Showing results by narrator "Sam Kusi" in All Categories

For sheer storytelling delight and pure adventure, Treasure Island has never been surpassed. From the moment young Jim Hawkins first encounters the sinister Blind Pew at the Admiral Benbow Inn until the climactic battle for treasure on a tropic isle, the novel creates scenes and characters that have fired the imaginations of generations of fans. Written by a superb prose stylist, a master of both action and atmosphere, the story centers upon the conflict between good and evil - but in this case a particularly engaging form of evil.

The Adventures of Pinocchio also simply known as Pinocchio, is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Pescia. It is about the mischievous adventures of an animated marionette named Pinocchio and his father, a poor woodcarver named Geppetto.It was originally published in a serial form as The Story of a Puppet (Italian: La storia di un burattino) in the Giornale per i bambini, one of the earliest Italian weekly magazines for children, starting from 7 July 1881.

"Daffodils", also known as “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", is a poem by William Wordsworth, commonly considered as a classic of the English romantic poetry genre. It was initially published in 1807 and later revised in 1815. The poem was ahead of its time, yet its accrued appreciation and enduring appeal have given it much clout as one of the best-known poems in the English language.

The Sand-Man (German: Der Sandmann, 1816) is a short story written in German by E. T. A. Hoffmann. It was the first in an 1817 book of stories titled Die Nachtstücke (The Night Pieces). The story is told by a narrator who claims to have known Lothar. It begins by quoting three letters.

"The Adventure of the Empty House", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as "The Return of Sherlock Holmes". Public pressure forced Conan Doyle to bring the sleuth back to life, and explain his apparently miraculous survival of a deadly struggle with Professor Moriarty. This is the first Holmes story set after his supposed death at the Reichenbach Falls, as recounted in "The Final Problem".

Little Women is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details their passage from childhood to womanhood. Loosely based on the lives of the author and her three sisters, it is classified as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel.

Les Compagnons de Jehu (The Companions of Jehu) is set in the 1800s, during Napoleon's rise to power. The title refers to a secret organisation of young aristocrats-turned-highwaymen that continuously steals the money of the Directoire in order to finance the restoration of monarchy. It has all the typical Dumas ingredients, that is to say duels, political intrigues, noble heroes and a tragic love store that would make Shakespeare green with envy. Not to mention a hero with a murky past who you will love to hate.

Invictus is stoicism encapsulated in a poem. It is a potent piece by William Ernest Henley, first published in 1888. The poem is short. yet highly motivational. It oozes gems pertaining to perseverance, willpower, and an unconquerable spirit. A powerful pithy poetic pep talk.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry "Huck" Finn, the narrator of two other Twain novels (Tom Sawyer Abroad and Tom Sawyer, Detective) and a friend of Tom Sawyer. It is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout. It is considered by critics to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time.

White Fang is a novel by American author Jack London (1876–1916) - and the name of the book's eponymous character, a wild wolfdog. First serialized in Outing magazine, it was published in 1906. The story details White Fang's journey to domestication in Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush. It is a companion novel (and a thematic mirror) to London's best-known work, The Call of the Wild, which is about a kidnapped domesticated dog embracing his wild ancestry to survive and thrive in the wild.

Neville St. Clair, a respectable businessman, has disappeared and his wife claims she saw him at the upper window of an opium den. Rushing upstairs to the room she found only a beggar who denied any knowledge of St. Clair – whose clothes are later found in the room, and his coat, laden with coins, in the River Thames outside the window. The beggar is arrested, but a few days later St. Clair's wife receives a letter from her husband.

The Tell-Tale Heart is a clever classical gothic horror story birthed in 1843, by the quintessential short story extraordinaire Edgar Allan Poe. In this thrilling roller-coaster tale, we are granted access to the workings of the narrator’s heart - namely the confessions of the heart as well as the lack of having one. The year 1843 also gave birth to The Black Cat. This is arguably Poe’s darkest literary piece which bleeds the themes of brazen blame gaming, alcoholism, domestic violence, and the inescapability of one reaping what one has sown.

Anne leaves Green Gables and her work as a teacher in Avonlea to pursue her original dream (which she gave up in Anne of Green Gables) of taking further education at Redmond College in Kingsport, Nova Scotia. Gilbert Blythe and Charlie Sloane enroll as well, as does Anne's friend from Queen's Academy, Priscilla Grant. During her first week of school, Anne befriends Philippa Gordon, a beautiful girl whose frivolous ways charm her. Philippa (Phil for short) also happens to be from Anne's birthplace in Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia.

"The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of the eight stories in the cycle collected as "His Last Bow", and one of the few stories in which for much of the plot Watson must act alone and try his best with Holmes left in the background. Holmes sends Dr. Watson to Lausanne to investigate Lady Frances Carfax's disappearance since he himself is too busy in London. Lady Frances is a lone, unwed woman denied a rich inheritance on account of her sex.

In a London of the future, the drudgery of capitalism and bureaucracy have worn the human spirit down to the point where it can barely stand. When a pint-sized clerk named Auberon Quinn is randomly selected as head of state, he decides to turn London into a medieval carnival for his own amusement. One man, Adam Wayne, takes the new order of things seriously, organizing a Notting Hill army to fight invaders from other neighborhoods. At first his project baffles everyone, but eventually his dedication proves infectious, with delightful results.

Persuasion is the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen. It was published at the end of 1817, six months after her death. The story concerns Anne Elliot, a young Englishwoman of 27 years, whose family is moving to lower their expenses and get out of debt. They rent their home to an Admiral and his wife. The wife’s brother, Navy Captain Frederick Wentworth, had been engaged to Anne in 1806, and now they meet again, both single and unattached, after no contact in more than seven years. This sets the scene for many humorous encounters as well as a second chance at love and marriage.

"Crooken Sands" is a short story by Bram Stoker. It was first published in the UK in the December 1, 1894 issue of Holly Leaves the Christmas Number of The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, London. Mr Arthur Fernlee Markam, who took what was known as the Red House above the Mains of Crooken, was a London merchant, and being essentially a cockney, thought it necessary when he went for the summer holidays to Scotland to provide an entire rig-out as a Highland chieftain, as manifested in chromolithographs and on the music-hall stage.

"Around the World in Eighty Days" (French: "Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours") is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager (£2,242,900 in 2019) set by his friends at the Reform Club. It is one of Verne's most acclaimed works.

"A Dream of Red Hands" is a short story by Bram Stoker. It was first published in the July 11, 1894 issue of The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality, London. The first opinion given to me regarding Jacob Settle was a simple descriptive statement, "He's a down-in-the-mouth chap": but I found that it embodied the thoughts and ideas of all his fellow-workmen.