Audiobooks narrated by William Dufris

The Awakening & more: A Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisation

"A full-cast adaptation of America’s most influential 19th century feminist writer - plus a bonus selection of short stories. Best known for her narratives about the inner lives of sensitive, daring women, Kate Chopin is a vital American author of short stories and novels. She is considered by scholars to have been a forerunner of American 20th century feminist authors, paving the way for the likes of Zelda Fitzgerald. Best known for her 1899 novel The Awakening, Chopin shocked the readers of her day by showing a woman fulfilled by throwing off the ties of marriage and children. The Awakening, brought to life by a full cast in this adaptation, is Kate Chopin's seminal tale of one woman's pursuit of moral and sexual freedom in turn-of-the-century New Orleans. Unsatisfied with societal expectations, Edna Pontellier falls in love with the dapper Robert Lebrun. Lebrun's flirtations rejuvenate Edna's sense of freedom and independence. However, Edna also has a taste of the danger that comes from living outside of social convention. Trapped between the life she is expected to live and the one she longs to lead, Edna is propelled on a course that frees, consumes and eventually destroys her. Starring Briony Glassco, William Dufris and Lorelei King. This stunning collection also contains five of Chopin’s short stories, exquisitely read by Carolyn Pickles and Claire Corbett, and available together here for the first time. ‘Ma'ame Pelagie’ is the portrait of a woman on a plantation adjusting to life after the American Civil War. In ‘A Respectable Woman’, Mrs Baroda, the wife of a sugar planter, finds herself confused and ambivalent when an old friend of her husband’s comes to stay in this cleverly observed story. In ‘The Story of an Hour’, some supposedly bad news leaves a woman feeling strangely free. But has there been a mistake? ‘The Kiss’ is the story of a woman scheming to marry a wealthy man and maintain a young lover. Finally, in 'A Pair of Silk Stockings', a woman spends a windfall on herself, instead of her children – but what are the consequences… This is the perfect immersive listen for any fan of classic storytelling with a twist. Discover an author whose work has echoed down the centuries and inspired writers for generations. ©2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd"

Kate Chopin (Author), Briony Glassco, Carolyn Pickles, Clare Corbett, Full Cast, Lorelei King, William Dufris (Narrator)

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Scary Stories for Teenagers

"Classic stories that are the original form of horror movies. In that extraordinary time between childhood and adulthood are those years that most parents dread; The Teenage Years. Hormones rage, personalities can become belligerent, lives are lived in partial secrecy as their brains undergo re-wiring and their bodies shoot out in all sorts of places. How then to find stories they can engage with? There’s an easy answer. The same way we as adults engage. Great stories told by great authors. In this volume we can tick both boxes with the bonus that the stories are actually about them. Our classic authors including Marjorie Bowen, Gustav Meyrink, Kenneth Grahame, Thomas Hardy and many others bring all facets of this genre into needle-sharp focus. 01 - Scary Stories for Teenagers - An Introduction02 - The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde - Part 1 by Robert Louis Stevenson03 - The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde - Part 2 by Robert Louis Stevenson04 - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving05 - The Signalman by Charles Dickens06 - The Fall of the House of Usher - Part 1 by Edgar Allan Poe07 - The Fall of the House of Usher - Part 2 by Edgar Allan Poe08 - The Empty House by Algernon Blackwood09 - The Cats of Ulthar by H P Lovecraft10 - The Monkey's Paw by W W Jacobs11 - Gabriel-Ernest by Saki12 - The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce13 - The Room in the Tower by E F Benson14 - The Ash Tree by M R James. wav15 - August Heat by W F Harvey16 - The Vampyre. A Tale - Part 1 by John Willaim Polidori17 - The Vampyre. A Tale - Part 2 by John Willaim Polidori"

Algernon Blackwood, Charles Dickens, E F Benson, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, John Willaim Polidori, M.R. James, Robert Louis Stevenson, Saki, W F Harvey, W W Jacobs, Washington Irving (Author), David Shaw-Parker, Mark Rice-Oxley, William Dufris (Narrator)

