Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

Barrack-Room Ballads is a collection of poems by Rudyard Kipling which describe life in the British Army, particularly in India, in his time. The poems are written in the voice and language of soldiers of that time. The collection includes some of his best known poems. (Summary by Alan Mapstone)

Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic children’s novel, Anne of Green Gables tells the story of a red headed orphan girl with a personality you can’t help but love. Despite her “tragical” past, Anne’s optimism and imagination have helped her to always see the best in things. Anne’s life changes considerably when she is accidentally adopted by the Cuthberts, a brother and sister who thought they were getting a boy to help out on the farm. The Cuthberts decide Anne will have to be sent back to the orphange but before they know it, she has begun to work her way into their hearts. (Summary ...

The Lifted Veil is a novella by George Eliot, first published in 1859. Quite unlike the realistic fiction for which Eliot is best known, The Lifted Veil explores themes of extrasensory perception, the essence of physical life, possible life after death, and the power of fate. The novella is a significant part of the Victorian tradition of horror fiction. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Agnes Grey is the daughter of a minister, whose family comes to financial ruin. Desperate to earn money to care for herself, she takes one of the few jobs allowed to respectable women in the early Victorian era, as a governess to the children of the wealthy. In working with two different families, the Bloomfields and the Murrays, she comes to learn about the troubles that face a young woman who must try to rein in unruly, spoiled children for a living, and about the ability of wealth and status to destroy social values. After her father's death, Agnes opens a small school with her mother and ...

Little Men (published 1871) is considered the second book of the Little Women trilogy written by Louisa May Alcott. (The book Good Wives (1869) was originally the sequel to the novel Little Women (1868), however those two novels are now usually published as a single volume.) The final book of the trilogy is Jo's Boys (1886). Little Men follows the life of Jo Bhaer and the students who live and learn at the Plumfield Estate School that she runs with her husband. The mischievous kids, whom she loves and cares for as her own, learn valuable lessons as they become proper gentlemen and ladies. We ...

"Harold Transome is a landowner who goes against his family's political tradition (much to his mother's distress), while Felix Holt is a sincere radical. The setting of the book, the 1832 parliament election, is used to discuss the social problems of that time. A secondary plot involves Esther Lyon, the stepdaughter of a minister who is the real heiress to the Transome estate, with whom both Harold Transome and Felix Holt fall in love. Esther loves poor Felix Holt, but would she choose a comfortable life with Harold Transome?" (Summary by Stav Nisser)

Bears make an appearance in so many fairy tales and fables, it is difficult to imagine a fairy-tale world without them. However, in most of those fairy tales, the bear is just a side-character. In this volume, Clifton Johnson has collected 18 stories in which the bear takes a lead role. - Summary by Carolin

Adam Bede, the first novel written by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans), was published in 1859. It was published pseudonymously, even though Evans was a well-published and highly respected scholar of her time. The novel has remained in print ever since, and is used in university studies of 19th century English literature. The story's plot follows four characters rural lives in the fictional community of Hayslope—a rural, pastoral and close-knit community in 1799. The novel revolves around a love triangle between beautiful but thoughtless Hetty Sorrel, Captain Arthur Donnithorne, ...

A collection of short stories by Louisa May Alcott that were written with the intent to entertain the whole family and to fill children's heads with wonder and delight. (Summary by Jennifer Stearns)

Alcott in 1862 served as a nurse in Georgetown, D.C during the Civil War. She wrote home what she observed there. Those harrowing and sometimes humorous letters compiled make up Hospital Sketches. (Summary by Aaron Elliott)

This is the story of Rose, a rich but lonely and sickly girl who has been recently orphaned and sent to live with her maiden aunts. When Rose's guardian, Uncle Alec, returns from abroad he takes over her care. Through his unorthodox theories about child-rearing and her exposure to the exploits of her seven male cousins and numerous aunts, Rose becomes happier and healthier, cured of many of her fears and prejudices. She also makes friends with Phebe, her aunts' maid of her own age, whose cheerful attitude in the face of poverty helps to illustrate to Rose her own good fortune.

The Lady of the Camellias (French: La Dame aux camélias) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, first published in 1848, that was subsequently adapted for the stage. The Lady of the Camellias premiered at the Theatre de Vaudeville in Paris, France on February 2, 1852. An instant success, Giuseppe Verdi immediately set about to put the story to music. His work became the 1853 opera La Traviata with the female protagonist "Marguerite Gautier" renamed "Violetta Valéry".In the English-speaking world, The Lady of the Camellias became known as Camille and sixteen versions have been performed at ...

Armando Duval, un joven de la alta sociedad parisiense, se enamora perdidamente de Margarita Gautier, reconocida cortesana, quien corresponde sinceramente a este sentimiento. Olvidándose de esas circunstancias que les rodean, Armando y Margarita se entregan por completo a ese amor, sin importarles el escándalo que esto genere. (Summary by Phileas Fogg)

Born in Scotland, Alexander Dunlop Lindsay was a teacher of philosophy at a number of universities in England in the early 1900s. This brief commentary on Kant's philosophy is a work that focuses solely on some of the main ideas Kant put forth in the three Critiques. Although not comprehensive, the narrative style of this volume makes it a pleasant read and will be a valuable "break-in" point (or introduction to) the complex philosophy of Immanuel Kant. (Summary by SKwanlada)

Subtitled "The Throne, The Tomb, and The Scaffold - An Historical Play in 3 Acts From the Celebrated Play of that Name by Alexandre Dumas" - How can you resist a play about English history - the doomed fifth wife of Henry the 8th - by the celebrated French author of The Musketeers?? - Summary by ToddHWCast list:Henry VIII, King of England: Larry WilsonAthelwold, Duke of Northumberland: Paul SimoninArchbishop Cranmer: alanmapstoneDuke of Sussex: KHandDuke of Norfolk: tovarischGrand Chamberlain: Tomas PeterLieutenant of the Tower: Sandra SchmitFleming, an Alchemist: AvaillePage: LydiaMartin ...

LibriVox’s 2007 Christmas Short Works Collection containing public domain short stories, essays, poems, and scripture passages recorded by a variety of LibriVox members.Section 09: A Cornish Christmas Play, a mummers' play, was read by gathered members of the UK LibriVox chapter (Sarah O'Connor, Graham Redman, Cori Samuel and Peter Yearsley.)

LibriVox volunteers bring you 17 different recordings of Foreign Lands by Robert Louis Stevenson. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of April 22nd, 2007.

Master storyteller Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped) brings us an entrancing and at times quite amusing collection of darkly cynical fables for the modern man, shedding light upon the human condition in ways unimagined at the time. This collection was originally issued posthumously but is as relevant and entertaining as it ever was. (Summary by Ben Tucker)

This is a collection of 43 poems read in English by LibriVox volunteers for September 2023.

In the unsettled years of England's War of the Roses, where a man stood on the issue of kingship could make his fortune... or end his life. Dick Shelton, a nobly-born lad, is on the cusp of manhood, and he is thrust bodily into this stew where allegiances shift under one's feet. Circumstances cause him to fall in with a gentlemaiden in boy's disguise. Until he learns of the deception, Dick is unaware that the young lady is an heiress whom his guardian Sir Daniel had kidnapped. And the introduction of an outlaw with a penchant for putting black arrows into the bodies of the men who had wronged ...