Robert Louis Stevenson Classics Collection

Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and A Child's Garden of Verses (Annotated) with ... Introduction and a Study of Themes

De: Robert Louis Stevenson

Narrado por: Lee Daniels, Karen Allen, Michael Sheppard

Unique to this title is:

• A study of the themes present in Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and A Child's Garden of Verses
• A historical introduction

You may, of course, skip all of it and go straight to the main title if you do not want any spoilers and come back later to the beginning.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish essayist, poet, and author of fiction and travel books, was born in 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland, as an only son of a prosperous civil engineer. He entered the University of Edinburgh at the age of 17 and studied to be an engineer to follow his father in the family business; however, he soon realized that he was not cut out for that profession. His father agreed to let him study law instead and although Stevenson graduated from the law school, he never practiced law because, by then, he knew he wanted to be a writer.

In Treasure Island, the story starts when a drunken sailor named Billy Bones arrives at the inn owned by Jim Hawkins' father. Bones stays at the inn for some time without paying his bills. He askes Jim, a 12-year-old boy, to watch for his former shipmates who are after his valuables. When shipmates eventually arrive and Bones mysteriously dies, Jim opens his chest and finds a treasure map.

In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the novel revolves around an investigation carried out by a London lawyer Gabriel John Utterson, concerning the strange relationship between his client, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The novella had a huge impact on modern culture, so much so that the phrase “Jekyll and Hyde” became a common way of describing someone's dual nature.

A Child's Garden of Verses is a book of poetry for children. Stevenson dedicated the poems to his nurse Cummy (Alison Cunningham), who cared for him during his many childhood illnesses. The collection includes some of Stevenson's most famous poems, including “The Land of Counterpane”, “My Shadow" and “The Lamplighter”.

Enjoy this timeless classic collection!

Public Domain (P)2020 Chronos Publishing

Great compilation

This a great compilation of short stories and most of them are classics. There is a lot of value in this book because of how many short stories there are. All of the stories were well narrated.

Three separate reviews

I have listened to all these books individually and at separate times. I have copied my past reviews here...
———— A Child’s Garden of Verses:
This is the first time I have read/listened to this book. Audiobook Giveaways (Chronos Publishing) does well creating their audiobooks. I like the study of themes at the beginning. Some of their other books have included a historical introduction and information about the author. I think these all add to their rendition to make them stand out versus other audio productions. This is the first book I have listened to by this narrator ( Michael Sheppard ) and I think he did well narrating this content. He occasionally uses accents to give variety. His style is smooth and soft. I think I could fall asleep to his voice if I was not focusing on the verses. I generally listen at 1.5x speed but I increased to 1.8x speed. There are no explicit sex scenes, violence, or swearing.
Story 4/5 narration 5/5
———— Treasure Island:
This is the fifteenth book I have read/listened to by Audiobook Giveaways and I would definitely listen to another. Each book is a classic. At the beginning of each book they have an overview, quotes and themes in the story, and often history about the personal life of the author. I thoroughly enjoy these little tidbits and believe this adds to the audiobook.
This is the first book I have listened to by this narrator ( Lee Daniels ). She uses accents quite well to differentiate the characters. She reads this book much as it is, like diary entries or personal recollections. She varies her cadence between the narrative and the character conversations, this adds to the performance of this book.
Story 4/5 Narration 4/5
————The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde:
This is the second book I’ve read/listened to by this author and second audio rendition of this book. I like the historical intro and overview given at the beginning of this rendition. I think it adds to the overall audiobook experience. This is the first book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Karen Allen ) and I would listen to another. She narrated this like retelling a story, not just reading one, except she had only subtle variation in character voices. Her tone is pleasant.
Story 4/5 Narration 3/5
———— I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.