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Short Stories About Abuse

"Stories of characters having to deal with terrible pain caused by others. Equality is one of the great and lauded aims of a just society. It is rarely achieved. The system is there to be exploited by those with too much money and too many resources. Or maybe just a grudge. Our classic authors including Anton Chekhov, O Henry, Susan Glaspell, Arthur Morrison and others turn their pens to the nature of abuse. It may be gentle or laced with searing pain but always told with the sharpest of pens. 1 - Short Stories about Abuse - An Introduction2 - Hop Frog by Edgar Allan Poe3 - Aloysha the Pot by Leo Tolstoy4 - A Harlem Tragedy by O Henry5 - Vanka by Anton Chekhov6 - A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell7 - Gentle Breathing by Ivan Bunin8 - Tony's Wife by Alice Dunbar Nelson9 - The Bishop of Hell by Marjorie Bowen10 - A Dark Brown Dog by Stephen Crane11 - The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe12 - Tales of Mean Streets. Lizerunt by Arthur Morrison"

Anton Chekhov (Author), William Dufris (Narrator)

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Stories About Animals

"Classic tales from innocuous flies on the wall to murderous wolves. Many say that some of their greatest friends, and their greatest joys and feelings, are about animals. Rather than find those same joys and feelings from amongst friends, family and the rest of humanity it can be far easier, some say wiser, to find that from other sources. Some animals may be entirely innocent and entirely devoted to us. But we forget that in the world of wild animals survival is the primary instinct and usually the great enemy is the human race. In this volume our classic authors, including H Rider Haggard, Saki, Bret Harte, Jack London and many others bring us many tints and shades of our relationships with the animal world, both wild and domestic. Just be careful. 1 - Short Stories About Animals - An Introduction2 - The Crocodile. An Extraordinary Incident - Part 1 by Fyodor Dostoyevsky3 - The Crocodile. An Extraordinary Incident - Part 2 by Fyodor Dostoyevsky4 - Tobermory by Saki5 - A Dark Brown Dog by Stephen Crane6 - The Maltese Cat by Rudyard Kipling7 - To Build a Fire by Jack London8 - Mumu by Ivan Turgenev9 - A Yellow Dog by Bret Harte10 - A Passion in the Desert by Honoré de Balzac11 - Misery by Anton Chekhov12 - The Canary by Katherine Mansfield13 - Love by Guy de Maupassant14 - A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett15 - How They Stopped the 'Run' by Anthony Hope16 - Long Odds by H Rider Haggard17 - How I Killed a Bear by Charles Dudley Warner18 - A Lesson on a Tortoise by D H Lawrence19 - The Lizard by C J Cutcliffe Hyne20 - Running Wolf by Algernon Blackwood21 - Esme by Saki22 - The White Silence by Jack London23 - The Murders in the Rue Morgue - Part 1 by Edgar Allan Poe24 - The Murders in the Rue Morgue - Part 2 by Edgar Allan Poe"

Algernon Blackwood, Anthony Hope, Anton Chekhov, Bret Harte, C J Cutcliffe Hyne, Charles Dudley Warner, D.H. Lawrence, Edgar Allan Poe, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Guy De Maupassant, H Rider Haggard, Honoré de Balzac, Ivan Turgenev, Jack London, Katherine Mansfield, Rudyard Kipling, Saki, Sarah Orne Jewett, Stephen Crane (Author), Christopher Ragland, Mark Rice-Oxley, William Dufris (Narrator)

