Back

English Audio Books

Show only books with text

Popular Genres
The most popular500
Children400
Fiction750
Fantasy350
Horror/Ghost stories700
SPONSORED LINKS

Learn English
Dictionary 180,000

Children's Fiction
Fiction364
Action & Adventure315
Animals & Nature275
Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales222
Family117
General102
Historical43
Poetry48
Religion37
School33
Short works52
Children's Non-Fiction
Non-fiction76
Reference5
Religion19
Science21
History14
Biography23

Plays
General113
Comedy76
Satire26
Tragedy & Drama101
Romance10

Short Stories - Fiction
Short Stories260
Anthologies37
Single Author Collections142

Fiction by year
Published before 180020
Published 1800-1900207
Published 1900 onward207

Poetry
General483
Anthologies44
Single author156
Ballads & Epics43
Narratives13
Multi-version601

Science - Non Fiction
Science67
Astronomy, Physics & Mechanics25
Chemistry8
Earth Sciences22
Life Sciences40

Philosophy - Non Fiction
Philosophy92
Ancient & Medieval30
Early Modern32
Modern & Contemporary43
Atheism & Agnosticism19

History - Non Fiction
History256
Antiquity37
Middle Ages/Middle History36
Early Modern82
Modern (19th C)127
Modern (20th C)49

Religion - Non Fiction
Religion63
Christianity - Commentary19
Christianity - Biographies26
Christianity - Other86
Other religions29
Bibles
Bibles69
King James Version63

Literary Collections - Non Fiction
Literary Collections34
Essays / Short non-fiction20
Letters27

Historical Fiction
SPONSORED LINKS
Previous Next
Iola Leroy

Frances E. W. Harper
This is the story of Iola Leroy, a free-born, mixed-race woman who passed as white. Her true racial identity eventually discovered, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Later freed by the Union Army, she journeyed to find others of her family who had been disunited from each other and strewn across the south by the forces of slavery. In the process she also struggled to improve the economic and social station of African Americans. Iola Leroy is a story about race and gender roles during the antebellum and post-Civil War eras, "passing" and the associated socio-political consequences.
Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic

Thomas Wentworth Higginson
The sea has always been, by the mystery of its horizon, the fury of its storms, and the variableness of the atmosphere above it, the foreordained land of romance. In all ages and with all sea-going races there has always been something especially fascinating about an island amid the ocean. It's very existence has for all explorers an air of magic. The order of the tales in the present work follows roughly the order of development, giving first the legends which kept near the European shore, and then those which, like St. Brandan's or Antillia, were assigned to the open sea or, like Norumbega or the Isle of Demons, to the very coast of America. Every tale in this book bears reference to some actual legend, followed more or less closely, and the authorities for each will be found carefully given in the appendix for such readers as may care to follow the subject further.
Cleopatra

Georg Ebers
The world knows the fate of the classic lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony, so there is no need to announce a spoiler alert. Georg Ebers was a German Egyptologist who deftly applied his comprehensive knowledge of Rome and Egypt into a fictionalized account of the ill-fated romance between the Egyptian Queen and her Roman lover Mark Antony.
Atala

François-René de Chateaubriand
What were the lower Mississippi River, Gulf Coast regions, and Appalachians of North America like in the earliest colonial days? Full of untamed forests, wild animals, nuts, berries, and Indians. Chateaubriand spent many years exploring the area, and this early (somewhat autobiographical) novella was inspired by his years spent with various Indian tribes, (described in his Introduction--included after the story), primarily the Natchez. Amongst these natives, as the story goes, was a blind old patriarch named Chactas, revered for his wisdom and knowledge of the affairs of life, including many years spent learning the ways of Europeans. In 1725, a Frenchman named René (Chateaubriand himself?), driven thither by his misfortunes in Europe, arrived at Louisiana. Old Chactas adopted him as a son, and slowly reveals his hardships and adventures. One such story was about Atala, a beautiful indian maiden, who had been converted by French missionaries to Christianity . . . . of their passionate attraction . . . and all the conflict and heartache that arose thereby.
Clotel, or, The President's Daughter

William Wells Brown
Clotel; or, The President's Daughter is a novel by William Wells Brown (1814-84), a fugitive from slavery and abolitionist and was published in London, England in December 1853. It is often considered the first African-American novel. This novel focuses on the difficult lives of mulattoes in America and the "degraded and immoral condition of the relation of master and slave in the USA" (Brown). It is about the tragic lives of Currer, Althesea, and Clotel. In the novel, Currer is the former mulatto mistress of President Thomas Jefferson who together have two daughters, Althesea and Clotel. Because she was beautiful and the mistress of Jefferson, Currer and her daughters lived a confortable life, this changed when her master passes away. In the end, Currer and Althesea are auctioned to the notorious slave trader, Dick Walker. Clotel is bought by her lover Horatio Green. The separation of these three women is just the beginning of the injustices they face.

