European Fiction

Oscar Wilde's first play confronts the hypocrisy of public "morality" compared with genuine, private kindness. The reasons for its continued popularity are not difficult to identify: the play's witty dialogue contains many of Wilde's most quoted aphorisms, its stylish setting provides opportunities for elegant presentation, and its cast of memorable characters play out a story which is genuinely moving. This new audio production brings together a full cast worthy of Wilde's creative genius.

In the tale, a spoiled princess reluctantly befriends the Frog Prince, whom she met after dropping a golden ball into a pond under a linden tree, and he retrieves it for her in exchange for her friendship. The Frog Prince, who is under a wicked fairy's spell, magically transforms back into a handsome prince.

"La Morte amoureuse" est une nouvelle fantastique de Théophile Gautier, parue en 1836. Le vieux Romuald raconte à un autre ecclésiastique qu'il nomme "frère" les faits étranges qui ont suivi son ordination.

This is the story of Katherine Plantagenet, self-proclaimed “daughter, sister, and aunt of kings,” who endures extraordinarily traumatic reversals of fortune, as her life swings through wealth and adversity. A glittering future as an English princess is swept away by the untimely death of her father, Edward IV, and the usurpation of her brother Edward V's throne. Surrounded by murderous intrigue, conspiracy and ambition, Katherine and her sisters fear what lies in store.

Gustave Flaubert is one of the major figures of French literature. He was known for his scrupulous devotion to his style, sometimes working for a whole week to achieve a single page; he was made famous by his first novel, Madame Bovary. "A Simple Soul", sometimes translated as "A Simple Heart", is a short story containing a lifetime of human emotions. After her one and only love purportedly marries a well-to-do woman to avoid conscription, the simple servant Félicité picks up work in a widow's house.

"Herodias" is a short story by Gustave Flaubert, one of the great masters of French literature. It is a reworking of the tale of Salomé and John the Baptist, in which faith and cruelty are blended in a deadly dance culminating in tragedy. A stylistic masterpiece, with orientalist sensuality and an inspired dive into religious fervor, this short story brings the ancient era to the most colorful possible life.

Une exploration mystique de la nature humaine. Lorsqu'une femme claque la porte et s'en va, elle emporte le monde avec elle. Adem Naït-Gacem l'apprend à ses dépens. Ne supportant pas le vide laissé par le départ de son épouse, l'instituteur abandonne ses élèves et, tel un don Quichotte des temps modernes, livré aux vents contraires de l'errance, quitte tout pour partir sur les chemins.

Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic—written in time for the 1843 holiday season—sold out its initial printing of 6,000 copies in one day. It remains Dickens’ most widely read and best-loved work, guaranteed to warm and uplift with the simplicity of its message and the depth of its honest truths. Bah! Humbug! It’s Christmas Eve and miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is in a foul temper—good cheer and joyful spending turn his very insides to vinegar.

It tells the tale of Frank Gresham and Mary Thorne, a couple intent on marriage despite their conflicting social backgrounds. Frank is engaged in a fierce battle with his family as his mother vehemently opposes the marriage and pushes him to marry a wealthy heiress; however, Frank shuns her attempts and is determined to accept Mary on her own terms.

Quelques hommes pleins de conviction dirigent leur regard vers la Lune pour s'en rapprocher afin d'en prendre possession et d'accomplir un exploit hors du commun. Le monde entier est derrière eux, l'exploit est de taille, et alors que le chantier avance, Michel Ardan, un audacieux français lui propose de remplacer le boulet par un obus creux dans lequel il prendrait place. Nicholl, adversaire du projet se joint à lui pour cet extraordinaire voyage, ainsi qu'un troisième compagnon.

Frémeaux & Associés propose une anthologie d'"À la recherche du temps perdu". La quintessence du chef-d'œuvre de Marcel Proust est ici choisie avec soin et finesse par Paul Desalmand puis transmise, avec une justesse et une maîtrise de la langue remarquables, par Daniel Mesguich qui met tout son talent au service de la beauté et du sens du texte. Un voyage au cœur de cette œuvre immense et grandiose dans laquelle Marcel Proust peint avec précision, humour et subtilité les circonvolutions de la psychologie humaine.

