The Willows
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $4.90
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot
About this listen
FNH Audio presents a full reading of The Willows by Algernon Blackwood. This story written in 1907 has stood the test of time. It is today, just as creepy and unnerving as it was in its own time. Algernon Blackwood is probably best known for this story and another classic "The Wendigo". Although his writings do not focus on horror, he has in this case created an outstanding work in that genre. It's not blood and gore based horror, but rather a story that works on the mind.
The story follows two friends who are on a simple, relaxing canoe trip down the Danube. Stopping in towns they pass to pick up and food, and pitching a tent wherever they choose to stop for the night. It's supposed to be a relaxing holiday.
Alas for them it does not remain that way. After the river floods, the pair find themselves riding along on a raging torrent and have to draw up the canoe on an island in mid-stream. It's at this point that the author brings his real talents to bear. Through the first person narrative we are not only told the story but unease sets in. You'll question if the narrator is reliable or perhaps under some other world influence. It's this clever technique that hooks the audience and makes this a story just as good today, as the day it was written.
©2011 FNH (P)2011 FNHListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Wendigo
- By: Algernon Blackwood
- Narrated by: Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Days from civilisation five men are about to experience something beyond the rational. In the snow slaked wilds where the natives fear to tread, these men search for moose but find something more terrifying and supernatural. With a rush of wind and the smell of feral nature one of their number is whisked away, leaving them wondering: Who might be next?
-
-
Just the meat and potatoes
- By matt kleinlein on 05-06-19
-
The Great God Pan
- By: Arthur Machen
- Narrated by: Alan Munro
- Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On publication, it was widely denounced by the press as degenerate and horrific because of its implied sexual content, and the novella hurt Machen's reputation as an author. Beginning in the 1920s, Machen's work was critically re-evaluated and The Great God Pan has since garnered a reputation as a classic of horror.
-
-
narrator is not good
- By Cynthia on 07-24-23
By: Arthur Machen
-
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
- By: Stephen Fry, Washington Irving, M.R. James, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
-
-
Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
-
The Wendigo and Other Haunting Tales
- Esoteric Classics: Occult Fiction
- By: Algernon Blackwood
- Narrated by: Shea Taylor
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
British author Algernon Blackwood was a prolific writer who is usually remembered for his numerous ghost stories; however, he also wrote on many other supernatural themes. This collection of 13 stories includes: "The Wendigo", "The Olive", "The Goblin's Collection", "The Sea Fit", "Ancient Lights", "The Prayer", "The Wood of the Dead", "An Egyptian Hornet", "The Other Wing", "The Singular Death of Morton", "Entrance and Exit", "The Kit Bag", "The Damned".
-
-
Blackwood was an original
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-08-16
-
Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies
- By: John Langan
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Langan, author of the Bram Stoker Award-winning novel The Fisherman, returns with ten new tales of cosmic horror in Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies. In these stories, he continues to chart the course of twenty-first century weird fiction, from the unfamiliar to the familial, the unfathomably distant to the intimate.
-
-
Finally more John Langan in audiobook form
- By Anonymous User on 09-10-23
By: John Langan
-
Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe
- By: Thomas Ligotti, Jeff VanderMeer - foreword
- Narrated by: Jon Padgett, Linda Jones
- Length: 21 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thomas Ligotti’s debut collection, Songs of a Dead Dreamer, and his second, Grimscribe, permanently inscribed a new name in the pantheon of horror fiction. Influenced by the strange terrors of Lovecraft and Poe and by the brutal absurdity of Kafka, Ligotti eschews cheap, gory thrills for his own brand of horror, which shocks at the deepest, existential, levels.
-
-
Incredible!
- By Erik McHatton on 02-27-23
By: Thomas Ligotti, and others
-
The Wendigo
- By: Algernon Blackwood
- Narrated by: Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Days from civilisation five men are about to experience something beyond the rational. In the snow slaked wilds where the natives fear to tread, these men search for moose but find something more terrifying and supernatural. With a rush of wind and the smell of feral nature one of their number is whisked away, leaving them wondering: Who might be next?
