Audio Books

House by the Medlar Tree

Giovanni Verga
In a nineteenth century Sicilian fishing village, the Malavoglia family gambles everything on being able to profit from a cargo of lupin nuts. The cargo is lost at sea and a succession of misfortunes and tragedies assails the family. A masterpiece of social commentary hailed within Italy but neglected by the wider world, The House by the Medlar Tree ranks alongside the works of Zola, Dickens or Balzac among the great books of European literature. The book is the inspiration behind the 1948 film 'La Terra Trema' ('The Earth Trembles'), one of the earliest works of the great Italian director Luchino Visconti.

Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving (Dramatic Reading)

Louisa May Alcott
When a neighbor brings word that Grandma is sick, Mr. and Mrs. Bassett hurry off to tend to her, leaving their seven children to prepare for Thanksgiving on their own. The story of the adventures of Eph, Tilly, Prue, Seth, Sol, Roxy, and Rhody Bassett as they go sledding, face bears, tell old stories, and wrestle with plum puddings is a holiday treat fit to make anyone stop and count their own blessings.

History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, Vol. 4

Eliza Haywood
Betsy Thoughtless is about an intelligent and strong-willed woman who marries under pressure from the society in which she lives. Betsy learns that sometimes giving way to the role of women within a marriage can at times be fulfilling. This is the fourth and final volume in this series. Does she get her man you will have to listen and find out. ( Michele Eaton)

Marriage, volume 2

Susan Edmonstoune Ferrier
Lady Juliana is the daughter of the Earl of Courtland. She receives a marriage proposal from a wealthy Duke but much to the horror of her father she elopes to Gretna Green a Scottish soldier Henry Douglas. She is disowned and Douglas is dismissed. The couple journey to Glenfern in Scotland and reside with the Douglas family. Juliana is shocked by the difference in lifestyles. Despite all kind-hearted attempts from Henry’s fussing spinster aunts, Miss Grizzy, Miss Jackie and Miss Nicky, Lady Juliana makes no attempt to accept her new life in Scotland and events take some interesting turns.

Children Of The Abbey

Regina Maria Roche
Published in 1796, this novel tells the trials and tribulations of Amanda and Oscar FitzAlan, brother and sister who have to navigate the world with no money or status, and hardly any connections. They find love, yet, again and again, things block the way to happiness and, worse, destroy Amanda's reputation. This is the story of abuse of power, loyalty, and, ultimately, love in many forms.

Christmas Comes but Once a Year

Leighton, John
A Christmas tale of John Brown's ghastly family (suburban snobs), Captain Bonaventure de Camp and his equally awful brood (a dubious crew), and poor Soavo Spohf, organist of St. Stiff the Martyr, gifted in musical ability but not blessed in looks or love.

No-one could call this a great work of literature, but it definitely raises a few chuckles and it also offers a fascinating glimpse into Christmas festivities and social mores in well-to-do households in the mid-19th century.

Ordeal of Elizabeth

Anonymous
An unforgettable family saga which revolves around the beautiful young Elizabeth. Elizabeth is orphaned and raised by her spinster aunts. As an adult, she finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage and ultimately falls in love with another man. After telling her lover the truth about her marriage - her husband is found murdered the very next day! This is a story of destiny, temptation, and courage of the heart.

My Lady of the Chinese Courtyard

Elizabeth Cooper
"I hope that this book, based on letters shown me many years after they were written, will give a faint idea of the life of a Chinese lady. The story is told in two series of letters conceived to be written by Kwei-li, the wife of a very high Chinese official, [the first series were written] to her husband when he accompanied his master, Prince Chung, on his trip around the world." The second series of letters were written 25 years later to Kwei-li's mother-in-law as China faces revolution and political intrigue. "They are, therefore, the letters of the present-day Chinese woman of the old school, a woman who had by education and environment exceptional opportunities to learn of the modern world, but who, like every Eastern woman, clings with almost desperate tenacity to the traditions and customs of her race."

Mildred and Elsie

Martha Finley
Mildred returns home from visiting her mother's relatives. She continues to grow in wisdom and beauty and receives many proposals of marriage. She is an ever-increasing blessing to her family and community. In-laws are added to the family, and they enjoy a visit from Horace Dinsmore and his daughter Elsie.

Widowing of Mrs Holroyd

D. H. Lawrence
Mrs. Holroyd is married to a loutish miner, who drinks, apparently patronizes prostitutes, and apparently brutalizes her. When a gentlemanly neighbor makes romantic advances to her, she wishes her husband dead.

Java Head

Joseph Hergesheimer
Java Head is a novel of the American merchant marine at the beginning of the great clipper ship era. It is laid in Salem, when that city was still a port rich with the traffic of the East Indies; a story of choleric ship masters, charming girls, and an aristocratic Manchu woman in carmine and jades and crusted gold. There is a drama as secret and poisonous as opium, lovely old gardens with lilac trees and green lattices, and elm-shaded streets ending at the harbor with the brigs unloading ivory from Africa and the ships crowding on their topsails for Canton. It is a romantic novel-and yet true-rather than a study of drab manners; there is no purpose in it other than the pleasure to be found in the spectacle of life supported by high courage and made beautiful by women in peacock shawls. (From the back cover of the 1919 edition)

Haunted Room

Charlotte Maria Tucker (A. L. O. E.)
Mr. Trevor inherits a piece of land in the country called Myst Court, and plans to move there with his three children: Emmie, Bruce, and Vibert. But rumor says that a room in the house that is haunted. Bruce and Mr. Trevor tell Emmie there are no ghosts, but Emmie can't help but be afraid--or can she? Summary by Esther ben Simonides

In the Garden of Delight

Lily Hammond
This novel is narrated in the first person and revolves around a character named Lil (somewhat autobiographical of the author) and the dynamics of a colorful cast of family members. She loves nature and, especially, birds, and thus the title. The story is set in Tennessee. The writing is very much a product of its place and time. Hammond was quite socially progressive but some of the language she puts into the mouths of characters and the depiction of African Americans may be upsetting to some readers.

