Audiobooks narrated by Rick Kisner

"Great Expectations, written by Charles Dickens and first published in 1861, is a classic novel that follows the life of an orphaned boy named Pip. Through a series of unexpected events, Pip embarks upon a journey of self-discovery and maturity. Along the way, he meets a variety of colorful characters and learns valuable life lessons. Great Expectations is an uplifting story of hope, perseverance, and the power of redemption. It is a timeless tale of courage and determination that will continue to inspire generations to come. Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England, and lived in London for much of his life. He was the second of eight children and had a difficult childhood. He was forced to leave school at the age of twelve and start working at a factory to help support his family. Despite his difficult circumstances, Dickens was an avid reader and a talented writer. He began publishing his works in 1833, and quickly gained fame and popularity. Throughout his career, Dickens wrote some of the most influential works of the 19th century, exploring themes of morality, poverty, and social justice. He was also an outspoken critic of Victorian-era injustices, particularly those experienced by the poor. His works were often seen as critiques of the social and political issues of his time. Dickens' popularity has endured over the years and his works are still widely read today. His novels have been adapted and re-imagined countless times, and his characters and stories have become part of the English literary canon. He is remembered as one of the most influential authors of all time, and his works have shaped generations of readers."

Charles Dickens (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

"Fantasy lovers of all ages will rejoice at this chance to travel once again to the marvelous land of Oz! A California earthquake sends Dorothy Gale and her new friends—Zeb the farm boy, Jim the cab-horse, and Eureka the mischievous kitten—tumbling through a crack in the ground. Deep beneath the earth, Dorothy is reunited with her old friend the Wizard of Oz and his troupe of nine tiny piglets. Together, Dorothy, the Wizard, and their friends travel through many fantastic lands, where they encounter the Mangaboos, people growing like vegetables in the ground; cross the Valley of Voe, where dama-fruit has turned everyone invisible; and are captured by mysterious flying Gargoyles. At last, the intrepid travelers reach Oz, where they have many unforgettable encounters with such favorites as the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, Princess Ozma and the wooden Sawhorse. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz was the fourth Oz adventure. First published in 1908, it has captured the imaginations of young readers and listeners for four generations. Now a new generation can discover these superb adventures for themselves. "

L. Frank Baum (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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David Copperfield

"David Copperfield is the story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr Murdstone; his brilliant, but ultimately unworthy school-friend James Steerforth; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble, yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora Spenlow; and the magnificently impecunious Wilkins Micawber, one of literature's great comic creations. In David Copperfield - the novel he described as his 'favourite child' - Dickens drew revealingly on his own experiences to create one of the most exuberant and enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy and comedy in equal measure."

Charles Dickens (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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Crime and Punishment

"One of the supreme masterpieces of world literature, Crime and Punishment catapulted Fyodor Dostoyevsky to the forefront of Russian writers and into the ranks of the world's greatest novelists. Raskolnikov, an impoverished student tormented by his own nihilism, and the struggle between good and evil, believes he is above the law. Convinced that humanitarian ends justify vile means, he brutally murders an old woman—a pawnbroker whom he regards as 'stupid, ailing, greedy…good for nothing.' Overwhelmed afterward by feelings of guilt and terror, Raskolnikov confesses to the crime and goes to prison. There he realizes that happiness and redemption can only be achieved through suffering. Drawing upon experiences from his own prison days, Dostoyevsky recounts in feverish, compelling tones a psychological thriller infused with forceful religious, social, and philosophical elements. The two years before he wrote Crime and Punishment (1866) had been bad ones for Dostoyevsky. His wife and brother had died; the magazine he and his brother had started, Epoch, collapsed under its load of debt; and he was threatened with debtor's prison. With an advance that he managed to wangle for an unwritten novel, he fled to Wiesbaden, hoping to win enough at the roulette table to get himself out of debt. Instead, he lost all his money; he had to pawn his clothes and beg friends for loans to pay his hotel bill and get back to Russia. One of his begging letters went to a magazine editor, asking for an advance on yet another unwritten novel — which he described as Crime and Punishment. "

Fyodor Dostoevsky (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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The House of the Seven Gables

"The House of the Seven Gables: A Romance is a Gothic novel written beginning in mid-1850 by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in April 1851 by Ticknor and Fields of Boston. The novel follows a New England family and their ancestral home. In the book, Hawthorne explores themes of guilt, retribution, and atonement, and colors the tale with suggestions of the supernatural and witchcraft. "

Nathaniel Hawthorne (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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The Iliad

"An ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter that is traditionally attributed to Homer, The Iliad is usually dated to the 8th century BC and is considered to be among the oldest extant works of Western literature. Set during the Trojan War -- the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Mycenaean Greek states -- The Iliad tells of the battles and events that occur during a few weeks near the war's end, when a a quarrel between the leader of the Greeks, King Agamemnon, and the Greek's greatest warrior, Achilles, reaches a climax."