It gained notoriety amid the unconfirmed rumors regarding Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. Brown was still considered someone else's legal property within the borders of the United States at the time of its publication. It is considered to be the first novel written by an African American.

Brown used the injustices of slavery to demonstrate the destructive effects it had on the African American family, most significantly the so-called tragic mulatto. Brown had escaped from slavery in Kentucky while still in his youth, and became active on the anti-slavery circuit.
Mr. Midshipman Easy

Marryat, Frederick
One of the first novel-length pieces of nautical fiction, MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY (1836) is a funny and easygoing account of the adventures of Jack Easy, a son of privilege who joins the Royal Navy. The work begins as a satire on Jack’s attachment to “the rights of man” that may try the listener’s patience. But despair not, for the story soon settles down as the philosophical midshipman begins his many triumphs over bullies, foul weather, and various damned foreigners of murderous intent.
Caveat audiens: This novel employs racial/ethnic epithets and religious stereotypes, as well as taking a rather sunny view of supply-side economics. In short, there's something here to offend almost everyone.
Frederick Marryat (1792-1848) entered the Royal Navy as a 14-year-old midshipman. He resigned his commission at the rank of captain after 24 years of service to devote his time to writing.
History of the Plague in London

Defoe, Daniel
The History of the Plague in London is a novel by Daniel Defoe. It is a fictionalized account of one man's experiences of the year 1665, in which the Great Plague struck the city of London. The book is a roughly chronological account, purporting to have been written several years after the event. It was in fact written in the years just prior to the book's first publication in March of 1722 – Defoe was only five years old in 1665, and the book itself was published under the initials H. F. The novel was probably based on the journals of Defoe's uncle, Henry Foe.
In the book, Defoe goes to great pains to achieve an effect of verisimilitude, identifying specific houses in which events took place, providing tables of casualty figures and discussing the credibility of various accounts received by the narrator.
SPONSORED LINKS
Legend of Montrose

Sir Walter Scott
A Legend of Montrose is one of Sir Walter Scott's Tales of my Landlord. It is set in the tumultuous 17th century during the Earl of Montrose's military campaign in Scotland. Allan M'Aulay and his friend Lord Menteith both serve in Montrose's army, together with the loose cannon Dugald Dalgetty. The friends are also both in love with Annot Lyle, a beautiful young lady of mysterious heritage. Will they all make it through the war, and which of the friends will Annot finally choose?
Village in the Jungle

Leonard Woolf
Woolf wrote this novel based on his experience as a government agent for British imperialist-controlled Ceylon in the early part of the twentieth-century. He focuses his story on one poor family in a jungle village as they struggle to survive, not just faced with a very harsh environment but with their own human prejudices, superstitions, jealousies, violence, ignorance, and greed. In the background is the other enemy: the foreign government that controls them but does not really understand or care for these uncivilized, not really human beings. It was an important work because its point of view was sympathetically a native one. JL
Redgauntlet

Sir Walter Scott
Redgauntlet is an historical novel about a fictitious third Jacobite rebellion. It takes place mostly in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in 1765. It is thought to be the most autobiographical of Scott's novels.
Pilot

James Fenimore Cooper
The work, which was admired by Herman Melville and Joseph Conrad for its authentic portrayal of a seafaring life and takes place during the American Revolution, launched a whole genre of maritime fiction. It features a mysterious and almost superhuman American sea pilot (based on the American hero John Paul Jones) who fights battles off the coast of England against the British and American loyalists. One of the book’s themes is the ambiguous nature of loyalty. Although often bogged down by complicated nautical terminology and intrusive philosophical dialogue, the novel is nevertheless noted for its spiritual and moral dimensions.
Black Dwarf

Sir Walter Scott
The Black Dwarf is the first of the “Tales of My Landlord” series, which also includes The Bride of Lammermoor and The Heart of Midlothian. The third preliminary chapter depicts two horsemen arriving at the Wallace Inn in Gandercleugh, where one of the horsemen relates the tale. The story proper is set on the Scottish borders during the reign of Queen Anne. The Jacobite movement is in its infancy, but the inhabitants of this part of the country have enough to quarrel about without politics inciting them to it. Several families of high and low birth bear no good intentions to each other, and a weird, brooding dwarf, who wishes ill on all of humanity, seems to direct and perpetuate the mayhem from his lonely cottage on Mucklestane Moor. (tbragg)
Mary Schweidler, the Amber Witch

