Discover the Magic of Listening to Free Audiobook

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day free trial :
https://esound.space/full

ID: 217599

Title: Reverend Father Gaucher's Elixir

Author: Alphonse Daudet

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 00:22:00

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Red Door Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Classics

Summary:

Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897) was one of France's finest storytellers.

The Reverend Father Gaucher's Elixir is set in a dilapidated monastery in Provence. The order has fallen on hard times and the future of the entire monastery is in jeopardy. But the order's simpleton cow-herd, Brother Gaucher, has an unexpected idea. His old Auntie Bégon had in her later years invented a marvellous herbal elixir. By producing, bottling, and selling this, Brother Gaucher believes the order can become as rich as the Trappists and the monks of Chartreuse.

The Prior is enthusiastic and Brother Gaucher sets to work, and before long the whole monastery is thriving. Brother Gaucher - now elevated to Father Gaucher - works alone and in secret in his distillery producing the wonderful and sought-after brew. But it is not long before Father Gaucher starts behaving very oddly...and his madness threatens to destabilize the whole monastery....

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day free trial :
https://esound.space/full

ID: 217591

Title: Encased Man

Author: Anton Chekhov

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 00:34:00

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Red Door Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Classics

Summary:

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) wrote of the Russian period of depression and pessimism and is the acknowledged leader of the realistic school of the Russian short story.

He has been compared to Guy de Maupassant for the masterful way in which he creates an atmosphere and narrates his stories to a climax. No other writer has the same ability to reveal the characters' souls in just two or three pages.

Central themes in his works are mediocrity, the tragedy of pettiness, commonplaceness, the meaninglessness and emptiness of everyday life.

In The Encased Man he describes the life of a schoolmaster whose existence is limited by petty rules, morals, inhibitions and unconscious fears. Despite these traits, the man finds himself on the verge of an unforeseen marriage to a boisterous, energetic, positive woman - in short, his complete opposite. But his character traits rear their heads and destiny rushes in upon him.

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day free trial :
https://esound.space/full

ID: 217595

Title: Titbottom's Spectacles

Author: George William Curtis

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 00:58:00

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Red Door Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Classics

Summary:

George William Curtis (1824 - 1892) was a traveller, essayist and fiction writer who was particularly renowned for his short stories. He combined a highly polished style with a great sense of humour and his works we enthusiastically received in the heydays of American Periodical Literature.

In the marvellous story Titbottom's Spectacles, Curtis displays the individual charm of his work as well as the delicate atmosphere of sympathy and humour in which he sets his scenes and his characters. It is a part mystical, part satirical account of the possession of a pair of spectacles which can reveal people as they really are in their essential qualities.

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day free trial :
https://esound.space/full

ID: 217584

Title: Marquise

Author: George Sand

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 01:03:00

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Red Door Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Classics

Summary:

George Sand was the pseudonym of Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin (1804-1876), and was a much admired French novelist and memoirist. She is equally well known for her much-publicized romantic affairs with a number of celebrities including Frédéric Chopin and Alfred de Musset. It was the way Sand turned her own love affairs into novels and stories packed with vehemence of spirit which endeared her to her audience.

In The Marquise, Sand displays her instinctive feeling for the true sense of the "conte" or short story. She neither analyses nor explains the character of the old noblewoman who fell in love with an actor, she merely suggests the strength of passion in the cold, cynical, aged beauty. She leaves the listener's imagination vibrating with its own images thrown up by the hints she gives. A truly exceptional short story.

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day free trial :
https://esound.space/full

ID: 217562

Title: Jeannot and Colin

Author: Voltaire

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 00:23:00

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Red Door Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Classics

Summary:

Voltaire was the nom de plume of François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), a well known writer, poet, satirist and wit whose ascerbic criticism of many institutions of the day once earned him a period of imprisonment in the Bastille.

In this tale of Jeannot and Colin, Voltaire not only tells an instructive tale, warning of the dangers of sudden wealth and social climbing, but also directs his satirical comments at the vacuous and fickle nouveau riche of his day, the catholic church, private education, and society in general.