-
-
Just the meat and potatoes
- By matt kleinlein on 05-06-19
-
The Great God Pan
- By: Arthur Machen
- Narrated by: Alan Munro
- Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On publication, it was widely denounced by the press as degenerate and horrific because of its implied sexual content, and the novella hurt Machen's reputation as an author. Beginning in the 1920s, Machen's work was critically re-evaluated and The Great God Pan has since garnered a reputation as a classic of horror.
-
-
narrator is not good
- By Cynthia on 07-24-23
By: Arthur Machen
-
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
- By: Stephen Fry, Washington Irving, M.R. James, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
-
-
Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
-
The Wendigo and Other Haunting Tales
- Esoteric Classics: Occult Fiction
- By: Algernon Blackwood
- Narrated by: Shea Taylor
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
British author Algernon Blackwood was a prolific writer who is usually remembered for his numerous ghost stories; however, he also wrote on many other supernatural themes. This collection of 13 stories includes: "The Wendigo", "The Olive", "The Goblin's Collection", "The Sea Fit", "Ancient Lights", "The Prayer", "The Wood of the Dead", "An Egyptian Hornet", "The Other Wing", "The Singular Death of Morton", "Entrance and Exit", "The Kit Bag", "The Damned".
-
-
Blackwood was an original
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-08-16
-
Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies
- By: John Langan
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Langan, author of the Bram Stoker Award-winning novel The Fisherman, returns with ten new tales of cosmic horror in Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies. In these stories, he continues to chart the course of twenty-first century weird fiction, from the unfamiliar to the familial, the unfathomably distant to the intimate.
-
-
Finally more John Langan in audiobook form
- By Anonymous User on 09-10-23
By: John Langan
-
Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe
- By: Thomas Ligotti, Jeff VanderMeer - foreword
- Narrated by: Jon Padgett, Linda Jones
- Length: 21 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thomas Ligotti’s debut collection, Songs of a Dead Dreamer, and his second, Grimscribe, permanently inscribed a new name in the pantheon of horror fiction. Influenced by the strange terrors of Lovecraft and Poe and by the brutal absurdity of Kafka, Ligotti eschews cheap, gory thrills for his own brand of horror, which shocks at the deepest, existential, levels.
-
-
Incredible!
- By Erik McHatton on 02-27-23
By: Thomas Ligotti, and others
-
HorrorBabble's The House on the Borderland
- By: William Hope Hodgson
- Narrated by: Ian Gordon
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The House on the Borderland is a supernatural horror novel written by British writer William Hope Hodgson in 1908. The story opens with the discovery of a journal in the ruins of an unusual house in rural Ireland. Penned by a recluse, the journal details the man's stay at the house and his supernatural experiences with menacing monsters and dreaded dimensions.
-
-
Way ahead of it's time
- By Kayla (probably) on 07-10-21
-
Dark Matter
- By: Michelle Paver
- Narrated by: Jeremy Northam
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
January 1937. Jack Miller has just about run out of options. His shoes have worn through, he can't afford to heat his rented room in Tooting, and he longs to use his training as an specialist wireless operator instead of working in his dead-end job. When he is given the chance to join an arctic expedition, as communications expert, by a group of elite Oxbridge graduates, he brushes off his apprehensions and convinces himself to join them.
-
-
Incredible!
- By Madeleine on 02-12-11
By: Michelle Paver
-
The Three Impostors and Other Weird Tales
- By: Arthur Machen
- Narrated by: Ian Gordon
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A collection assembled by HorrorBabble, comprising some of Machen's most highly regarded works.
-
-
A little disappointed.
- By Pan on 07-24-24
By: Arthur Machen
-
The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies
- By: John Langan
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Langan has, in the last few years, established himself as one of the leading voices in contemporary horror literature. Gifted with a supple and mellifluous prose style, an imagination that can conjure up clutching terrors with seeming effortlessness, and a thorough knowledge of the rich heritage of weird fiction, Langan has already garnered his share of accolades. This new collection includes nine of his substantial stories.
