Masterpieces of Adventure

Adventures Within Walls

By: Nella Brady - editor

Narrated by: Jack de Golia

Nella Braddy (1894-1973), a pioneer among female editors, compiled this eight-story collection and published Masterpieces of Adventure: Adventures Within Walls in 1922. It features eight authors: Robert Louis Stevenson, O. Henry, Washington Irving, Anton Chekhov, Honoré de Balzac, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, and Leonidas Andreiyeff - all giants of writing in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

A century since publication, we can perhaps have a new appreciation for what it means to take refuge within walls.

Braddy went on to write and edit more articles and books, including two more in the Masterpieces of Adventure series; one focused on Helen Keller's breakthrough teacher, Anna Sullivan Macy, and a biography of Rudyard Kipling.

Once inside Adventures Within Walls, though, listeners hear sagas of confinement, with walls providing both shelter and imprisonment.

Public Domain (P)2021 Jack de Golia

Critic reviews

This far-reaching collection of short stories featuring desert settings contains some of the most engaging tales in the Western canon. The audiobook is delivered at just the right pace by Jack de Golia. Narrating energetically, he takes on the characters' voices with a chameleon-like effect. His ability to inhabit the spirit and sound of the French, Spanish, and Russians, young and old, highborn and low, elevates these classics. His portrayal of a banker in Chekhov's "The Bet" convincingly goes through his transformation from cocksure to unsure, and his young cowboy in O. Henry's "Double-Dyed Deceiver" is among his best work. Edited by Nella Braddy in 1922, these adventures have stood the test of time and keep the listener rapt. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2021]