Short Stories audiobooks

Jeannot and Colin

By: Voltaire

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 22 minutes

Abridged: No

Voltaire was the nom de plume of François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), a well known writer, poet, satirist and wit whose ascerbic criticism of many institutions of the day once earned him a period of imprisonment in the Bastille.

In this tale of Jeannot and Colin, Voltaire not only tells an instructive tale, warning of the dangers of sudden wealth... Read more

An Episode of the Reign of Terror

By: Honoré de Balzac

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 44 minutes

Abridged: No

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) is arguably the greatest European novelist in terms of the range and power of his writing. Most of his short stories predate his long novels and are written in a different style.

One of the earliest is An Episode of the Reign of Terror in which two nuns and a priest in hiding from the mob are visited by a stranger... Read more

The Reverend Father Gaucher's Elixir

By: Alphonse Daudet

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 21 minutes

Abridged: No

Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897) was one of France's finest storytellers.

The Reverend Father Gaucher's Elixir is set in a dilapidated monastery in Provence. The order has fallen on hard times and the future of the entire monastery is in jeopardy. But the order's simpleton cow-herd, Brother Gaucher, has an unexpected idea. His old Auntie Bégon had in... Read more

Benedict Cumberbatch Reads Thrilling Stories of the Railway - Abridged

By: Victor Whitechurch

Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch

Length: 1 hour 9 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Benedict Cumberbatch reads five stories featuring the famous vegetarian railway detective, Thorpe Hazell, as heard on BBC Radio 4.

In The Affair of the German Dispatch-Box, Hazell hatches a daring plan to retrieve a highly sensitive government document before it reaches the German Ambassador.

In Sir Gilbert Murrell's Picture, When an entire wagon... Read more

Showdown Trail

By: Louis L’Amour

Narrated by: Jim Gough

Length: 6 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

A collection of two stories by beloved Western writer Louis L'AmourIn "The Trail to Peach Meadow Canyon," Mike Bastian has been raised by outlaw chief Ben Curry and trained in frontier skills by Curry's most trusted associates. Curry now wants to retire from leadership of the gang he has headed for years. But he is frustrated in this ambition by... Read more

The Mystery of Choice

By: Robert W. Chambers

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 6 hours 3 minutes

Abridged: No

An eerie and macabre collection of stories from Robert W. Chambers, author of The King in YellowConsidered by many to be the father of supernatural fiction, Robert W. Chambers' work continues to influence writers today. Originally published in 1897, The Mystery of Choice brings together seven chilling tales, most of them set in Brittany.... Read more

Stories of the Golden West, Book 5

By: Jon Tuska, Zane Grey, Max Brand & Louis L’Amour

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 8 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

A collection of classic Western tales"Ca+¦on Walls" by Zane GreySmoke Bellew enters a remote Mormon settlement only a jump ahead of a posse. Finding employment as a ranch hand working for a dowager Mormon, Smoke finds that his life undergoes a transformation and he is able to make her ranch a financial success, at the same time falling in love... Read more

A Desperate Adventure

By: Max Adeler

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 17 minutes

Abridged: No

Max Adeler was the nom de plume of the American writer and humorist Charles Heber Clark (1841 - 1915). His tale A Desperate Adventure begins thus: "WANTED, four persons who are bent upon committing suicide, to engage in a hazardous adventure. Apply etc. to Captain Cowgill, No. 1, Blank Street after nine o'clock in the morning." From the... Read more

The Diamond Lens

By: Fitz-James O'Brien

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 1 hour 4 minutes

Abridged: No

Fitz James O'Brien (1828 - 1862) was an Irish-born American writer, some of whose work is considered the forerunner of today's science fiction. "The Diamond Lens" is his most famous short story and tells the strange story of a scientist who invents a powerful microscope and discovers a beautiful woman in an enchanting microscopic world inside a... Read more

Zodomirsky's Duel

By: Alexandre Dumas

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 32 minutes

Abridged: No

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) was one of France's best-known and most-prolific authors. He excelled at many genres, but is probably best known for his stories of high adventure and dashing derring do.