Перед вами знаменитый цикл рассказов Джека Лондона о Смоке Беллью, которого жажда приключений толкнула на полный смертельных опасностей путь отчаянных золотоискателей, покорителей Клондайка.

When Stanley Lambchop is asked to help catch an art thief in Paris, he's thrilled! Posing as a painting in the Louvre museum on a wall across from the famous Mona Lisa? - c'est magnifique! But Stanley soon grows bored - until he meets Etoile, an art student who shows him around the City of Light. Then when Stanley goes back to the museum, he soon realizes that the Mona Lisa looks…different. It's been switched for a fake!

Cuando el joven abogado Santos Luzardo vuelve al llano a reclamar las tierras de su familia, se encuentra con que han sido tomadas por Doña Bárbara, una ruda e insensible terrateniente, que ha acumulado grandes extensiones de tierra y muchas manadas de ganado por medios ilícitos y utiliza a los hombres para su provecho personal. Cuando Santos Luzardo se decide a luchar por lo que es suyo, se desatan conflictos, pasiones y se devela el pasado oculto de Doña Bárbara y la aparición de su hija.

Mirae was meant to save her queendom, but the ceremony before her coronation ends in terror and death, unlocking a strange new power within her and foretelling the return of a monster even the gods fear. Amid the chaos, Mirae’s beloved older brother is taken—threatening the peninsula’s already tenuous truce. Desperate to save her brother and defeat this ancient enemy before the queendom is beset by war, Mirae sets out on a journey with an unlikely group of companions while her unpredictable magic gives her terrifying visions of a future she must stop at any cost.

Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880), known by her pen name George Eliot, was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Her novels are known for their realism and psychological insight. Four of them are included in this volume: Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda, The Mill on the Floss, and The Lifted Veil.

Andy Bellows is in a right state. Plagued with insomnia, anxiety and neckache, he’s convinced there’s something seriously wrong with him. And the worst thing is that his doctor agrees. The diagnosis: Andy is in the grip of a self-destructive addiction to technology - he just cannot put that bloody mobile phone down. Texting, tweeting, gaming and online dating - technology rules Andy’s life. His phone even monitors his bowel movements. So how will he cope when he’s forced to follow doctor’s orders and step away from all of his beloved screens?

At the height of its power, the elven court of Queen Emerelle relishes in the joyful, wintry Festival of Light. Yet, as tribes gather to reaffirm their loyalty to the queen, treachery festers within the nobility. An assassination attempt leaves Emerelle severely injured and plunges the realm back into the throes of an ancient war. While an army of trolls ravages the kingdom, the elves seek aid from Alfadas, the human hero who was raised among them. Back in the land of men, Alfadas has settled into a quiet life as his village's protector.

In old Bari, everyone knows Maria De Santis as “Malacarne,” the bad seed. Nicknamed for her dark features, volcanic temperament, and resistance to rules, the headstrong girl can only imagine the possibilities that lie outside her poverty-stricken neighborhood. Growing up with her mother, two brothers, and a tyrannical father, Maria must abide. She does - amid the squalid life to which she was born, the cruelties of her small-minded neighbors, and violence in a constant threat of eruption.

Les récits de Mme de Murat s’adressent à un public adulte, à même d’entrevoir derrière les voiles de l’humour ou du merveilleux, l’irrévérence et la transgression. Ce qui, dans sa vie réelle, suscite la désapprobation morale et sociale de ses contemporains (le choix de quitter un mari violent, de vivre seule à Paris, ses amours lesbiens) peut, dans ses fictions, se laisser dire, à travers les motifs récurrents du travestissement, du trouble de l’identité sexuelle, de l’inversion des rapports de domination entre hommes et femmes.