-
-
Forgot the Horror
- By Dylan on 10-04-18
By: John Langan
-
The Hollow Places
- By: T. Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Pray they are hungry." Kara finds these words in the mysterious bunker that she’s discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle's house. Freshly divorced and living back at home, Kara now becomes obsessed with these cryptic words and starts exploring the peculiar bunker - only to discover that it holds portals to countless alternate realities. But these places are haunted by creatures that seem to hear thoughts...and the more you fear them, the stronger they become.
-
-
This could have been a great suspense novel.
- By Graham KUNISCH on 10-28-20
By: T. Kingfisher
-
The Fisherman
- By: John Langan
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In upstate New York, in the woods around Woodstock, Dutchman's Creek flows out of the Ashokan Reservoir. Steep-banked, fast-moving, it offers the promise of fine fishing, and of something more, a possibility too fantastic to be true. When Abe and Dan, two widowers who have found solace in each other's company and a shared passion for fishing, hear rumors of the Creek, and what might be found there, the remedy to both their losses, they dismiss it as just another fish story.
-
-
The Horror of Loss
- By Jim N on 04-20-17
By: John Langan
-
Something Wicked This Way Comes
- By: Ray Bradbury
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A carnival rolls in sometime after the midnight hour on a chill Midwestern October eve, ushering in Halloween a week before its time. A calliope's shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery.
-
-
It's so creepy
- By Midwestbonsai on 11-14-14
By: Ray Bradbury
-
Twice Cursed
- An Anthology
- By: Joe Hill, Neil Gaiman, Joanne Harris, and others
- Narrated by: Melanie Crawley, Antonia Beamish, Mark Peachey
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Take a trip to a terrifying carnival and uncover the secrets within, solve a mysterious puzzle box and await your reward, join a travelling circus and witness the strangest ventriloquist act you've ever seen. In this follow-up to the bestselling Cursed: An Anthology, you'll unearth curses old and new. From a very different take on Snow White, to a new interpretation of The Red Shoes, the best in fantasy spin straw into gold, and invite you into the labyrinth.
-
-
Needs A Trigger Warning!!!
- By Ronda on 12-13-23
By: Joe Hill, and others
-
The Pram
- Creature Feature Collection
- By: Joe Hill
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 1 hr and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Willy and Marianne’s farmhouse in Maine has acres of meadow and fresh air, and a lonesome bridle path in the forest along which Willy daydreams and ambles. When he’s loaned a decrepit old baby stroller to cart his groceries home, the rickety squeak of the wheels comforts him. So do the sweet coos of a baby Willy knows can’t be real. Can it? In this twisted thicket, wishes come true—with a price.
-
-
Freaking Brilliant!
- By Wysh on 03-19-24
By: Joe Hill
-
The Color Out of Space
- By: H. P. Lovecraft
- Narrated by: Christopher Strong
- Length: 1 hr and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is one of Lovecraft's most beautifully written and frightening stories. It is written from the perspective of a surveyor, who, while surveying a rural area that is to be flooded near the town of Arkham, comes across a mysterious, abandoned farmstead, which is completely devoid of all life. At the center of the farmstead is an old well. The site fills him with an unnatural sense of dread, and, as it turns out, there is good reason for that feeling.
-
-
WARNING! Bad narrator.....
- By Doug on 06-11-13
By: H. P. Lovecraft
-
Tales of the Al-Azif
- A Cthulhu Mythos Anthology
- By: C. T. Phipps, Matthew Davenport, David J. West, and others
- Narrated by: Joshua Saxon
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Necronomicon was not the first book by H.P. Lovecraft to terrify readers with tales of dark and twisted horrors from beyond. No, the Al-Azif, or Book of the Insect, is the first work that told mankind of Cthulhu, Azathoth, and other terrors. Indeed, it was the book that inspired "The Mad Arab" Abdul Al-Hazred to write its more famous successor.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Michael Davenport on 10-07-21
By: C. T. Phipps, and others
-
Mrs. Dalloway
- By: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a June day in London in 1923, and the lovely Clarissa Dalloway is having a party. Whom will she see? Her friend Peter, back from India, who has never really stopped loving her? What about Sally, with whom Clarissa had her life’s happiest moment? Meanwhile, the shell-shocked Septimus Smith is struggling with his life on the same London day.
