Classic Audiobook Collection

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Round the Sofa by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell ~ Full Audiobook [family] Dec 23, 2022

Show notes

Round the Sofa by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell audiobook.

Genre: family

Round the Sofa (1859), is a book of stories by the lady that Charles Dickens called his “dear Scheherazade” due to her skill as a story teller. That Lady was Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell (North and South, Wives and Daughters, Cranford etc.). Mrs. Gaskell begins with Round the Sofa, a short story which she uses as a device to stitch together six previously published stories into a single work. It introduces us to a set of characters who take turns to recount stories to one another during their weekly soirée. My Lady Ludlow tells the story of the widowed, aristocratic Lady Ludlow and her fierce resistance to change. It is told through the eyes of one of her young charges. Incidentally, it was one of the books used to create the TV series Cranford. An Accursed Race is actually an essay about a persecuted minority group, the Cagots in Western France. The Doom of the Griffiths. A Gothic short story about a cursed family and set in Wales. Half a Life-Time Ago. A novella set in the Wiltshire Dales. The Poor Clare. A Ghostly short story! The Half Brothers. A sad short story about brotherly love and a sheep-dog dog named Lassie!

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:17:53) Chapter 02

(00:57:45) Chapter 03

(01:33:11) Chapter 04

(02:04:01) Chapter 05

(02:34:50) Chapter 06

(03:07:26) Chapter 07

(03:41:27) Chapter 08

(04:15:29) Chapter 09

(04:53:08) Chapter 10

(05:27:49) Chapter 11

(05:59:36) Chapter 12

(06:34:26) Chapter 13

(07:18:43) Chapter 14

(07:55:55) Chapter 15

(08:36:36) Chapter 16

(09:25:36) Chapter 17

(10:18:31) Chapter 18

(11:07:45) Chapter 19

(11:47:06) Chapter 20

(12:00:15) Chapter 21

(12:30:35) Chapter 22

(12:44:39) Chapter 23

(13:11:03) Chapter 24

(13:44:40) Chapter 25

(14:26:17) Chapter 26

(15:05:11) Chapter 27

(15:43:42) Chapter 28

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North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell audiobook.

Genre: drama

Set in Victorian England, North and South is the story of Margaret Hale, a young woman whose life is turned upside down when her family relocates to northern England. As an outsider from the agricultural south, Margaret is initially shocked by the aggressive northerners of the dirty, smoky industrial town of Milton. But as she adapts to her new home, she defies social conventions with her ready sympathy and defense of the working poor. Her passionate advocacy leads her to repeatedly clash with charismatic mill owner John Thornton over his treatment of his workers. While Margaret denies her growing attraction to him, Thornton agonizes over his foolish passion for her, in spite of their heated disagreements. As tensions mount between them, a violent unionization strike explodes in Milton, leaving everyone to deal with the aftermath in the town and in their personal lives.

Elizabeth Gaskell serialized North and South between September 1854 and January 1855 in Charles Dickens’s magazine Household Words. Upon its publication, Gaskell established herself as a novelist capable of serious discourse on social responsibility and advocacy for change in defiance of established authority.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:25:19) Chapter 02

