Literary Fiction
The Commission in Lunacy
Read by Bruce Pirie
Honoré de Balzac
“The Commission in Lunacy” is a short novel first published in 1836 with the French title “L’interdiction” (i.e., “The Ban” or “The Prohibit…
The Marriage Contract
Read by Bruce Pirie
Honoré de Balzac
Balzac’s novel “The Marriage Contract” (1835) is part of his “Scenes of Private Life,” which is one section of “The Human Comedy,” his great…
A Second Home
Read by Bruce Pirie
Honoré de Balzac
This novella was first published in French in 1830, with the title “La femme vertueuse” (“The virtuous woman”). In an 1842 edition, the titl…
The Rover Vol. 01 No. 02
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Lawrence Labree and Seba Smith
"The Rover: A weekly magazine of tales, poetry and engravings, original and selected" was a magazine started in 1843 by Seba Smith…
Jeremy At Crale; His Friends, His Ambitions And His One Great Enemy
Read by David Wales
Hugh Walpole
This 1927 work is the third and final in Walpole’s Jeremy series. (The others are Jeremy and Jeremy And Hamlet.) Jeremy’s home is in Polches…
Ferragus, Chief of the Dévorants
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Honoré de Balzac
Why would someone with an immaculate reputation enter a house known for vices? A young officer sets out to uncover the "secret" of…
The Lady of the Aroostook
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William Dean Howells
Lydia blood is young, beautiful, intelligent and has a wonderful singing voice. She leaves her home in Massachusetts, where she lives with h…
The Rover Vol. 01 No. 03
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Lawrence Labree and Seba Smith
"The Rover: A weekly magazine of tales, poetry and engravings, original and selected" was a magazine started in 1843 by Seba Smith…
Abbe Mouret's Transgression, Book Five of Rougon-Macquart Cycle
Read by Mark Leder
Émile Zola
This, the fifth novel in Zola's Rougon-Macquart Cycle, serves effectively as a sequel to "The Conquest of Plassans". Serge Mouret…
Froth
Read by Phil Benson
Armando Palacio Valdés
Clementina is losing her youth in the fashionable world of late-nineteenth century Madrid and takes a younger lover. Meanwhile her father, t…
The Sense of the Past
Read by Mark Leder
Henry James
Ralph Pendrel of New York City is bequested an 18th century house in London. He travels back in time and meets an ancestor of the same name…
The Ivory Tower
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Henry James
An unfinished manuscript written in ponderous, convoluted language making possible subterfuge and frankness in wealthy American society of J…
The Romany Rye
Read by Peter Dann
George Borrow
"The Romany Rye" is a direct continuation of George Borrow's "Lavengro", taking up the latter's story immediately where …
The Rover Vol. 01 No. 06
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Lawrence Labree and Seba Smith
"The Rover: A weekly magazine of tales, poetry and engravings, original and selected" was a magazine started in 1843 by Seba Smith…
The Rover Vol. 01 No. 12
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Lawrence Labree and Seba Smith
"The Rover: A weekly magazine of tales, poetry and engravings, original and selected" was a magazine started in 1843 by Seba Smith…
The Lady Macbeth of the Mzinsk District
Read by Phil Benson
Nikolai Leskov
In Mzinsk, a remote Russian town, adultery is Katerina's relief from boredom. Before long she has developed a passion for he lover, Sergei, …
The Magpie
Read by Atul Sharma
Douglas Durkin
In the aftermath of World War I, even the victors are rocked by social upheaval, as returning soldiers expect a reward for their war-time sa…
The Congressman’s Wife, a Story of American Politics
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
John Daniel Barry
A season in the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Briggs highlights a stormy period in American politics and the capriciousness of a woman. - Summary by…
Joseph in the Snow, and The Clockmaker. Vol. I
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Berthold Auerbach
Nearly Christmas and the precocious and rambunctious Joseph is excited at the prospect of meeting his father (Adam) on the morrow (Christmas…
The Shadow Flies
Read by Thomas A. Copeland
Rose Macaulay
The title of the original, British release of this novel was They Were Defeated, referring, among other matters, to the English Civil War, 1…