Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Anthologies & Short Stories

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat, a brilliant gem of a short story from Roald Dahl, the master of the sting in the tail. Read by the actress Stephanie Beacham. In Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat, Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a wife pawns her lover’s parting gift with unexpected consequences.

The unabridged, digital audiobook edition of "Poison" a short, sharp, frightening story from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale, read by the actor Richard E. Grant. In "Poison", Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a man waits in paralysing fear for the venomous snake asleep on his stomach to awaken.... "Poison" is taken from the short story collection Someone Like You.

The unabridged, digital audiobook edition of "Rummins", a short, sharp, chilling story from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale, read by the actress Jessica Hynes. In "Rummins", Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a macabre story about the darker side of human nature. Here, the men building a hay rick one summer find that the heat and rats are the least of their worries.... "Rummins" is taken from the short story collection Someone Like You.

The unabridged, digital audiobook edition of "Neck", a short, sharp, frightening story from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale, read by the actor Julian Rhind-Tutt. In "Neck", Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a sculpture comes between a scheming wife and her put-upon husband.... "Neck" is taken from the short story collection Someone Like You, which includes 17 other devious and shocking stories.

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Royal Jelly, a brilliant gem of a short story from Roald Dahl, the master of the sting in the tail. Read by Oliver-award-winning actor Adrian Scarborough. In Royal Jelly, Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a husband and wife, unable to get their new baby to feed, hit upon a novel and disturbing solution.

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of 'The Wish', a short, sharp, chilling story from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale. Read by the actor Stephen Mangan. In 'The Wish', Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, an imaginative boy plays a game that quickly gets out of hand.

Each of these eight remarkable stories by Danzy Senna tightrope-walks tantalizingly, sometimes frighteningly, between defined states: life with and without mates and children, the familiar if constraining reference points provided by race, class, and gender. Tensions arise between a biracial couple when their son is admitted to the private school where they'd applied on a lark. A new mother hosts an old friend, still single, and discovers how each of them pities - and envies - the other. A young woman responds to an adoptee in search of her birth mother, knowing it is not she.

Once upon a time, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories - fantastical yarns of wondrous creatures in faraway places-bewitched children across the world. But times change. Today, Kipling's writing tells us a different tale; of a love of Empire, and the troubling legacy of British colonialism. In Not So Stories, writers of colour from around the world reclaim these stories and remake them into something new. Something different.

One of the greatest of all horror writers, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) also composed pioneering tales that seized upon the scientific developments of an era marked by staggering change. In this collection of 16 stories, he explores such wide-ranging contemporary themes as galvanism, time travel and resurrection of the dead.

As she walks out of her marriage, a woman remembers the day her husband rescued a boy from drowning. A blind man on his wedding day celebrates the pursuit of love. And a young man leaves prison with only one desire - to see his son again. With power and precision, humanity and insight, Supporting Cast captures the extraordinary moments in our ordinary lives and the darkness and the joy of the everyday.

From Sunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick - the UK's answer to Harlan Coben - come two electrifying novellas and three gripping short stories published in book form for the very first time. Fans of David Baldacci, Stuart MacBride and Peter James will not be disappointed.

A hard drinking, hard fighting builder has a nasty accident when in bed with his best-mate's sister. Little does he know what 'punishment' awaits him on the other side.... Hilarious, shocking and hugely entertaining, 'Catholic Guilt' has all the classic Irvine Welsh ingredients.

Leonora Brito was a writer of exceptional stories. In Dat's Love, she soaks up the sights, sounds and colours of Cardiff to boldly explore race and history. With each electric story, Brito introduces a unique cast of characters, vibrantly elevating their everyday lives. From 59-year-old Dorothy taking up nude modelling to black aristocrat Dido Elizabeth Belle, from the assassination of JFK to what's going down at the Blue Bayou, Brito blends the surreal and the mundane to redress history and immerse the reader in a vibrantly painted world.

When Four Stories by American Women was first published by Penguin Classics in 1990, it understandably reflected the second-wave feminist interpretations of that time—a period marked by an impressive recovery of what were then considered to be minor American writers. This updated and expanded volume, Twelve Stories by American Women edited by Arielle Zibrak, offers a more diverse selection of writers—including Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, María Cristina Mena, Zitkala-Ša, Sui Sin Far, and Barbara E. Pope.

In slightly fantastical settings, Gonzales illustrates very real guilt over small and large marital missteps, the intense desire for the reinvention of self, and the powerful urges we feel to defend and provide for the people we love. With wit and insight, these stories subvert our expectations and challenge us to look at our surroundings with fresh eyes. Brilliantly conceived, strikingly original, and told with the narrative instinct of a born storyteller, The Miniature Wife is an unforgettable debut.

There is no other anthology that brings together similar stories of ancient women in power. All of these stories were written by men, and none of them can be interpreted as affirmations or celebrations of women in power. They are instead misogynistic tales that aim to shore up masculine authority by exposing the consequences when women rather than men wield it.