Showing results by narrator "Anton Lesser" in All Categories

Dr. Manette has emerged from eighteen years of unjust imprisonment in the Bastille. By an ironic twist of fate, his daughter Lucie's marriage draws the family into a terrifying web of circumstance which, it seems, can only end in death by the guillotine.

This is a story from the The Happy Prince and Other Stories collection.

In this, perhaps Dickens' most profound and personal novel, we are invited to share in the sentimental education of Pip, the poor boy from the village forge who risks losing himself in snobbery and selfishness when he mysteriously inherits a fortune. The story moves from the bleak Kentish marshes of Pip's childhood to a thrilling climax that mingles tragedy and triumph.

This is a story from the The Happy Prince and Other Stories collection.

Here are 60 of the finest and most entertaining poems for younger listeners. There are nonsense poems ("The Jumblies"), classic animal poems ("The Snail"), stories of adventure ("The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens") and Robert Browning's classic tale of adults getting their come-uppance ("The Pied Pipe of Hamelin").

This is a story from the The Happy Prince and Other Stories collection.

The Old Curiosity Shop follows the story of Little Nell who lives with her grandfather in his magical shop of curiosities in London. Her grandfather's attempts to secure an inheritance for Nell lead them into financial trouble with the evil dwarf Quilp. Nell manages to flee and lead her grandfather to safety, but with considerable cost to her health.

In this, Dickens' most openly political novel, we discover the terrible human consequences of a ruthlessly materialistic philosophy in the lives of Thomas Gradgrind's family, brought up to believe that only "Facts! Facts! Facts!" have any meaning. Set in Coketown, a typical Lancashire milltown, the novel graphically exposes the truth about Victorian "progress".

Pleasures of the Garden begins in ancient China and ends on the Isle of Man; it admires both stately landscaped parks and a soap box full of red geraniums on a fire-escape. It shows that gardening is for everybody, whatever their resources.

Paradise Lost is the greatest epic poem in the English language. In words remarkable for their richness of rhythm and imagery, Milton tells the story of Man's creation, fall, and redemption to "justify the ways of God to men."

This is a story from the Canterbury Tales I: Modern Verse Translation collection. Chaucer's greatest work, written towards the end of the fourteenth century, paints a brilliant picture of medieval life, society and values. The stories range from the romantic, courtly idealism of "The Knight's Tale" to the joyous bawdy of the Miller's; all are told with a freshness and vigor in this modern verse translation that make them a delight to hear.