog", "The Golden Lads", and many more.

Queen Marguerite de Navarre was one of the most powerful women of her age. Her masterpiece, The Heptameron, is a collection of some 72 stories told by five gentlemen and five ladies who find themselves stranded in an abbey. Proposed as an edifying way of passing the time while a bridge is being repaired, the tale-telling - as well as the conversations that follow each story - quickly becomes a battle of wits between the sexes, with tales concerning illicit lovers, romantic conquests, lecherous monks, manly honor, and women's virtue.

"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" is a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky written in 1877. It chronicles the experiences of a man who decides that there is nothing of any value in the world. Slipping into nihilism with the "terrible anguish", he is determined to commit suicide. A chance encounter with a young girl, however, begins the man on a journey that re-instills a love for his fellow man.

La Main est une nouvelle fantastique de Guy de Maupassant parue en 1883. "Or, j'appris un jour qu'un Anglais venait de louer pour plusieurs années une petite villa au fond du golfe. Il avait amené avec lui un domestique français, pris à Marseille en passant. Bientôt tout le monde s'occupa de ce personnage singulier, qui vivait seul dans sa demeure, ne sortant que pour chasser et pour pêcher.

Depuis l’Antiquité, le mythe de Pygmalion et Galatée n’a de cesse de fasciner et d’inspirer des artistes. Mais ce récit millénaire du sculpteur misanthrope, épris de la statue qu’il vient de réaliser, demeure inachevé : lorsque Galatée est transformée en être vivant par les dieux, elle est réduite au silence par les hommes. Enfin, il est temps pour elle de devenir la narratrice de sa propre histoire et ainsi de choisir elle-même son destin.

When local newspapers report strange things seen floating in rivers during a historic Vermont flood, Albert Wilmarth becomes embroiled in a controversy about the reality and significance of the sightings. However it isn’t until he receives communication from Henry Wentworth Akeley that he is offered the proof he requires.

O. Henry wove several stories together into this highly episodic narrative, taking his title and inspiration from Lewis Carroll's ballad of the walrus and the carpenter in Through the Looking-Glass. The stories are set in the fictional country of Anchuria in Central America, a banana republic where larceny is rampant and revolution lurking in every impoverished back alley. O. Henry offers a cutting satire of contemporary politics and prejudices.

Ce livre audio issu de la célèbre émission de France Inter "Ça peut pas faire de mal" de Guillaume Gallienne fait la part belle au roman. Qu'il s'agisse de Marcel Proust et des extraits de la "Recherche du temps perdu", des "Misérables" de Victor Hugo ou bien de la "Princesse de Clèves" de Madame de Lafayette, retrouvez la lecture comme aux premiers émois, quand la voix propose une nouvelle intelligence du texte.

These stories are examples of the delightful stories from the Indian subcontinent which capture the simple essence of everyday life in India. The simple pleasures of life indicate a time gone by before the advent of cellphones and Facebook, a time which almost stood still, a time where children could revel in the rain, make paper boats and race them down a drain, play marbles and generally pass time.

These stories are examples of the delightful stories from the Indian subcontinent which capture the simple essence of everyday life in India. The simple pleasures of life indicate a time gone by before the advent of cellphones and Facebook, a time which almost stood still, a time where children could revel in the rain, make paper boats and race them down a drain, play marbles and generally pass time.