Wilhelm Meinhold
Wilhelm Meinhold, a Pomeranian priest working on the Island of Usedom, relates the story of Mary Schweidler, the Amber Witch. The author assures us that the story he has to tell is based on a manuscript he found in the parish church, originally written by a previous pastor named Abraham Schweidler. Schweidler chronicles how his own daughter Mary was trapped and accused of witchcraft.
History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great

Henry Fielding
This novel is sometimes thought of as [Fielding's] first because he almost certainly began composing it before he wrote Shamela and Joseph Andrews. It is a satire of Walpole that draws a parallel between Walpole and Jonathan Wild, the infamous gang leader and highwayman. He implicitly compares the Whig party in Parliament with a gang of thieves being run by Walpole, whose constant desire to be a "Great Man" (a common epithet for Walpole) should culminate only in the antithesis of greatness: being hanged.
Callista

John Henry Newman
Callista, A Tale of the Third Century, was written by John Henry Newman, who was a scholarly and personable Anglican theologian who became a Catholic priest and cardinal, bringing a good number of Protestant friends along with him into the Roman faith. He wrote Callista as the fruit of a challenge (dare we say “bet”?) with Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman that each man would write a novel about the early church. Wiseman wrote Fabiola and Newman wrote Callista, publishing it in 1855. The title character is a beautiful and talented, but unhappy Greek woman living in pagan Roman North Africa in the third century. She is wooed by a lonely young Christian man, for whom she shows little interest, though she deeply desires to know more about his Christian faith. However, the third century was a dangerous time for Christians, with the onset of persecution under the Emperor Decius. The colorful cast of characters react to the persecution in different ways, but some are put to the ultimate test of whether they will maintain their faith at the price of torture and painful death. Cardinal Newman's writing style is often lively, and occasionally humorous, especially in his conversations. But there is no denying that modern readers may find parts of it quite wordy, particularly in the descriptions of geography (beware Chapter 1!). Most readers are likely to find themselves caring very much about the characters, and cheering for their victories, in addition to learning quite a bit about 3rd century history along the way.
Deluge Volume 1

Henryk Sienkiewicz
The Deluge (Polish: Potop) is a historical novel by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, published in 1886. It is the second volume of a three-volume series known to Poles as "the Trilogy," having been preceded by With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem, 1884) and followed by Fire in the Steppe (Pan Wolodyjowski, 1886). The novel tells a story of a fictional Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth soldier and noble Andrzej Kmicic and shows a panorama of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Swedish invasion of Poland known in the Polish tradtion as „Potop” (hence the title).

Kmita is a patriot who, nevertheless, unexpectedly and unwittingly finds himself on the wrong side of the conflict as a new war starts to ravage the already weakened Commonwealth. This decision costs him dearly as his beloved Olenka now sees him as a traitor.
This is an epic panorama of a country that is torn not only by a war with the external enemy, but also by a struggle with unscrupulous nobles who use their country's plight as an opportunity to magnify their power and zone of influence even if that means siding with the enemy. On the other hand we also see valiant soldiers, who, both with their swords and their wits, fight to expel the invading army.
Daughter of the Commandant

Alexander Pushkin
"The Daughter of the Commandant" (better known as "The Captain's Daughter") is a historical novel by the Russian writer Alexander Pushkin, and is considered to be his finest prose work. The novel is a romanticized account of Pugachev's Rebellion in 1773-1774.

The 17-year-old Pyotr Andreyich is sent by his father to military service in a remote Russian outpost, where he leans honor and love while being caught up in a violent uprising of tribal groups against the imperial government.
Helen

Maria Edgeworth
Maria Edgeworth was a prolific Anglo-Irish writer of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe. She held advanced views, for a woman of her time, on estate management, politics and education.

Here is what one biographer of Maria Edgeworth has to say about Helen.
"It was in 1830–when already past sixty years of age–that Miss Edgeworth set to work upon the last, and what, at the time it was written, was possibly the most successful of all her novels–namely, Helen. Any reader who will take it down from its shelf, and glance over it, will quickly perceive that it is a novel of a very much more modern type than any other by the same hand. In reading it we are aware that the eighteenth century has at last dropped out of sight, and that we are well out upon the nineteenth, not indeed as yet 'Victorian', but in a sort of midway region, on the road to that superior epoch."
Windsor Castle, Book 3

William Harrison Ainsworth
Book 3 - The History of the Castle. The focus of the novels is on the events surrounding Henry VIII's replacing Catherine of Aragon with Anne Boleyn as his wife. During Henry's pursuit of Boleyn, the novel describes other couples, including the Earl of Surrey and Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a match Henry does not support. However, some of the individuals oppose Henry and his desires for Boleyn, including Thomas Wyat who wants her for himself and Cardinal Wolsey, who uses a maiden of mysterious birth, Mabel Lyndwood, to lure Henry away from Boleyn. [...] Intertwined with the Court is the story of Herne the Hunter, a spirit of Windsor Forest. He is an evil force that seeks to take the souls of various individuals, and Henry tries to stop him, but is never able to do so.
Windsor Castle, Book 4

William Harrison Ainsworth

Book 4 - Cardinal Wolsey. The focus of the novels is on the events surrounding Henry VIII's replacing Catherine of Aragon with Anne Boleyn as his wife. During Henry's pursuit of Boleyn, the novel describes other couples, including the Earl of Surrey and Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a match Henry does not support. However, some of the individuals oppose Henry and his desires for Boleyn, including Thomas Wyat who wants her for himself and Cardinal Wolsey, who uses a maiden of mysterious birth, Mabel Lyndwood, to lure Henry away from Boleyn. [...] Intertwined with the Court is the story of Herne the Hunter, a spirit of Windsor Forest. He is an evil force that seeks to take the souls of various individuals, and Henry tries to stop him, but is never able to do so.
Windsor Castle, Book 2

William Harrison Ainsworth

Book 2 - Herne the Hunter. The focus of the novels is on the events surrounding Henry VIII's replacing Catherine of Aragon with Anne Boleyn as his wife. During Henry's pursuit of Boleyn, the novel describes other couples, including the Earl of Surrey and Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a match Henry does not support. However, some of the individuals oppose Henry and his desires for Boleyn, including Thomas Wyat who wants her for himself and Cardinal Wolsey, who uses a maiden of mysterious birth, Mabel Lyndwood, to lure Henry away from Boleyn. [...] Intertwined with the Court is the story of Herne the Hunter, a spirit of Windsor Forest. He is an evil force that seeks to take the souls of various individuals, and Henry tries to stop him, but is never able to do so.
Windsor Castle, Book 5

William Harrison Ainsworth

Book 5 - Mabel Lyndwood. The focus of the novels is on the events surrounding Henry VIII's replacing Catherine of Aragon with Anne Boleyn as his wife. During Henry's pursuit of Boleyn, the novel describes other couples, including the Earl of Surrey and Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a match Henry does not support. However, some of the individuals oppose Henry and his desires for Boleyn, including Thomas Wyat who wants her for himself and Cardinal Wolsey, who uses a maiden of mysterious birth, Mabel Lyndwood, to lure Henry away from Boleyn. [...] Intertwined with the Court is the story of Herne the Hunter, a spirit of Windsor Forest. He is an evil force that seeks to take the souls of various individuals, and Henry tries to stop him, but is never able to do so.
Windsor Castle, Book 6

William Harrison Ainsworth
Book 6 - Jane Seymour. The focus of the novels is on the events surrounding Henry VIII's replacing Catherine of Aragon with Anne Boleyn as his wife. During Henry's pursuit of Boleyn, the novel describes other couples, including the Earl of Surrey and Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a match Henry does not support. However, some of the individuals oppose Henry and his desires for Boleyn, including Thomas Wyat who wants her for himself and Cardinal Wolsey, who uses a maiden of mysterious birth, Mabel Lyndwood, to lure Henry away from Boleyn. [...] Intertwined with the Court is the story of Herne the Hunter, a spirit of Windsor Forest. He is an evil force that seeks to take the souls of various individuals, and Henry tries to stop him, but is never able to do so.
Beric the Briton: a Story of the Roman Invasion

