Showing results by narrator "Elizabeth Moon" in All Categories

After a tragic accident kills their father and their mother perishes during childbirth, sisters Norah and Magdalen discover their parents had only been married a matter of months and therefore the girls were actually illegitimate. Their uncle inherits the entirety of the family fortune, refusing to provide the girls with anything as they make their way out into the world. Using her love of the stage and all things dramatic, Magdalen enlists the help of her distant relative, Captain Wragge, a known professional swindler, to regain her inheritance and the right to her name.

North and South follows the young Margaret Hale as she is caught in the middle of the brutal world between employers and local workers following the Industrial Revolution. She finds herself at odds from the very start with John Thornton, a local factory owner and self-made man, as she believes him to be unfeeling and callous about the poverty and suffering of the workers while John sees Margaret as haughty and entitled. Further conflicts arise when the workers strike and Margaret feels compelled to intervene with no regard for her own safety.

Uncle Vanya is Anton Chekhov's 1902 tragicomedy focusing on the romantic entanglements of the residents of a declining country estate. Vanya loves Helena, the unhappily married wife of aged professor Serebrakoff. Sonia loves Dr. Astroff, but he's more interested in Helena. Serebrakoff loves only himself and is idealized by Vanya's mother, who believes him to be a genius.

The Importance of Being Earnest is Wilde's most famous and oft-produced play. First performed in 1895, and subtitled "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People", it shows Wilde at his satirical and scathingly witty best. It follows the misadventures of Algy and Jack as they attempt to woo and wed Cecily and Gwendolen under the assumed name "Ernest", much to the disapproval of the aristocratic Lady Bracknell.

In this moody Russian drama, Ivanov is a melancholic impoverished landowner whose wife is dying of tuberculosis. However, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to the beautiful Sasha, the daughter of his wealthy neighbors. Augmented by a diverse array of colorful supporting characters and intrigues, this play provides a glimpse of master dramatist Anton Chekhov's early work.

Join seven-year-old Alice as she tumbles down the rabbit hole to have an adventure in Wonderland, in Lewis Carroll's classic novel beloved by children and adults alike. Alice encounters many strange and curious creatures in Wonderland, including the anxious White Rabbit, the rather unhelpful Caterpillar, the disappearing Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and his guests at their tea party, and the horrible Queen of Hearts.

A Doll's House, published in 1879, was the earliest of Ibsen's "social dramas", and the first of his works to attract attention outside of Scandinavia. The central theme of the play is a woman's right to individual self-development, and represents, as humourist Stephen Leacock observed of many Ibsen plays, "a profound problem stated but not solved".

Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel is the most famous vampire tale ever told. British solicitor Jonathan Harker finds himself imprisoned in a castle in Transylvania and begins to believe his host, Count Dracula, is not entirely human. As his horror mounts, he suspects that Dracula plans to invade and conquer England, one victim at a time.

Lucy Honeychurch is a young English girl abroad in Italy for the first time and is ready to experience all the beauty, art, and romance it has to offer. She is hampered by the oppressive attentions of her chaperone, her prim cousin Charlotte, as well as the presence of a substantial British expatriate and tourist community in Florence.

Jane Eyre is a plain orphan girl, unloved and abused by her Aunt Reed, who is sent away to boarding school. Strong of heart and craving independence, Jane embarks upon a life of governess to a young French girl named Adele, the benefactor of the mysterious Mr. Rochester. Life at Thornfield Hall proves just as mysterious as its owner with haunting laughter and a dark secret living in the attic.

Authors Jack Campbell and Elizabeth Moon discuss fact vs. fiction in science fiction and fantasy; reviving old series and bringing new series to an end; steampunk; and much more.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the first published collection of short stories featuring the famous consulting detective and his friend and colleague Dr. Watson.

This is the second novella detailing the continuing adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the world's first consulting detective, and his friend and colleague, Dr. John Watson. In The Sign of Four, Holmes and Watson are hired by Mary Morstan to investigate the mysterious circumstances of her father's death, which will set them on the trail of a lost Indian treasure and in pursuit of two of the strangest criminals in the Holmes canon.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes picks up where the previous collection of Holmes stories left off: with the great detective's return from the dead in "The Empty House." This and the twelve other stories in the anthology—including "The Dancing Men," "The Solitary Cyclist," "The Six Napoleons," and "The Second Stain"—are absolute classics of detective fiction centered on the genius Holmes and his loyal friend and companion Dr. Watson

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) re-introduced the world to the famous consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, who Arthur Conan Doyle seemingly killed off in 1894 in his story "The Final Problem." Based on British legend, this novella has Holmes and his colleague Dr. Watson trying to solve a supernatural killing in the wilds of Devonshire.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is the second published collection of short stories featuring the famous consulting detective and his friend and colleague Dr. Watson.

Richard Marsh's The Beetle outsold Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1897, the year both novels were published. Like Dracula, The Beetle is about a strange, unearthly being from a foreign land who infiltrates Britain by hypnotizing and preying upon his victims. This exciting adventure is narrated by four different characters who have close encounters with this rapacious creature and attempt to hunt down and destroy him.

Henry James' 1898 novella is one of the world's greatest ghost stories. Told by an unnamed governess who accepts a position looking after two children at a remote English country manor, the story is famously ambiguous. The governess gradually comes to believe that the house - and the two seemingly angelic children, Miles and Flora - are haunted by the ghosts of her predecessor and her brutish lover. But are the ghosts actually real? Or is the governess slowly going mad?

In a comprehensive and beautifully crafted first person narrative, David Copperfield recalls key stages, memories, and incidents of his life from infancy to maturity. Scenes, adventures, and characters are summoned to the narrator's remembrance so vividly that they are rendered with the vitality of the present moment.

Spoon River Anthology is a collection of poems that describe life - and death - in a small town. Each poem is a monologue delivered by a resident of Spoon River, describing events in their lives, and the circumstances that led to their occasionally untimely end. Edgar Lee Masters wrote this theatrical masterpiece to highlight the typical small town. The fascinating characters and realistic imagery make it easy to see why this is an American classic.