(00:44:09) Chapter 03

(01:06:59) Chapter 04

(01:33:01) Chapter 05

(02:02:25) Chapter 06

(02:17:21) Chapter 07

(02:36:06) Chapter 08

(02:59:07) Chapter 09

(03:08:58) Chapter 10

(03:29:29) Chapter 11

(03:47:35) Chapter 12

(04:01:13) Chapter 13

(04:17:29) Chapter 14

(04:31:13) Chapter 15

(05:09:16) Chapter 16

(05:29:20) Chapter 17

(05:49:54) Chapter 18

(06:10:34) Chapter 19

(06:39:34) Chapter 20

(07:03:01) Chapter 21

(07:23:16) Chapter 22

(07:57:52) Chapter 23

(08:15:47) Chapter 24

(08:30:55) Chapter 25

(08:58:14) Chapter 26

(09:11:48) Chapter 27

(09:27:10) Chapter 28

(10:10:45) Chapter 29

(10:25:34) Chapter 30

(10:56:38) Chapter 31

(11:21:23) Chapter 32

(11:33:00) Chapter 33

(11:45:58) Chapter 34

(11:58:14) Chapter 35

(12:34:34) Chapter 36

(13:01:12) Chapter 37

(13:25:29) Chapter 38

(13:57:45) Chapter 39

(14:20:42) Chapter 40

(14:53:15) Chapter 41

(15:22:52) Chapter 42

(15:49:49) Chapter 43

(16:11:30) Chapter 44

(16:35:50) Chapter 45

(16:43:03) Chapter 46

(17:29:33) Chapter 47

(17:42:24) Chapter 48

(17:57:22) Chapter 49

(18:12:15) Chapter 50

(18:37:11) Chapter 51

(18:53:20) Chapter 52

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Mr. Harrison’s Confessions by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell ~ Full Audiobook [comedy] Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

Mr. Harrison’s Confessions by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell audiobook.

Genre: comedy

It is asserted that the inspiration for Elizabeth Gaskell's marvellous stories of Cranford was her childhood home of Knutsford, a small town in Cheshire and to where she returned for a while as a young woman. This assertion is born out by an essay she wrote in 1849 entitled The Last Generation in England, in which she writes about 'The town in which I once resided ...'. There can be little doubt when reading this that it provided her with the template for Cranford.

In 1851 the year she began to write Cranford, she also wrote a novella entitled Mr. Harrison's Confessions. It describes the life of a country doctor in a small provincial town. Mrs. Gaskell's model for this town could also only have been Knutsford which she knew and loved so well. The story revolves around the arrival in the town of a young doctor and the attempts of the ladies of the town to place his status within their society and of course to find him a suitable wife. It is often thought of as a prequel to Cranford

Both of these pieces together with the novels, My Lady Ludlow and Cranford were used by the BBC to create the Television series Cranford in 2007.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:22:14) Chapter 2

(00:53:34) Chapter 3

(01:11:17) Chapter 4

(01:36:12) Chapter 5

(01:57:37) Chapter 6

(02:17:14) Chapter 7

(02:41:36) Chapter 8

(03:03:08) Chapter 9

(03:25:04) Chapter 10

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Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell ~ Full Audiobook [comedy] Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell audiobook.

Genre: comedy

Cranford is the best-known novel of the 19th century English writer Elizabeth Gaskell. It was first published in 1851 as a serial in the magazine Household Words, which was edited by Charles Dickens.

The fictional town of Cranford is closely modelled on Knutsford in Cheshire, which Mrs Gaskell knew well. The book has little in the way of plot and is more a series of episodes in the lives of Mary Smith and her friends, Miss Matty and Miss Deborah, two spinster sisters. The 'major' event in the story is the return to Cranford of their long-lost brother, Peter, which in itself is only a minor portion of the work...

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:21:52) Chapter 02

(00:51:21) Chapter 03

(01:09:08) Chapter 04

(01:30:42) Chapter 05

(01:52:54) Chapter 06

(02:16:37) Chapter 07

(02:37:21) Chapter 08

(03:02:56) Chapter 09

(03:22:27) Chapter 10

(03:50:04) Chapter 11

(04:12:36) Chapter 12

(04:28:58) Chapter 13

(04:51:01) Chapter 14

(05:26:06) Chapter 15

(05:51:11) Chapter 16

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Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell audiobook.

Genre: drama

In a quiet corner of rural England, young Paul Manning begins his first job on a new railway line, commuting between the noise of industry and the calm of his relatives' farm. There he meets Cousin Phillis Holman, a gifted, well-read minister's daughter whose life is shaped by hard work, faith, and the close-knit rhythms of family. Phillis is intelligent and passionate, yet sheltered, and Paul quickly finds himself drawn into the warmth of the Holman household and the subtle tensions that come with a changing world. When an older engineer arrives, bringing wider experience and an easy charm, Paul becomes an uneasy witness to shifting affections and unspoken hopes. As the railway pushes forward, so do questions about duty, love, and the cost of awakening to feelings that cannot be neatly managed. Elizabeth Gaskell paints a tender, realistic portrait of first love, friendship, and moral responsibility, set against the contrast between pastoral tradition and modern progress, where small choices carry lasting emotional weight.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:24:38) Chapter 2

(00:54:05) Chapter 3

(01:25:47) Chapter 4

(01:51:28) Chapter 5

(02:15:40) Chapter 6

(02:35:20) Chapter 7

(03:08:15) Chapter 8

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Peace on Earth, Good Will to Dogs by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott ~ Full Audiobook [romance] Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

Peace on Earth, Good Will to Dogs by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott audiobook.

