European Fiction

Gogol's great Russian classic is the Pickwick Papers of Russian literature. It takes a sharp but humorous look at life in all its strata but especially the devious complexities in Russia, with its landowners and serfs. We are introduced to Chichikov, a businessman who, in order to trick the tax authorities, buys up dead 'souls', or serfs, whose names still appear on the government census. Despite being a dealer in phantom crimes and paper ghosts, he is the most beguiling of Gogol's characters.

From the author of The Christmas Hirelings comes this Audible Exclusive production of Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s classic sensation novel Lady Audley’s Secret. English actress Olivia Poulet gives an assured and captivating narration; a cornerstone of the genre and a scandal at the time of its publication, Lady Audley’s Secret is an entertaining and shocking tale of high drama and shifting perceptions.

France 1908 At Château de Dragancourt in Picardy, Agnès Gunarsson, a Swedish orphan, finds herself entangled with the captivating 'terrible twins,' Elle and Jacques. Their affection for Agnès ignites a rivalry that tests her resolve. Shaped by her tragic past, Agnès grapples with the intense desires of Elle and Jacques. She must make a life-altering choice between staying at Château de Dragancourt or breaking free from the mounting pressures. 'Miss Agnès', the coming-of-age tale and initial inspiration for 'The Resistance Girl Series', delves into the interplay of love and ...

A mercenary captain and his legendary swordsmen battle an unstoppable enemy! Gustav von Altenburg and his elite mercenaries, the Greatswords, are called to defend a town in the shadow of the Harz Mountains. But upon arrival they find the town ravaged by disease and fear, with neighboring villages crumbling under relentless bandit raids launched from a nearby ruined castle. But a greater threat looms. A ruthless army of Landsknecht mercenaries is sweeping through the region, looting and burning everything in their path—and now they march toward the town. Gustav must rally every man able to...

Charles Strickland, a conventional stockbroker, abandons his wife and children for Paris and Tahiti, to live his life as a painter. While his betrayal of family, duty and honour gives him the freedom to achieve greatness, his decision leads to an obsession which carries severe implications.

Real French people don’t speak like your textbook…so it’s no wonder you feel unprepared when it’s your turn to speak! Try the StoryLearning Method, and dive into a real-world, gripping drama between six characters that helps you learn authentic spoken French in the process.

Ever since Colin Firth's Mr Darcy emerged from the lake in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, the novels of Jane Austen have become more popular than ever, delighting millions of fans all over the world. Now, Alison Larkin's critically acclaimed narrations of Austen's six completed novels are brought together in this very special 200th anniversary audio edition. "Alison Larkin's narration will captivate listeners from the first sentence" raves AudioFile magazine about the Earphones Award-winning recording of Sense and Sensibility, which starts the collection.

What if the story of slavery as we know it… was reversed? The White Cargo is a bold and haunting work of speculative fiction that reimagines the Atlantic slave trade through a completely flipped lens. Told across dual timelines, the novel follows Elias Monroe — a man enslaved in a world where Europeans are the ones in chains — and his modern-day descendant, Caleb, who uncovers a buried truth that challenges everything he thought he knew about history, identity, and justice. As Caleb dives deeper into Elias’s hidden journal, past and present begin to collide — exposing a legacy of ...

A fierce and merciless demon has been unleashed on the world, spreading destruction and bloodshed in both the human and the elven realms. Northlander Jarl Mandred witnesses the ruthless attack on his men, and he seeks vengeance with the help of the elf queen, Emerelle.

The Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda are our oldest written sources for Norse mythology. When it comes to the norse myths, they are the closest thing we have to listening these stories as the vikings actually told them, around those ancient campfires so long ago. It is my hope that you will enjoy this collection, and that the two books will work in tandem to broaden and deepen your appreciation for these epic and mystical stories, and the enigmatic culture that spawned them.

