Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Short 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.