Audiobooks narrated by Anne Hancock

"Hugo Ross is perfect for the job as irascible inventor Ambrose Minstrel’s new secretary: young, completely inexperienced, and with an occasional stutter that makes him seem somewhat dim—a mug, in fact. But from his first day, odd things begin to happen. A stranger offers him an absurd amount for an ordinary pair of field glasses; soon, the written offer is stolen from his room. A lovely girl he runs into in the dark one night outside his new employer’s house warns him not to take the job. But when she plans to meet him, and another girl arrives pretending to be her, he wonders what has become of her. Hugo suspects something sinister and seeks out eccentric Benbow Smith, his sister’s in-law, who seems to have some relationship with the Foreign Office. Smith confirms Hugo’s suspicion that a plot to swindle the government is afoot. Turns out Hugo is not the mug the plotters think he is … which is his greatest asset. But before he can help unravel the plan, he must first find the girl!"

Patricia Wentworth (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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Sally on the Rocks

"A hundred years after Jane Austen’s novels were published, the plight of young women with no income remained the same. They were all in want of a husband. 1915. After six years living in Paris, Sally Lunton faces a crisis of the heart (her love affair has gone smash); a crisis of the pocketbook (her meager living selling her small paintings has dried up); and a crisis of the soul, as she watches in anguish while the broken bodies of soldiers are carried from war-torn Belgium through the Parisian streets. Truly, Sally is on the rocks. Then comes a lifeline: a letter from Miss Maggie Hopkins of Little Crampton, the English village where she grew up. It appears that the town’s bank manager, Mr. Alfred Bingley, is a most eligible bachelor with a steady income. Would Sally be interested? Mr. Bingley, of course, is no prize with his blustering self-importance and dogged adherence to his deceased mother’s dictums about women. Spirited Sally is searching for a life of ease no matter the cost but the appearance of a soldier tortured by his experience at the Front forces her to question her motives. And Miss Maggie’s invitation is not benign. The wily spinster revels in manipulating the lives of Little Cramptonians and she views Sally, with her possibly scandalous past, as a most interesting puppet. Sally on the Rocks was written in 1915 and despite its relatively light-hearted story, the fear and uncertainty of war permeates its pages. Neither Sally nor her author could know that it would be three long years until peace in Europe was secured."

Winifred Boggs (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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The Bellamy Trial

"Courtroom mysteries were rare in 1925 when Agatha Christie wrote “Witness for the Prosecution.” But it was “The Bellamy Trial,” published two years later, that was ultimately listed in the prestigious “Haycraft-Queen Cornerstones of Detective Fiction.” Sue Ives and Stephen Bellamy are charged with the murder of Stephen’s wife Mimi, found stabbed in an uninhabited cottage on a Long Island estate. The eight-day trial introduces a trove of witnesses (some reliable, some not); an avuncular defense attorney who may be incompetent; a wily and relentless prosecutor; and the voracious members of the press and public captivated by a crime that lays bare the intrigues and jealousies of the country club set. Two of the reporters, a veteran, and a rookie attending her first murder trial, act as a Greek chorus commenting on unfolding events. Keeping an eye on the often theatrical proceedings is a wise and stern judge. Also present are the stereotypes of the 1920s: a boisterous Irish landlady; an effusively comic Italian caretaker; and a seductive French maid. Since women at that time were not allowed the privilege or responsibility of serving, there was an all-male jury. Like the peeling of an onion, each witness provides a revealing layer of the story. And like any good mystery, there is, of course, a surprise twist."

Frances Noyes Hart (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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The Keeper of the Bees

"Gene Stratton-Porter (A Girl of the Limberlost; Laddie) was a writer whose primary interest was the natural world. In The Keeper of the Bees, her last novel, she brought to vivid life the coastline, flora, and fauna of her adopted California. Jamie MacFarlane has returned a hero from the Great War but with a stubborn chest wound. The government has sent him to their new thermal springs hospital in California “where it was hoped that the brilliant sunshine, the fruits, and the clean air, the eternal summer of a beneficent land” would heal him. But nothing has worked and with his parents now deceased and no one to care for him, it seems the next step is a camp rife with tuberculosis. Realizing this, Jamie begins his Great Adventure on foot toward the ocean. For miles, he encounters both sympathy and villainy and just as his own strength is at its lowest ebb, he finds salvation when he encounters an elderly gentleman who’s in worse shape than he is. Jamie agrees to take on the gentleman’s work tending his bees, aided by his assistant, the precocious 10-year-old Little Scout. The Pacific Ocean air, ripe fruits, and exercise are certainly beneficial but it’s not until Jamie begins to think beyond his own mortality that he truly begins to heal. His natural empathy, his work among the bees, new friendships, and a mysterious young woman may be the keys to a new life and his cure. About the bees: ever the naturalist, Stratton-Porter delivers, through the Little Scout’s child-like tutorial to Jamie, the clearest explanation ever written of the complicated society of these fascinating creatures."

