Classic Audiobook Collection

Pandora’s Box by Frank Wedekind audiobook. Genre: dramaPandora's Box (1904) (Die Büchse der Pandora) is a play by the German dramatist Frank Wedekind. It forms the second part of his pairing of 'Lulu' plays (the first is Earth Spirit [1895]), both of which depict a society 'riven by the demands of lust and greed'. G. W. Pabst directed a silent film version (Pandora's Box), which was loosely based on the play, in 1929. Both plays together also formed the basis for the opera Lulu by Alban Berg in 1935 (premiered posthumously in 1937). In the original manuscript, dating from 1894, the 'Lulu' drama was in five acts and subtitled 'A Monster Tragedy'. Wedekind subsequently divided the work into two plays: Earth Spirit (German: Erdgeist, first printed in 1895) and Pandora's Box (German: Die Büchse der Pandora). It is now customary in theatre performances to run the two plays together, in abridged form, under the title Lulu. Wedekind is known to have taken his inspiration from at least two sources: the pantomime Lulu by Félicien Champsaur, which he saw in Paris in the early 1890s, and the sex murders of Jack the Ripper in London in 1888. The premiere of Pandora's Box, a restricted performance due to difficulties with the censor, took place in Nuremberg on 1 February 1904. The 1905 Viennese premiere, again restricted, was instigated by the satirist Karl Kraus. In Vienna Lulu was played by Tilly Newes, later to become Wedekind's wife, with the part of Jack the Ripper played by Wedekind himself. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:40:21) Chapter 02(01:30:59) Chapter 03 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett audiobook. Genre: familyWhen spoiled, lonely Mary Lennox is sent from colonial India to live with her stern uncle at the sprawling, wind-swept Misselthwaite Manor on the Yorkshire moors, she expects only gray corridors, strict rules, and endless isolation. Instead, Mary discovers a house full of mysteries - including whispered rumors of a hidden garden locked away for years. With the help of a warmhearted housemaid, the fiercely curious young Dickon Sowerby, and Marys sickly cousin Colin, she begins to unravel the secrets of the estate and of her own hardened heart. As the children search for the gardens lost key and learn to coax life from neglected soil, they also face the weight of grief, fear, and the adults silences that surround them. Set against a vivid landscape of heather, wind, and birdsong, The Secret Garden is a classic story of friendship, resilience, and the quiet power of nature to heal. Each new discovery draws Mary and her companions closer to hope - but the manor will not easily release what it has tried to bury.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:12:26) Chapter 02(00:27:26) Chapter 03(00:35:41) Chapter 04(01:06:13) Chapter 05(01:18:46) Chapter 06(01:30:55) Chapter 07(01:42:33) Chapter 08(01:57:17) Chapter 09(02:13:54) Chapter 10(02:34:50) Chapter 11(02:48:20) Chapter 12(03:03:23) Chapter 13(03:26:36) Chapter 14(03:46:59) Chapter 15(04:07:26) Chapter 16(04:20:10) Chapter 17(04:33:19) Chapter 18(04:45:31) Chapter 19(05:04:41) Chapter 20(05:20:12) Chapter 21(05:40:01) Chapter 22(05:50:37) Chapter 23(06:14:57) Chapter 24(06:35:54) Chapter 25(06:48:53) Chapter 26(07:06:37) Chapter 27 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tragedy of Mariam by Elizabeth Cary audiobook. Genre: tragedyWritten in the early 1600s and set in the turbulent court of Herod the Great, The Tragedy of Mariam follows Mariam, the proud and principled queen of Judea, as she navigates the dangers of marriage to a volatile ruler whose power is matched only by his suspicion. Herod returns from political turmoil abroad to a household thick with rumor, rivalries, and unfinished vengeance. At court, Mariam's integrity and sharp tongue collide with demands for obedience, while Herod's shifting favor turns love into a test of survival. Around them, ambitious voices press in: Salome, Herod's formidable sister, schemes to reshape her own fate and settle personal scores, and courtiers weigh loyalty against self-preservation. Told through charged dialogue and reflective choruses, Elizabeth Cary's groundbreaking tragedy probes jealousy, tyranny, conscience, and the peril faced by women who speak openly in a world built to silence them. As accusations harden into judgments, Mariam must decide what honor costs when truth itself becomes a weapon.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 1(00:33:08) Chapter 2(00:57:59) Chapter 3(01:12:43) Chapter 4(01:54:42) Chapter 5 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lady Susan by Jane Austen audiobook. Genre: romanceJane Austen demonstrated her mastery of the epistolary novel genre in Lady Susan, which she wrote in 1795 but never published.Although the primary focus of this short novel is the selfish behavior of Lady Susan as she engages in affairs and searches for suitable husbands for herself and her young daughter, the actual action shares its importance with Austen’s manipulation of her characters' behavior by means of their reactions to the letters that they receive.The heroine adds additional interest by altering the tone of her own letters based on the recipient of the letter. Thus, the character of Lady Susan is developed through many branches as Austen suggests complications of identity and the way in which that identity is based on interaction rather than on solitary constructions of personality. Lady Susan’s character is also built by the descriptions of the other letter-writers; but even though their opinions of this heroine coincide with the image that develops from her own letters, Austen demonstrates the subjectivity of the opinions by presenting them – primarily – in the letters of one woman to another, thereby suggesting the established literary motifs of feminine gossip and jealousy. Readers recognize these subjective motifs and examine all of the idiosyncrasies of the characters in order to create their own opinion of Lady Susan – as they would of any real acquaintance.