Showing results by narrator "Cindy Hardin" in All Categories

Here is Twain's humorous, but also touching, look at Adam and Eve, in which he presents two very different interpretations of Eden.

"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is the 8th of 12 stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was originally published in Strand Magazine in 1892. Doyle thought that this was his best Holmes story. In fact, he thought so much of it that he wrote and produced a play based on the story. The play, originally called "The Stonor Case," differed from the story in several details but was essentially the same.

In this story, an old witch takes pity on a poor soldier and gives him a box with remarkable powers. As a result, he has many astounding adventures.

Hester Prynne commits adultery in a Puritan settlement and, as a result, is "branded" for the rest of her life by having to wear a scarlet letter "A" on her breast. Throughout the story, a complex relationship develops between Hester, her lover, her husband, and her daughter.

The Turn of the Screw has been described by many critics as the most sophisticated and terrifying ghost story in the English language. It is considered one of the great intellectual "spook tales" of all time. The story concerns a naive young governess who is hired to take care of two children in a large mansion in the English countryside. Everything is going fine, until she discovers that the children are not as innocent as they seem.

O. Henry wrote many stories, but this, the story of two "ultimate gifts", is his most famous.

This collecton features some of Twain's best known stories as well as some lesser-known gems, such as "A Mysterious Visit", "The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut", and "The Loves Of Alonzo Fitz-Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton".

A poor boy is helped on his quest by six servants with very unusual powers.

Tom Walker was not the nicest soul you'd ever meet. When he agrees to work with a stranger he comes upon in the woods, more things change than just his fortune. A strange twist of fate not only changes Tom's marital status but also hisstation & profession. A slip of the lip when least expected adds another turn to this classic story of light and dark.

O. Henry is know as the master of the "surprise ending" short story. In this story two young lovers quarrel. As a result, the young man accepts a post in a far away obscure country he calls The Land of the Lotus. He finally begins to accept the fact that he will never see the love of his life again when a mysterious bottle washes up on shore and the result is a very unusual surprise ending - even for O. Henry.

Dot and the Kangaroo, written in 1899, is a children's book by Ethel C. Pedley about a little girl named Dot who gets lost in the Australian outback and is eventually befriended by a group of marsupials.

In this story, the friendship between a young German girl and a mysterious French prisonero pen a world of possibilities for them both. When a mysterious prisoner arrives at her father's post young Gretchen's life is changed forever. What shadowy figure protects the mysterious prisoner from harm? Little Gretchen believes she knows and the thought of it opens her mind to the belief that love and loyalty can live beyond the grave.

Bram Stoker created an incredible novel in Dracula. The success of the vampire novel unfortunately overshadowed most of his other writings. This volume contains nine of his best short stories, including the one in which the character of Dracula first appeared.

"Goody Two Shoes", published by an anonymous author in 1765, has long been one of the most popular children's stories ever written. It is the kind of story your grandmother might have told, and its message of optimism, bravery, and the rewards of honestyare giving it new popularity today.

"O. Henry" is the pen name of American writer William Sydney Porter whose short stories are known for their wit, warm characterization and clever, unexpected endings. The Princess and the Puma is one of porter's best, and most anthologized stories.

A town that prides itself on its honesty finds itself severely tested. One of the demons Mark Twain always set out to slay was the myth that the citizens of the American republic are inherently more virtuous than others. By the invention of an elaborate hoax, a kind of giant practical joke, Twain has his hero turn the town of Hadleyburg inside out and, in the process, teach the hypocrites who dwell there a lesson in humility and moral realism.

Here is another of O. Henry's entertaining "surprise ending" stories. A girl moves to the city looking for a friend she had lost track of and finds him in a very unusual way.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman is known primarily as a "feminist" and "local color" writer, for such classic tales as "The Revolt of Mother". She wrote very entertaining stories that included clear depictions of the pressures that often silenced or devalued women and their concerns. This famous story gets that message across but not without a bit of humor.

This is a selection from Kipling's The Second Jungle Book.

Everyone knows about Santa Claus of course and his wonderful trip around the world on the night before Christmas. But what about his early life? Where was he born? What was he like as a youth? How did he come to be such a wonderful toymaker? When did he start using the Reindeer? And, most importantly, how has he been able to live so very long?