Showing results by narrator "Rob Goll" in All Categories

Nicholas Nickleby's father dies unexpectedly after losing all of his money in a poor investment. Nicholas, his mother, and his younger sister, Kate, are forced to give up their comfortable lifestyle in Devonshire and travel to London to seek the aid of their only relative, Nicholas's uncle, Ralph Nickleby. Ralph, a cold-hearted businessman, is reluctant to help his relations and has an immediate dislike of Nicholas, perhaps because he reminds him of his dead brother.

In this narrative poem, the Pacha, Giaffir, has decreed that his beautiful daughter, Zuleika, is to be married to the rich and elderly Bey of Carasman. She confesses her grief to Selim, her beloved half-brother. Selim entreats Zuleika to meet him in a grotto later that night, where he appears in pirate garb. He declares that they are not brother and sister, but cousins and reveals that Giaffir murdered his father, Abdallah.

Fresh off his victory at The Battle of Lodi, Napoleon is planning to enjoy his lunch when a lieutenant arrives with the bad news that the dispatches he had been carrying were stolen. Infuriated, Napoleon threatens him with being court-martialed unless he can recover them. A woman appears who claims to know about the theft. Unconvinced of her story, Napoleon and the woman enter into a battle of wits in true Shaw style. Will the conqueror of worlds end up conquered by a woman?

The brightest light of the Pickwick Club is its founder member and illustrious leader, Samuel Pickwick. He is joined by his three friends and fellow club members: the poetic Augustus Snodgrass, the romantic Tracy Tupman, and the sporting Nathaniel Winkle. Their mission is to travel the country in search of interesting scenes and characters and to report back the results of their observations. What follows is a series of adventures and misadventures, encounters and intrigues which show the dazzling brilliancy of Charles Dickens' comic invention with regard to character and situation.

The classic horror story of dual personalities gone too far, this full-cast narration explores the attempts of Utterson, a London lawyer, to investigate the strange occurrences surrounding his friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the shocking discoveries he makes along the way. The impact of this story has been so strong that "Jekyll and Hyde" has become part of our vernacular, referring to those who are outwardly good but inwardly evil.

The first novel written by Charlotte Bronte, The Professor follows a young man named William Crimsworth on his teaching career in Brussels as well as the relationships he forms while residing there. At the behest of the headmistress, Zoraide Reuter, William tutors fellow teacher Frances Henri in English and finds himself falling in love with her. Jealousy drives Zoraide to dismiss Frances from the school as well as refusing to assist William in discovering her whereabouts.

Ernest Medhurst is unwittingly caught up in a minor political intrigue while second secretary to a small German Court. The Princess falls in love with him and to avoid the possibility of scandal affecting her forthcoming marriage her father ensures that Medhurst is duped into leaving the country.

After a riding accident involving her uncle, a respected General, Mina's life takes a dark turn. A new groom with a mysterious past and unsettling talents arrives at the estate, stirring whispers of hidden secrets and dangerous motives. As Mina delves deeper into the groom's enigma, she unravels a web of intrigue that threatens to upend everything she knows.

A Christmas Carol is one of Charles Dickens' best loved tales. Ebenezer Scrooge, described as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner," is certainly no lover of the Christmas season. He is visited on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley, who warns him that he will be visited by three further spirits: The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come.

Henry James' 1898 novella is one of the world's greatest ghost stories. Told by an unnamed governess who accepts a position looking after two children at a remote English country manor, the story is famously ambiguous. The governess gradually comes to believe that the house - and the two seemingly angelic children, Miles and Flora - are haunted by the ghosts of her predecessor and her brutish lover. But are the ghosts actually real? Or is the governess slowly going mad?

The charismatic Count Dracula, a Transylvanian nobleman, wishes to purchase a house in London. Assisted in this enterprise by a young solicitor, Jonathan Harker, it becomes evident that there is a sinister side to the Count's plans. A small group of friends unite to prevent the success of the Count's schemes, hazarding danger to themselves for the greater good of humanity. The growing mystery is revealed through journal entries, letters, and telegrams written by the main characters.

Something was dead in each of us,
And what was dead was Hope. In this moving poetic study of his experiences in the Victorian penal system, Wilde relates the relentlessness and tedium of prison life, and of the haunted thoughts which trouble these "souls in agony" within their "numbered tombs". Oscar Wilde wrote "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" after his two-year imprisonment at the establishment. During his incarceration, a former trooper was convicted of the murder of his wife and hanged at the Gaol. This event is central to the poem's narrative.

The Battle of Life: A Love Story, published in 1846, is the fourth in Charles Dickens' series of "Christmas Books," five novellas with strong social and moral messages that he published during the 1840s.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the first published collection of short stories featuring the famous consulting detective and his friend and colleague Dr. Watson.

A beautiful young elven sorceress flees for her life in a dark world where magic is forbidden and elves live as slaves. Watching her are the Order of Witch-Hunters, the corrupt organization that rules by fear and ignorance, and a mysterious, wealthy nobleman, lord of an idyllic valley who is not all he seems. As the slavers roll across the lands, stealing elves from what remains of their ancestral home, the Witch-Hunters turn a blind eye to the tragedy and a story of power, love, and a terrible revenge unfolds.

In 1916, Chris returns home from a French hospital to his country estate just outside London. The nature of his injuries at the front has caused him to suffer from amnesia. Awaiting him at home are his devoted wife, whom he does not remember, and his cousin, Jenny, whom he remembers only as a childhood friend. For Chris, the last 15 years have not happened and he believes himself still in love with a woman named Margaret, the poor innkeeper's daughter he courted many years before.

Parisina was first published in 1816. The tragic narrative poem is the sixth, and shortest, in the series of Byron's "Oriental Romances" or "Heroic Tales". Prince Azo, overhearing his wife, Parisina, muttering in her sleep, discovers that she is having an affair with his illegitimate son, Hugo. Parisina and Hugo were engaged to be married before Azo claimed her for his own bride. Hugo is sentenced to death, and Parisina is forced to watch the execution as her punishment.

The story is told from the point of view of Pip, an orphan of humble origins who dreams of being a gentleman. From a chilling encounter with a convict when he was seven, through his coming of age and early adulthood, he tells of his "memorable days" and the "great changes" they wrought in him.

Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel takes place over the course of a single June day in the lives of some very different Londoners: wealthy society hostess Clarissa Dalloway, who is preparing for a party; her old friend Peter Walsh, recently returned from India, whose proposal of marriage Clarissa rejected years ago; Septimus Warren Smith, a WWI veteran suffering from shell shock; and his Italian-born wife, Rezia, who is trying to care for him as best she can. Woolf's beautiful prose captures the minds and souls of these vivid characters.

Assassin-for-hire Vyder Ironstone is on a mission for the King of Wendurlund. While the pay's good, the odds are not, since the task requires him to travel deep into enemy territory. But first, there's the little problem of his death to overcome, not to mention a malcontent travelling companion with no love for humanity and a deadly purpose of his own. Vyder had better find a way to deal with both, and quickly, because, controlled by an unseen power, hordes of giant spiders have attacked the capital. Facing vast numbers, Commander Tork of the King's Own and his small troop of elite soldiers won't be able to hold the walls for long. Vyder's quest is vital: He must not fail, or the empire will fall.