Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

Edith Nesbit's classic story of three children whose lives are turned upside down when their father suddenly goes away and they have to move to the country. They are captivated by the local railway and make friends with the local station staff and the old gentleman who travels daily on the train.The children experience all kinds of adventures, but the biggest adventure is the one which they do not even understand themselves... the reason for their father's absence and the mysterious quest to bring him home. A captivating story for all ages.

D.H. Lawrence's famous short story, set against the background of the First World War, and examining the quintessence of Englishness, relationships and paternity in an idyllic rural setting. Egbert and Winifred are deeply in love when they first marry and settle in the picturesque thatched cottage which Winifred's father has given her on his estate. But as their relationships develops and alters, and as they have children and become increasingly dependent financially on Winifred's father, the cracks in their relationship become ever deeper.

A wonderful anthology of 15 of the great classic Novellas. 1. Immensee by Theodor Storm 2. The Jew's Beech Tree by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff 3. The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad 4. The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy 5. Mad Monkton by Wilkie Collins 6. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 7. The Lifted Veil by George Eliot 8. England my England by D. H. Lawrence

The Elephant Man is Treves' own firsthand account of how he met and befriended Joseph Merrick (whom he mistakenly calls John Merrick), a young man with very severe physical deformities, who was being exhibited as a sideshow freak, as half man, half elephant. Treves initially invited Merrick to his rooms in the London Hospital so as to examine him, and to ensure Merrick's admittance he gave him his card.

A terrifying collection of classic werewolf stories, ranging from ancient legends to Victorian and Edwardian adaptations on the theme. •Gabriel-Ernest by Saki •The Wolf by Guy de Maupassant •The Werewolf by Eugene Field •The Other Side by Count Eric Stanislaus Stenbock •The Werewolves by Henry Beaugrand •Jean Grenier the French Werewolf by Sabine Baring-Gould •The Man-Wolf by Leitch Ritchie •The She-Wolf by Saki •The Mark of the Beast by Rudyard Kipling

Edward Alexander Crowley (1875-1947) was a British occultist and writer who wrote as Aleister Crowley. His stories and novels shocked Victorian England with their focus on demonic magic and sexual deviance. The Vixen is a traditional werewolf story but with Crowley's typical cruel and savage erotic twist on the classic theme.

Fifty of the world's greatest classic short stories: 1.The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant 2.The One Million Pound Banknote by Mark Twain 3.The Phantom Rickshaw by Rudyard Kipling 4.The Fly by Katherine Mansfield 5.The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe 6.My Favorite Murder by Ambrose Bierce 7.The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe 8.One Thousand Dollars by O. Henry 9.Regret by Kate Chopin 10.The Nose by Nikolai Gogol 11.The Mezzotint by M. R. James 12.The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

Katherine Mansfield's heartbreaking story of playground bullying. The Kelvey children are excluded from the schoolyard crowd because they come from a poor family with more than a hint of disreputableness about them. When the Burnell children are given a doll's house and invite their school friends two by two to see it, only the Kelveys are excluded. Until one day, Kezia Burnell decides to invite the Kelveys in to see it....

Mark Twain's classic satire on the German language. A must read for anybody learning German or living in a German-speaking country. "The Germans have another kind of parenthesis, which they make by splitting a verb in two and putting half of it at the beginning of an exciting chapter and the other half at the end of it. Can anyone conceive of anything more confusing than that?"

One of the hobbies of Charles Lindley Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax, was the collection of gruesome tales of the supernatural. These stories were told to him by friends, acquaintances and sent to him by strangers, and he duly recorded them in a book over the course of his long life - he lived to be 94. This is the complete collection in one volume.

Edmund Gill Swain (1861-1938) was an English cleric and author of ghost stories. He was a longtime friend of M. R. James, and his ghost stories show James' influence. 'The Eastern Window', 'The Man with the Roller', 'The Rockery'.

Katharine Pyle's masterly retelling of well-loved folk tales from around the world. •The Meester Stoorworm – A Story from Scotland •Jean Malin and the Bull Man – A Louisiana Tale •The Widow’s Son – A Scandinavian Tale •The Wise Girl – A Serbian Story •The History of Ali Cogia – From the Arabian Nights •Oh! – A Cossack Story •The Talking Eggs – A Story from Louisiana •The Frog Princess – A Russian Story •The Magic Turban, the Magic Sword and the Magic Carpet – A Persian Story

First written in 1902, this is one of Edith Nesbit's best loved children's stories. It all begins when a group of five children – Robert, Anthea, Cyril, Jane, and their baby brother, the Lamb - move from London to the countryside of Kent. While playing in a gravel pit, they discover a rather grumpy, ugly and occasionally malevolent sand-fairy known as the Psammead who is compelled to grant one wish of theirs per day. The effects of each wish last until sundown. All the wishes granted to the children go hilariously wrong.

Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856 - 1925), known as H. Rider Haggard, was an English writer of adventure stories, often set in exotic locations, especially Africa, and a pioneer of the Lost World literary genre. Only a Dream is a ghost story about the strange experience of a widower about to remarry, who is visited on the eve of his wedding by the ghastly apparition of his dead first wife.

The golden age of the short story was in Victorian and Edwardian times, when authors made a living by contributing to literary magazines and journals. These popular journals threw up such literary greats as Dickens, Conan Doyle, Rider Haggard, and Jerome K. Jerome. Many of the great writers are undeservedly neglected by modern audience...but what a pleasure it is to rediscover the literary treasures that delighted our great grandparents!

Twilight in Italy describes Lawrence’s time as an educated working-class Englishman living among the Italian working men and women in the region around Lake Garda, from the Austrian Alps to the North, to Switzerland and finally Como and Milan. He captures the psyche of Italian peasants without ever romanticising or patronising them.

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand-born English novelist, famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s and remains popular to this day. 'The Little Ghost' tells the eerie story of a man who is grieving deeply following the unexpected death of a close friend, who goes to stay at an old house which has recently been rented by a family with a large number of very boisterous children.

Thomas Hardy's sinister tale of jealousy, unrequited love and a mysterious and hideous curse. When Farmer Lodge brings his new wife home, nobody is more resentful and yet curious about her than his spurned former lover, Rhoda Brooke. But a terrifying and supernatural nightmare in which the two women fight, leaves strange and sinister marks on the young wife's arm. Over the weeks and months that follow, the arm begins to wither and wrinkle.

A glittering collection of some of the world's finest short stories.

A delightful and comprehensive collection of all the best known traditional children's rhymes. Click on the link below to find out the story listing.