Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776 – 1822), was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror as well as a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist. His stories were highly influential during the 19th century, and he is one of the major authors of the Romantic movement."The Mines of Falun" tells the story of Elis Fröbom, a sailor, who returns from the East Indies to Gotherburg in Sweden, only to discover that his mother has died and he is alone in the world.

A glittering collection of 36 short stories by Edwardian satirist Hector Hugh Munro, who wrote under the pseudonym "Saki". Beasts And Super-Beasts includes many of Saki's best loved tales, exemplifying his witty and multi-layered storytelling, satirizing the habits and morals of British society of his day.

When Frank Casillis, an eccentric independently wealthy vagabond, finds himself near an old friend's pavilion on a remote part of the Scottish coast, he discovers some mysterious nocturnal goings-on. The house is being visited under cover of darkness ... strange figures land on the coast ... and then he is himself the victim of a savage knife attack. Robert Louis Stevenson is the master of the action adventure. The Pavilion on the Links is a classic of the genre - a secret plot, a mysterious and beautiful girl, a villain, mortal danger ... all in a wild and windswept setting. Splendid!

Poe's mysterious tale of two feuding families. On the night when the young Metzengerstein is suspected of burning his rival's stables, a strange uncanny horse is rescued from the flames. He recognizes the stallion as the one depicted in an ancient tapestry in his castle and believes it also to relate to an old prophecy regarding the two houses. He adopts the horse as his own and becomes obsessed with it.

'The Library Window' is a ghost story. A young girl, visiting her aunt in Scotland, finds herself increasingly intrigued by a mysterious window in the house opposite her own favourite window, where she sits to read. There seems to be a local mystery about the window, including a dispute about whether there is even a window there at all. Increasingly this doubt seems odd to the girl as the days go by, as she can see into the room opposite and make out furniture and objects there. Then one day she sees someone in that room....

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874 - 1922) was a polar explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. 'The Voyage of the James Caird' is the story of Shackleton's 1916 failed attempt at a crossing of Antarctica from sea to sea via the pole. The expedition turned to disaster when Shackleton's ship, Endurance, became trapped in pack ice and was slowly crushed. The crew escaped by camping on the sea ice until it disintegrated, then by launching the lifeboats to reach Elephant Island.

E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror as well as a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist. His stories were highly influential during the 19th century, and he is one of the major authors of the Romantic movement. 'The Cremona Violin' is the story of Councillor Krespel, an eccentric violin maker who lives with a mysterious woman, Antonia, who has the most beautiful singing voice ever heard by anyone in the town, but she was only ever heard to sing once.

A delightful anthology of great works by some of Europe's greatest short story writers....

During the last part of the nineteenth century, the detective story took off as a popular genre as literary magazines vied with each other to draw in readers with gripping page-turners by the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Guy Boothby and Wilkie Collins. This collection brings together some of the great detectives of the Victorian era, from the master sleuth himself, Sherlock Holmes, to the mild mannered Father Brown, to the feisty J. G. Reeder.

A captivating collection of 60-minute classic stories by great writers.

A delightful collection of lesser known traditional and modern fairy stories: 1. "The King of the Golden River"; 2. "The Empty Drum"; 3. "The Fire Spirit"; 4. "The Tree of Death"; 5. "The Smuggler’s Daughter"; 6. "A Dream of Wild Bees"; 7. "The Fisherman"; 8. "The Masked Ball"; 9. "The Petrified Man"; 10. "The Were-Wolf"...and many more.

A creepy anthology of 25 of the most hauntingly scary ghost stories ever written. 1.Afterward by Edith Wharton 2. Bagnell Terrace by E. F. Benson 3.His Brother’s Keeper by W. W. Jacobs 4.A Coincidence by A. J. Alan 5.The Confession of Charles Linkworth by E. F. Benson 6.The Death Mask by H. D. Everett 7.The Room in the Tower by E. F. Benson 8.The Furnished Room by O. Henry 9.The Thing in the Hall by E. F. Benson 10.The Eyes by Edith Wharton 11. The Wind in the Portico by John Buchan.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928 and 1930. "The Debt" is the story of the relationship between an eminent Professor of Biology and a young but highly talented student. The great Professor Landfear adopts the bright but socially awkward Galen Dredge as his protegé and future successor, preferring him even over his own son Archie.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most intriguing novella. Austin Gilroy is a scientist and is by nature sceptical of anything to do with the occult. So when his colleague, Professor Wilson, introduces him to the mysterious and sinister hypnotist, Miss Penclosa, he is inclined to view her as a fraud. But when Gilroy's fiancée is hypnotised and Miss Penclosa makes her do the unthinkable, Gilroy is forced to change his views.

In March 1873 Great Britain was rocked by the forgery case of the century, perpetrated against no less than the Bank of England. Four criminal brains took on the entire financial system... and would have got away with it too, had it not been for one tiny detail.

The short story is considered to be one of the most challenging genres because of the need for compact plotlines and the ability to conjure up atmosphere and character in a few sentences and to engage the reader instantly. This collection presents 66 of the greatest examples of the genre - many of them well known, some hidden literary treasures, all of them exquisite examples of the short story at its finest.

A fascinating collection of short stories by some of the greatest Victorian female writers. This anthology covers every theme from spirits and the occult to love and sexuality to sentimentality and romance to social observation and critique. 'The Operation' by Violet Hunt, 'Satan's Circus' by Eleanor Smith, 'A Dream of Wild Bees' by Olive Schreiner, 'A Dill Pickle' by Katherine Mansfield, 'Squirrel in a Cage' by E. M. Delafield, 'Afterward' by Edith Wharton, 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman....

O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), an American writer of outstanding short stories, known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and surprise endings. The Last Leaf is the story of two female artists living together in Greenwich village. When one of them, Johnsy, becomes gravely ill with pneumonia, she becomes obsessed with counting the leaves on the ivy outside the window. As the weather gets colder and windier, the leaves fall one by one.

A beautiful collection of some of the finest Chinese fairy tales ever told. Incorporating magic, wicked witches, strange adventures and mysterious spirits. Enchanting! Stories include: "The Magic Pillow"; "The Stone Monkey"; "Stealing Peaches"; "The Painted Skin"; "The Wonderful Pear Tree"; "The Country of Gentlemen"; "Learning Magic"; "Theft of a Duck"; "Living for Ever"; "Football on a Lake"; "The Flower Fairies"; "The Talking Bird"; "The Peach Blossom Fountain"; "The Lute Girl’s Lament".

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.