Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

First published in 1899, The Story of the Treasure Seekers tells the tale of the Bastable children, Dora, Oswald, Dickie, Noel, Alice and H.O. (short for Horace Octavius) and their attempts to restore the fallen fortunes of their family. They devise a series of plans to find or make money, varying from digging for treasure to being bandits, from going into business to rescuing rich elderly gentlemen from deadly peril.

Andrew Lang (1844-1912) was a Scottish poet and novelist, best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. 'The Three Dogs' tells the story of a shepherd who trades his three sheep with a stranger for three dogs with magical powers. The dogs are able to help him slay a dragon and win a princess.

Five classic examples of the sheer comic genius of Mark Twain. "The One Million Pound Bank Note", "The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm", "The Stolen White Elephant", "Cannibalism in the Cars", and "The Awful German Language".

Hunted Down is a detective story by Charles Dickens. The astute Sampson suspects that a certain Mr. Julius Slinkton who turns up in his office one morning is not all that he seems. As Slinkton crops up more and more frequently in Sampson's life, he realises that a monstrous crime is about to be committed. But a counter plot is hatched and the hunter quickly becomes the hunted. Dickens excels again in his masterful portrayal of character and insightful description the society of his day.

John Ruskin (1819-1900) was one of the most versatile and accomplished writers of his day, as well as being a prominent art critic, painter, philanthropist and social commentator. His writings included academic essays, travel guides, poetry, manuals, treatises, letters...and one enchanting fairy tale: The King of the Golden River. The story tells of three brothers, two of them greedy and dishonest, the third and youngest a kind hearted and trustworthy lad.

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English writer, now best remembered for his science fiction novels and often credited as being the father of science fiction. 'The Country of the Blind' is the strange story of a mountain guide who accidently falls off a cliff ledge in the Andes. He survives the fall unhurt, and finds himself in a remote valley where a tribe lives completely cut off from the rest of the world.

Four gripping tales by the master of Adventure Stories, Joseph Conrad. "The Tale", "The Inn of the Two Witches", "The Secret Sharer", "The Idiots".

J. Meade Falkener's timeless classic adventure story of smugglers, hidden treasure, mysterious ghosts and daring escapes. Written in 1898, the story has remained a much loved classic among children and adults alike, owing to its gripping storyline, sympathetic characters and swift narrative pace. The village of Moonfleet has been dominated by the Mohune dynasty for centuries.

John Galsworthy (1867-1933) was an English playwright and novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932. A Long-Ago Affair is a poignant story of requited love and betrayal. A 16-year-old boy with a torrid crush on an older married woman finds himself unwittingly facilitating her secret love affair with another man.

A wonderful collection of 50 of the best classic ghost stories ever written. 'The Missing Model' by Lettice Galbraith, 'Pomegranate Seed' by Edith Wharton, 'The Screaming Skull' by F. Marion Crawford, 'The Ghost in the Cupboard Room' by Wilkie Collins, 'The Shadow on the Blind' by Louisa Baldwin, 'A Ghost's Revenge' by Lettice Galbraith, 'The Lost Ghost' by Mary Wilkins-Freeman, 'On the Northern Ice' by Elia W. Peattie, 'The Cold Embrace' by Mary E. Braddon, 'The Dust Cloud' by E. F. Benson, and many more.

Growing up in a strange dysfunctional family, Paul discovers that he has a unique gift. He is able, with the aid of his rocking horse, to predict the winners of horse races. In order to gain his mother's affection, Paul sets about winning enough money to sate her consuming passion for luxury with one last enormous wager....

Many stories have stood the test of time, but this selection have entranced audiences for thousands of years and remain as fresh today as they were when first told. A fascinating collection which gives vivid insights into lives in ancient times and the issues that occupied the people of the day.

Beatrice Harraden (1864-1936) was a British writer and suffragette. 'A Bird on Its Journey' is the story of a mysterious young Englishwoman hiking alone through Switzerland. When she arrives at a mountain hotel, she discovers that the piano is badly out of tune. The young woman, although she is travelling with only a small knapsack, has brought with her a tuning hammer, and she proceeds to tune the piano.

First published in 1924, Charles E. Pearce’s account of some of the most gruesome and intriguing unsolved murders of the 19th century continues to captivate amateur sleuths to this day. Pearce guides us through a fascinating world of wicked assassinations, missed clues, ingenious stratagems, and cunning deceits in one last attempt to track down historical villains who evaded justice. It is impossible to establish the truth beyond reasonable doubt in any of the cases at this distance, but the light which Pearce sheds on the investigations and contemporary testimony, encourages us to evaluate the evidence anew.

Tolstoy's literal interpretation of the teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance are represented in his short story "A Candle", which tells the story of a group of peasants suffering under a tyrannical overseer.

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) began writing when he was stationed in the Caucasus in the Russian army. After fighting in the Crimean war, he settled in St. Petersburg, where he wrote a number of stories which reveal an increasing disillusionment with society and the military. "The Empty Drum" is an antiwar story adapted from a Russian folk tale.

Richard Austin Freeman (1862-1943) was a British writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr. Thorndyke. Freeman used some of his early experiences as a colonial surgeon in West Africa in his novels. The Case of the White Footprints is a murder mystery set in Margate. A lady has been found dead in her room in a boarding house.

Ellis Parker Butler (1869-1937) was an American author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays. He is best known for his famous short story "Pigs Is Pigs", in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs, which soon start proliferating exponentially.

The Magic Casket describes a classic case for Dr. Thorndyke. It tells the story of an ordinary and apparently quite worthless metal casket, which conceals a mysterious secret which nearly costs a young woman her life.

First published in 1900, The Book Of Dragons is one of Edith Nesbit's best loved and most inventive children’s books. Her heroes and heroines are children faced unexpectedly with real live dragons, which are fiery, fierce, ravenous, irritating, grumpy, furry and even gifted cooks! They appear from caves, from the pages of a magical book, at the North Pole or from mysterious dungeons where nobody dares enter.