-
-
One Tough Read Perfectly Delivered
- By Chris on 06-11-12
By: Virginia Woolf
Related to this topic
-
The Rainbow
- By: D. H. Lawrence
- Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
- Length: 20 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
D. H. Lawrence's 'The Rainbow' explores themes of love, sexuality, and the struggle for personal fulfilment in early 20th century England. Published in 1915, it follows the lives of three generations of the Brangwen family, focusing primarily on the women, as they navigate societal expectations and their own desires.
By: D. H. Lawrence
-
The Setting Sun
- New Directions Book
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: June Angela
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in the early postwar years, it probes the destructive effects of war and the transition from a feudal Japan to an industrial society. Ozamu Dazai died, a suicide, in 1948. But the influence of his book has made "people of the setting sun" a permanent part of the Japanese language, and his heroine, Kazuko, a young aristocrat who deliberately abandons her class, a symbol of the anomie which pervades so much of the modern world.
-
-
MORE OSAMU DAZAI TRANSLATIONS PLEASE!!!!!
- By Lucky on 10-19-22
By: Osamu Dazai
-
Jenny
- By: Sigrid Undset
- Narrated by: K. G. Cross
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenny is the story of Jenny Winge, a talented Norwegian painter who lives a free and independent life in Rome. Betraying her own ideals, she has an affair, resulting in a child out of wedlock, and decides to raise the child on her own. Undset gives a gripping portrayal of a woman struggling towards fulfillment and independence, who at the same time wrestles with mental problems. It is written with unflinching honesty, which makes her story as compelling today as it was nearly a century ago.
-
-
Undset is an Astute Observer of Human Nature
- By Amazon Customer on 08-05-17
By: Sigrid Undset
-
Lady Chatterley's Lover
- By: D. H. Lawrence
- Narrated by: Samantha Bond
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Lady Chatterley and her love for her husband's gamekeeper outraged the sensibilities of Edwardian England. Lawrence had already been dismissed as a purveyor of the obscene for the attitudes to sex that he had shown in The Rainbow, which had been fiercely suppressed on its publication in 1915. Chatterley, written in several versions around 1928 in Italy in the final part of Lawrence's life, was a deliberate choice on the author's part to address sex head on.
-
-
Amazing reader of classic great novel
- By Programmer on 05-02-16
By: D. H. Lawrence
-
The Return of the Soldier
- By: Rebecca West
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this lyrical and poignant story of a wounded man and the three concerned women who seek to heal him, Rebecca West explores the complexity of the mind and its subtle strategies for coping with life's painful realities. Only when Chris has the courage to face one pivotal moment of truth in his married life will he be able to awaken from his boyish fantasy and become, indeed, "every inch a soldier".
-
-
a gem
- By beatrice on 09-08-21
By: Rebecca West
-
A Woman of No Importance
- By: Oscar Wilde
- Narrated by: Miriam Margolyes, Samantha Mathis, Rosalind Ayres, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 34 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Devilishly attractive Lord Illingworth is notorious for his skill as a seducer. But he is still invited to all the "best" houses, while his female conquests must hide their shame in seclusion. In this devastating drawing-room comedy, Oscar Wilde uses his celebrated wit to expose English society's narrow view of everything from sexual mores to Americans.
-
-
Pitch Perfect Performance
- By Cheryl on 08-26-12
By: Oscar Wilde
-
The Rainbow
- By: D. H. Lawrence
- Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
- Length: 20 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
D. H. Lawrence's 'The Rainbow' explores themes of love, sexuality, and the struggle for personal fulfilment in early 20th century England. Published in 1915, it follows the lives of three generations of the Brangwen family, focusing primarily on the women, as they navigate societal expectations and their own desires.