Homer (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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The Journey to the Center of the Earth

"Journey to the Center of the Earth is a classic 1864 science fiction novel by Jules Verne. The story involves German professor Otto Lidenbrock who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth. He, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans descend into the Icelandic volcano Snæfellsjökull, encountering many adventures, including prehistoric animals and natural hazards, before eventually coming to the surface again in southern Italy, at the Stromboli volcano. From a scientific point of view, this story has not aged quite as well as other Verne stories, since most of his ideas about what the interior of the Earth contains have since been disproved, but it still manages to captivate audiences when regarded as a classic fantasy novel."

Jules Verne (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame

"Set in 1482, Victor Hugo's powerful novel of imagination, caprice and fantasy is a meditation on love, fate, architecture and politics, as well as a compelling recreation of the medieval world at the dawn of the modern age. In a brilliant reworking of the tale of Beauty and the Beast, Hugo creates a host of unforgettable characters amongst them, Quasimodo, the hunchback of the title, hopelessly in love with the gypsy girl Esmeralda, the satanic priest Claude Frollo, Clopin Trouillefou, king of the beggars, and Louis XI, King of France. Over the entire novel, both literally and symbolically, broods the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Vivid characters and memorable set-piece action scenes combine to bring the past to life in this story of love, lust, betrayal, doom and redemption."

Victor Hugo (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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Great Expectations

"Great Expectations is Charles Dickens's thirteenth novel. It is his second novel, after David Copperfield, to be fully narrated in the first person. Great Expectations is a Bildungsroman or a coming-of-age novel, and it is a classic work of Victorian literature. It depicts the growth and personal development of an orphan named Pip. The novel was first published in serial form in Dickens's weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. In October 1861, Chapman and Hall published the novel in three volumes. Dickens originally intended Great Expectations to be twice as long, but constraints imposed by the management of All the Year Round limited the novel's length. The novel is collected and dense, with a conciseness unusual for Dickens. According to G. K. Chesterton, Dickens penned Great Expectations in 'the afternoon of [his] life and fame.' It was the penultimate novel Dickens completed, preceding Our Mutual Friend. It is set among the marshes of Kent and in London in the early to mid-1800s. The novel contains some of Dickens most memorable scenes, including its opening, in a graveyard, when the young orphan Pip is accosted by the escaped convict, Abel Magwitch. Great Expectations is a graphic book, full of extreme imagery, poverty, prison ships ('the hulks'), barriers and chains, and fights to the death. Upon its release, Thomas Carlyle spoke of 'All that Pip's nonsense.' Later, George Bernard Shaw praised the novel as 'All of one piece and consistently truthful.' Dickens felt Great Expectations was his best work, calling it 'a very fine idea,' and was very sensitive to compliments from his friends: 'Bulwer, who has been, as I think you know, extraordinarily taken by the book."

Charles Dickens (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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Heart of Darkness

"Heart of Darkness is a short novel by Polish novelist Joseph Conrad, written as a frame narrative, about Charles Marlow's experience as an ivory transporter down the Congo River in Central Africa. The river is 'a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land'. In the course of his travel in central Africa, Marlow becomes obsessed with Mr. Kurtz. The story is a complex exploration of the attitudes people hold on what constitutes a barbarian versus a civilized society and the attitudes on colonialism and racism that were part and parcel of European imperialism."

Joseph Conrad (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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A Florida Sketch-Book

Bradford Torrey (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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David Copperfield

"In one of his most energetic and enjoyable novels, Dickens tells the life story of David Copperfield, from his birth in Suffolk, through the various struggles of his childhood, to his successful career as a novelist. The early scenes are particularly masterful, depicting the world as seen from the perspective of a fatherless small boy, whose idyllic life with his mother is ruined when his mother marries again, this time to a domineering and cruel man. The novel is partly modeled on Dickens’s own experiences, but that is not to say that it is in any way a direct autobiography. Indeed, one of the great joys of the book lies in its outlandish cast of characters, which includes the glamorous Steerforth, the cheerful, verbose Mr. Micawber, the villainous Uriah Heep, and David’s eccentric aunt, Betsey Trotwood. Dickens described it as his ‘ favorite child’ among his novels."

Charles Dickens (Author), Rick Kisner (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Rick Kisner