Latest podcast episodes

Somewhat autobiographical, this "coming of age" novel unfolds an introspective boy's formative years in pre-World War 1 Germany, from grade school through college. Hesse likens this confusing process to a giant bird stru

Dickens' last complete novel was published serially 1864-5. It begins with an intriguing fortune offered to John Harmon by his late father, a rich dust contractor, in his will. To receive the money, John must marry a cer

Alfred Noyes, in the blank-verse epic "Drake", fictionalizes the historical Francis Drake, who, during the reign of Elizabeth I of England, sailed (and plundered) on the Spanish Main and beyond. (Summary by Cynthia Moyer

This, the fifth novel in Zola's Rougon-Macquart Cycle, serves effectively as a sequel to "The Conquest of Plassans". Serge Mouret, the son of Francois and Marthe, is now a priest, in the little backwater of Artauds. Afte

The Black Cat (1895-1922) was a monthly literary magazine, publishing original short stories, often about uncanny or fantastical topics. Many writers were largely unknown, but some famous authors also wrote original mate

Mattia Pascal grew up in a small Italian town not dissimilar to that of the author's upbringing. Pascal leads a somewhat feckless boyhood, allowing opportunities to slip away from him and living on the accumulated but dw

What a fool I was not to go where she beckoned!' mused Caius. 'Where? Anywhere into the heart of the ocean, out of this dull, sordid life into the land of dreams.' For it must all have been a dream—a sweet, fantastic dre

Professor Pierre Aronnax is an academic whose thirst for knowledge carries him out of his ivory tower and on the trail of a mysterious sea beast. His curiosity at last is satiated when he finds himself in the belly of th

Virginia Woolf's groundbreaking satire of British culture, customs, literature, philosophy, and politics from the Elizabethan era to the author's present-day 1928, as experienced by her famously long-lived and genderflui

Herland is a utopian novel from 1915, written by feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The book describes an isolated society comprised entirely of Aryan women who reproduce via parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction). The r

Based on the author's own life, this book tells the story of "little sister". The youngest of eleven, she is unwanted in the beginning. The brother who loved her most, and whom she loved most in the world, is Laddie. She

“Toad” Brown, his brother, and their friends have a jolly time at the Christmas holidays. They daydream at a toy shop window, chop down a Christmas tree, have a grand snowball fight, and plan a surprise for a friend in t

Gertrude Bell's Syria: The Desert and the Sown describes her travels in the Levant (also called Greater Syria) during the first years of the 20th century. In this vivid and painstakingly documented narrative, Bell recoun

Nineteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include the role of "people of color" in New Orleans and Louisiana history, the question of voting rights for Blacks after

This book was written about 150 years ahead of its time. It tells the story of Emmeline Mobwray who grows up in a dysfunctional family and has to find herself against all odds. Orphaned at a young age, she has to stay al

Richard Mutimer is delighted to inherit a large fortune. As a socialist, he means to use it well: he will open a factory in which workers would be treated well, he will advance his party's causes through his own wealth..

Teddy is a little boy who cares about his father's button more than anything in the world. He wants to be in the Queen's army when he grows up, but his pastor tells him how he can be a soldier in God's army while he is s

This novella by the acclaimed Elizabeth Gaskell follows the reminiscences and life of aristocratic Lady Ludlow, told through the eyes of one of her charges, the young Margaret Dawson. Lady Ludlow epitomizes the unwilling

Cradock Nowell: a Tale of the New Forest is a three-volume novel by R. D. Blackmore published in 1866. Set in the New Forest and in London, it follows the fortunes of Cradock Nowell who is thrown out of his family home b

The author has discovered for us in this volume the present stopping place of that famous raconteur of dear comic memory, the late Hieronymous Carl Friederich, sometime Baron Munchausen, and he transmits to us some furth

This is a collection of the following short stories: The Ninth Vibration -- The Interpreter : A Romance of the East -- The Incomparable Lady : A Story of China with a Moral -- The Hatred of the Queen : A Story of Burma -

Heimskringla (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈheimsˌkʰriŋla]) is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (1178/79–1241) ca. 1230. The nam

Would-be author of romance Gerald Musgrave, southern gentleman and member of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, is fated one day to meet with a Sylan and exchange his body with that of the d

This is the twenty-first Coffee Break Collection, in which Librivox readers select English language public domain works of about 15 minutes or less in duration -- perfect to listen to during commutes, workouts or coffee