Gene Stratton-Porter (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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Ramona

"Ramona is an epic love story. But it’s also a tale of prejudice, treachery, and the systemic effort to vanquish California’s Native American population and their way of life. Ramona Ortegna, the foster child of Señora Moreno, is much loved by all who live and work at the Moreno ranch, except Señora herself, who cannot bring herself to think of the girl as anything but a mixed-blood child. Half white, half Indian, Ramona had been adopted by the Senora’s sister who then entrusted the child to her upon her death. Already embittered by the loss to the Americans of much of her southern California land as the result of the 1846 Mexican-American War, the pious old woman is also distraught by the near destruction of California’s Catholic missions. When a visiting Indian sheep shearer, Alessandro Assis, falls in love with Ramona and she with him, the two are forbidden to marry; the Senora’s plan is to give Ramona to the Church. The lovers have no choice but to flee and find a safe place to shelter, work, and live their lives. In 1881, author, Helen Hunt Jackson wrote “A Century of Dishonor', a treatise that outlined the plight of Native Americans in California. Treated like slaves, and robbed of land that the Mexican government had given them rights to, they were further abused by the “land agents” the American government sent to aid them. When her book failed to capture the public’s attention, the author decided to try fiction. Ramona was a huge success. But it’s important to note that the love story of Ramona and Alessandro and their perilous nomadic journey was based on real-life incidents that Hunt Jackson discovered in her research. The story still resonates. It has spawned four movies and an annual outdoor play which, in 2023, celebrated its 100th anniversary at the “Ramona Bowl” in Hemet, California."

Helen Hunt Jackson (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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Hospital Sketches: An Army Nurse’s True Account of Her Experiences during the Civil War

"In the novel Little Women, Mr. March goes off to war. But in real life, it was Jo March (Louisa May Alcott herself, an avowed abolitionist) who traveled to Washington to nurse Northern soldiers. This is Alcott’s memoir but she chose to use the pseudonym “Tribulation Periwinkle” to tell her story. Despite the subject matter, her account is full of amusing anecdotes as she makes her way alone from Concord, Massachusetts to DC, trying to finagle a free ticket and convinced she will drown during the journey. Profiles of the soldiers she tended are full of compassion, pathos, and even a bit of humor. The book was hugely popular among those at home eager for war news. Its publication introduced Alcott’s unique voice to the public and launched the career of a great American writer. Sharp-eared listeners will discover that the names and personalities of three soldiers were inspirations for characters in Little Women."

Louisa May Alcott (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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The Draycott Murder Mystery

"A stormy night. A seemingly deserted farmhouse in the north of England. A young farmer returns to find a well-dressed woman seated at his desk, dead from a gunshot wound. John Leslie is completely mystified. Who is she? The police identify her as Mrs. Draycott, a visitor to the area. And since John cannot provide a plausible alibi, he is charged with her murder. Luckily for him, famed barrister Sir Edward Kean and Allen “Hatter” Fayre, both friends of John’s aristocratic fiancée, believe in his innocence and are determined to help him. Fayre, recently returned from a career in India, has the time to follow up on the meager clues at his disposal. These involve a tramp, a mysterious car, a bad-tempered doctor, and a pen. Complicating matters is the decidedly unsavory past of the much-married Mrs. Draycott. But as Sir Edward points out, Fayre is an amateur, and deciphering which clues are pertinent to discovering the murderer is tricky business. Molly Thynne produced six detective novels in her career during the genre’s Golden Age. The Draycott Murder Mystery is her first and her spot-on depiction of the upper classes in her novels came from personal experience. A wealthy descendant of the Marquess of Bath and the painter James Whistler, Thynne’s literary career spanned the era between the wars. Originally published in 1928."

Molly Thynne (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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The Lodger

"According to legend, in 1910, Marie Belloc Lowndes attended a London dinner party where a guest told her that his mother’s butler and cook claimed they had once rented rooms to Jack the Ripper, the notorious mass murderer. The idea for “The Lodger” was born. Mr. and Mrs. Bunting have sunk their savings into their house with plans to let rooms. But no lodgers have materialized, and they are on the verge of penury when, one foggy night, a knock on the door brings Mr. Sleuth, an unassuming gentleman whose needs are perfectly suited to the suite of rooms the Buntings have to rent. Gradually, relief turns into suspicion, then dread, as Mrs. Bunting notices their savior’s strange habits are not mere eccentricities. When his late-night forays seem to coincide with the lurid headlines her husband reads to her about the grisly murders in London, she slowly realizes she may be harboring a monster. And if he’s discovered, it will mean ruin for the Buntings. This is the original 1911 short story. Jack the Ripper’s identity was never discovered but “The Lodger” offers a tantalizing possibility that has entertained and intrigued readers for more than a century."

