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

Haunting, uplifting, beautiful: the final work from Helen Dunmore. Helen Dunmore passed away in June 2017, leaving behind this remarkable collection of short stories. With her trademark imagination and gift for making history human, she explores the fragile ties between passion, love, family, friendship and grief, often through people facing turning points in their lives.

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Taste, a short, sharp, disturbing story from Roald Dahl, read by the inimitable Richard E. Grant. In Taste, Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a dark and curious story about the twisted side of human nature. Here, two men make an unusual and chilling wager over the provenance of a bottle of wine.

Best friends since second grade, Fiona Lin and Jane Shen explore the lonely freeways and seedy bars of Los Angeles together through their teenage years, surviving unfulfilling romantic encounters, and carrying with them the scars of their families' tumultuous pasts. Fiona was always destined to leave, her effortless beauty burnished by fierce ambition—qualities that Jane admired and feared in equal measure. When Fiona moves to New York and cares for a sick friend through a breakup with an opportunistic boyfriend, Jane remains in California.

A race-against-time short story from the best-selling author of Relentless, Siege, and Ultimatum, Simon Kernick. MP Tim Horton arrives home to find his seven year old son has been abducted by a ruthless gang of kidnappers. All they have left behind is the brutally murdered body of the Horton’s nanny. The gang’s demands are simple: Tim must sacrifice his own life in order to save his son’s. It’s the ultimate dead man's gift....

An eight-year-old trauma victim is enlisted as an underground courier, rushing frozen organs through the alleys of Eastern Europe. A young janitor transforms discarded objects into a fantastical, sprawling miniature city until a shocking discovery forces him to rethink his creation. A brazen child tells off a pack of schoolyard tormentors with the spirited invention of an 11th commandment. A wounded man drives eastward, through tears and grief, toward an unexpected transcendence.

Cathy’s new home is handsomely furnished - by an amorous male ghost. If only she had something she could…touch. Her neighbor may have a lousy personality, but he does have a perfect body. Now, spirit is about to meet flesh, to Cathy’s delight.

The unabridged, digital audiobook edition of 'The Ratcatcher', a short, sharp, distrubing story from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale, read by the actress Jessica Hynes. In 'The Ratcatcher', Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a ratcatcher has a most unusual way of dealing with these pests.... 'The Ratcatcher' is taken from the short story collection Someone Like You.

The unabridged, digital audiobook edition of 'The Soldier', a short, sharp, frightening story from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale, read by the actor Adrian Scarborough. In 'The Soldier', Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a chilling story about the dark side of life. Here, a man unable to feel pain slowly loses his bearings and mind.... 'The Soldier' is taken from the short story collection Someone Like You, which includes 17 other devious and shocking stories.

In 'The Last Act', Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a story of human darkness and frailty. Here, a woman’s reconnection with an old-flame does not go as expected. 'The Last Act' is taken from the short story collection Switch Bitch, which includes three other black comedies that capture the ins and outs, highs and lows of sex.

In 'A Fault on the Line' you will meet a husband who values a televised Hibs v Hearts game more than his wife’s life.This short story features in the collection 'Reheated Cabbage' and is available unabridged on audio for the first time. Hilarious, shocking and hugely entertaining, it has all the classic Irvine Welsh ingredients.

A form-bending and endlessly inventive collection of short stories from the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted and Baileys Prize-winning author of How to Be Both and the critically acclaimed Seasonal quartet. A middle-aged woman conducts a poignant conversation with her gauche 14-year-old self. An innocent supermarket shopper finds in her trolley a foul-mouthed, insulting and beautiful child. Challenging the boundaries between fiction and reality, we see a narrator, 'Ali', as she drinks tea, phones a friend and muses on the relationship between the short story and a nymph.

Why are books so powerful? What do the books we read make of us? And what does the vanishing of public libraries say about us? These stories are about what we do with books and what they do with us: how they travel with us, how they shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once, how they remind us to pay attention to the world we make.

Nell is 26 and has never been to Paris. She's never even been on a romantic weekend away - to anywhere - before. Traveling abroad isn't really her thing. But when Nell's boyfriend fails to show up for their mini vacation, she has the opportunity to prove everyone - including herself - wrong. Alone in Paris, Nell finds a version of herself she never knew existed: independent and intrepid. Could this turn out to be the most adventurous weekend of her life?

Dating from at least a millennium ago, these are the earliest known Arabic short stories, surviving in a single, ragged manuscript in a library in Istanbul. Some found their way into The Arabian Nights, but most have never been read in English before. Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange has monsters, lost princes, jewels beyond price, a princess turned into a gazelle, sword-wielding statues and shocking reversals of fortune.

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of 'William and Mary', a brilliant gem of a short story from Roald Dahl, the master of the sting in the tail. Read by Juliet Stevenson and Adrian Scarborough. In William and Mary, Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a wronged woman takes revenge on her dead husband.

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Skin, a short, sharp, frightening story from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale. Read by the actress Tamsin Greig. In Skin, Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a very unusual painting proves to be more valuable than anyone, especially its owner, could ever have predicted.

The unabridged, digital audiobook edition of 'The Sound Machine', a short, sharp, frightening story from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale, read by the actor Adrian Scarborough. In 'The Sound Machine', Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a curious invention reveals a horrifying truth about plants.... 'The Sound Machine' is taken from the short story collection Someone Like You.

In The Champion of the World, Roald Dahl tells a funny, bittersweet story about low cunning in the country. Danny and his father William are a pair of poachers who discover a foolproof way to bag pheasants using sleeping pills and raisins, however things do not go exactly to plan.....

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 Parson’s Pleasure, a brilliant gem of a short story from Roald Dahl, the master of the sting in the tail. Read by the actor Derek Jacobi. In Parson’s Pleasure, Roald Dahl, one of the world’s favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a priceless piece of furniture is the subject of a deceitful bargain.