Showing results by narrator "Anne Hancock" in All Categories

The sudden death of the father of the family results in the drastic reduction of the Careys' income and they must leave their comfortable home in Boston. Nancy Carey, the eldest, recalls a vacation in Maine when they all picnicked in the garden of a big, vacant house that her father loved. She discovers that the house is available, the rent is cheap, and persuades her mother that life in The Yellow House in Beulah, Maine is the perfect place to begin their new life.

Strong-minded, irrepressible Miranda Griscom is content working as a live-in housekeeper for the young Spafford family. Here she is loved and appreciated in contrast to her lonely childhood as an unwanted granddaughter. When a wealthy neighbor proposes marriage so that she can care for his motherless children, she is delighted to show him the door, proud that she is “a free and independent woman who can earn her own living”.

Elizabeth is utterly alone in her Montana cabin, shocked by the sudden, brutal death of her brother, the last of her family. His killer has threatened to return and claim her, and she has only one thought: to flee across country to the East and search for relatives she has never known. With the villain and his gang in pursuit, she rides across perilous terrain, encountering those who help her and those who, in their own way, are just as dangerous as the men she is fleeing.

This delightful sequel to Webster's Daddy Long-Legs centers on socialite Sallie McBride, who reluctantly agrees to become director of an orphan asylum. The asylum's benefactors, her friends Judy and Jervis Pendleton, insist she is just the person to institute the sweeping reforms the institution needs. The exuberant Sallie soon begins ruffling feathers of the staff, filling the children's lives with hope and love, and locking horns with the new Scotch doctor, the Dear Enemy of the title.

Shirley Hollister is desperate. She, her ailing mother, and her four siblings are being forced out of their cramped city apartment. Where to go on her meager stenographer's salary? On a whim, she takes a trolley ride into the countryside and spies a barn: spacious, full of light, and surrounded by God's wondrous nature. Her new landlord, Sidney Graham, is intrigued by this lovely young woman and her plans to turn his abandoned barn into a home.

Wakefield was a mild-mannered man of no particular energy or imagination. The only fault his wife could find with him was that he had a tendency to be secretive about small things and perhaps a little selfish. Still, there was no hint that on the day he left for a short journey, his plan was to take a room in the next street and spy on his wife. He would not return for two decades.

Immediately following the success of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott sat down to write An-Old Fashioned Girl, expanding on the subject of rich versus poor that she explored in her first novel. It’s a story of a country mouse and a city mouse: 14-year-old Polly Milton travels to Boston for a stay with her friend Fanny Shaw. The wealthy Shaws’ way of life is foreign to Polly who tries to adapt but is quickly labeled “old-fashioned”. Fanny and her friends dress and behave as their elders do, flirting with boys and gossiping.

"Freedom or Death" was named by Britain's The Guardian newspaper as one of the top 10 greatest speeches of the 20th century. In 1913, British suffragist Emmaline Pankhurst was invited to speak in Hartford, CT by Mrs. Katharine Hepburn, president of the Connecticut Women's Suffrage Association and mother of the future actress.

Aunt Crete has spent a lifetime of toil catering to the needs of her family, especially her waspish sister, Carrie, and social-climbing niece, Louella. When a telegram from a nephew from out west announces his imminent arrival, mother and daughter hasten a trip to the shore to escape the "country cousin" who they are sure will shame them.

1917. American boys have joined the Great War in Europe. On the homefront, mysterious occurrences like ships catching fire and factories blowing up have people wondering: is this German sabotage? Hilda Lessing's family has been split apart due to the death of her father, and her uncle has found her a job doing housework on a friend's farm. Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz and their workers are German and a young train engineer whom she befriends on the way to the farm jokingly warns her to "Watch out for spies!"

Famed author E. Nesbit ( The Railway Children) brings 20 of Shakespeare's plays to life in language that children can understand. They are entertaining narratives that describe the Bard's main characters and often intricate plots. Each story provides a concise overview for anyone about to experience a Shakespeare play for the first time.

Soon-to-be heiress Betty Stanhope is a runaway bride, but not for the usual reasons - she didn't flee because of a change of heart. Reluctant about the wedding at the outset, the dutiful Betty reaches the altar to find that her groom is a different man altogether and someone she's dreaded most of her life! Before the wedding can proceed, she is taken to a room to recover from her fainting spell.

If the name seems familiar, these tales about Darby O'Gill and his encounter with the fairies were adapted for a Disney movie, Darby O'Gill and the Little People. They tell the story of an Irishman whose cow is captured by the fairies - or "good people". In his determination to recover his property, Darby finds himself in the center of their home, the mountain Sleive-na-mon.

Cyril Gordon, an intrepid Secret Service Agent, has completed part of his mission in obtaining a coded message vital to the nation's security. But desperate men are pursuing him and with the help of a handy cab and a disguise, he makes his escape. The cab deposits him at a church where, astoundingly, everyone seems to be waiting for him to complete a wedding party, certain he's the missing best man.

Cowboy musician Tyler Garrett has a once-in-a-lifetime chance to put aside his rough-and-tumble rancher's lifestyle and realize his dream. He's on the road to Dallas to record a demo when that dream gets kicked sideways by a beautiful woman on the run. Leah Benson will do whatever it takes to keep her daughter safe. But when her dangerous past catches up with her, she needs a hero - and luckily for her, Tyler Garrett was born and bred for the role.

Margaret is The Other Dashwood Sister, the youngest of the three Dashwood girls whose older sisters' love affairs were chronicled in Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility". In that classic tale, 13-year-old Margaret was merely an observer of the household drama; in 1929, Austen's great-great-niece, Edith Hubback Brown, took up her pen to move the story ahead four years and place Margaret center stage. Life at Barton Cottage with her mother is quiet, which suits Margaret.

Patterson Greeves, a noted scientist and academic, is retiring to his family manse to write a book. But on arrival, he finds two letters, one from each of his daughters, announcing their imminent arrival. One plans to visit and the other to live with him. He panics: though a man of many accomplishments, he has been an abysmal and absent father.

Constance Wetherill's world has collapsed. The young socialite has discovered that her late uncle has squandered the family fortune, and she is left with $5000 and the care of her elderly grandmother. Having no experience in the world of work, Constance takes a chance. In an out-of-the-way town, far away from anyone she knows, she finds a rambling house with cheap rent where she hopes to open a tea room. Is the place haunted? The townspeople think so because there have been sightings of a lady in white roaming the house and grounds.

Jill Mariner’s life as a London debutante is perfect: she has money, friends, and is engaged to a handsome Member of Parliament. But it all comes crashing down when her unreliable uncle squanders her fortune. Then there is the incident of plucky Jill hitting a man with a stick while he was...

The only survivors of a shipwreck off a Pacific island are Cambridge professor Edward Bowden and an orphaned baby girl. When Valentine Ryven is discovered 20 years later, Edward has recently died, and she is relieved and excited to be taken to England, where she believes her loving family awaits. Valentine is sure of a warm welcome because among the papers retrieved from the wreck is a letter from her Aunt Helena saying so. But in 20 years things change ... especially when money is involved.