Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks.
Audiobooks Narrated by Trevor O'hare
Browse audiobooks narrated by Trevor O'hare, listen to samples and when you're ready head over to Audiobooks.com where you can get 3 FREE audiobooks on us
"This audiobook includes 10 Great Russian Short Stories:
The Mantle by Nikolai Gogol
Mumu by Ivan Turgenev
First love by Ivan Turgenev
An Avenger by Anton Chekhov
Darkness by Anton Chekhov
The Death of Ivan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Little Angel by Leonid Andreyev
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A Troublesome Visitor by Anton Chekhov"
"'Christmas Eve' is the first story in the second volume of the collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka by Nikolai Gogol.
The story opens with a description of the winter scenery of Dikanka, Ukraine, a witch flying across the night sky and the devil stealing the moon and hiding it in his pocket, first playing with it in the sky, which no one in the village notices. Since it is the night before Christmas, the devil is free to roam around and torment people as he pleases, so he decides to find a way to get back at the village blacksmith, Vakula, because he paints religious art in the church...
The story is set in on Christmas Eve in the small Ukranian town of Dikanka. Since it's the night before Christmas, the devil is allowed to roam free in town. He steals the moon, which at first no one notices. Then he sets out to ruin the love interest of Vakula, the town blacksmith, who is hopelessly in love with the beautiful Oksana. The devil has a vendetta against Vakula because he also moonlights as an icon painter who had created mocking pictures of the devil. The devil finds an ally in Vakula's mother (a witch) who wants to marry Oksana's father. She fears that if her son marries Oksana, her love chances will be ruined."
"The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol includes the works of the famous writer Nikolai Gogol:
The Viy
A May Night
Memoirs of a Madman
The Nose
The Cloak
Christmas Eve"
"As part of her collection 'Christ Legends' Selma Lagerlöf wrote the story 'The Holy Night,' a Christmas-themed tale first published in sometime in the early 1900s but before her death in 1940. It tells the story of the author at five years old who experienced a great sadness when her grandmother passed which made her recall a story the old woman used to tell about the Holy Night.
The story the grandmother tells is about a poor man who wanders around the village asking people for a single live coal to light his own fire, but keeps getting met with rejection until he runs into a shepherd who finds compassion in his heart to help, especially after seeing the state of the man's home and wife and child."
"The Pony Engine and the Pacific Express - a wonderful Christmas Story for Children. It was published in Howell's collection, Christmas Every Day and Other Stories Told for Children (1892).
This classic short story from William Dean Howells finds a brother and sister fairly demanding their papa to tell them a story. As a long-standing storyteller, papa is reluctant to dream up something new. The demands of children often mean that a parent will do things they never thought they would, if only to salvage their own sanity. A memorable tale for all ages."
"'Little Gretchen and the Wooden Shoe', written by Elizabeth Harrison in the late 1880's, is about a young girl and her old grandmother and a special Christmas gift that surprises them both.
Little Gretchen and the Wood Shoe by Elizabeth Harrisonis a classic holiday tale of hope and love. "
"The story 'The Little Angel' (1899) about a teenager - half-hungry, offended by the whole world 'wolf cub'. Once on a holiday in a rich house, he saw
an angel on a Christmas tree. A toy becomes for him a sign of the 'wonderful world where he once lived.' She must belong to him! And the boy, who endured a lot, defending his pride, falls to his knees in front of the 'unpleasant aunt.'"
"'Little Bun Rabbit' is the twenty-second and final tale in L. Frank Baum's 1897 collection Mother Goose in Prose.
Dorothy is a farm girl who is allowed to roam the local meadows and woods and play to her heart's content. She has the rare ability to understand and speak the language of the animals. The kind-hearted child makes friends with Bun Rabbit, and learns about his life and experiences. Bun Rabbit once modeled for Santa Claus, so that Santa could make stuffed bunnies for 'the babies' to play with. The rabbit had traveled with Santa to his castle at the North Pole, and stayed for several days to admire Santa's craftsmanship. While there, the bunny was fed clover, turnips, and sliced cabbage by old Mother Hubbard, who keeps house (or castle) for Santa. The toy bunnies Santa created in Bun Rabbit's likeness were so accurate that Bun almost mistook one for a live creature.
Bun Rabbit chose to walk home from the North Pole, to see the countryside; Santa equipped him with a magic collar that kept the rabbit from harm. The collar melted away and disappeared once Bun Rabbit reached home."
"At the Farmhouse by Edward Frederic Benson tells the story of a landscape painter, who after twenty years of hideous marriage to an abusive and drunken local woman who is rumoured to be a witch, sets off to murder her. In his pocket is a ball of strong twine with which he will strangle her, and a box of matches with which he will set light to the farmhouse to destroy the evidence of his crime. After that he will be free...
What happens when he reaches the farmhouse is gruesome, uncanny and totally unexpected."
"The Cat is an odd story about a young man who suffers a severe shock reaction to the unexpected ending of his engagement. Initially he is thrown into a deep depression which lasts several months, but then all of a sudden something snaps in his brain and he undergoes a phenomenal transformation.
Not only does his depression leave him, but he becomes suddenly upbeat and sees the world in richer colours and with greater clarity. Moreover, he develops an unprecedented genius for portrait painting which makes him famous overnight. But then his ex-fiancée asks him to finish the portrait he has started of her.
At first he copes well with the renewed acquaintance, but he becomes increasingly frustrated at his inability to capture the cat-like quality of his former beloved's eyes. He repairs to his retreat in the country to concentrate on the background of the portrait, but there he encounters a grey cat whose eyes are uncannily reminiscent of those of his lover."
"Edward Frederic Benson was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer.
Benson was also known as a writer of atmospheric, oblique, and at times humorous or satirical ghost stories.
Among the most significant works Edward Benson is theThe Wishing Well (1929) and many more."
"The Thing in the Hall, is a rather macabre and strange story - retold by Mike Vendetti - of two friends living in London, one of whom tempts fate by inviting a spirit to visit without limiting what type of spirit he is inviting.
As we know, there are 'evil' spirits just awaiting a home or a victim."
Join our community for the latest bookish news, reading recommendations, exclusive opening extracts, author events and competitions. It\'s all free. And enter a monthly draw to win a £50 Gift Card. See past winners here