Meeting by chance at a gambling hall in Europe, the separate lives of Daniel Deronda and Gwendolen Harleth are immediately intertwined. Daniel, an Englishman of uncertain parentage, becomes Gwendolyn's redeemer as she finds herself drawn to his spiritual and altruistic nature after a loveless marriage. But Daniel's path was already set when he rescued a young Jewess from suicide.

Everyone's favorite octogenarian is back, and together with his pals in the Old-But-Not-Dead Club, he is more determined than ever to wreak havoc and turn a twinkly eye on the brighter side of life. After a year spent mourning the death of his beloved friend Eefje, Hendrik may be older and a little more wobbly, but his youthful appetite for mischief hasn't diminished. When fears arise that the home is set for demolition, it's up to Hendrik and the Old-But-Not-Dead Club to intervene.

In 1900 Sardinia, a young woman’s remarkable talent with a needle earns her a position as a seamstress with a wealthy family. Inside this privileged world far different from her own humble beginnings, the skilled sewer quietly takes measurements, sketches designs, mends hems—and in the silence, hears whispered secrets and stories of all those around her.

"Il y avait autrefois dans cette ville une vieille dame, très vertueuse et protectrice de la vertu, qui s'appelait Madame Husson. Tu sais, je te dis les noms véritables et pas des noms de fantaisie. Mme Husson s'occupait particulièrement des bonnes œuvres, de secourir les pauvres et d'encourager les méritants." Et donc, cette Madame Husson va créer un prix de vertu, pour une rosière. Sauf que... Vous aimez la tendresse pour les faibles, les imparfaits, la mise à jour des petites faillites quotidiennes ? Hop ! Un bain de Maupassant s'impose.

"Comment on se marie" regroupe quatre courts récits d'Émile Zola, qui relèvent de l'étude de mœurs. Quatre mariages, quatre milieux sociaux différents et un seul regard. Si, chez les bourgeois, le mariage est une transaction financière, chez d'autres l'amour est possible. L'auteur montre les différences de modes de vie pour mieux laisser apprécier l'absolue similarité des rapports conjugaux, et l'inexorable défaite du mariage tel que le XIXe siècle l'imposait aux hommes et aux femmes.

It’s 1942. German Nazis occupy much of France. And twelve-year-old Miriam, who is Jewish, is not safe. With help and quick thinking, Miri is saved from the roundup that takes her entire Jewish neighborhood. She escapes Paris, landing in a small French village, where the spires of the famous Chateau de Chenonceau rise high into the sky, its bridge across the River Cher like a promise, a fairy tale.

Secular humanism has triumphed. Everything the late Victorians and Edwardians believed would bring human happiness has been achieved: Technology has made it so no one needs to work for a living, the social sciences ensure a smooth-running social order, and, in the name of tolerance, religious beliefs have been uprooted and eliminated except for a single holdout - a largely discredited and rapidly shrinking Catholic Church. Yet people are unhappy.

With great originality and wit, Orwell unfolds his views on subjects ranging from a revaluation of Charles Dickens to the nature of Socialism, from a comic yet profound discussion of naughty seaside postcards to a spirited defense of English cooking. Displaying an almost unrivalled mastery of English plain prose, Orwell’s essays created a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud and continue to challenge, move, and entertain.

At the height of World War II, the British Air Transport Auxiliary need help. A group of young women volunteer for action, but the perils of their new job don’t end on the tarmac. Things are tough in the air, but on the ground their abilities as pilots are constantly questioned. There is friction from the start between the new recruits. Spirited American Lizzie turns heads with her audacity, but few can deny her flying skills. She couldn’t be more different from shy, petite Ruby, who is far from diminutive in the sky. It falls to pragmatic pilot May to bring the women together.

In Time Shelter, an enigmatic flâneur named Gaustine opens a 'clinic for the past' that offers a promising treatment for Alzheimer's sufferers: each floor reproduces a decade in minute detail, transporting patients back in time. But as the rooms become more convincing, an increasing number of healthy people seek out the clinic as a 'time shelter', hoping to escape from the horrors of our present.