By: D. H. Lawrence
-
The Setting Sun
- New Directions Book
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: June Angela
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in the early postwar years, it probes the destructive effects of war and the transition from a feudal Japan to an industrial society. Ozamu Dazai died, a suicide, in 1948. But the influence of his book has made "people of the setting sun" a permanent part of the Japanese language, and his heroine, Kazuko, a young aristocrat who deliberately abandons her class, a symbol of the anomie which pervades so much of the modern world.
-
-
MORE OSAMU DAZAI TRANSLATIONS PLEASE!!!!!
- By Lucky on 10-19-22
By: Osamu Dazai
-
Jenny
- By: Sigrid Undset
- Narrated by: K. G. Cross
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenny is the story of Jenny Winge, a talented Norwegian painter who lives a free and independent life in Rome. Betraying her own ideals, she has an affair, resulting in a child out of wedlock, and decides to raise the child on her own. Undset gives a gripping portrayal of a woman struggling towards fulfillment and independence, who at the same time wrestles with mental problems. It is written with unflinching honesty, which makes her story as compelling today as it was nearly a century ago.
-
-
Undset is an Astute Observer of Human Nature
- By Amazon Customer on 08-05-17
By: Sigrid Undset
-
Lady Chatterley's Lover
- By: D. H. Lawrence
- Narrated by: Samantha Bond
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Lady Chatterley and her love for her husband's gamekeeper outraged the sensibilities of Edwardian England. Lawrence had already been dismissed as a purveyor of the obscene for the attitudes to sex that he had shown in The Rainbow, which had been fiercely suppressed on its publication in 1915. Chatterley, written in several versions around 1928 in Italy in the final part of Lawrence's life, was a deliberate choice on the author's part to address sex head on.
-
-
Amazing reader of classic great novel
- By Programmer on 05-02-16
By: D. H. Lawrence
-
The Return of the Soldier
- By: Rebecca West
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this lyrical and poignant story of a wounded man and the three concerned women who seek to heal him, Rebecca West explores the complexity of the mind and its subtle strategies for coping with life's painful realities. Only when Chris has the courage to face one pivotal moment of truth in his married life will he be able to awaken from his boyish fantasy and become, indeed, "every inch a soldier".
-
-
a gem
- By beatrice on 09-08-21
By: Rebecca West
-
A Woman of No Importance
- By: Oscar Wilde
- Narrated by: Miriam Margolyes, Samantha Mathis, Rosalind Ayres, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 34 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Devilishly attractive Lord Illingworth is notorious for his skill as a seducer. But he is still invited to all the "best" houses, while his female conquests must hide their shame in seclusion. In this devastating drawing-room comedy, Oscar Wilde uses his celebrated wit to expose English society's narrow view of everything from sexual mores to Americans.
-
-
Pitch Perfect Performance
- By Cheryl on 08-26-12
By: Oscar Wilde
-
The Painted Veil
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First published in 1925, The Painted Veil is an affirmation of the human capacity to grow, change, and forgive. Set in England and Hong Kong in the 1920s, it is the story of the beautiful but shallow young Kitty Fane. When her husband discovers her adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to a remote region of China ravaged by a cholera epidemic.
-
-
What An Unexpected Delight!
- By Mimi on 10-22-08
-
First Love
- By: Ivan Turgenev
- Narrated by: David Troughton
- Length: 2 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of a dinner party, the remaining guests drink wine and tell stories of their first love. For one of them, it will be a dark journey into his past, reawakening unbearable memories of his obsession with the beautiful Zinaida.
-
-
Turgenev's Famous Novel...