G. A. Henty
My series of stories dealing with the wars of England would be altogether incomplete did it not include the period when the Romans were the masters of the country. The valour with which the natives of this island defended themselves was acknowledged by the Roman historians, and it was only the superior discipline of the invaders that enabled them finally to triumph over the bravery and the superior physical strength of the Britons. The Roman conquest for the time was undoubtedly of immense advantage to the people -- who had previously wasted their energies in perpetual tribal wars -- as it introduced among them the civilization of Rome. In the end, however, it proved disastrous to the islanders, who lost all their military virtues. Having been defended from the savages of the north by the soldiers of Rome, the Britons were, when the legions were recalled, unable to offer any effectual resistance to the Saxons, who, coming under the guise of friendship, speedily became their masters, imposing a yoke infinitely more burdensome than that of Rome, and erasing almost every sign of the civilization that had been engrafted upon them. How far the British population disappeared under the subsequent invasion and the still more oppressive yoke of the Danes is uncertain; but as the invaders would naturally desire to retain the people to cultivate the land for them, it is probable that the great mass of the Britons were not exterminated. It is at any rate pleasant to believe that with the Saxon, Danish, and Norman blood in our veins, there is still a large admixture of that of the warriors who fought so bravely against Caesar, and who rose under Boadicea in a desperate effort to shake off the oppressive rule of Rome..
Shoes and Stockings: A Collection of Short Stories

Louisa May Alcott
Here are tales of love and war, modesty and frivolity, laughter and tears. Louisa May Alcott wrote many, many short stories. This collection shares but 6/7 of them.
Mark the Match Boy or Richard Hunter's Ward

Horatio Alger, Jr.
In this third installment from the “Ragged Dick” series by Horatio Algers, Jr., the reader is reacquainted with some old friends and meets young Mark Manton. Mark is a match boy plagued by bad luck and an even worse guardian. But, with new friends, hard work, and smart choices, Mark may just find his luck taking a turn for the better.
Romance of a Mummy and Egypt

Théophile Gautier
The account he gives, in his novel, of the ancient city of Thebes, of the great necropolis in the valley of Biban el Molûk, of the subterranean tombs, of the precautions taken by the designers to baffle curiosity, of the form and ornamentation of the sarcophagi, of the mummy-cases, of the mummy itself, of the manners, customs, dress, and beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, are marvellously accurate.
The purely erudite part of the work would probably not have interested the general public, indifferent to the discoveries of archæology, but the introduction of the human element of love at once captivated it; the erudite appreciated the accuracy of the restoration of ancient times and manners; the merely curious were pleased with a well told story, cleverly set in a framework whose strangeness appealed to their love of exoticism and novelty.
There have been added by the editor, as bearing upon the subject of the "Romance of a Mummy," two or three chapters from the volume entitled "The Orient," which is made up of a collection of sketches and letters of travel written at different times, and of reviews of books upon Eastern subjects, whether modern or ancient.
Summary by (Translator - F. C. de Sumichrast)
In the Irish Brigade: A Tale of War in Flanders and Spain

G. A. Henty
In this adventure story by the novelist and war correspondent, G.A. Henty, Desmond Kennedy, a young Irishman flees political oppression and religious persecution at home to serve in the French armies of Louis XIV. We join Desmond and his loyal companions as, captured in Scotland during the attempted Stuart Restoration of 1715, they engineer a daring prison escape. There are adventures in Spain and the harrowing events of the battle of Oudenard. Returning home, our hero must discover his true identity if he is ever to resume his rightful place in his native land. -- Simmary by Pamela Nagami
Tales from Jókai

Mór Jókai
Móric Jókay de Ásva, known as Mór Jókai or Maurus Jokai, was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. He was a very prolific writer from an early age and wrote hundreds of novels, novellas, and short stories in his lifetime. The nine stories in this selection tell about hard times in Eastern Europe, especially in Hungary (Jokai was involved in the Hungarian uprising of 1848), as well as of ancient superstitions and folk lore. In the novella "The City of the Beast", Jokai gives his version of the sinking of Atlantis.
With Lee in Virginia

G. A. Henty
Vincent Wingfield is the son of a wealthy Virginian planter. When the country goes to war, he enlists in the cavalry, and sees action under the various generals commanding the army in and near Virginia. He has several private adventures as well, including a personal enemy, prison escape, rescue of a young lady, spying expedition, and recovery of a stolen slave. He rises in rank in the Confederate army, and after the war is over, he marries and returns home to manage his mother's plantation.

Henty in this book gives an overview of the causes of the Civil War, and follows the battles and movements of the army in Virginia and the surrounding area. The issue of slavery is discussed several times from the viewpoint of an Englishman who detested the institution, but saw that most slaves on large plantations were well treated. While not an an exhaustive work, With Lee In Virginia covers the main generals (Lee, Jackson, Stuart, Grant, McClellan, Sherman, Pope, etc.) and the most important battles of the war in an interesting and instructive format.
Indian Summer

Howells, William Dean
In his novel Indian Summer, William Dean Howells presents a mellow but realistic story that has the complete feel of that delightful time of the year, although the plot actually spans several seasons. The Indian summer aspect applies to a sophisticated gentleman, Theodore Colville, who has just entered his middle years as he returns to a scene, Florence, Italy, that played an important part in his early manhood. It was here twenty years earlier that he first fell in love, seemingly successfully until a sudden and harsh rejection. Now, after a once profitable career as a newspaper editor has ended, he is barely ensconced in the Italian city when he meets a lady from his past, a close friend of his lost love. Lina Bowen, now a widow with a young daughter, is an attractive and charming socialite among the American and English residents of Florence. Also living with her at this time as a temporary ward is a beautiful young girl just blossoming into womanhood, Imogene Graham.
Colville, although he still hides a shy nature, has become an exceedingly witty and entertaining conversationalist. He quickly becomes a favorite with young Effie Bowen and Imogene Graham. Miss Graham indicates a disdain for the shallow young men that she has met and is highly attracted to the urbane, intelligent Mr. Colville. Mrs. Bowen invites Colville to become a regular guest in her home, and for a time the little coterie is delightfully congenial, but then an emotional triangle begins to develop. Imogene seems to be too devoted to this older gentleman, and Colville does not discourage her. Mrs. Bowen, who apparently is captivated by his charm as well, begins to feel overshadowed by her lovely young ward. This is the core of the intriguing plot.
Howells’ characters are totally believable in their thoughts, their motivations, their words, and their actions. The dialogue is delightful, both in the lighter conversations and in the more passionate speeches. Aided by the social milieu of expatriates in a historic city of art and culture, the story moves at first slowly and pleasantly, but begins to build inexorably toward an emotional crisis. As the whole plot unwinds before us, we can eventually see that there is really no other way that the events could realistically move. This novel is a very engrossing and satisfying tale of people that we become truly interested in.
Stories of the Scottish Border

William Platt
Nothing seems to be known about Mr and Mrs William Platt, the writers of Stories of the Scottish Border. What they produced is an eccentric guidebook and history, seen partly through the ballads of the region. The book recounts the military stratagems, treachery and courage of those who struggled for control of the Border lands and of the whole country, and tells of the triumphs or tragic fate of those who took part on both sides. It also tells us stories of the Border Reivers, raiders who lived by riding out and stealing their neighbours’ livestock. Their lives were governed for several hundred years by a form of rough justice, and they showed an even rougher wit. While their adventures, though cloaked by the writers in romance and chivalry, were often petty and bloodthirsty, the ballads which distill their experience are, at their best, haunting and intensely moving. The Borders and Northumberland have changed little in aspect over the centuries, and I suggest following the book with a map and images of the places described, to give some idea of the wild remoteness and imaginative power of this Border land.
Bonaventure, A Prose Pastoral of Acadian Louisiana

George Washington Cable
This is a gentle, delightful story of life and love on the bayoux of Acadian Louisiana during the latter half of the 19th century. Bonaventure is a Creole raised among the Acadians. He loves learning, and through his calling as a teacher, and his own unique force of character, comes to have a lasting effect on the people around him.

A word of warning: This story has occasional references to Jews and African Americans that the modern mind finds offensive. They are retained here in the interest of preserving the original text.
Corporal Cameron of the North West Mounted Police - A Tale of the Macleod Trail

Ralph Connor
Cameron, a young man from Edinburgh, is a university student who is a rising star on the football team. When the big day comes and he nearly fails his team, he doubts he'll ever be good for anything ever again. Things soon take a turn downward and Cameron is forced to face the fact that his only option may be leaving all he's ever known and going to Canada for a new start
Sir Thomas More

Anthony Munday
Sir Thomas More is a collaborative Elizabethan play by Anthony Munday and others depicting the life and death of Thomas More. It survives only in a single manuscript, now owned by the British Library. The manuscript is notable because three pages of it are considered to be in the hand of William Shakespeare and for the light it sheds on the collaborative nature of Elizabethan drama and the theatrical censorship of the era. The play dramatizes events in More's life, both real and legendary, in an episodic manner in 17 scenes, unified only by the rise and fall of More's fortunes.
An Outback Marriage

Andrew Barton Paterson
A ROLLICKING YARN FROM AN AUSTRALIAN LEGENDBanjo Paterson is our best known and most loved bush poet. Less well known, but no less captivating, are his warm and funny novels about Australian life. An Outback Marriage tells of a young Englishman on a tour of the colonies, who gets more than he bargained for when he sets out to find the heir to a fortune. This is the story not of one marriage but several, bringing the whole of colonial society - from the squattocracy to cattle rustlers - to vivid, unforgettable life.No writer better captured the heart of early Australia better than Paterson - the landscape, the weather, the trials and the earthy humour that was the key to survival.
Leatherface: A Tale of Old Flanders

Baroness Emma Orczy
A romantic, political adventure story set in the late 1500's, during the Spanish rule over the Netherlands, in the city of Ghent. Leatherface is an Orangist and emerges to lead the Ghent citizens to rebel and win back their freedom.
Clementina

A. E. W. Mason
This well-written novel is a fictional account of a true historical rescue mission. In 1719, at the age of 17, when she was on her way across Europe to marry James Stuart, the Catholic pretender to the British throne, Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska was kidnapped and held prisoner by Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, with the approval of his ally, the Protestant king of England. The king feared that the marriage would produce heirs who might raise a rebellion against the Crown, though Stuart’s own rebellion had failed four years earlier. But Irish soldier of fortune and Stuart's ablest spy, hatches a daring plot to rescue the princess. Filled with spies, romance, palace intrigue and uncertain loyalties, this is the story of how Charles Wogan, once indicted for High Treason in Protestant England, set out to play his part on the international stage. Failure would mean certain death at the hands of Wogan's powerful enemies. But would success bring the result he expects?
Under Drake's Flag: A Tale Of The Spanish Main

G. A. Henty
An exciting tale set on the high seas, in a period ruled by exploration, with the ever-present dangers of nature and the weather, together with pirates of the famed Spanish Main.
Group of Noble Dames

Thomas Hardy
The pedigrees of our county families, arranged in diagrams on the pages of county histories, mostly appear at first sight to be as barren of any touch of nature as a table of logarithms. But given a clue—the faintest tradition of what went on behind the scenes, and this dryness as of dust may be transformed into a palpitating drama. Out of such pedigrees and supplementary material most of the following stories have arisen and taken shape.
Wanderer, The

Burney, Fanny
This is the fourth and final novel by Fanny Burney, the author of Evelina, Cecilia, and Camilla. "Who is "Miss Ellis?" Why did she board a ship from France to England at the beginning of the French revolution? Anyway, the loss of her purse made this strange "wanderer" dependent upon the charity of some good people and, of course, bad ones. But she always comforts herself by reminding herself that it's better than "what might have been..." This is not only a mystery, not at all. It's also a romance which reminds readers of novels by Jane Austen. Published in 1814, the same year as Mansfield Park, it shares some themes with it. It is also very modern, speaking freely of independent women (like Elinor), weak male characters, and unrequited love. Yes, a love triangle is lurking behind the scenes, and, in this case, it is not clear if the happy ending is suitable. At the time when it was published, critics did not like this political novel, and said that the difficulties which "Ellis" faced while trying to support herself were clearly fictional. However, don't let this deter you. It's a wonderful and mature novel, ahead of it's time by about 100 years. Happy reading!
Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (Arabian Nights) Volume 11

Anonymous
This is a collection of stories collected over thousands of years by various authors, translators and scholars. They are an amalgam of mythology and folk tales from the Indian sub-continent, Persia, and Arabia. No original manuscript has ever been found, but several versions date the collection’s genesis to somewhere between AD 800-900. The stories are wound together under the device of a long series of cliff-hangers told by Shahrazad to her husband Shahryar, to prevent him from executing her. Many tales that have become independently famous come from the Book, among them Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and the voyages of Sinbad the Sailor. This collection comes from the eleventh of sixteen volumes translated by Richard Francis Burton.
Lion's Skin

Rafael Sabatini
Justin Caryll was an unwilling hero: an unwilling plotter of revenge, an unwilling spy and an unwilling pursuer of the woman he loves. Justin must thread a perilous path through various sticky wickets, between the machinations of his foster father, the violence of his brother, the relentless pursuit by the government's agent, his hopeless love for the hapless heroine, and the struggles of his own conscience. Fortunately, Justin is equipped with the skill and speed to lunge and parry, both verbally and with a sword, to make his way through 18th century London with plenty of aplomb, in the midst of Jacobite plots and financial finagling by the ultra rich.
With Cortez in Mexico, or By Right of Conquest

G. A. Henty
In perhaps the most audacious military enterprise in the history of human conquest, Cortez, with only a few hundred men, conquered a civilization of tens of thousands. This is the story of an Englishman who boards a merchant ship destined for the New World, but a shipwreck strands him in Pre-Columbian Mexico, and Roger must find a way to avoid becoming one of the many human sacrifices offered to the Aztec gods.
Castle of Twilight