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 1(00:23:38) Chapter 2(00:47:41) Chapter 3(01:14:44) Chapter 4(01:42:00) Chapter 5(02:04:42) Chapter 6 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells audiobook. Genre: scifiA shipwreck in the Pacific leaves Edward Prendick clinging to life until he is rescued by a passing schooner carrying a brusque medical man, Montgomery, and a frightening cargo of restless animals. After a tense journey, Prendick is put ashore on a remote island ruled by the notorious Dr. Moreau, a scientist whose name is spoken with dread and whose work has driven him into isolation. Trapped far from any safe route back to civilization, Prendick explores the island's strange compounds, hears unsettling cries behind locked doors, and meets a community of eerie, humanlike figures who live by a set of rigid, chantlike rules enforced through fear and ritual. As he pieces together what Moreau is doing, Prendick must decide how to survive among men who are not quite men, and whether reason and morality can endure where pain and ambition set the law. Chilling, fast-paced, and philosophically sharp, Wells' classic confronts the boundaries between human and animal, the ethics of experimentation, and the fragility of identity when civilization is only a thin skin over instinct.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:03:16) Chapter 02(00:09:59) Chapter 03(00:16:59) Chapter 04(00:29:37) Chapter 05(00:37:58) Chapter 06(00:47:21) Chapter 07(00:59:32) Chapter 08(01:11:48) Chapter 09(01:19:43) Chapter 10(01:43:44) Chapter 11(01:53:09) Chapter 12(02:07:35) Chapter 13(02:28:05) Chapter 14(02:38:56) Chapter 15(03:06:15) Chapter 16(03:19:53) Chapter 17(03:50:29) Chapter 18(04:03:04) Chapter 19(04:13:28) Chapter 20(04:32:27) Chapter 21(04:44:47) Chapter 22(05:13:12) Chapter 23 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Invisible Man by H. G. Wells audiobook. Genre: scifiIn a lonely English village, a strange newcomer arrives wrapped in bandages, hidden behind dark glasses, and determined to avoid every curious eye. He is Griffin, a brilliant but unstable scientist who has discovered a way to make himself invisible, and he soon finds that his breakthrough has brought not freedom but isolation, fear, and a dangerous sense of power. As rumors spread and his behavior grows more alarming, the people around him begin to suspect that the man in the inn is hiding something far more disturbing than a scarred face. What follows is a tense clash between scientific ambition and moral responsibility, as Griffin struggles to control the consequences of his experiment while the world closes in around him. H. G. Wells combines suspense, dark humor, and social criticism in a story that asks what happens when intelligence outruns conscience. Through its unforgettable central figure, Invisible Man explores alienation, identity, and the corrupting effects of secrecy and unchecked power, creating a fast-moving and unsettling portrait of a man who can disappear from sight but not from the consequences of what he has become.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 1(00:22:42) Chapter 2(00:47:08) Chapter 3(01:16:23) Chapter 4(01:34:57) Chapter 5(01:53:25) Chapter 6(02:10:44) Chapter 7(02:37:17) Chapter 8(02:55:53) Chapter 9(03:15:44) Chapter 10(03:37:11) Chapter 11(03:56:43) Chapter 12(04:18:10) Chapter 13 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Constant Couple by George Farquhar audiobook. Genre: comedyGeorge Farquhar, the author of this comedy, was the son of a clergyman in the north of Ireland. He was born in the year 1678, discovered an early taste for literature, and wrote poetic stanzas at ten years of age. In 1694 he was sent to Trinity College, Dublin, and there made such progress in his studies as to acquire considerable reputation. But he was volatile and poor—the first misfortune led him to expense; the second, to devise means how to support his extravagance.In the year 1700 he brought out this comedy of 'The Constant Couple; or, A Trip to the Jubilee.' It was then the Jubilee year at Rome, and the author took advantage of that occurrence to render the title of his drama popular; for which cause alone it must be supposed he made any thing in his play refer to that festival, as no one material point is in any shape connected with itFor ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:31:24) Chapter 02(01:03:14) Chapter 03(01:31:26) Chapter 04(01:50:39) Chapter 05 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton audiobook. Genre: dramaIn an era before the advent of electric lights, telephones or motor vehicles, there exists a small cluster of aristocratic 'old revolutionary stock' families that rule New York's social life. Under the rules of this society, 'being things' is