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In its oppressive atmosphere of fog, mist, and mud, nothing conjures up the dreary days of November and its "implacable" weather like the celebrated opening of Bleak House. The plot concerns a long-running legal dispute (Jarndyce and Jarndyce) that has far-reaching consequences for all involved. Dickens' assault on the flaws of the British judiciary system is based in part on his own experiences as a law clerk.

This collection consists of the following nine stories: "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", "The Great Stone Face", "My Kinsman, Major Molinaux", "The Minister's Black Veil", "Mr. Higgonbotham's Catastrophe", "The Ambitious Guest", "The Birthmark", "The Minotaur", and "Young Goodman Brown".

Two delightful Christmas tales by Anthony Trollope, who, along with Dickens, was one of the literary giants of Victorian England.

Many critics consider this the best Henry James novelette, surpassing even The Turn of the Screw. Like that story, it has an ending that you will remember for a long time. The story concerns two young men visting the United States from London. They meet a pair of charming women who return the visit the following year in London. Romantic intrigues, miscommunication and cultural gaffs are plentiful in this short but delightful novel.

Holmes is confronted with the disappearance of the bride of a nobleman - just minutes after the ceremony. "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor" is one of the 56 original Sherlock Holmes stories and was first published in Strand Magazine in April 1892. It served as the (loose) basis for The Eligible Bachelor, a film starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes, Edward Hardwicke as Watson, and Simon Williams as Lord St. Simon.

Buffalo Jones was the last of the famous plainsmen who rode the trails of the old West. The driving force of his life was to capture wild animals alive, including buffalo and cougars. When he saw that the buffalo were in danger of extinction, he worked for ten years to capture enough buffalo young to set up his own preserve for them, which is how he earned his name. This is the thrilling firsthand account of a hunting trip that Grey took with Jones.

The hit on the head that sends Hank Morgan back through 13 centuries does not affect his natural resourcefulness. Using his knowledge of an upcoming eclipse, Hank escapes a death sentence, and secures an important position at court. Gradually, he introduces 19th century technology and soon has an easy life. He becomes "The Boss" of the Kingdom, second only to the King.

Like Charles Dickens' other early novels, The Old Curiosity Shop was a huge success, even eclipsing The Pickwick Papers. The melodramatic saga of the flight of Little Nell and her grandfather captured the public's attention, so much so that people would wait in long lines for the release of the next installment of the saga. For the character of Little Nell, the beautiful child thrown into a shadowy, terrifying world, Dickens drew on a tragedy in his own life.

Fitz-James O'Brien was an Irish-born poet, journalist, and short-story writer who migrated to America in 1852. He died from an injury acquired during the Civil War. O'Brien was called "the preeminent writer of supernatural stories of his time", and he is best remembered for two or three widely anthologized stories that border on science fiction. Among them is this masterpiece.

Known for his wit and sardonic humor, Ambrose Bierce wrote horror with the intensity of Edgar Allan Poe. Many think Bierce outdid Poe in the genre. Included are nine short stories: "The Eyes of the Panther", "A Watcher by the Dead", "The Death of Halpin Frayser", "The Suitable Surroundings", "An Adventure at Brownville", "Moxon's Master", "Mysterious Disappearances", "The Famous Gilson Bequest", and "The Secret of Macarger's Gulch".

Here is Twain's humorous, but also touching, look at Adam and Eve, in which he presents two very different interpretations of Eden.

An old pilot of the sea who had been driven by tempests "he knew not wither" returns to Lisbon to tell of a wonderful lost island that his ship had been driven to by a storm. Survivors of a shipwreck many years ago had thrived there and built seven wonderful cities. Upon leaving however, the sailor meets another storm and could not say where this mysterious island lay. The public immediately names this island, the "The Island of the Seven Cities." and there was much talk of its wealth.

Pushkin was one of the giants of 19th century Russian literature but, unlike Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, he was most famous for his short stories. The Shot, one of his most anthologized, tells the story of a terrible revenge.

Oscar Wilde was one of the most versatile writers who ever lived. He wrote classic plays, including The Importance of Being Ernest; one wildly popular and influential novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray; and a number of inventive and moving stories in The Happy Prince and Other Tales.

Stories included in this volume are: "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Devoted Friend", "The Happy Prince", "The Remarkable Rocket", and "The Selfish Giant".

Two colonial officers extol the benefits they are bringing to an African village in the form of "quays and warehouses, and barracks-and billiard-rooms". A French republican who has fathered three idiot sons makes his peace with the Church: only to have an idiot daughter. A woman chooses not to leave her husband...but he leaves her. Such are the ironies of Conrad's earliest short stories.

The Purloined Letter is one of Edgar Allan Poe's detective stories. It is the third of the three stories featuring the detective C. Auguste Dupin, the other two being The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Mystery of Marie Roget. These stories are considered important forerunners of the modern detective story. The Method Poes detective, Dupin, uses to solve the crime was quite innovative. He tried to identify with the criminal and to "think like he would."

Considered by many critics to be the very best Zane Grey Western, The U. P. Trail narrates the story of William Neale, a young engineer working for the Union Pacific railway. He must contend with Indians, bandits, badlands, and bad weather to get the train to the destination. And in the midst of all this, the love of his life is kidnapped! The railroads were expanding to link the nation, with the celebrated golden spike marking the spot in Utah where the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific would meet.

Ben-Hur could be said to be the first American blockbuster. When it was published in 1880, it sold over two-million copies and was translated into numerous languages. Wallace's original novel has been largely forgotten now, but as this reading shows, the story, together with the sweeping rhythm of the writer's prose, make it ideally suited to audio.

A Case of Identity is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the third story in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story revolves around the case of Miss Mary Sutherland, a woman with a large income due to the interest from a fund set up for her. She is engaged to a quiet Londoner who has mysteriously disappeared. Sherlock Holmes's solves the case rather easily, much as it puzzles Watson.

This audiobook is an account of Zane Grey's ancestors' harrowing struggle to settle the West. As the Revolutionary War draws to a close, the violence on the frontier escalates. The infamous Girty brothers incite Indians to a number of massacres; but when the Village of Peace, a Christian utopian settlement is threatened, two young brothers struggle, in their own way, to save the Mission, and promote Christianity to the Natives, all the while establishing new lives on the treacherous Border of the frontier.