Jeannot and Colin are childhood friends. Both come from working-class backgrounds in a rural part of France, but Jeannot's parents, on a trip to Paris, strike it lucky in business and within a short time become very wealthy. They purchase a title, send fine clothes to their son, and order him to Paris. Jeannot's head is turned by the sudden elevation in his status and he lords it over the humble Colin when he leaves.

In Paris, there is a lengthy discussion as to how Jeannot should best be educated for his new role as a young marquis. After rejecting Latin, geography, astronomy, history, and various other possible subjects, they settle on teaching him to dance and hold forth as a wit at dinner parties. All seems to be going well, when one day the bailiffs arrive and repossess all the family's assets. Jeannot is about to learn some very harsh life-lessons.

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day free trial :
https://esound.space/full

ID: 217572

Title: Diamond Lens

Author: Fitz James O'Brien

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 01:05:00

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Red Door Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Classics

Summary:

Fitz James O'Brien (1828 - 1862) was an Irish-born American writer, some of whose work is considered the forerunner of today's science fiction. "The Diamond Lens" is his most famous short story and tells the strange story of a scientist who invents a powerful microscope and discovers a beautiful woman in an enchanting microscopic world inside a drop of water.

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day free trial :
https://esound.space/full

ID: 217596

Title: Story of Brave Kasper and Fair Annie

Author: Clemens Brentano

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 01:21:00

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Red Door Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Classics

Summary:

Clemens Brentano (1778-1842) was one of the giants of German Literary Romanticism. The Story of Brave Kasper and Fair Annie (published in 1817) is a novella outlining the sad tale of two star-crossed lovers, whose fates are determined by their determination to retain their own honour against all odds.

Their story is mainly recounted by Kasper's 88-year-old grandmother, who is also Annie's guardian. As each episode of the tale unfolds, a new twist casts a different light on the previous episodes and new pieces of the jigsaw are put into place. The listener waits with bated breath to see what the picture will look like at the end.

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day free trial :
https://esound.space/full

ID: 217569

Title: Desperate Adventure

Author: Max Adeler

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 00:18:00

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Red Door Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Classics

Summary:

Max Adeler was the nom de plume of the American writer and humorist Charles Heber Clark (1841 - 1915). His tale A Desperate Adventure begins thus: "WANTED, four persons who are bent upon committing suicide, to engage in a hazardous adventure. Apply etc. to Captain Cowgill, No. 1, Blank Street after nine o'clock in the morning." From the applicants, Captain Cowgill selects three men and one young lady for a most unusual and bizarre quest...which ends in quite a different way to how any of the participants imagine.

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day free trial :
https://esound.space/full

ID: 217592

Title: Zodomirsky's Duel

Author: Alexandre Dumas

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 00:33:00

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Red Door Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Classics

Summary:

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) was one of France's best-known and most-prolific authors. He excelled at many genres, but is probably best known for his stories of high adventure and dashing derring do.

In Zodomirsky's Duel, he tells the tale of an unusual duel between officers in a regiment stationed on the Austrian border. A new officer has arrived, Lieutenant Zodomirsky, who is betrothed to the beautiful Mademoiselle Ravensky. The dour Sub-Lieutenant Stamm is far from impressed by the handsome, popular, and wealthy newcomer, who also has a reputation for being overly hot-headed. Stamm himself had secret hopes where Mademoiselle Ravensky was concerned.

Stamm goes out of his way to insult Zodomirsky, which inevitably leads to a challenge to a duel. But Stamm sets some very unusual stipulations as to the method of the contest... which means that Zodomirsky's natural advantage in any armed combat is quickly reversed.

The outcome of the duel is completely unexpected and more terrible for both parties than anything either of them could have conceived.

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day free trial :
https://esound.space/full

ID: 217563

Title: In the Reign of Terror

Author: Anatole France

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 00:11:00

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Red Door Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Classics

Summary:

Anatole France (1844 - 1924) was a leading French poet and writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1921. "In the Reign of Terror" is a short story describing a daring spur of the moment escape by an aristocratic woman, when the mob appears at her door, seeking a neighbour who they wish to drag off to the guillotine.

Contact: [email protected]