Showing results by narrator "Helen Stainer" in All Categories

"El Dorado" is a historical spy adventure from "The Scarlet Pimpernel" series. The story is set in Paris, in 1794, the time after the French Revolution and the guillotine horrors. The plot begins when Sir Percy, the Scarlet Pimpernel, reluctantly agrees to take Armand St. Just, brother of his wife, Marguerite, with him to France as part of a plan to rescue the young Dauphin. Percy warns Armand not to renew any friendships while in Paris.

"Persuasion" is the last novel of Jane Austen's. As the Napoleonic Wars come to an end in 1814, Admirals and Captains of the Royal Navy are put ashore, their work done. Anne Elliot meets Captain Frederick Wentworth after seven years, by the chance of his sister and brother-in-law renting her father's estate, while she stays for a few months with her married sister, living nearby. They fell in love the first time they met, but she broke off the engagement.

"The Secret Garden" is a classic of English children's literature. Mary Lennox is a troubled, sickly, and unloved 10-year-old girl born in India to selfish, wealthy British parents. However there is a cholera epidemic in India which kills Mary's parents and all the servants. She is sent to Yorkshire, to live with her reclusive and embittered Uncle Archibald Craven. At first, Mary is her usual self, sour and rude, disliking her uncle's large house, the people, and, most of all, the vast stretch of moor.

"The Elusive Pimpernel" is a historical spy adventure from "The Scarlet Pimpernel" Series: It is September 1793 and French Agent and chief spy-catcher Chauvelin travels to England as an official representative of the French government tasked with looking after the interests of French citizens, but this is only a cover and his real purpose is to trick Sir Percy Blakeney into returning to France, where he can be captured and put to the guillotine.

"Pride and Prejudice" is a classic of English literature, written by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. Set in England in the early 19th century, "Pride and Prejudice" tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's five unmarried daughters after the rich and eligible Mr. Bingley and his status-conscious friend, Mr. Darcy, have moved into their neighborhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane, Darcy is disdainful of local society.

"Mansfield Park" is the third novel by Jane Austen, published in 1814. The protagonist of the novel, Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy uncle and aunt Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, as her own parents do not have enough money to support their many children. At Mansfield Park, Fanny grows up with her four older cousins, Tom, Edmund, Maria, and Julia, but is always treated as an unwanted poor relation. Only Edmund shows real kindness and the two develop a friendship that grows as the years progress.

"The Railway Children" is a children's book by E. Nesbit. The story concerns a family who move to "Three Chimneys", a house near the railway, after the father, who works at the Foreign office, is imprisoned after being falsely accused of spying. The children befriend an old Gentleman who regularly takes the 9:15 train near their home; he is eventually able to help prove their father's innocence, and the family is reunited.

"A Little Princess" is a beloved classic of English children's literature. Captain Crewe, a wealthy young English widower, enrolls his seven-year-old daughter Sara, who has been living in India, at Miss Minchin's boarding school for girls in London, in order to prepare her for a future life in society. Crewe dotes on his daughter, ordering and paying for her special treatment at the school, such as her own room fitted with extra luxuries, her own maid, and her own carriage for rides.

"The Sky Is Falling" is a science fiction classic: Computer engineer Dave Hansen is transported from Earth to a world reminiscent of Ancient Egypt, where the rules of science and physics are replaced by the rules of magic. Hanson was summoned to help save the world's sky from collapsing. The sky is a literal dome that arches above the world, with the sun and stars not massive celestial bodies trillions of miles away, but smaller lights that move about within the dome of the sky.

"The Story of Doctor Dolittle (Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts)", written by Hugh Lofting, is the first of his Doctor Dolittle books, a series of children's novels about a man who learns to talk to animals and becomes their champion around the world. John Dolittle, MD. is a respected physician and quiet bachelor living with his spinster sister in the small English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. His love of animals grows over the years.

"The Scarlet Pimpernel" is a historical spy adventure set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. "The Scarlet Pimpernel" is the name of a chivalrous Englishman in the time of the Terrors, who, with his band of gentlemen, rescues aristocrats before they can be killed by the violent government in revolutionary France. He is known by his symbol, a simple flower, the pimpernel. He succeeds by masterful use of disguises and strict secrecy of the group's movements.

"Ultima Thule" is a science fiction novel written by an American writer Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds (1917-1983). The protagonist Ronny Bronston fulfils his lifelong dream of getting a United Planets job that would take him off-world. However, his first off-planet assignment is to find the elusive Tommy Paine, a revolutionary, reputed to be involved in the assassination of an immortal god king on the planet of New Delos.

"The Big Time" is a science fiction novel by Fritz Leiber. It was awarded the Hugo Award during 1958. The storyline features members of one of two factions, both capable of time travel, engaged in a long-term conflict called "The Change War". Their method of battle involves changing the outcomes of events throughout history (temporal war). The two opposing groups are nicknamed the Spiders and the Snakes after their respective sponsors.

"What Katy Did" is an 1872 children's book written by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey under her pen name Susan Coolidge. It follows the adventures of a twelve-year-old American girl, Katy Carr, and her family who live in the lakeside Ohio town of Burnet in the 1860s. Katy is a tall untidy tomboy, forever getting into scrapes but wishing to be beautiful and beloved. When a terrible accident makes her an invalid, her illness and four-year recovery gradually teach her to be as good and kind as she has always wanted.