- By Douglas on 01-16-14
By: Ivan Turgenev
-
The Phantom Coach
- A Connoisseur's Collection of the Best Victorian Ghost Stories
- By: Michael Sims
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ghost stories date back centuries, but those written in the Victorian era have a unique atmosphere and dark beauty. Michael Sims, whose previous Victorian collections Dracula’s Guest (vampires) and The Dead Witness (detectives) have been widely praised, has gathered twelve of the best stories about humanity’s oldest supernatural obsession. The Phantom Coach includes tales by a surprising and often legendary cast, including Charles Dickens, Margaret Oliphant, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, and Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as lost gems by forgotten masters such as Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and W. F. Harvey. Amelia B. Edwards’s chilling story gives the collection its title, while Ambrose Bierce ("The Moonlit Road"), Elizabeth Gaskell ("The Old Nurse’s Story"), and W. W. Jacobs ("The Monkey’s Paw") will turn you white as a sheet. With a skillful introduction to the genre and notes on each story by Sims, The Phantom Coach is a spectacular collection of ghostly Victorian thrills.
-
-
Excellent Narration and Great Selection of Stories
- By Robert on 05-03-15
By: Michael Sims
-
The Voyage Out
- By: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Voyage Out is Virginia Woolf's haunting tale about a naïve young woman's sea voyage from London to a small resort on the South American coast. In symbolic, lyrical, and intoxicating prose, her outward journey begins to mirror her internal voyage into adulthood as she searches for her personal identity, grapples with love, and learns how to face life intellectually and emotionally. Its wit and exquisiteness, and its profound depth and insight into humanity, will capture the imagination of the listener.
-
-
Lovely
- By Edith on 05-24-19
By: Virginia Woolf
-
Shirley
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 25 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in the industrialising England of the Napoleonic wars, a period of bad harvests, Luddite riots, and economic unrest, Shirley is the story of two contrasting heroines and the men they love. One is the shy Caroline Helstone, trapped in the oppressive atmosphere of a Yorkshire rectory, whose life represents the plight of single women in the 19th century. The other is the vivacious Shirley Keeldar, who inherits a local estate and whose wealth liberates her from convention.
-
-
"As Romantic As Monday Morning"
- By Joseph R on 09-15-09
By: Charlotte Brontë
-
Mrs. Dalloway
- By: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a June day in London in 1923, and the lovely Clarissa Dalloway is having a party. Whom will she see? Her friend Peter, back from India, who has never really stopped loving her? What about Sally, with whom Clarissa had her life’s happiest moment? Meanwhile, the shell-shocked Septimus Smith is struggling with his life on the same London day.
-
-
One Tough Read Perfectly Delivered
- By Chris on 06-11-12
By: Virginia Woolf
-
Villette
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 22 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed as Charlotte Brontë’s “finest novel” by Virginia Woolf, Villette is the timeless semi-autobiographical tale of Lucy Snowe. Left with no family and no money, Lucy goes against her own timid nature and travels to the small city of Villette, France, where she becomes a school teacher in Madame Beck’s school for girls. During her stay, she falls in love—twice—and discovers an independent, inner strength rarely seen in women of her time.
-
-
The Divine Ms. Porter delivers as always
- By peachnmario on 03-17-15
By: Charlotte Brontë
-
Death in Venice
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: Peter Batchelor
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A stunningly beautiful youth and the city of Venice set the stage for Thomas Mann’s introspective examination of erotic love and philosophical wisdom.
-
-
A problem with the narration
- By Erez on 03-19-12
By: Thomas Mann
-
An Old-Fashioned Girl
- By: Louisa May Alcott
- Narrated by: Anne Hancock
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Immediately following the success of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott sat down to write An-Old Fashioned Girl, expanding on the subject of rich versus poor that she explored in her first novel. It’s a story of a country mouse and a city mouse: 14-year-old Polly Milton travels to Boston for a stay with her friend Fanny Shaw. The wealthy Shaws’ way of life is foreign to Polly who tries to adapt but is quickly labeled “old-fashioned”. Fanny and her friends dress and behave as their elders do, flirting with boys and gossiping.
-
-
Okay
- By selene on 07-15-18
-
The Dead Travel Fast
- By: Deanna Raybourn
- Narrated by: Charlotte Parry
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With a modest inheritance and the three gowns that comprise her entire wardrobe, Theodora leaves Edinburgh—and a disappointed suitor—far behind. She is bound for Romania, where tales of vampires are still whispered, to visit an old friend and write the book that will bring her true independence. She arrives at a magnificent, decaying castle in the Carpathians, replete with eccentric inhabitants, including the castle’s master, Count Andrei Dragulescu.
