Showing results by narrator "Susie Berneis" in All Categories

When Cousin Myra comes to visit for Christmas at the Osbornes' she finds her young cousins Frankie and Ida are bored with Christmas. Deciding that they have had too much of it, Cousing Myra suggests that the cousins share Christmas with some of the more unfortunate children in their community. Will Frankie and Ida give up their presents and sweets to make a merry Christmas for thir neighbors?

Prissy's Uncle Richard and her father haven't exchanged words in eight years since a property dispute created hard feelings. When Prissy overhears Uncle Richard saying he has to travel for work on New Years' day, she resolves to sneak into his house and cook him a proper holiday dinner. Uncle Richard returns early and catches Prissy in the act. Can Prissy's kind gesture be the beginning of a reconciliation between the brothers?

While out for a walk, two young men find themselves on Enderly Rd., known for its poor inhabitants and shabby dwellings. They meet a crying girl on her way home and stop her. Learning that the boys who promised to help decorate the schoolhouse for the examinations to be held on Christmas Eve were backing out, the two young men decide to help out the little girl. 

Will Rees is back home on his farm with his teenage son, his pregnant wife, their five adopted children, and endless farmwork under the blistering sun. But for all that, Rees is happy to have returned to Dugard, Maine, the town where he was born and raised and where he's always felt at home. When a man is found dead - murdered - after getting into a public dispute with Rees, Rees starts to realize someone is intentionally trying to pin the murder on him. Rees can feel the town of Dugard turning against him.

In "Kate's Choice", a young English girl inherits a financial windfall when she is suddenly orphaned. Per her father's wish, she is sent to America to live with the families of each of her four uncles in order to choose where she will live. Each family is full of wonderful, prosperous, interesting people, all of them anxious that Kate should choose their family to stay with. But at Christmastime, Kate surprises them all by announcing whom she shall stay with.

Edda is a Valkyrie (an ancient Norse goddess who guides and protects heroes). She lives in a magical land called Asgard, where she has everything she wants. Well...almost everything. Edda wants to find a friend her own age.

In "A Christmas Turkey", a poor family works hard to figure out how they can celebrate Christmas. When the father is unable to provide a turkey, the children venture out into the world, working to earn enough money to pool their resources and purchase one for the Christmas table.

In the 1930s, most girls were happy playing with dolls. But one girl, Betty Skelton, liked playing with airplanes, watching them fly around outside, and even flying airplanes herself! She lived for an adventure - in the air, the water, and on land - and nothing could stop her, especially not being a girl. When Betty Skelton was young there weren't many women flying airplanes or racing cars, but she wouldn't let that stop her. She was always ready to take on a challenge, and she loved to have fun.

1943: When seventeen-year-old Juliet Dufresne receives a cryptic letter from her enlisted older brother pleading for help, and then finds out he's been reported missing overseas, she lies about her age and volunteers as an army nurse to find him. Juliet is thrust into the bloody chaos of a field hospital, where she is increasingly consumed by the plight of her patients.

Tallulah Jones is met with another string of murders begging to be investigated, but doing so plunges her into a world of petty rivalries with a sprinkle of adultery.

The five young March sisters grew up on the East Coast during the American Civil War. Although they had very different personalities, their strong bond connected them as sisters throughout their childhoods and into their adult lives. They relied on one another as they faced struggles of growing up during the war and as they grew into young women.

In The Kiss, a beautiful young woman, Nathalie, has decided to marry the unattractive and uninteresting but very wealthy Mr. Brantain. When an old friend kisses her passionately in front of Mr. Brantain, Nathalie must control the damage done by this kiss in order to reassure Mr. Brantain. This done, the relieved Mr. Brantain proposes to her. At their wedding, her old friend appears and suggests another kiss. Has Nathalie arranged matters perfectly? Or not?

Hazel Rose never dreamed that the murder mystery book group she and her friend Carlene started would stage a real murder. Nevertheless, the normally composed Carlene is unusually angry and rattled one night during a book group discussion and dies after drinking cyanide-spiked tea.

In this Christmas story, a poor girl named Tilly finds an injured bird in the snow and takes it home to care for it, believing in the lessons her mother has taught her concerning the golden rule and Christ's commandment to love our neighbors. Although her friends think she shouldn't take care of the bird, her kindness is rewarded unexpectedly on Christmas Eve. This version of "Tilly's Christmas" was recorded as part of Dreamscape's The Christmas Stories of Louisa May Alcott.

Amy Bloch, accomplished psychiatrist, busy and fully in control of her professional and family life, was dealt what she thought was a devastating, insurmountable set-back when her daughter Emily was born with a severe brain malformation. Amy tried desperately to “fix” Emily and exhausted herself in her efforts to deal with the “problem” using her intellect, going at it brain-first, the way we tend to approach any challenge in our society. Emily, by default, lives completely heart-first: She simply doesn’t have the capabilities to approach life brain-first.

We have the pleasure of presenting not only three more stories by Mary Louisa herself, but also one by her son Bevil. The first story, "The Shadow in the Moonlight", is one of her scariest. A plucky young lady and her brothers confront a ghost that brings the cold of death. Can they resist? The second story, "At The Dip In The Road", is classic Molesworth - a sudden, mysterious encounter that leaves us with unanswerable questions of life and death. In "Old Gervais", we encounter a different sort of ghost - one that cares very much about work left unfinished and clients left unsatisfied.

There's a long tradition of English Christmas stories, sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, often revolving around ghosts and apparitions. Dickens drew on it in a serious vein in A Christmas Carol; here, Jerome K. Jerome tells hilarious stories from around an English Christmas fireside.

Five wonderful stories by Ambrose Bierce, full of vivid characters, precise and evocative language, surprises, and suspense. Written more than a century ago, these stories still capture the imagination with vivid, precise language that bites - and may even draw blood! This Freshwater Seas production presents these five classic stories performed by Susie Berneis and Robert Bethune, with subtle musical underscoring to enhance and enrich Bierce's words.

This presentation of the beloved tale tells the classic story of the long night Ebenezer Scrooge spent with the ghosts of Christmas, the lessons it taught him, the change it made in his life, and the joy it brought to him and all who knew him. It tells the story the way Dickens wrote it, including scenes and descriptions other versions skip over.On this recording, the story is not merely read, it comes to life with voices and music.

In "A Hospital Christmas" a Civil War-era hospital is the setting for a Christmas story about caring for others, thinking positively, and how sharing can make Christmas meaningful for those who have little.