Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

This book, the last work of Charles Dickens to be published, is peculiarly personal to the writer. The manuscript was entirely handwritten and kept in his home solely for the use of his own children. It was never intended for publication, but rather written in a form which Dickens thought most suitable for his own youngsters, and they might have a permanent record of their father's thoughts.

A riveting collection of stories of ships, sailors, adventures on the high seas and maritime mysteries. The Tale by Joseph Conrad. The Saloon Passenger by E. W. Hornung. The Terrible Story of the "Mary Russell" by J. G. Lockhart. Marooned by J. G. Lockhart. A Rash Experiment by W. W. Jacobs. The Mystery of the Mary Celeste by J. G. Lockhart. Smoked Skipper by W. W. Jacobs. The Flying Dutchman by J. G. Lockhart. The Cabin Passenger by W. W. Jacobs. The Ship that saw a Ghost by Frank Norris.

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 Lady's Maid's Bell' is a classic ghost story about Alice Hartley, a servant who takes up a new position in a remote country house as companion to an invalid lady. Almost immediately she realises that there is something not quite right in the house.

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. In this story two old friends had promised to meet up exactly 20 years to the day since their last meeting in New York. One of the friends has travelled a thousand miles to be there...and is now waiting for his childhood companion. Will he turn up?

When a mysterious craft appears from the clouds over Rotterdam and an odd looking tiny being with no ears drops a letter at the feet of the Burgermeister, nobody can possibly imagine the strange and wonderful account which it contains. The letter is from a certain Hans Pfaal, a citizen of Rotterdam who went missing five years earlier under strange circumstances, and who was widely believed to have been the victim of a bizarre and grisly murder. But Hans Pfaal's story is even more astounding than anyone could possibly imagine.

The Yellow Wallpaper is Charlotte Gilman's best known work. Written from the perspective of a woman suffering post-partum psychosis, it draws the listener into a world which is both terrifying and fascinating, where strange events occur and where even the wallpaper takes on a sinister and creepy significance. The narration and language are masterful, but it is the way the listener is invited to empathise and almost experience the mental illness first hand which make a lasting impression.

"The Outsider" is one of Lovecraft's earliest and creepiest stories. A man exists alone in a mysterious dark castle, with no memory of how or why he is there. One day he decides to climb the highest tower in the hope of seeing the sky...and in doing so briefly learns the terrible, ghastly, unbearable truth....

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.

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English writer of science fiction stories and novels and is frequently credited as being the father of science fiction. "The Empire of the Ants" is a disturbing tale about a new species of giant ants in South America which have evolved to use tools and weapons, wear clothes, communicate and organize themselves as a deadly fighting machine. And their chosen enemy is mankind....

"Comrades" reveals an ironic humour in its conception and is one of Gorky's lighter tales. A peasant policeman is dispatched to escort a vagrant without papers to the nearest magistrate, a considerable distance away. As the two talk on the journey, it becomes clear to the listener...and finally to the policeman...the real identity of the vagrant.

"The Door in the Wall" is the strange supernatural tale of a young boy who finds a door in a wall which leads to a beautiful magical garden full of wonderful people, animals and flowers. The rest of his life is spent searching for the door and the magical world again...but the door reveals itself again only at the most inconvenient moments, when he cannot spare the time to go through it. Until one night, finally, he finds the door again and goes back through....

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.

Ernest Bramah (1868-1942) was an English author of 21 novels and numerous short stories and features. His humorous works have been ranked with Jerome K. Jerome and W. W. Jacobs, his detective stories with Conan Doyle, his politico-science fiction with H. G. Wells, and his supernatural stories with Algernon Blackwood. In his stories of detection, Bramah hit on the idea of a blind detective, Max Carrados, whose triumphs are all the more amazing because of his disability.

Robert Browning's classic tale about a magical rat catcher. When Hamelin is overrun by rats, only the magical music of the Pied Piper can solve the problem. The town council tries to trick the piper out of his agreed reward, and he wreaks terrible revenge.

Vernon Lee was the pseudonym of Violet Paget (1856-1935), a British writer most famous for her supernatural short stories. She was a leading figure in the aesthetic movement. 'Marsyas in Flanders' is a strange tale of an ancient carving of the crucified Christ - minus its arms and cross - which washes up in the 12th century on a beach in Flanders.

Forty breathtaking short stories of gripping adventures, secrets and strange conspiracies. 'The Dust That Was Barren' by P. C. Wren. 'The Deserter' by Stacy Aumonier. 'The Lighthouse on Shivering Sand' by J. S. Fletcher. 'The Secret of the Smoked Spectacles' by William Le Queux. 'The 39 Steps' by John Buchan. 'Three Pennyworth of Luck' by Basil Murray. 'The Secret of Dr. Vaux’s Intrigue' by William Le Queux. 'A Thread of Scarlet' by J. J. Bell. 'How I Became a Secret Agent' by Dr. A. K. Graves.

Eight brilliant short stories from the best female short story writer of her age. Katherine Mansfield's wit, pathos and descriptive genius combine in this collection to take the listener from a wry smile one minute to the verge of tears the next.

Framton Nuttel pays an unannounced call on Mrs. Sappleton and finds himself in the midst of a macabre spectacle which is not as it seems. Hector Hugh Munro’s genius storytelling at its best.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost and horror stories. 'Mrs. Amworth' is arguably Benson's most famous story...and certainly one of the most terrifying. It tells the story of a mysterious outbreak of vampirism in the heart of a quiet English village.

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.