Our greatest fears are of the unknown. Usually we think those fears are in front of us...or behind us. But perhaps the human body itself holds the greatest horror. What happens after death? Do our bodies have a new existence either in whole.....or part? Will others seek to claim them and do unspeakable things? We don't know. But our authors do. And they have the talents and wits to make these diabolical stories vehicles for horror, for terror, for the unimaginable....
'A House to Let' is a short story by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell and Adelaide Anne Procter. It was originally published in 1858 in the Christmas edition of Dickens' Household Words magazine. Collins wrote the introduction and collaborated with Dickens on the second story and ending, while Gaskell and Proctor wrote the remainder.
When elderly Sophonisba moves to London for a change of tone, she notices something unusual about the supposedly unoccupied house to let across the street. She entreaties her friends and confidants to investigate the matter, and they return with a collection of tales of previous occupants, but what exactly is the secret of the mysterious house to let?
Narrated by Michael Ward
A rich and varied selection of full-length stories which explore the many experiences and complexities of womanhood. Sometimes joyful, sometimes sad, always absorbing, Best of Women's Short Stories is a remarkable collection; featuring great writers of timeless appeal, all interpreted by Harriet Walter with acute tenderness and sensitivity.
This second volume of stories celebrating key female writers from the 19th and 20th centuries, includes such icons as Kate Chopin, Mary Shelley and Virginia Woolf. The collection also includes the exclusive first-ever recording of The Watsons, an early work by Jane Austen. STORY Listings: 1.THE WATSONS by Jane Austen 2. THE HALF BROTHERS by Elizabeth Gaskell 3. A PAIR OF SILK STOCKINGS by Kate Chopin 4. THE WRONGED WOMAN by Winifred Holtby 5. THE RED ROOM by L.M.Montgomery 6. THE PARVENUE by Mary Shelley 7. BLISS by Katherine Mansfield 8. THE LEGACY by Virginia Woolf.
Cousin Phillis - a miniature masterpiece - is set in the 1840s, when the coming of the railway was changing the face of England, and quiet rural communities, coming into contact with the outside world, were changed for ever. The story focuses on the effect these changes have on a naïve country girl, Phillis, as she encounters love, with all its pains and pleasures, for the first time.
Cousin Phillis (1864) is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell about Paul Manning, a youth of seventeen who moves to the country and befriends his mother's family and his second cousin Phillis Holman, who is confused by her own placement at the edge of adolescence. Most critics agree that Cousin Phillis is Gaskell's crowning achievement in the short novel. The story is uncomplicated; its virtues are in the manner of its development and telling.
Cousin Phillis (1864) is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell about Paul Manning, a youth of seventeen who moves to the country and befriends his mother's family and his second cousin Phillis Holman, who is confused by her own placement at the edge of adolescence. Most critics agree that Cousin Phillis is Gaskell's crowning achievement in the short novel. The story is uncomplicated; its virtues are in the manner of its development and telling.
Elizabeth Gaskell's comic portrait of early Victorian life in a country town describes with poignant wit the uneventful lives of its lady-like inhabitants, offering an ironic commentary on the separate spheres and diverse experiences of men and women.
With a series of sketches, Cranford lovingly describes the "adventures" of middle-aged ladies in the quiet country village of Cranford in the 1830s. Despite their poverty, residents of the village are kind, decent, and thoroughly proper.
This classic novel has been thrice adapted for the screen by the BBC. Mary Smith relates the story of her time with middle-aged spinster sisters Miss Matty and Miss Deborah. Witty, poignant, and often ironic, Cranford is the tale of what these two women will do to remain respectable, proper, and kind with only moderate means. "... an extremely clever piece of writing."-Guardian (UK)
In the village of Cranford, decorum is maintained at all times. Despite their poverty, the ladies are never vulgar about money (or their lack of it), and always follow the rules of propriety. But this discretion and gentility does not keep away tragedy; and when the worst happens, the Amazons of Cranford show the true strength of their honest affections. A masterpiece of social comedy, Cranford is as moving as it is funny, and as sharp as it is tender.