Molly Brown's Senior Days

Nell Speed
This novel is the fourth in a series of eight books written about Miss Molly Brown of Kentucky during her education at Wellington College in the early years of the 1900's.

Alice Dugdale

Anthony Trollope
An ordinary village girl's plans for the future with her long-standing beau are threatened when he is seen to be an attractive prospect by a local noble family Trollope's novella works through the consequences with typical affection and sensitivity.

Sentimental Tommy

J. M. Barrie
"J. M. Barrie is most noted for being the author of Peter Pan, the beloved book about a child who does not want to grow up. The two Tommy novels, as they are collectively referred to, are also about a child who does not want to grow up. Yet, unlike Peter Pan, he has to. Tommy grows up in the slums of London at the end of the 19th century in difficult conditions. This book explores his boyhood. How would his childhood fantasies collide with the hard conditions in which he lives and the reality of his growing up? The Tommy novels are considered semi-autobiographical."

Harry Heathcote of Gangoil

Anthony Trollope
Harry Heathcote is an English ‘squatter’ who runs a huge sheep station at Gangoil in Queensland, Australia. His wife Mary and her older sister Kate live with him. Giles Medlicott owns a sugar plantation and mill nearby. Two of Harry’s former disgruntled employees, with the aid of other disreputable neighbours the Brownbies, deliberately start a potentially disastrous fire on Harry’s land. Medlicott comes to Harry’s support and the book follows what happens thereafter.

On Our Selection

Steele Rudd
The humorous account of Dad and Dave and the rest of the Rudd clan as they attempt to carve a farming 'selection' out of the Australian wilderness in spite of fire, famine, snakebite, and a loony hired hand.

Misses Mallett

E. H. Young
The arrival of the eligible Francis Sales disturbs the calm existence of the four Misses Mallett in this social satire. Three women love him--will one of them be his wife?

Natalie Page

Katharine Haviland Taylor
Natalie Page is coming to visit her aunt and uncle in New York. Of course they want her around, but every social engagement is more important, even when she is ill. So Natalie starts to focus on small mysteries like her stolen bracelet, and observe the people around her. She writes a lot about their norms, habits and deeds. Would she be able to frive during her stay or would she always remain in the shadow of her socialite aunt and cousins? Would she be able to find herself?

Sowing and Reaping

Frances E. W. Harper
This novel is subtitled A Temperance Story, which identifies explicitly the focus of the work. Frances Harper is a Christian moralist and uses her writings for didactic purposes. Here she contrast two couples, one, Belle and Paul, who do not drink and whose lives are happier and more productive, and the other, Jeanette and Charles, who lives are destroyed by the demon rum. (N.B. There are some missing portions of the text)

Jeremy And Hamlet: A Chronicle Of Certain Incidents In The Lives Of A Boy, A Dog, And A Country Town

Hugh Walpole
Hamlet is Jeremy’s dog. This 1923 book is Hugh Walpole’s second volume in his Jeremy semi-autobiographical trilogy (Jeremy (1919 available at librivox.org), Jeremy at Crale (1927, available at fadedpage.org)), about a ten-year-old English boy. One commentator wrote this of the first book: “With affectionate humor, Mr. Walpole tells the story of Jeremy and his two sisters, Helen and Mary Cole, who grow up in Polchester, a quiet English Cathedral town…. Mr. Walpole has given his narrative a rare double appeal, for it not only recreates for the adult the illusion of his own happiest youth, but it unfolds for the child-reader a genuine and moving experience with real people and pleasant things.”

Luck of the Dudley Grahams

Alice Calhoun Haines
The Luck of the Dudley Grahams is the story of the four Graham children and their recently widowed mother, trying to make ends meet by taking boarders into their somewhat eccentric home, as told by 17-year-old Elizabeth to her diary. She chronicles their struggles with the boarders, housekeeping on a very tight budget, and the adventures of her three younger siblings. If the category existed at the time, this would be more of young adult novel than a children's book, as Elizabeth has her moments of angst and worry about herself, her family, and their future.

English Audio Books

The most popular500

Children400

Fiction750

Fantasy350

Horror/Ghost stories700

Dictionary 180,000

Fiction364

Action & Adventure315

Animals & Nature275

Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales222

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General102

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Short works52

Non-fiction76

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Biography23

General113

Comedy76

Satire26

Tragedy & Drama101

Romance10

General694

Action & Adventure603

Classics (Greek & Antiquity)94

Crime & Mystery195

Detective322

Culture & Heritage127

Dramatic Readings151

Epistolary Fiction47

Erotica12

Travel Fiction42

Family Life123

Biographies & Memoirs73

Historical Fiction433

Humorous Fiction387

Literary227

Nature & Animal63

Nautical & Marine97

Religious Fiction109

Romance477

Sagas16

Satire127

Sports Fiction9

Suspense & Espionage79

War & Military Fiction89

Westerns98

Fantastic Fiction103

Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales178

Horror & Supernatural Fiction150

Gothic Fiction25

Science Fiction490

Fantasy Fiction83

Short Stories260

Anthologies37

Single Author Collections142

Published before 180020

Published 1800-1900207

Published 1900 onward207

General483

Anthologies44

Single author156

Ballads & Epics43

Narratives13

Multi-version601

Non-Fiction427

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Animals62

Art, Design & Architecture43

Biography & Autobiography360

Memoirs187

Business & Economics31

Crafts & Hobbies15