Classic Tragedies

At some point in your life, you will contemplate the end and question what it is like to depart from the only thing you’ve known. Hesitation and uncertainty might consume you to the core, or a sensation of comfort and contentment will set you free. In Four Seasons, Chris Widener shares the relatable journey of Jonathan Blake and his family through a year in their life, confronted with unavoidable tragedy. After he is diagnosed with cancer, Jonathan reflects on the growth of his children, watching them take life into their own hands and create light in the darkest of times.

Hero and Leander is a Greek myth concerning the tragic story of two lovers. One was a priestess of Aphrodite who lived in a tower in Sestos, and the other a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait. Leander fell in love with Hero and would swim every night across the Hellespont to spend time with her, with Hero's lamp at the top of her tower as his guiding light, and they shared a warm summer of love.

Thomas Middleton's classic tale of corruption and revenge in a 16th-century Italian court. Vendice's wife has been poisoned by the hand of the lecherous Duke, and now he seeks to bring an end to the Duke and his house.

Popular novelist Mark Twain will take you on a mesmerizing mystery story set in the small town of Dawson's Landing, Missouri, during the early 19th century, where you’ll follow the lives of two infants born on the same day. One is the privileged white son of Percy and Augusta Driscoll, while the other is the mixed-race child of their slave, Roxy. In an act of desperation to shield her son from the horrors of slavery, Roxy ingeniously swaps the babies' identities, an act destined to shape the course of their lives.

Ten years king, Malcolm sits on an uneasy throne. If Malcolm’s mind is haunted by the ghosts of his royal father (“gracious Duncan”) as well as the thane and lady who so bloodily betrayed him, Malcolm’s soul is sickened, as was Macbeth’s, by the witches’ prophecy that from Banquo’s seed would spring a line of Scottish kings. Macbeth, Part II, draws bold the tragedy of a powerful man undone by the terrors he imagines and the truths he fails to see.

An American Tragedy is a 1925 novel by American writer Theodore Dreiser. He began the manuscript in the summer of 1920 but a year later abandoned most of that text. It was based on the notorious murder of Grace Brown in 1906 and the trial of her lover. In 1923, Dreiser returned to the project, and with the help of his wife, Helen, and two editor secretaries, Louise Campbell and Sally Kusell, he completed the massive novel in 1925.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor,” Poirot investigates the case of a middle-aged man who died under suspicious circumstances just weeks after insuring his life for 50,000 pounds. Could the man, who was in financial straits, have killed himself to benefit his beautiful young wife? This short story originally appeared in the April 18, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

"The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" is perhaps the most influential and widely acclaimed play by William Shakespeare. The tragedy follows Prince Hamlet as he concocts a plan to avenge the death of his father, who was murdered by his uncle Claudius in order to take the throne. Suspenseful, supernatural, moody, and full of twists, Hamlet is an exploration of the human condition, of the troubled psyche of the prince and his relationship with his mother and lover, as well as of pity, horror, and vengeance.

In this, perhaps Dickens' most profound and personal novel, we are invited to share in the sentimental education of Pip, the poor boy from the village forge who risks losing himself in snobbery and selfishness when he mysteriously inherits a fortune. The story moves from the bleak Kentish marshes of Pip's childhood to a thrilling climax that mingles tragedy and triumph.

Nine of the bard’s most tragic plays, from Hamlet to Romeo and Juliet, abridged and novelised for young listeners. Hours of audio fun to keep children entertained while on the move! Introduce your children to the world of Shakespearean tragedies with these abridged stories, written especially for children. Filled with atmospheric sound effects, your children will come away with a newfound love for these classic stories!

The harrowing sequel to A Case of Identity as Sherlock Holmes uncovers a tale as dark as anything seen on the Ancient Greek stage.

Kentucky has suffered from an extremely bad reputation, and these recordings of feuds, tragedies and vendettas - the most notorious being that of the Hatfield and McCoys - puts the listener right into it! The New York Times of July 26, 1885 had this to say of the state and its people: "The savages who inhabit this region are not manly enough to fight fairly, face to face. They lie in wait and shoot their enemies in the back... One can hardly believe that any part of the United States is cursed with people so lawless and degraded.

Written in 1898, Arthur Conan Doyle's classic tale of high adventure portrays an alarmist era of imperial sovereignty, invasive foreign policy, and religious extremism, positing the naivety of a group of Anglo-American holiday-makers against the unbending convictions of Middle Eastern banditti. Among others, a young American ingenue, her matronly aunt, a fusty old bachelor, a loving Irish couple, and an opinionated French graduate gather aboard the Korosko.

Theodore Dreiser skrev på sit hovedværk, En amerikansk tragedie, i elleve år, og denne roman skulle blive et af de betydeligste værker i den amerikanske naturalisme. Her koncentrerede Dreiser essensen af sin viden om og sit syn på det amerikanske samfund i begyndelsen af det 20. århundrede og kombinerede den med sin store indsigt i det menneskelige sind og de bevæggrunde, der skjuler sig der.

European tourists travel languidly along the Nile River to Abousir, at the southern frontier of Egypt, aboard “a turtle-bottomed, round-bowed stern-wheeler,” the Korosko. But Dervish warriors threaten danger and then attack and kidnap the tourists. In this novel, Doyle explores themes of British Imperialism and a defensive European perspective on North Africa; racial paternalism; and debates on interference with other countries’ politics and religions. This wonderful novel was first published in 1898, long before Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile.

"The Tragedy of Coriolanus" falls into the category of Shakespeares' political tragedies. It tells of the story of the legendary Roman hero Caius Marcius Coriolanus. Coriolanus' military success helps him get forward in Rome's political life, and he soon starts dreaming of a leadership position. Unfortunately, too much power inevitably leads to corruption, and Coriolanus’ fate is no exception.

"The Stillwater Tragedy" (1880) is a novel by Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Excerpt: "The chimney-stack of one house sends up no smoke. Yet the carefully trained ivy over the porch intimate that the place is not unoccupied. The sun appears to beat in vain at the casements of this silent house, which has a curiously sullen and defiant air, as if it had desperately and successfully barricaded itself against the approach of morning; yet if one were standing in the room that leads from the bed-chamber on the ground-floor - the room with the latticed window - one would see a ray of light thrust through a chink of the shutters, and pointing like a human finger at an object which lies by the hearth.

This collection includes theatrical audio versions major plays that are not typically considered part of the Shakespeare cannon, but are plays in which Shakespeare may made material contributions. These are the plays Sir Thomas More, The Spanish Tragedy, and Thomas of Woodstock. Additional expert commentary from Hazel Jeffs provides insight into the potential authorship and major themes of each of these three classic plays of the Elizabethan period.

Nine of the bard’s most tragic plays, from Hamlet to Romeo and Juliet, abridged and novelised for young listeners. Hours of audio fun to keep children entertained while on the move! Introduce your children to the world of Shakespearean tragedies with these abridged stories, written especially for children. Filled with atmospheric sound effects, your children will come away with a newfound love for these classic stories!

Hamlet and Macbeth are two of Shakespeare's best-known plays and contain some of the most famous speeches in world literature. These one-act versions of the plays, which were edited by J. P. Crabb (the details of whose life and other works have disappeared into obscurity) retain the significant monologues and dialogues while presenting a streamlined view of the action.