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Stories About Fear

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. It is commonly said that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. That may be a way to fortify our reason and rationality but all too often it merely escalates the panic and irrationality so that every sentence we read or hear has the ability to shred nerves and common sense in next to no time. Why would we allow authors to do this to us? The truth is we enjoy it. Fear may be frightful but it is also enormous fun. Unless, of course, they take it too far. Which in many cases our classic authors including Edgar Allan Poe, H P Lovecraft, Edith Nesbit, W W Jacobs and a host of others certainly do. 1 - Short Stories About Fear - An Introduction2 - The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe3 - In The Dark by Edith Nesbit4 - Cool Air by H P Lovecraft5 - My Own True Ghost Story by Rudyard Kipling6 - Jerry Bundler by W W Jacobs7 - Gabriel-Ernest by Saki8 - The Sphinx by Edgar Allan Poe9 - The Judge's House by Bram Stoker10 - An Uncomfortable Bed by Guy de Maupassant11 - Fear by Catherine Wells12 - How They Stopped the 'Run' by Anthony Hope13 - The Gray Man by Sarah Orne Jewett14 - The Premature Burial by Edgar Allan Poe15 - The Waxworks by A M Burrage16 - The Three Sisters by W W Jacobs17 - The Cobweb by Saki18 - The Power of Darkness by Edith Nesbit19 - The Fall of the House of Usher - Part 1 by Edgar Allan Poe20 - The Fall of the House of Usher - Part 2 by Edgar Allan Poe"

A.M. Burrage, Anthony Hope, Catherine Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Edith Nesbit, Guy De Maupassant, H.P. Lovecraft, Rudyard Kipling, SakiBram Stoker, Sarah Orne Jewett, W W Jacobs (Author), Bill Wallis, Ghizela Rowe, William Dufris (Narrator)

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Stories About Siblings

"Friends come and go, but family is forever. Those closest to us, especially in our early years, are the immediate members of our family. We look to them for love, guidance, care and attention. But as the years pass things change. Siblings may become closer, they may become rivals. But things will change. Our classic authors including D H Lawrence, Kate Chopin, Mary Butts, Nikolai Gogol and a host of others bring narrative verve and fabled characters to explore and exploit this genre that is so familiar to many of us. 1 - Short Stories About Siblings - An Introduction2 - The Fall of the House of Usher - Part 1 by Edgar Allan Poe3 - The Fall of the House of Usher - Part 2 by Edgar Allan Poe4 - The Brothers by Louisa May Alcott5 - St Johns Eve by Nikolai Gogol6 - The Devil's Wager by William Makepeace Thackeray7 - From The Dead by Edith Nesbit8 - The Shadows on the Wall by Mary E Wilkins Freeman9 - A Story Told to the Dark by Rainer Maria Rilke10 - Ma'ame Pelagie by Kate Chopin11 - Little Brother by Mary E Mann12 - Brothers by Sherwood Anderson13 - The Three Sisters by W W Jacobs14 - An Arch Rascal by Knut Hamsun15 - With & Without Buttons by Mary Butts16 - Hodge by Elinor Mordaunt17 - A Far Away Melody by Mary E Wilkins Freeman18 - The Bride by M P Shiel19 - An Unexpected Fare by Mary Tuttiett writing as Maxwell Gray20 - The Horse Dealer's Daughter by D H Lawrence"

D.H. Lawrence, Edith Nesbit, Elinor Mordaunt, Kate Chopin, Knut Hamsun, Louisa May Alcott, M P Shiel, Mary Butts, Mary E Mann, Mary E Wilkins Freeman, Mary Tuttiett, Nikolai Gogol, Rainer Maria Rilke, Sherwood Anderson, W W Jacobs, William Thackeray (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick, Lisa Bowerman, William Dufris (Narrator)

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Trapped - Figuratively or Literally Short Stories