better than 'doing things' and reputation and outward appearances come at the exclusion of everything else. In this Gilded Age, when America’s expansion and increased industrialism produce a group of newly wealthy robber barons and financiers, the patient, time-honored values of the old ruling class, and century, are giving way to the expediencies of the new. Caught at this cusp, a triangle of lovers, who must choose between the expectations of family and society, and the deepest yearnings of the heart.Newly engaged couple, Newland Archer, a young lawyer, and May Welland, a society debutante, are part of the old world, where the 'right people' follow the 'correct rules' and marry into 'acceptable families.' The arrival from Europe of May’s cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska, complicates their union, as Ellen’s mysterious past threatens to cast a shadow of scandal over the newly betrothed couple. Newland Archer, at first critical of Ellen's bohemian lifestyle, and her seemingly wilful ignorance of the rules and customs of his Old New York, is soon captivated by Ellen's warmth, spirit, and her generous and loving heart. Will he cast off the life for which he's been groomed, or sacrifice happiness for duty and the greater good of the social order?For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:19:53) Chapter 02(00:33:50) Chapter 03(00:49:05) Chapter 04(01:00:50) Chapter 05(01:20:11) Chapter 06(01:38:05) Chapter 07(01:51:58) Chapter 08(02:08:15) Chapter 09(02:34:42) Chapter 10(02:54:42) Chapter 11(03:12:32) Chapter 12(03:36:21) Chapter 13(03:52:44) Chapter 14(04:08:18) Chapter 15(04:27:48) Chapter 16(04:47:25) Chapter 17(05:07:35) Chapter 18(05:30:31) Chapter 19(05:52:30) Chapter 20(06:17:30) Chapter 21(06:46:18) Chapter 22(07:04:10) Chapter 23(07:24:29) Chapter 24(07:36:14) Chapter 25(07:56:02) Chapter 26(08:19:59) Chapter 27(08:34:51) Chapter 28(08:49:14) Chapter 29(09:03:56) Chapter 30(09:24:07) Chapter 31(09:49:32) Chapter 32(10:08:49) Chapter 33(10:41:27) Chapter 34 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs audiobook. Genre: adventureOn a remote island in the East Indies, brilliant but obsessive scientist Professor Maxon pursues a forbidden experiment: manufacturing life in a secret laboratory far from any law but his own. When shipwreck survivor Virginia Maxon - his sheltered, determined daughter - crosses paths with the outsider who could expose everything, the island's uneasy balance begins to crack. The true wild cards, however, are Maxon's creations: a series of imperfect, increasingly human 'Monster Men' grown for strength and obedience, then loosed into the jungle where instinct, loyalty, and rage collide. As fear spreads from the laboratory to the coastal village and beyond, Virginia must decide what she owes to her father, to the innocent people threatened by his ambition, and to the beings who were never asked to be born. Part adventure tale and part moral fable, The Monster Men pits scientific hubris against conscience and survival, building toward a tense struggle for freedom, identity, and control in a place where civilization is only a thin veneer.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:25:47) Chapter 02(00:47:26) Chapter 03(01:09:02) Chapter 04(01:28:13) Chapter 05(01:51:45) Chapter 06(02:11:29) Chapter 07(02:40:15) Chapter 08(03:09:16) Chapter 09(03:31:25) Chapter 10(03:49:48) Chapter 11(04:12:53) Chapter 12(04:31:12) Chapter 13(04:49:50) Chapter 14(05:09:25) Chapter 15(05:28:45) Chapter 16(05:51:02) Chapter 17 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Efficiency Expert by Edgar Rice Burroughs audiobook. Genre: mysteryFresh out of college, Jimmy Torrance has the confidence of a campus champion and none of the patience to live on his father's money. He heads for 1920s Chicago determined to earn a respectable place in the world, only to discover that charm and athletic glory do not translate into a paycheck. Hungry, broke, and humiliated by one job hunt after another, Jimmy falls in with the city's rougher company, including a shrewd pickpocket called The Lizard and Edith, a streetwise young woman known as Little Eva, whose unexpected loyalty keeps him from going under. When Jimmy meets the poised Elizabeth Compton, he glimpses the society life he wants, but he is still stuck hustling for work wherever he can get it. Then an unlikely opportunity appears: Elizabeth's father needs an 'efficiency expert' to rescue his troubled factory, and Jimmy lands the position on a wing and a prayer. As he starts untangling waste, sabotage, and missing money, Jimmy collides with powerful enemies, social prejudice, and a crime that threatens to destroy his future. To survive, he will need real competence, and friends he never expected to trust.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:11:20) Chapter 02(00:24:36) Chapter 03(00:38:57) Chapter 04(00:49:22) Chapter 05(01:02:36) Chapter 06(01:13:33) Chapter 07(01:23:02) Chapter 08(01:32:53) Chapter 09(01:43:42) Chapter 10(01:50:41) Chapter 11(02:06:23) Chapter 12(02:18:38) Chapter 13(02:26:13) Chapter 14(02:35:02) Chapter 15(02:45:21) Chapter 16(02:59:22) Chapter 17(03:07:41) Chapter 18(03:20:02) Chapter 19(03:32:03) Chapter 20(03:40:35) Chapter 21(03:54:26) Chapter 22(04:04:36) Chapter 23(04:11:26) Chapter 24(04:21:44) Chapter 25(04:34:27) Chapter 26(04:46:29) Chapter 27(04:57:38) Chapter 28 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices