Showing results by narrator "Margaret Melosh" in All Categories

Light-skinned black woman Irene Redfield encounters an old childhood friend - Claire- who is now "passing" as a white woman. Claire is married to a racist white man, who doesn't know she has African American blood. In spite of the danger of being found out by her husband and society at large; she finds herself helplessly drawn to Irene's world... "Passing" is a fascinating listening experience on many simultaneous levels.

"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" was one of the first books to address the struggle for freedom by female slaves; explore their struggles with sexual harassment and abuse; and their effort to protect their roles as women and mothers. These memoirs tell the atrocious but true story of slavery in the United States until the Civil War. It is the personal history of Harriet Jacobs and her enslavement and following escape to the North, after spending seven years concealed in a crawlspace. The stunned listener also gets to know of the abuse of the other slaves.

The story of "The Age of Innocence" is set in upper-class New York City in the 1870s, during the so-called Gilded Age. Newland Archer has the perfect life. He is rich, young, good looking and member of the New York High Society. Newland is engaged to a lovely, delightful girl, May Welland and later they get married. When her cousin (Ellen Olenska), comes back from Europe, her presence threatens their happiness as Newland develops feelings for her... Wharton manages to dissect the hypocrisy of a society where customs and position take center stage.

Carmilla is a Gothic novel by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. The story is told by a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire named Carmilla, later discovered to be Mircalla, Countess Karnstein (Carmilla is an anagram of Mircalla). Laura, one of the two central characters, recounts, beginning with her childhood in a "picturesque and solitary" castle in Styria, where she lives with her father, a wealthy English widower retired from service to the Austrian Empire.

Helga Crane yearns to become more than she is and to feel the world more intensely. She consequently dismisses her native Chicago, New York's Harlem, Copenhagen even. She also passes on opportunities for extended family, for marriage, and for true love. What is always latent in this truly outstanding work; is how much the background of 1920's American racial segregation defines Helga's malaise, and how much - paradoxically - is of herown doing.

Undine Spragg is a Midwestern girl who tries to ascend in New York City society. The Spraggs, a family of midwesterners from the fictional city of Apex who have made money through somewhat shady financial dealings, arrive in New York City at the encouragement of their beautiful, ambitious, but socially-naive daughter, Undine. She marries Ralph Marvell, a member of an old New York family that no longer enjoys significant wealth.

"Emma" is a novel about youthful pride and the hazards of misconstrued romance. Emma Woodhouse, the protagonist of the story, is a lovely, high-spirited, intelligent, and "slightly" spoiled young woman of twenty. She has just attended the wedding of Miss Taylor, her friend and former governess, to Mr Weston. Having introduced them, Emma takes credit for their marriage, and notices that she likes matchmaking.

"Behind a Mask, or A Woman's Power" is a novel written by Louisa May Alcott. The story follows Jean Muir, the cunning governess of the rich Coventry family. With skillful manipulation, Jean Muir obtains the love, admiration, and eventually the fortune of the Coventry family. Of all her stories of femme fatales, "Woman's Power or Behind a Mask" is considered Alcott's chef-d'oeuvre in the genre of sensation fiction.

This collection includes all surviving letters of Jane Austen. This is a chance for all her biggest admires to have a look inside the mind of the witty genius. Most of Austen's letters are addressed to her sister Cassandra, but there are also letters to her brothers, friends, and to her nieces and nephews, as well as publishers. The trained ear will recognize almost instantly the prose-voice of the great author.

The House of Mirth is the story of Lily Bart, a penniless woman of the high society of New York City, who was raised and educated to become wife to a wealthy man, a hothouse flower for conspicuous consumption. As an unattached woman with gambling debts and an uncertain future, Lily is destroyed by the society who created her. Written in the style of a novel of manners, the writing itself is an illustration of American literary naturalism.

"Cousin Phillis" tells the story of Paul Manning, a seventeen-year-old who moves to the country and befriends his mother's family and his (second) cousin Phillis Holman, who is confused by her own situation at the edge of adolescence. The author reveals the deep psychological-behavioral impact produced by rural environment. Most critics agree that "Cousin Phillis" is Gaskell's greatest achievement.

"Idylls of the King" is a series of twelve narrative poems which recite the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom. The whole work recounts Arthur's attempt and failure to lift up mankind and create a perfect kingdom, from his coming to power to his death at the hands of the traitor Mordred. Individual poems detail the deeds of various knights, including Lancelot, Geraint, Galahad, and Balin and Balan, and also Merlin and the Lady of the Lake.

Captain Chris Baldry is in 1916 a shell-shocked captain suffering from amnesia. He returns home to the three women who have molded his life. Will these three strong and dedicated women help him regain his memory and his sense of purpose and send him back to the front; or will he descend further into the vaults of oblivion.

The story of "The Glimpses of the Moon" is set in the early 1920s. Nick Lansing and Susy Branch are both scarcely getting by in the rich social circles they move in and they can't afford to get married. They make an agreement. They will get married and stay together for as long as they can but when they run out of money, they are free to divorce each other. The book continues Edith Wharton's inspection of New York society.

"Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave" is the story of an African prince who ultimately ends up in Surinam as a slave. It is also a touching love story of the prince and his one and only love, despite the common practice of polygamy. Tragedy and revenge, or tragic revenge, if you will, is also another strong component of the story. A fascinating tale, both historically and emotionally.

Howards End is a novel about social conventions, codes of conduct, and private relationships in turn-of-the-century England. It also showcases differences between the middle class and the poor, while weaving a complex story of relationship amongst three families belonging to three different classes of pre-war England. Howards End is considered by many to be E. M. Forster's masterpiece.

The Odd Women is set in a smoggy London, with heroines ranging from the idealistic, financially independent Mary Barfoot; to the Madden sisters who struggle to get by in low paying jobs... Being a fascinating, trailblazing and early work of feminism and social realism, this novel reflects the important sexual and cultural issues of the late nineteenth century. Here women are portrayed as "odd" and marginal in relation to an ideal.

The story is set in the fictitious town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, where a visiting engineer recounts the story of his encounter with Ethan Frome, a man with a past of thwarted dreams and wishes. The amassed longing of Frome ends in an ironic turn of events. His original impressions are based on his observations of Frome going about his everyday tasks in Starkfield, and something about him catches the eye and curiosity of the visitor, but no one in the town seems interested in revealing many details about the man or his history - or perhaps they are not able to.

The House of the Vampire is one of the first psychic vampire tales ever - where the vampire feeds off of more than just blood. The story was conceived by German-American poet and writer George Sylvester Viereck.

Charity Royal is bored with her life in the small town of North Dormer. She was born to poor parents from "up the Mountain" who gave her up to the town's learned person, Lawyer Royall, but she still dreams of an even better and more exciting life outside of the town. She secures a job at North Dormer's library, a job that she is neglectful of, in an attempt to save up money so she could eventually leave the town and Mr. Royall's care.