Showing results by narrator "Johanna Ward" in All Categories

Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis were quite happy living in their ordinary red-brick house located in the suburbs. But when their father was called away, the children and their mother were compelled to move to a dark, shabby cottage in the country, and their lives changed more then they ever could have imagined. At first the country seemed lonely and dull. Then one afternoon, a walk led them to a railway tunnel. There they met Perks, the porter, made friends with the kind Station Master, and waved to the Green Dragon train.

Largely autobiographical, La Vagabonde recalls Colette's own years as a dance hall performer in turn of the century Paris, where she takes the listener backstage and into the demimonde of Renée Néré, an aging dancer, mime, and failed writer. Successfully evoking the excitement, the sounds, smells, tastes, textures, and colors of the Parisian dance hall, Renée describes her romance with her admirer, Maxime, and the downward slide of a young Piaf type singer named Jadin.

The year is 2034. Protected by a massive force field, the United Peoples of America, a separatist nation of 100 million citizens of California, Oregon, and Washington, thrive as the most harmonious utopia in human history. To the east, Donald Jesus Trump, in his fifth term as president for life, presides over a menacing kleptocracy that has been renamed the United Enterprises of America.

Fanny Price, a poor relation of the rich Bertrams, is reluctantly adopted into the family, to be brought up at Mansfield Park, where she is condescendingly treated. Only her cousin, Edmund, a young clergyman, appreciates her fine qualities. Fanny soon falls in love with him, but Edmund is, unfortunately, drawn to the shallow and worldly Mary Crawford.

Kaethe Shalk has married into a family of disappearing German aristocracy. Having spent years in East Berlin, she faces a new life of boundless complexity when the Berlin Wall comes down and the ruin of the East stands in stark contrast to the exuberance of the West.

The year is 2034. Donald Trump, in his fifth term as president for life, presides over a menacing Putin-style kleptocracy that has been renamed the United Enterprises of America. Winston Smith, a technology executive, works in a state of constant terror at Patriot News, America’s only remaining media organization. Two-thirds of the population has been enslaved in deadly debtor labor camps owned by Trump-controlled oligarchs.

Drawn from the enchanting tales told to Kipling as a child in India, Just So Stories reveals the magic of the dawn of the world, when animals could talk and think like people. Cats and dogs, kangaroos and tortoises, hedgehogs and jaguars, whales and leopards, and many others are brought to life in an exotic Eastern landscape of "high and far times ago". Children will discover how the leopard got his spots, the elephant his trunk, and the camel his hump through clever tales that subtly hint at the pitfalls of arrogance and the importance of creativity.

The Happy Prince lived in the Palace of Sans Souci, where sorrow was not allowed to enter, and only pleasure was experienced. Then, a gilded statue set on top of a high column allowed him to see all the wretchedness of the poor, the sick, and the lonely who inhabited his great city. What develops is a story of sacrifice and redemption that is a parable for our time. This audiobook includes nine of Oscar Wilde's magical and haunting fairytales. Written for his own sons, Wilde's tales will provide equal delight for children of today.

Award-winning author Pat Murphy takes us aboard a luxury cruise ship and into the strange confluence of time and space known as the Bermuda Triangle, in an engaging science-fiction romp that recalls the work of Kate Wilhelm.

When an obscure government agent from an anonymous department tried to force Lyle to spy on her mysterious neighbors, she resisted. But the first step had been taken in a life-and-death struggle involving the precarious balance of power that would shift if scientists could extend life for centuries.

These magical stories contain some of the best things ever written in the realm of fairy tales. Included are the "Cathood of Maurice", the story of Kenneth, who is turned into a fish and has to be caught before he can transform back into a boy; and of Amabel, who opens the wardrobe and discovers inside an enormous railway station. There are also stories set in fairy tale lands inhabited by kings and queens, princes and princesses who have to outwit wicked fairies and evil magicians. A favorite is the tale of Princess Belinda, who was condemned to be ugly during the week and beautiful on Sundays.

The time is the mid-1880s when Florida, south of St. Augustine, is a virtual wilderness and Daytona, Miami, and Tampa are little more than dots on the maritime charts. Addie is a "beanery queen" who ekes out a living from her canteen at the convergence of two primitive railroads. She is popular with the train crews but is disdained by most of the townspeople because she lives, unmarried, with a war veteran whose mental disorder is considered to be of demonic origin.

Under-appreciated until now, The Lost Girl is perhaps D.H. Lawrence's most beautiful, thoroughly contemporary, love story. This captivating novel charts the journey of a woman caught between two worlds and two lives, one mired in dreary, industrial England and a life of convention, the other set in the vibrant Italian landscape holding the promise of sensual liberation.

In completing Jane Austen's last novel, Julia Barrett has emerged with a literary treasure, holding true to the characters and theme designed by Ms. Austen. Set in the developing seaside town of Sanditon, it portrays a young woman from the countryside who is exposed to the sophistication and cynicism of resort life. Her name is Charlotte. With disarming charm and wit, she observes for us the array of quirky characters who reside in the booming resort-to-be.