Experiencing a story read out loud is one of the oldest forms of entertainment there is. Fireside Reading is a way to slow down, reconnect with the timeless wisdom of great books and rediscover the simple pleasure of being read to. Join Gildart Jackson in front of a cozy fire as he reads The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson to you and your family from beginning to end.

Set in early 19th-century Paris, it tells the story of a young man who finds a magic piece of shagreen that fulfills his every desire. For each wish granted, however, the skin shrinks and consumes a portion of his physical energy. La Peau de chagrin belongs to the Etudes philosophiques group of Balzac's sequence of novels.

A wonderful little collection of short stories told in the form of fictional letters by famous English author Jane Austen. Although written when she was just 14 years old for the enjoyment of family and friends, her witty dialogue and characteristic sense of humour are very much there. "A Collection of Letters" is one of Austen's earliest works (it includes her original spelling quirks) and is not to be missed by those who have read and enjoyed her...

Jane Rule's first novel-now a classic of gay and lesbian literature-established her as a foremost writer of the vagaries and yearnings of the female heart   Against the backdrop of Reno, Nevada, in the late 1950s, award-winning author Jane Rule chronicles a love affair between two women.   When Desert of the Heart opens, Evelyn Hall is on a plane that will take her from her old life in Oakland, California, to Reno, where she plans to divorce her...

Noted as one of the first pieces of literature to feature vampirism effectively, The Vampyre follows the adventures of a wealthy young man named Aubrey who befriends a mysterious, suave nobleman named Lord Ruthven. As Aubrey begins to realize just how dangerous Lord Ruthven is, he discovers that his beloved sister is in the monster's sights. A product of a competition that also produced Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this classic gothic novella became...

Experiencing a story read out loud is one of the oldest forms of entertainment there is. Fireside Reading is a way to slow down, reconnect with the timeless wisdom of great books and rediscover the simple pleasure of being read to. Join Gildart Jackson in front of a cozy fire as he reads an abridged edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula to you and your family.

A gripping story of otherworldly mystery and magic from an acclaimed Grand Master of Fantasy. When Captain Jellico and the crew of the interstellar tramp freighter Solar Queen are invited to visit the planet Khatka by Chief Ranger Asaki, they anticipate a brief respite from the boredom of their mail route. But there is more danger on the verdant jungle world than they know. Founded as a refuge by Earth Africans, Khatka is a global safari where hunters...

Fading charmer Tommy Wilhelm has reached his day of reckoning and is scared. In his forties, he still retains a boyish impetuousness that has brought him to the brink of chaos: he is separated from his wife and children; at odds with his vain, successful father; failed in his acting career (a Hollywood agent once placed him as “the type that loses the girl”); and in a financial mess. In the course of one climactic day he reviews his past mistakes...

An original compilation of eight of Edith Wharton's gothic stories

A ghostly presence in "The Lady's Maid's Bell" desires revenge against a tyrannical husband. In "Mr. Jones," Lady Jane Lynke inherits an estate unexpectedly and can't make sense of how to manage the servants—especially since the caretaker has been dead for decades but keeps giving orders.

Meanwhile, in "Afterward," a newly wealthy American couple moves into a large,

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Childhood (1852) is a novel by Leo Tolstoy. Published at the beginning of his career as a leading Russian author of his generation, Childhood is the first in a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels tracing Nikolenka's journey from innocence to experience. As a record of the past, a nostalgic reminder of a lost world, Childhood is one of Tolstoy's most personal works, and yet his prose shows signs of the universal religious and philosophical themes...