Showing results by narrator "Liza Ross Ross" in All Categories

Darkness falls. The undead rise to feast on the succulent blood of the living. For years vampires have fascinated great writers of the occult such as De Maupassant, Count Stenbock, E. Nesbit, and E.F. Benson. This is The Story Circle's collection of some of their spine-chilling tales told by award-winning actors.

Represented here are 16 short stories by seven great American writers, dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. Different in atmosphere and writing style, they nevertheless caught the mood and concerns of the day in a way that was distinctly American.

This is a story from the Classic Women's Short Stories collection.

The art of writing a short story can be barely noticed by a reader or listener - such is the quality with which they are usually written. It is a difficult trade, an unforgiving discipline, but for those who master it, the rewards are many. In this series of works by our greatest female writers, we bring you a selection of those we consider the best.

Here are eight stories from master American writers of the 19th century. They vary from sinister tales by Ambrose Bierce - why is that window boarded up? - and a reflective moment in the life of a woman without children, but forced to look after children, to classic short stories by O. Henry and Stephen Crane. There is even an elegiac description of an eclipse by James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans.

A wolf howls through the forests of Transylvania, the murky graveyards of H.P. Lovecraft, the mythic marshes of Count Stenbock and the ghostly vaults of English cathedrals in these timeless stories read by award-winning actors from The Story Circle company.

Some people do not know that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was actually the first of a 13-story series. The Marvelous Land of Oz, the second story, brings the Scarecrow and the Tin Man into new adventures in the Land of Oz. In this story, which is as equally entertaining as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Tin Man and Scarecrow are persuaded to help out a young boy who finds himself in difficulty. There is also flying furniture among the oddities.

This intensely dramatic and moving novel has remained a best-selling classic since it was first published in 1852. The slaves Eliza and George make a desperate bid to escape to Canada, while Uncle Tom is sold to two successive and very different owners. Abraham Lincoln himself acknowledged the role played by this seminal text in the Civil War, the aim of which was (in part) to emancipate the slaves of the southern states.

The Early Birds is the feel-good and funny follow-up to The Future Homemakers of America that proves that no matter what life throws at you, great friends and regular cocktails will always see you through. In this hymn to lifelong female friendship, Peggy soldiers on through new upheavals, including her ex-husband Vern's Alzheimer's diagnosis, the death of one of her nearest and dearest, a life-changing house move and the world-shattering events of 9/11.

The March sisters are among the most beloved characters in children's literature, and Little Men picks up the story of fiery, headstrong Jo where Good Wives left off. Intelligent, funny, perceptive, and genuinely touching, the novel is set at a rather unusual boarding school run by Jo and her husband, where the pupils are encouraged to pillow fight and keep pets. When the penniless but talented orphan Nat Blake shows up on her doorstep, Jo takes him in, and his arrival sets in motion a chain of events that will affect all their lives.

The March sisters are among the most beloved characters in children's literature, and Good Wives - the second volume of Little Women - picks up where its predecessor left off. As Meg marries John, Jo is faced with a romantic dilemma of her own, Amy travels to Europe, and Beth becomes increasingly ill. In this sensitive and lively novel, Alcott - "the Thackeray, the Trollope, of the nursery and the schoolroom", as Henry James called her - is on sparkling form.

This is the moving and powerful story of Edna Pontellier, a beautiful young wife and mother who discovers her true feelings and identity through her love for Robert Lebrun, and in so doing challenges the bourgeois assumptions of her day. First published in 1899 in America, it prompted shock and outrage, but has since come to be recognized as a modern classic.

A naïve, recently divorced Canadian woman travels to San Jose in Mexico, where she is embraced by a party-loving group of expatriates who, fortified by margaritas, whirl from sexual encounters to experiments in the occult. But Claire, fascinated by the Mexicans and their joyful high spirits, falls in love with the country, and with the vibrant and mercurial Lolo, the man who represents for her the soul of Mexico.

We are captivated by colour. It seeps into our emotions, our vistas. It’s part of everyday life. Sometimes its part of something much darker. Our eminent authors in this volume bring you colours of every shade. From the terror of HP Lovecraft and the shadowed world of Edith Nesbit to the wordplay of Virginia Woolf - as well as many others. Color in all its light and shades, hues and tints is brought to the fore by these exceptional writers.

Libby’s life seems picture-perfect. She lives in her dream home, raising two precious children and supported by her loving husband, Victor. Sure, he’s away a lot with his job, but she has always accepted that he works hard to make their beautiful life possible. But then, one day, Victor asks for a divorce, and suddenly Libby’s whole world falls apart. Libby never expected to find herself a single mom, and when she receives a letter from the bank, it’s clear that Victor hasn’t been paying the mortgage. Her husband has been keeping secrets from her, and this isn’t the only one.

Cleo Duvall is a middle-aged baker who runs the Clamshell Bay Bakery and Cafe in the pretty tourist town on the Washington State coast, and her cinnamon buns are Instagram-famous. The coffee shop is the heart of the village—neighbors gossip over coffee and pastries, and if you want to know anything about anyone, the cafe is the place to ask. As a way to share her love for the art and craft of baking, Cleo teaches a weekend class.

I Can Run is not a running book for 'runners' - it's the must-have running book for every woman who has ever experienced a moment of defeatism and had the little voice in their head make the excuse 'I can't run'. In 12 chapters, you will discover that you can. You will dig deep to find your inner athlete. You'll learn how to train smart, recover well, sync your runs to your menstrual cycle and fuel right.

A timeless collection of poems chosen by Classic FM listeners and read by an outstanding cast of actors, including Sir John Gielgud, Joanna Lumley, and David Tennant.

Classic FM Favourite Poems is a delightful anthology of British verse chosen through a Classic FM listeners poll. This new collection draws on the huge success of Classic FM Favourite Poems, published over 10 years ago. Enjoy all your favourite poems in these wonderful recordings.

In this series we listen to short stories that are NOT by perhaps the most well-known author of this type. But the many other rich talents in the volume may have treated the subject matter a little differently, or were perhaps just overlooked in the stampede to applaud the winner, but these authors are of equal merit.

Throughout the long centuries of human history is the want, and the need, to share information, to exchange ideas and for that knowledge and experience, for curiosity and learning, to be the basis of a civil society. In this volume we offer up a small selection of talents from the literary landscape of American women authors whose time has now come again.