-
-
Process vs getting their
- By Aryn on 04-29-11
By: Deanna Raybourn
-
Emily of New Moon (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Lucy Maud Montgomery
- Narrated by: Jess Nahikian
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After Emily Starr loses her dear father, the ten-year-old orphan is packed off to live with her starched relatives on Prince Edward Island. If only she could relate to them. Frankly, whip-smart, ambitious Emily can’t imagine ever feeling at home at New Moon Farm. Especially when her writerly dreams are routinely dashed by her autocratic aunt. Then Emily finds an outlet for her creative spirit with a group of friends every bit as passionate and gifted as she. With their help, New Moon could start to feel like home after all.
-
-
From Anne to Emily
- By Amazon Customer on 10-17-19
-
Maurice
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Peter Firth
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'Ah for darkness...not the darkness of a house which coops up a man among furniture, but the darkness where he can be free!' Maurice Hall knows he must choose between living life in the shadows or denying himself a chance at love and fulfilment. Aware of his attraction to the same sex, in a time where it was considered unlawful and immoral to have homosexual desires, Maurice must decide whether to battle or submit to a prejudiced 20th-century English society.
-
-
Finally!!! It's past time!
- By Christopher P. on 11-18-10
By: E. M. Forster
What listeners say about The Willows
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kathy
- 11-21-11
Leaves you thinking
Do you ever go camping? Have you seen the leaves turning over in the wind at the edge of a campfire? Then you can really relate to "The Willows". Don't miss this seemingly normal little trip down a flooded river - not sure if I'll ever camp where there are willows again - enjoy!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- Diane
- 06-24-11
can't decide still?
Well, I bought it based on good reviews and a liking for this sort of story. On the positive, it is supremely well written and read. Almost poetry in the way things are described. On the negative, not enough happens to explain and yes, I know, it's a subtle story but I mean, really, it's never explained and then it just ends. I still feel worth listening to though for the writing and reading and the story idea.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jefferson
- 04-25-12
H. P. Lovecraft's Favorite Horror Story
In Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows" (1907) the first person narrator and his friend are canoeing down the Danube through Eastern Europe when they camp on a sandy island in a vast marshy region populated by innumerable willows. Although the narrator has been charmed by earlier friendly willows, "showing their silver leaves to the sunshine in an ever-moving plain of bewildering beauty," on the island they oppress him with what seems to be malevolent sentience. He and his companion watch a human corpse rolling by the island in the flooding river. Or was it only an otter?
The island turns out to be a kind of junction between our world and another. The beings of the other world are powerful and inimical, and the longer the narrator and his friend stay on the island, the more the aliens become attuned to their thoughts and emotions and become able to influence them. It is not, perhaps, that the alien beings are willows, so much as that they are able to act in our world through them. The tension in the story increases until the terrified friends are trying to stay sane and safe by confining their thoughts to mundane things. More than death, they dread being changed in some unknown way by the alien beings.
"The Willows" is not an easy listen, because Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot reads it rapidly, while Blackwood's rich prose should be slowly savored and pondered, so that I frequently found myself rewinding to re-listen to certain parts. But Herriot's voice and manner and British accent are otherwise just right for the sensitive narrator and intellectual horror story.
And I can see why H. P. Lovecraft loved "The Willows," because it is vivid and poetic and evokes the sublimity of the natural world so as to tear open the veil between reality and the gulf of everything we can never understand about it. The narrator telling the story of his encounter with vast, malevolent, and incomprehensible alien forces feels like a prototype of Lovecraft's narrators and their experiences, though Blackwood's alien beings remain more anonymous and enigmatic than Lovecraft's.
Finally, I prefer Blackwood's more moving and strange "The Man Whom the Trees Loved" (available for free on LibriVox), but "The Willows" is an interesting listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful