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The William Dean Howells Library

The William Dean Howells Library

Written by: William Dean Howells
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In these unabridged readings of William Dean Howells, the listener is invited into drawing rooms, countinghouses, city streets, and quiet chambers of conscience, where ordinary lives reveal their most extraordinary meanings. Here are stories of ambition, love, money, manners, and moral choice, told with wit, sympathy, and a clear eye for the truths people often hide from themselves. The William Dean Howells Library restores one of America’s great realist voices to the living ear.Public domain
Episodes
  • Rise of Silas Lapham Chapter 10

    Rise of Silas Lapham Chapter 10
    Sep 23 2026
    In which Bromfield Corey resumes his methodical life in the languid Boston summer, marked by quiet reflections and the slow passage of days, while Silas Lapham embarks on ambitious alterations to his new house, mingling aesthetic delight with financial prudence and marital caution. Amidst the tranquil social gatherings and familial conversations, old grievances gently mend as new bonds are tentatively formed, all under the softening veil of a season that slips swiftly away.
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    23 mins
  • Rise of Silas Lapham Chapter 7

    Rise of Silas Lapham Chapter 7
    Sep 22 2026
    In which Colonel Silas Lapham casually introduces Mr. Corey to the family, stirring quiet curiosity and conjecture about the young man's true intentions amidst the genteel household's familiar banter and gentlemanly debates on literature. Meanwhile, the Colonel contemplates the merging of business and personal prospects, his thoughts wandering between his paint enterprise and the possibilities that Mr. Corey's presence might portend for his family’s future.
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    18 mins
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