Margaret Horton Potter
"Wistfully I deliver up to you my simple story, knowing that the first suggestion of “historical novel” will bring before you an image of dreary woodenness and unceasing carnage. Yet if you will have the graciousness but to unlock my castle door you will find within only two or three quiet folk who will distress you with no battles nor strange oaths. Even in the days of rival Princes and never-ending wars there dwelt still a few who took no part in the moil of life, but lived with gentle pleasures and unvoiced sorrows, somewhat as you and I; wherefore, I pray you, cross the moat. The drawbridge is down for you, and will not be raised, if, after introduction to the Chatelaine, you desire speedily to retreat."
Red Pottage

Mary Cholmondeley
The book follows a period in the lives of two friends, Rachel West and Hester Gresley. Rachel is a wealthy heiress who falls in love with the weak-willed Hugh Scarlett after he has broken off an affair with Lady Newhaven (which he does not originally realize has been discovered by her husband). Hester, a novelist, lives with her brother, the pompous vicar of the fictional village of Warpington.The book caused a scandal when it was first published due to its themes of adultery, the emancipation of women and its satire of the clergy. (Wikipedia)
Beyond

John Galsworthy
Gyp, the daughter of ex-Major Charles Claire Winton, at the age of 23 marries Fiorsen, a Swedish violin virtuoso. Her mother, the wife of another man, has been Winton's mistress; she had died when Gyp was born. A highly sensitive child, Gyp has grown up in isolated surroundings with a kind, but very British, father.

As she gets older her father tries to introduce her into society. An attack of gout takes him to Wiesbaden for a cure and, as he never goes anywhere without her, she accompanies him. There she is mesmerised by Fiorsen and his playing. Intensely musical herself and inexperienced, she's flattered by the homage of the violinist although her father soon sees through him. She also sees he is talented but unstable, ignorant, vain, hypersensitive, with an air of romance – a typical virtuoso.

Gyp realises that she may well have made a mistake in marrying Fiorsen. The book follows what happens to her thereafter.( Simon Evers)
Brethren

H. Rider Haggard
Set in the days of the Crusaders, this books tells of a young maiden named Rosamund, and her twin cousins. Godwin is the grey eyed thoughtful man, and Wulf is the blue eyed warrior. They are both knights of England and they are both in love with their fair cousin. But the riddle of the story is which does Rosamund love?

The adventure begins when Rosamund is taken from England and carried to the East. The plot thickens as the two young knights follow her in hopes of rescuing her from the Muslim leader, Saladin. As the Cross and the Crescent face each other at the Battle of Hattin, the story of Rosamund is unfolded and the riddle is solved.

With dangerous lions, a moon light duel on a bridge, and beautiful Arabian horses, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.
For the Temple: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem

G. A. Henty
In all history, there is no drama of more terrible interest than that which terminated with the total destruction of Jerusalem. Had the whole Jewish nation joined in the desperate resistance made, by a section of it, to the overwhelming strength of Rome, the world would have had no record of truer patriotism than that displayed, by this small people, in their resistance to the forces of the mistress of the world.

Unhappily, the reverse of this was the case. Except in the defense of Jotapata and Gamala, it can scarcely be said that the Jewish people, as a body, offered any serious resistance to the arms of Rome. The defenders of Jerusalem were a mere fraction of its population--a fraction composed almost entirely of turbulent characters and robber bands, who fought with the fury of desperation; after having placed themselves beyond the pale of forgiveness, or mercy, by the deeds of unutterable cruelty with which they had desolated the city, before its siege by the Romans. They fought, it is true, with unflinching courage--a courage never surpassed in history--but it was the courage of despair; and its result was to bring destruction upon the whole population, as well as upon themselves.

Fortunately the narrative of Josephus, an eyewitness of the events which he describes, has come down to us; and it is the storehouse from which all subsequent histories of the events have been drawn. It is, no doubt, tinged throughout by his desire to stand well with his patrons, Vespasian and Titus; but there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of his descriptions. I have endeavored to present you with as vivid a picture as possible of the events of the war, without encumbering the story with details and, except as regards the exploits of John of Gamala, of whom Josephus says nothing, have strictly followed, in every particular, the narrative of the historian.
Brethren (Version 2)

H. Rider Haggard
A tale of love, romance and chivalry set amongst the backdrop of the climactic months before the opening of the Kings' Crusade. Two English knights are in love with the same maiden. Their devotion and bravery is tested when their beloved is kidnapped against her will and taken to Palestine and eventually to the court of the famous Muslim leader, Saladin.
Previous Next

© 2012 - 2024 Beelingo.com | Cookies | Privacy | Terms of use | Mobile apps | Support