Showing results by narrator "Sara Nichols" in All Categories

The Prairie Trilogy is a series of three novels centered around life in the Midwest during the late 19th/early 20th centuries by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather. First, in "O Pioneers!," we meet Alexandra Bergson, who inherits the family farm after her father dies and leaves her to care for her three siblings. While many immigrant families are giving up their farms and moving back to the city (or to their home countries), Alexandra decides to try to tough it out on the prairie.

Red Harvest is the first full novel by Dashiell Hammett, the author universally regarded as the father of "hard boiled" detective fiction. An enormous hit upon its publication, it has since become a classic of the detective genre. Time Magazine included Red Harvest in its 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to 2005.

Few families in history can boast of the incredible literary achievements of the Brontë sisters - Anne, Emily and Charlotte - who penned three of the most beloved novels ever written: Anne's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," Emily's "Wuthering Heights" and Charlotte's "Jane Eyre." Collected here are all three of these classic novels, plus a pair of essays penned by Charlotte fiercely defending her sister's books and drawing attention to the literary misogyny of the time, which forced the sisters to publish their novels under male pseudonyms.

Dashiell Hammett is universally regarded as one of the finest American writers of "hard boiled" detective fiction and his short stories and novels have been hailed as some of the best mystery stories ever written. Hammett would doubtless have gone down in literary history simply for his creation of the detective Sam Spade ("The Maltese Falcon") as well as Nick and Nora Charles ("The Thin Man" series), but he is also the creator of another of the most popular detectives in the genre: the nameless private investigator known as the Continental Op, who appears in dozens of his stories.

"The House of Mirth" was the breakthrough novel for Edith Wharton and its immediate commercial and critical success put her on the American literary map. Based on Wharton's own experiences among the elite of the New York City social set in the late 1890's, "The House of Mirth" is both a fascinating glimpse into the upper-reaches of high society and a searing satire of the cruelties, frivolities and hypocrisy of the city's ultra-rich.

Presented here are the final three books of the Sherlock Holmes canon: the novel "The Valley of Fear" and two short story collections: "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes" and "His Last Bow," all penned by Holmes' legendary creator, the great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Despite his attempt to kill off his world-famous detective years earlier, Doyle here — decades later — finally brings Sherlock Holmes' adventures to a close. First, we present the stories collected in "Case-Book," including the thriller "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs" and the haunting "Adventure of the Sussex Vampire."

Dashiell Hammett was already a well-established hard-boiled mystery writer by the time he released what would turn out to be his masterpiece, The Maltese Falcon in 1930. But with the release of this novel, Hammett would be catapulted to the forefront of American crime writers. The novel has been adapted several times for the screen and the 1941 film version—starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor—has become a film noir classic.

In 1886, a struggling young doctor and part-time author named Arthur Conan Doyle picked up his pen and created what is arguably the most famous character in the history of mystery and detective fiction: the consulting detective known as Sherlock Holmes. Forty years later, Doyle would conclude this astonishing series of adventures having penned four full novels and fifty-six short stories featuring Holmes and - in most of these stories - his friend and crime-fighting partner, Dr. John Watson (who often served as the fictional chronicler of these tales).

"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" is Anne Brontë's wildly successful and best-known novel. Written in 1848 under the pseudonym "Acton Bell" (each of the Brontë sisters wrote under pen names), it proved to be the most popular book written by the three sisters during their lifetimes. It tells the story of Helen Graham, a young woman who is courted by and marries the spoiled and self-involved Arthur Huntingdon, a charming suitor but a disastrous and cruel husband.

William Strunk, Jr., a professor of English literature at Cornell University, penned The Elements of Style in 1918 as a guide for his students in the proper use of grammar and composition.

Presented here are four of Edith Wharton's best known works: "The Age of Innocence," "The House of Mirth," "Ethan Frome" and "Summer," each considered a classic of the early 20th century. The first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction (for "Age of Innocence"), Wharton enjoyed an astonishing career as a short story writer and novelist, blazing a trail for the female writers who followed her.

A powerful and disturbing adventure story set in the wilds of Mexico after the First World War, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" is B. Traven's much-beloved and thrilling tale of three desperate men who set out to make their fortune in the gold-filled Sierra Madre Mountains...and wind up confronting their own greed and paranoia along the way.

"The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins is a groundbreaking detective novel often regarded as the first of its kind in English literature. The story revolves around a priceless Indian diamond — the Moonstone — stolen from a Hindu temple and later presented to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday. That same night, the gem mysteriously disappears from Rachel's room, setting off a wild and complex investigation. Through multiple narrators, including the loyal servant Gabriel Betteredge and the eccentric Miss Clack, the narrative unfolds with twists, misunderstandings, and revelations.

"Ethan Frome" is one of Edith Wharton's best known works and has become a staple of American literature classes around the globe since it was first published in 1911. The story is a simple tale of desire, regret and forbidden love. The title character, Ethan, has resigned himself to living in a loveless, sterile marriage with his wife Zenobia. But when his wife's young cousin Mattie moves into the house and both she and Ethan are drawn together, it begins a romance that can only end in heartbreak... or tragedy.

In Volume II, we present Austen's timeless classics "Sense and Sensibility," "Northanger Abbey" and "Emma." Though the books only received modest attention and few reviews at the time of their first release ("Northanger Abbey" was, in fact, published posthumously), all of these books have gone on to become best-sellers are now considered to be among the finest examples of 19th century literature.

Presented here are three of the most important feminist novels ever written: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Each of these works is an early groundbreaking piece of fiction from some of literature's finest female writers as they explore life, love, and the struggle of women to find their voices in a time where they were too often silenced and suppressed.

"The Adventurers Club Collection" brings together four of the most thrilling, heart-pounding adventure novels of all time into one unforgettable collection: Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island," Jack London's "White Fang," "The Man Who Would Be King" by Rudyard Kipling and the Sherlock Holmes classic "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle... all in one volume. Travel the seven seas in search of buried treasure... then plunge into the freezing wilds of the Yukon with a team of sled dogs... travel to a distant, mystical land in search of plunder...

The immersive audio experience presented here - complete with sound effects, music, and atmospherics - allows the listener to feel as if they were in attendance when these speeches were first delivered. The orations are performed by a select group of amazing actors who uniquely capture the essence, power, and complexity of these magnificent addresses, universally acknowledged as some of the greatest speeches in world history.

Pooh and all of his friends are here: Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, Roo, and Christopher Robin. As they explore the Hundred Acre Wood, they have all sorts of adventures: tracking the Heffalump, visiting with Rabbit (and getting stuck in a very tight place), dressing up as a little black rain cloud to get honey from the bees, and even going on an "expotition" to the North Pole!

Collected here are three of E.M. Forster's classic novels: "A Room With a View," "Howards End" and "A Passage to India," each a stand-alone masterpiece and all of them celebrated as among the finest novels of early 20th century literature.