Literature Tragedy

When Caroline Sears receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970, and it seems that nothing can be done. But her brother-in-law, a physicist, tells her that perhaps there is. Hunter had appeared in their lives just a few years before - and his appearance was as mysterious as his past. With no family, no friends, and a background shrouded in secrets, Hunter embraced the Sears family and never looked back.

There is a dark side to human nature that can be neither wished away nor completely mitigated. Ashley Franz Holzmann details just several of these laws in his introduction to The Laws of Nature: A Collection of Short Stories of Horror, Anxiety, Tragedy and Loss before taking his readers on a journey through the bizarre, the terrifying, and, ultimately, the disturbingly real truths that underlie much of modern American life.

Three years after leaving her family behind on the idyllic lighthouse island where she grew up, 17-year-old Elizabeth "Squid" McCrae returns, full of anger and accusations and eager to confront her father about a family tragedy. But as a ghostly voice from the past sparks her memories, Squid soon realizes that nothing is exactly as she thought it was, and no one, not even herself, is completely free from blame.

Claire Griffith has it all, a thriving career, a gorgeous boyfriend, glamorous friends. She always knew she was destined for more than the life her conservative parents preached to her. Arriving in Los Angeles flat broke, she has risen to become a popular fitness coach and social media influencer. Having rebranded herself as Cleo Ray, she stands at the threshold of realizing her biggest dreams. One summer day, Cleo and a woman named Beck Alden set off in a canoe on a serene mountain lake. An hour later, Beck is found dead in the water, and Cleo is missing.

Shakespeare writes about the plight of Romeo and Juliet with a lot of empathy and views their tragedy as a result of bad fate, rather than a problem with their characters. We sense from the very start that their relationship is doomed. Romeo and Juliet are portrayed as sincere and virtuous young people who are madly in love, but because of the feud between their families, their relationship has to end. As they won't even consider a separation, the only way out of the situation they find themselves in is by taking their own lives.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1602. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother.

Eldene McGrady is the mother of two teenage children. Taylor, a strapping six-foot 15-and-half-year-old, and his little sister, Patty, who is 14, just 11 months younger than Taylor. Eldene is suddenly widowed due to an accident in which her husband, Jake, is killed. Her grief is such that she just can't continue their life in Baltimoret, selling all her holdings and deciding, along with her children, to plan and join a wagon train and move West to the Oregon Territory.

This classic novel describes an ambitious poor relative of a rich man who secures an opportunity in his uncle’s factory and has a social leap to prospectively marry another rich man’s daughter in town. Similar to Gatsby and published in the same year, 1925.

Coriolanus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1605 and 1608. The play is based on the life of the legendary Roman leader Caius Marcius Coriolanus. The tragedy is one of the last two tragedies written by Shakespeare, along with Antony and Cleopatra. Coriolanus is the name given to a Roman general after his military success against various uprisings challenging the government of Rome. Following this success, Coriolanus becomes active in politics and seeks political leadership.

Wednesdays at One is a haunting, psychological story of one man’s obsessive search for answers, the woman who leads the way, and the secret that threatens to destroy everything that matters to him: his career, his family, and his mind.

Hero and Leander is a Greek myth concerning the tragic story of two lovers. One was a priestess of Aphrodite who lived in a tower in Sestos, and the other a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait. Leander fell in love with Hero and would swim every night across the Hellespont to spend time with her, with Hero's lamp at the top of her tower as his guiding light, and they shared a warm summer of love.

Pride, justice, and vengeance. Aristocracy and democracy vie for ultimate power over Rome, and each faction violently erupts when Coriolanus takes the political stage. After receiving glorious accolades for taking an enemy city when the plebian soldiers cowered without the gates, the common people find his arrogance and pride offensive. Now, banished from the very city for which he was prepared to lay down his life, he strikes up an unholy alliance with his country's enemies.

Patch has decided that this is the year he will get a boyfriend, so it's goodbye to his French pen-pal Jean-Pierre and hello to the world! Unfortunately, the only other "out" boys in his school year are dating each other, so finding a boyfriend isn't going to be easy . . . Until fate finally intervenes and two new mysterious boys join drama club: Peter, who’s just moved from New York (very chic) and his best friend, Sam. Patch is confident that one of them will be his first boyfriend.

Simple, potent, and direct to the heartstings, this mix of traditional and original tales draws the listener into a transformational journey of the soul. These six stories exemplify the meaning of true love, the selfless acts that accompany it, and the consequences that can follow.

This multi-voice production of The Tragedy of Macbeth features an all-star cast under the direction of acclaimed producer Paul Alan Ruben, a Grammy Award-winning veteran of the audiobook industry. With five AudioFile magazine Golden Voice recipients, multiple Grammy and SOVAS nominations, and countless Earphones and Audie Awards, this phenomenal cast brings Shakespeare's work to life.

St. Paul, Minnesota, 1946: Introspective Shannon Malone and her more popular sister Eliza are Irish twins and best friends. As little girls, they relied on each other for companionship and affection as their mother remained distant, beating back the demons of her own mysterious childhood. As womanhood approaches, both look forward to promising - though different - futures. But when tragedy rocks the Malone family, secrets bloom and one sister leaves, possibly forever. The other, physically and emotionally scarred, vows to hold the invisible thread that runs deeply between them.

When Celine Lowry leaves Viewpoint, Virginia for the west with her husband and four children, the last thing she expects is to lose her whole family and be captured by Indians. Thinking that her life might be over, she’s surprised when she gets a second chance at love with a recently widowed man too.

In 1953, a teenage girl, Jeanne Saré, jumps in front of a train at the Gare du Nord station. She leaves behind writings that to some are unreadable, but to others tell universal, unspoken truths about the lives and struggles of women. When published in the 1970s, her work triggers a rash of copycat suicides. It is hastily withdrawn from sale and eventually forgotten about.

Patch has decided that this is the year he will get a boyfriend, so it's goodbye to his French pen-pal Jean-Pierre and hello to the world! Unfortunately, the only other "out" boys in his school year are dating each other, so finding a boyfriend isn't going to be easy... Until fate finally intervenes and two new mysterious boys join drama club: Peter, who’s just moved from New York (very chic) and his best friend, Sam. Patch is confident that one of them will be his first boyfriend.

Once upon a time, my parents saved the world. But it's still broken, and I'm supposed to fix it. Everything had been going perfectly until the dragons showed up. They need me, the Healer of Realms, to save their land. A land of prophecies, beautiful princes, and ancient monsters. I don't need a seer to know this quest is larger than anything I’ve known. Between the nightmares, monster attacks, and a prince I can’t seem to stop kissing, only fate knows if I’ll lose my heart or my life to a kingdom that isn’t even mine.