Genre: romance

If you don't like Christmas stories, don't read this one!

And if you don't like dogs, I don't know just what to advise you to do!

For I warn you perfectly frankly that I am distinctly pro-dog and distinctly pro-Christmas, and would like to bring to this little story whatever whiff of fir-balsam I can cajole from the make-believe forest in my typewriter, and every glitter of tinsel, smudge of toy candle, crackle of wrapping paper, that my particular brand of brain and ink can conjure up on a single keyboard! And very large-sized dogs shall romp through every page! And the mercury shiver perpetually in the vicinity of zero! And every foot of earth be crusty-brown and bare with no white snow at all till the very last moment when you'd just about given up hope! And all the heart of the story is very,—oh very young!

For purposes of propriety and general historical authenticity there are of course parents in the story. And one or two other oldish persons. But they all go away just as early in the narrative as I can manage it.—Are obliged to go away!

Yet lest you find in this general combination of circumstances some sinister threat of audacity, let me conventionalize the story at once by opening it at that most conventional of all conventional Christmas-story hours,—the Twilight of Christmas Eve.'

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:47:45) Chapter 02

(01:24:48) Chapter 03

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Pollyanna Grows Up by Eleanor H. Porter ~ Full Audiobook [family] Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

Pollyanna Grows Up by Eleanor H. Porter audiobook.

Genre: family

Pollyanna, now cured of her crippling spinal injury, and able to walk again, goes to live in Boston with Mrs. Carew, a heart-broken woman searching for her lost nephew. Her Aunt Polly goes abroad with her new Uncle, Dr. Chilton. While in Boston, Pollyanna meets new friends and has several interesting adventures...

A startling change in Aunt Polly's and Pollyanna's circumstances require Pollyanna to come up with a workable solution. Pollyanna's solution brings all her new friends from Boston and her old friends in Beldingsville together. Pollyanna also discovers she has to make a choice. Who will win her heart?

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:19:16) Chapter 02

(00:44:32) Chapter 03

(01:05:13) Chapter 04

(01:21:31) Chapter 05

(01:54:22) Chapter 06

(02:11:17) Chapter 07

(02:26:43) Chapter 08

(02:45:21) Chapter 09

(02:59:59) Chapter 10

(03:20:36) Chapter 11

(03:36:38) Chapter 12

(03:52:20) Chapter 13

(04:16:29) Chapter 14

(04:28:40) Chapter 15

(04:38:57) Chapter 16

(04:58:05) Chapter 17

(05:18:06) Chapter 18

(05:32:50) Chapter 19

(05:49:35) Chapter 20

(06:05:49) Chapter 21

(06:20:36) Chapter 22

(06:38:24) Chapter 23

(06:47:01) Chapter 24

(07:04:48) Chapter 25

(07:21:26) Chapter 26

(07:33:03) Chapter 27

(07:47:36) Chapter 28

(08:02:50) Chapter 29

(08:15:31) Chapter 30

(08:27:12) Chapter 31

(08:50:12) Chapter 32

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Just David by Eleanor H. Porter ~ Full Audiobook [family] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Just David by Eleanor H. Porter audiobook.