Marie Belloc Lowndes (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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The Witness on the Roof

"Running away from an abusive stepmother, a little girl scrambles across London rooftops, a favorite hiding place. She peers through a window and sees a man apparently burglarizing a studio, but quickly realizes that she has witnessed the aftermath of a murder when the man puts a gun in the hand of a body on the floor. When she cries out he glimpses her and she escapes in terror. Very soon after, she is sent to live with her deceased mother’s aristocratic family and her secret is kept from the police. A decade later, Joan Davenant has become the wife of the dashing Lord Warchester and the incident from her hardscrabble childhood that once terrified her seems unreal, like a bad dream. Then one day both worlds collide when she unexpectedly locks eyes with the man she had glanced through the window. Haunted by this new knowledge that could change her life forever, a heartbroken Joan finds herself compelled to seek out the truth."

Annie Haynes (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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Mary Marie

"Eleanor H. Porter’s most famous literary creation is Pollyanna, but she isn’t the only precocious young girl to spring from the author’s pen. Mary Marie Anderson describes herself as “a cross-current and a contradiction', the offspring of incompatible parents who couldn’t even agree about her name. When the two divorce when she is thirteen, Mary Marie is delighted since she’s always liked being different. None of the other girls have two homes and spend six months with each parent! Father will remain in their small town and mother will live in Boston with her family. This exciting development persuades Mary Marie to keep a diary that she plans to turn into a novel. Surely one of her parents will remarry and provide the romance to spice up her story. But adolescence is not an easy time of life, and harsh reality intervenes when she discovers that 1920s America is not always tolerant of divorce. Over time, being fun-loving Marie in the city and sober Mary in the country becomes confusing and wears thin. She’s always liked being different, but not being two different girls! Worst of all, why can’t either of her parents find someone new and turn her novel into a love story?"

Eleanor H. Porter (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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The Way Things Are

"Laura Temple faces the predicaments of many British middle-class wives and mothers living in country villages between the World Wars. Her too-large house, inherited by her husband Alfred, requires three servants to keep it running: generally unsatisfactory servants whom she is perpetually concerned will leave her employ for greener pastures, which they inevitably do. Her modest success as a short story writer helps augment their income but still, there is never enough money. She is a devoted mother to her two sons, although she shamelessly prefers one over the other. And she is deeply unhappy. But her malaise disappears when, on a trip to London in search of yet another domestic replacement, she and Duke Ayland, a friend of her sister, fall in love. Laura has never been in love before—although she is very fond of Alfred. And she could never leave her children. At least, one of them. Written several years before E.M. Delafield’s witty The Diary of a Provincial Lady, Laura is unquestionably a precursor to that famous lady. And although her dilemmas are more serious, the author’s sardonic humor shines through in the antics and personalities of Laura’s group of eccentric friends and neighbors. Another sign of the author’s light touch is her note in the forward of the print edition of The Way Things Are: 'A good many of the characters in this novel have been drawn, as usual, from persons now living; but the author hopes very much that they will only recognize each other.”"

E.M. Delafield (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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Miranda Trilogy

"Grace Livingston Hill’s three novels about nineteenth-century small-town America remain relevant a century after they were first published. The timeless themes include the powerful influence of gossip, the importance of faith, and the precious gift of true friendship. Marcia SchuylerWhen Kate Schuyler abandons her groom on her wedding morning, her father offers her younger sister Marcia as a substitute to avoid scandal. Marcia is infatuated with her new husband and hopes to mend his broken heart. Meanwhile, the new bride must adjust to unfamiliar surroundings, some nasty in-laws, and the town lothario—with the help of the irascible girl next door, Miranda Griscom. Phoebe DeanePhoebe’s ineffectual brother is kind enough but his wife regards her as an unpaid servant. Still, the mere presence of the lovely girl vexes the woman and she conspires with a slovenly widower who wants to marry Phoebe to provide a mother for his large brood. The man disgusts her and he threatens to ruin her reputation if she won’t accept him. Will her wily friend Miranda be able to rescue her from his clutches? MirandaStrong-willed Miranda is content working as a live-in housekeeper for her friend Marcia’s family. She prides herself on being “a free and independent woman who can earn my own living'. With her freckles and red hair (and the town’s prejudice because of her wayward father’s exploits), Miranda never expects to find true love. When it comes, it leads to adventure for this courageous, indomitable girl."

Grace Livingston Hill (Author), Anne Hancock (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Anne Hancock

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