Classic Western Literature

Barchester Towers is the second of six in the series known as Chronicles of Barsetshire. Narrator Timothy West brings life to the story, begun in The Warden, of Mr. Harding and his daughter Eleanor. It chronicles the struggle for control of the English diocese of Barchester after one Bishop dies and a new one is selected. The rather incompetent new Bishop, Dr. Proudie, led by his formidable wife, and ambitious chaplain, Mr. Slope, begin to create turmoil with their desire to shake up the church establishment.

Considered by André Gide to be one of the 10 greatest novels in the French language, Germinal is a brutal depiction of the poverty and wretchedness of a mining community in Northern France under the second empire. At the centre of the novel is Etienne Lantier, a handsome 21-year-old mechanic, intelligent but with little education and a dangerous predisposition to murderous, alcoholic rage.

A new ice age threatens Earth. Facing extinction, the dinosaurs must employ their mastery of biology to swiftly reconquer human territory. Desperately Kerrick launches an arduous quest to rally a final defense for humankind. With his beloved wife and young son, he heads north to the land of the whale hunters, east into the enemy's stronghold, and south to a fateful reckoning with destiny.

Sheriff Ben Stillman has enough of a hard time keeping the peace in the town of Clantick without having to worry about the likes of Matt Parrish. Since his father died, Matt has been responsible for the Circle P Ranch in the Two-Bear Mountains - and his hotheaded streak has been responsible for a lot of trouble with other ranchers...including his future father-in-law, Tom Suthern.

The story is told by a young 'unknown soldier' in the trenches of Flanders during the First World War. Through his eyes we see all the realities of war: under fire, on patrol, waiting in the trenches, at home on leave, and in hospitals and dressing stations. Although there are vividly described incidents which remain in the mind, there is no sense of adventure here, only the feeling of youth betrayed and a deceptively simple indictment of war—of any war—told for a whole generation of victims.

In 1828, few white men had seen the Rocky Mountains, those that had were the rugged few we call Mountain Men. Zach Connors was one of the best, known to the Indians as Grizzly Killer. He was both feared and respected throughout the Rockyies. Along with his dog, Jimbo, Running Wolf, his Ute partner, and their wives, they travel to Rendezvous, where they battle the dreaded Blackfeet and Zach fights for both justice and honor. After, they come face to face with a man eating grizzly, and confront those seeking revenge for the justice he dealt.

Dickens wrote into life some of the most beloved and well-known characters in the history of English literature, introducing us to Pip, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Little Nell, Scrooge, Nicholas Nickleby, Miss Haversham, and many more who have lived in the imagination of generations of readers and listeners. In this definitive and beautifully curated collection, you discover not only Dickens’s most loved classics, but also hear a short introduction to his life and body of work from Dr Pete Orford.

Max is the hero of this beloved children's classic in which he makes mischief, sails away, tames the wild things, and returns home for supper.

In the last and most complex of the Barsetshire novels, many of Trollope's best-loved characters appear, but the mood of the novel is darker and more uneasy than in earlier volumes. At the heart of the novel is the penniless Reverend Josiah Crawley, first encountered in Framley Parsonage, who in the opening of the book is accused of theft, creating a public scandal that threatens to tear the community apart.

Branson Hawk agrees to assist a beautiful woman retrieve her dead brother for burial back home, but the accidental death begins to look suspicious because a fortune in gold is missing. Hawk is thrown into a covert investigation with multiple suspects and danger at every turn. The deeper into the mystery he delves; the more he realizes that no one can be trusted. And the beautiful woman? Well, this is a story about US Marshal Branson Hawk. He always gets his man, but will he get the woman?

Sheriff Ben Stillman knows that every lawman could face sudden death. But that doesn't ease his anger over Marshal Charlie Boomhauer's brutal murder. And ol’ Charlie's shoes have already been filled by his brash, young deputy - who isn't exactly out shaking the bushes to find Charlie's killer or killers. The new marshal is blaming the murder on a band of Gypsies who moved north - or was it south?

The spirited Lily Dale, who longs to be loved, is devastated when her fiancé, the self-interested Adolphus Crosbie, jilts her for the aristocratic Lady Alexandrina. Although heartbroken, Lily still loves Crosbie and believes she must remain single despite him being unworthy of her affections. Even when the more deserving John Eame, presents himself she is still unable to see past her feelings for Crosbie. Meanwhile, Lily's sister Bell is also under pressure to marry for money, not for love.

Can You Forgive Her? is the first of the six in the Palliser series. Trollope inextricably binds together the issues of parliamentary election and marriage, of politics and privacy. The values and aspirations of the governing stratum of Victorian society are ruthlessly examined, and none remains unscathed. But above all Trollope focuses on the predicament of women. 'What should a woman do with her life?' asks Alice Vavasor of herself, and this theme is echoed by every other woman in the audiobook.

A little rabbit is lulled to sleep surrounded by all that he knows and loves best in the great green room of his house.

In the aftermath of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Jedidiah Bracket, known as Crow Killer, faces his most perilous mission yet. Summoned to Fort Bridger, he is offered a secret deal to secure a reservation for his Arapaho Nation in their beloved Sweetwater Country. But the price is steep: he must rescue Blue Feather, daughter of Chief Gall, from a ruthless Pawnee warrior and deliver her to Sitting Bull’s camp in the Canadian Mountains. In return, Chief Gall must hand over Custer’s mysterious saddlebags. As Crow Killer embarks on this treacherous journey, he discovers his own family ...

Under Western Eyes, Conrad's novel of political treachery and oppression, begins with a bomb that kills a hated Russian minister of police along with innocent bystanders. A young student named Razumov hides the perpetrator, then betrays him and becomes a spy among his exiled comrades. He faces a moral dilemma from which there is no escape. This masterwork, published six years before the Russian Revolution, is a chillingly accurate prophecy of what was to come.

In the early 1800s (1830s – 1860s) it has been estimated that as many as 300,000 men and women may have traveled from the eastern States to the unknown lands of the American west. Some were searching for a better life; some were argonauts, seeking adventure. Whatever the reason, it was not an easy journey. Thousands lost their lives along the trail. Eventually, however, the west was settled and those who survived had stories to tell. Bitter Honey is a fictional story, although some of the experiences in this book could have been a reality for many of those pioneers. The story begins in ...

Previously unpublished in unabridged audio, these three works (one novel unpublished in her lifetime and two unfinished fragments) reveal Jane Austen's development as a great artist.

There's nothing eleven-year-old Marty Preston enjoys more than spending time up in the hills behind his home near Friendly, West Virginia.But this time is different. This time Marty sees a young beagle on the road past the old Shiloh school-house.Marty feels sure the dog is being abused by his owner. When the dog runs away to Marty's house, his parents say he must bring him back. But it hurts Marty to return the runaway dog to his cruel master.That's when Marty secretly decides he'll do anything to save the dog he names Shiloh.

Fresh off a breakup, Taylor Manning accepts a yearlong teaching position in Cougar Point, Montana, and plans to focus on herself, avoid men, and return home a changed woman. That’s before she meets Russ Palmer, a local rancher who’s as stubborn as he is handsome. With his old-fashioned attitudes about women, Russ is the last man Taylor could imagine dating, and the feeling seems to be mutual. So why can’t she seem to get him off her mind?