Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

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.

A delightful folk tale from Romania about a princess who is destined to marry a pig. When the pig arrives at her father's court to woo her, she submits to her fate - but the pig is in reality anything but what he seems. He is a prince who has been bewitched. Unfortunately the witch now tricks the princess into extending the spell - her fate is now to embark on a lengthy quest, hampered by iron sandals, to find her beloved husband and free him from the curse once and for all. Enchanting!

Frances Browne (1816-1879) was an Irish poet and novelist who is best remembered for her enchanting stories for children, published under the title of Granny's Wonderful Chair. The collection tells the story of Snowflower, a little girl left alone in the world with a magical chair belonging to her absent grandmother, which can take her wherever she wants to go and can tell her marvellous stories.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was an English novelist and poet whose work is best known for combining the traditions of Romanticism with a realistic portayal of a declining rural society in Victorian England. "The Fiddler of the Reels" tells the story of a love triangle. The enigmatic, brilliant and rakish violin player, Wat Ollamore, who arrives in the small South Wessex village of Mellstock, exercises a diabolical fascination with the young, impressionable Car'line Aspent.

The Brahman, the Tiger and the Six Judges is the tale of an ungrateful tiger who gets his just desserts. The tiger has been captured but persuades the passing Brahman to release him. When the Brahman does so, the tiger announces that he intends to eat him. But the Brahman persuades him to wait until they have consulted six others before deciding his fate.

'The Library Window' is a ghost story. A young girl, visiting her aunt in Scotland, finds herself increasingly intrigued by a mysterious window in the house opposite her own favourite window, where she sits to read. There seems to be a local mystery about the window, including a dispute about whether there is even a window there at all. Increasingly this doubt seems odd to the girl as the days go by, as she can see into the room opposite and make out furniture and objects there. Then one day she sees someone in that room....

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand-born English novelist famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s and remains popular to this day. 'Mr. Huffam' is a heartwarming story about a delightful stranger who, on account of his personal bonhomie and his wonderful ability to tell stories, charms the household of Sir Roderick Winslow, from the haughty aristocratic relatives to the domestics.

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand-born English novelist, famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s and remains popular to this day. 'The Beard' is the touching and insightful tale of a narcissistic and pompous father who is struggling to raise his pubescent son, who is enraged at and embarrassed by his father, yet the codependency between the two still exercises a magnetic pull.

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand-born English novelist, famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s and remains popular to this day. This collection includes some of Walpole's finest works, including 'The Whistle', which he described as "the best short story I have ever written".

A timeless collection of classic short stories by some of the master storytellers of the world. Old Iron by Stacy Aumonier, Odour of Chrysanthemums by D. H. Lawrence, The Idiot by Arnold Bennett, Miss Harriet by Guy de Maupassant, Red Hanrahan by W. B. Yeats, The Doll's House by Katherine Mansfield, The Devil's Spectacles by Wilkie Collins, The Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde, Miss Bracegirdle does her Duty by Stacy Aumonier, The Piece of String by Guy de Maupassant, Glad Ghosts by D. H. Lawrence.

When Alice joins her husband, whom due to the war she has barely seen since their marriage two years earlier, on his yacht for a belated honeymoon, she discovers that a boat is far from an ideal location to get to know one's spouse. For a start, there is no privacy anywhere. The crew can hear everything. Secondly, life about ship is run by men and operates on male terms. Alice sets out to establish herself as mistress of both her husband and his ship.

A delightful collection of humorous classic tales by some of the world's greatest racconteurs.

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. 'All Souls' is a creepy Hallowe'en story about a woman who lives with her servants in a remote house in Connecticut. One weekend at the end of October, she has an accident and breaks her ankle...and then follow the most terrifying and mysterious 36 hours of her life.

In this tale of Jeannot and Colin, Voltaire not only tells an instructive tale, warning of the dangers of sudden wealth and social climbing, but also directs his satirical comments at the vacuous and fickle nouveau riche of his day, the catholic church, private education, and society in general. Jeannot and Colin are childhood friends. Both come from working-class backgrounds in a rural part of France, but Jeannot's parents, on a trip to Paris, strike it lucky in business and within a short time become very wealthy.

A king has three sons and is determined that one shall be his heir - but which? He orders them to marry and decrees that the one who picks the best wife shall be the next king. The youngest finds himself marrying a frog, against his better judgement. But when it turns out that the frog is extraordinarily gifted in such skills as carpet weaving and baking, he looks like winning the contest to be king. His frog princess is indeed a real princess under a magic spell.

Kipling’s classic tale taken from the Just So Stories. The camel who lives in the howling desert is reluctant to join the other animals in working for man. He gets his comeuppance when he is magically given a hump, so that he can work three days in a row without stopping to eat.

An atmospheric tale in which a lady receives a box of six hand-made Egyptian cigarettes in a mysterious package. When she smokes the first one, she is immediately transported into a strange and disturbing vision of herself, abandoned alone in the desert, in which she feels the acute sensations of love, loss, grief and suicidal despair. An eight minute emotional rollercoaster.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937), who wrote as H. P. Lovecraft, was an American writer who achieved fame only posthumously for his influential horror stories. "The Cats of Uthar" is a strange tale about the village of Uthar, which is known for its law that no man may kill at cat. This is the peculiar story of the terrible events that led to this law being passed.

Edmund Gill Swain (1861-1938) was an English cleric and author of ghost stories. He was a longtime friend of M. R. James, and his ghost stories show James' influence. 'The Eastern Window', 'The Man with the Roller', 'The Rockery'.

A fascinating collection of travellers' tales, featuring weird innkeepers, ghouls and ghosts, robbers and murderers, card sharpers and confidence tricksters, dead bodies in odd places....the very thing for anyone busy planning a vacation this year....