Genre: family

After the death of his beloved father, a gentle, wide-eyed boy named David is sent from a lonely mountain home to live with relatives he has never met. He arrives with little more than a violin, a few simple habits shaped by hardship, and a disarming way of seeing the best in everyone. In the small New England town of Bethel, David is taken in by his stern, reclusive uncle, Eben Holly, whose years of bitterness have walled off his heart from neighbors and family alike. But David does not understand walls. Moving through the village with earnest curiosity and a musician's sensitivity, he befriends shopkeepers, children, and lonely adults, quietly stirring up long-buried regrets and half-healed quarrels. His innocent questions and unwavering faith in goodness begin to challenge old grudges, even as misunderstandings and the town's gossip threaten to turn kindness into trouble. With music as his language and compassion as his compass, David becomes an unexpected force in a community that has forgotten how to forgive, and in a household that has forgotten how to love.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:15:46) Chapter 02

(00:34:19) Chapter 03

(00:48:48) Chapter 04

(01:10:06) Chapter 05

(01:27:56) Chapter 06

(01:47:57) Chapter 07

(02:04:34) Chapter 08

(02:21:53) Chapter 09

(02:40:43) Chapter 10

(02:58:36) Chapter 11

(03:10:47) Chapter 12

(03:20:20) Chapter 13

(03:35:28) Chapter 14

(03:49:01) Chapter 15

(04:02:25) Chapter 16

(04:15:51) Chapter 17

(04:35:10) Chapter 18

(04:54:40) Chapter 19

(05:07:42) Chapter 20

(05:22:44) Chapter 21

(05:34:25) Chapter 22

(05:47:04) Chapter 23

(06:04:31) Chapter 24

(06:17:02) Chapter 25

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The Steam Man of the Prairies by Edward S. Ellis ~ Full Audiobook [adventure] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

The Steam Man of the Prairies by Edward S. Ellis audiobook.

Genre: adventure

When the vast American frontier still feels unmapped and unforgiving, teenage adventurers Johnny Brainerd and his friend Kit discover a startling invention that seems torn from a dream: a towering, human-shaped machine powered by steam and built to stride across the open prairie. Guided by its brilliant young creator, the boys are swept into a high-speed journey where ingenuity becomes their greatest weapon and the wilderness offers dangers no blueprint can predict. As the strange mechanical giant draws attention, the travelers find themselves tested by treacherous terrain, scarce supplies, and hostile forces that see the Steam Man as either a prize to claim or a threat to destroy. Part chase story, part survival tale, the novel pits curiosity and courage against fear of the new, asking what progress means when law and safety are far behind. With each mile, friendship hardens into loyalty, and the humming engine at their side becomes more than a marvel - it is their chance to outpace peril, prove themselves, and carve a path through the prairies where anything can happen.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:09:49) Chapter 02

(00:18:48) Chapter 03

(00:28:11) Chapter 04

(00:37:24) Chapter 05

(00:46:44) Chapter 06

(00:56:19) Chapter 07

(01:05:17) Chapter 08

(01:13:59) Chapter 09

(01:22:56) Chapter 10

(01:31:12) Chapter 11

(01:40:24) Chapter 12

(01:48:53) Chapter 13

(01:55:50) Chapter 14

(02:04:38) Chapter 15

(02:15:00) Chapter 16

(02:23:50) Chapter 17

(02:33:04) Chapter 18

(02:42:21) Chapter 19

(02:50:27) Chapter 20

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Nonsense Verses by Edward Lear ~ Full Audiobook [poetry] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Nonsense Verses by Edward Lear audiobook.

Genre: poetry

This is a collection of some of the delightful nonsense verses and stories by Edward Lear. A lot of them are also my favorites. The Jumblies, The Owl and the Pussy-cat; the Broom, the Shovel, The Poker and the Tongs; The Duck and the Kangaroo; The Cummerbund; The Dong with the Luminous Nose; The New Vestments; Calico Pie; The courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo and Incidents in the Life of My Uncle Arly. Also included at no extra cost are two sections with my favorite Lear limericks. Only about 30 of them but they are all funny and full of delectable silliness. I hope you enjoy listening to these as much as I enjoyed recording them.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:04:38) Chapter 02

(00:06:28) Chapter 03

(00:09:02) Chapter 04

(00:11:18) Chapter 05

(00:13:40) Chapter 06

(00:19:09) Chapter 07

(00:22:15) Chapter 08

(00:23:50) Chapter 09

(00:28:51) Chapter 10