In Zodomirsky's Duel, he tells the tale of an unusual duel between officers in a regiment stationed on the Austrian border. A new officer has... Read more

Titbottom's Spectacles

By: George William Curtis

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

George William Curtis (1824 - 1892) was a traveller, essayist and fiction writer who was particularly renowned for his short stories. He combined a highly polished style with a great sense of humour and his works we enthusiastically received in the heydays of American Periodical Literature.

In the marvellous story Titbottom's Spectacles, Curtis... Read more

The Marquise

By: George Sand

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 1 hour 2 minutes

Abridged: No

George Sand was the pseudonym of Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin (1804-1876), and was a much admired French novelist and memoirist. She is equally well known for her much-publicized romantic affairs with a number of celebrities including Frédéric Chopin and Alfred de Musset. It was the way Sand turned her own love affairs into novels and stories... Read more

Tail of Vengeance

By: Spencer Quinn

Narrated by: Jim Frangione

Length: 1 hour 4 minutes

Abridged: No

Chet and Bernie-everybody's favorite human-canine detective team-are asked by a beautiful woman to find evidence that would put her cheating boyfriend in the doghouse in this e-original short story from New York Times bestselling author Spencer Quinn. Read more

Plumbing

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Peter Van Norden

Length: 15 minutes

Abridged: No

The Maples Stories consists of eighteen classic stories from across John Updike's career, forming a luminous chronicle of the life and times of one marriage in all its rich emotional complexity. In 1956, Updike published the story "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage.... Read more

Nakedness

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Peter Van Norden

Length: 17 minutes

Abridged: No

The Maples Stories consists of eighteen classic stories from across John Updike's career, forming a luminous chronicle of the life and times of one marriage in all its rich emotional complexity. In 1956, Updike published the story "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage.... Read more

Sublimating

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Peter Van Norden

Length: 20 minutes

Abridged: No

The Maples Stories consists of eighteen classic stories from across John Updike's career, forming a luminous chronicle of the life and times of one marriage in all its rich emotional complexity. In 1956, Updike published the story "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage.... Read more

Marching through Boston

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Peter Van Norden

Length: 23 minutes

Abridged: No

The Maples Stories consists of eighteen classic stories from across John Updike's career, forming a luminous chronicle of the life and times of one marriage in all its rich emotional complexity. In 1956, Updike published the story "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage.... Read more

Magic for Beginners

By: Kelly Link

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbe...

Length: 10 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

From MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellow Kelly Link, bestselling author of White Cat, Black Dog and The Book of Love, an “eerie and engrossing” (The Washington Post), “dazzling” (The New York Times Book Review) collection of short stories
 
“[These] exquisite stories mix the aggravations and epiphanies of everyday life with the stuff that legends,... Read more

The Red-Herring Theory

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Peter Van Norden

Length: 12 minutes

Abridged: No

The Maples Stories consists of eighteen classic stories from across John Updike's career, forming a luminous chronicle of the life and times of one marriage in all its rich emotional complexity. In 1956, Updike published the story "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage.... Read more

Twin Beds in Rome

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Peter Van Norden

Length: 19 minutes

Abridged: No

The Maples Stories consists of eighteen classic stories from across John Updike's career, forming a luminous chronicle of the life and times of one marriage in all its rich emotional complexity. In 1956, Updike published the story "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage.... Read more

Giving Blood

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Peter Van Norden

Length: 27 minutes

Abridged: No

The Maples Stories consists of eighteen classic stories from across John Updike's career, forming a luminous chronicle of the life and times of one marriage in all its rich emotional complexity. In 1956, Updike published the story "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage.... Read more

Divorcing: A Fragment

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Peter Van Norden

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

The Maples Stories consists of eighteen classic stories from across John Updike's career, forming a luminous chronicle of the life and times of one marriage in all its rich emotional complexity. In 1956, Updike published the story "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage.... Read more

Grandparenting

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Peter Van Norden

Length: 35 minutes

Abridged: No

The Maples Stories consists of eighteen classic stories from across John Updike's career, forming a luminous chronicle of the life and times of one marriage in all its rich emotional complexity. In 1956, Updike published the story "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage.... Read more

Gesturing

By: John Updike

Narrated by: Peter Van Norden

Length: 28 minutes

Abridged: No

The Maples Stories consists of eighteen classic stories from across John Updike's career, forming a luminous chronicle of the life and times of one marriage in all its rich emotional complexity. In 1956, Updike published the story "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage.... Read more