"In this volume we explore that difficult situation where lack of choice is your only choice. We feel trapped either by the body or by the mind. Our classic authors put their characters in positions that we can all relate too, and then devise fiendish and uncomfortable ways to deepen the malaise or perhaps offer some sort of escape, however temporary.1 - Trapped Literally & Figuratively - An Introduction2 - The Pit and The Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe3 - In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka4 - In a Far Country by Jack London5 - La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac6 - The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe7 - The Iron Shroud by William Mudford8 - Parker Adderson, Philosopher by Ambrose Bierce9 - The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe10 - One Summer Night by Ambrose Bierce11 - The Awful Fate of Melpomenus Jones by Stephen Leacock12 - The End of a Show by Barry Pain13 - The Fall of the House of Usher - Part 1 by Edgar Allan Poe14 - The Fall of the House of Usher - Part 2 by Edgar Allan Poe15 - The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin16 - The Legacy by Virginia Woolf17 - Life of Ma Parker by Katherine Mansfield18 - Transients in Arcadia by O Henry19 - Hands by Sherwood Anderson20 - The Yellow Wall Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman21 - The Canary by Katherine Mansfield22 - The Storm by Kate Chopin"

Edgar Allan Poe (Author), William Dufris (Narrator)

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3 Stories - Without Character Names

"There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes.Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating.From their pens to your your ears. 01 - 3 Stories - Stories Without Character Names02 - In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka03 - The Lady, or the Tiger by Frank Stockton04 - The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe"

Edgar Allan Poe, Frank R Stockton, Franz Kafka (Author), Laurel Lefkow, Richard Mitchley, William Dufris (Narrator)

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3 Stories - Set During Pandemics

"There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes.Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating.From their pens to your your ears.01 - 3 Stories - Set During Pandemics02 - The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe03 - The Dust of Death by Fred M White04 - The Unparallelled Invasion by Jack London"

Edgar Allan Poe, Fred M White, Jack London (Author), Christopher Ragland, David Shaw-Parker, William Dufris (Narrator)

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3 Stories - Dark Romanticism

E T A Hoffman, Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving (Author), Christopher Ragland, Elliot Fitzpatrick, William Dufris (Narrator)

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Stories Involving Animal Cruelty

"Our best loved friends may not even be human but animals of the moggy and mutt variety. Many of us wax lyrical about our friends in the animal world no matter the distractions available in the real and rather more demanding world of partners, children, parents and friends. So often then that when the media brings news of appalling tragedies across the globe the distress of cruelty to animals seems to gather more immediate attention. In this volume our literary wordsmiths turn their attention to tales that make our hearts wince and our emotions bleed. 1 - Stories About Cruelty to Animals - An Introduction2 - The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe3 - The Squaw by Bram Stoker4 - The Cats of Ulthar by H P Lovecraft5 - The Ankardyne Pew by W F Harvey6 - A Dark Brown Dog by Stephen Crane7 - Strychnine for Village Dogs by Arthur Gask"

Arthur Gask, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen Crane, W F Harvey (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick, Ghizela Rowe, William Dufris (Narrator)

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Stories Exploring the Fear of Death

"That moment in time will come. It will be the end of this life and one of three things will happen. Nothing, Heaven or Hell. Somehow, for most people, the odds don’t look so good on laying back in Paradise for eternity. And we may be there alone or with people we never really liked or―or most probably, we don’t really have any coherent idea at all. Just the fear that the end is nigh.Our literary friends including Edgar Allan Poe, Leo Tolstoy, Mary Shelley and others probably mean well but their job here is to tackle fear head on and we may well end up not getting the answer we first thought of. 1 - Stories Exploring the Fear of Death - An Introduction2 - The Premature Burial by Edgar Allan Poe3 - The Coffin Maker by Alexander Pushkin4 - The Cobweb by Saki5 - Diary of a Lunatic by Leo Tolstoy6 - Cool Air by H P Lovecraft7 - The Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley8 - The Sphinx by Edgar Allan Poe9 - The Dream by O Henry10 - The Looking Glass by Anton Chekhov11 - The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe"

Alexander Pushkin, Anton Chekhov, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Leo Tolstoy, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, O Henry, Saki (Author), Bill Wallis, Patrick Barlow, William Dufris (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by William Dufris

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