Audiobooks narrated by Susan Bones

King Ferdinand and his three friends, Biron, Longaville, and Dumain, plan to study philosophy for the next three years. During their academic pursuits, they must vow to sleep only three hours a night and not let any woman within a mile of court. These strict rules will prevent any distractions from their work - but their promises are soon put to the test when a princess and her three companions arrive for a state visit.

William Shakespeare (Author), Susan Bones, Zacharias Prewett (Narrator)

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Much Ado About Nothing

Shakespeare wrote Much Ado About Nothing towards the middle of his career, sometime between 1598 and 1599. It was first published in quarto in 1600 and later collected into Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies in 1623. The earliest recorded performance of Much Ado About Nothing was performed for the newly-married Princess Elizabeth and Frederick the Fifth, Elector Palatine in 1613. Shakespeare's sources of inspiration for this play can be found in Italian culture and popular texts published in the sixteenth century. Gossip involving lovers deceived into believing each other false was often spread throughout Northern Italy. Works like Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and Edmund Spencer's Fearie Queene also feature tricked lovers like Claudio and Hero. Besides these similarities, the idea of tricking a couple like Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love was an original and unusual idea at the time. The play focuses on two couples: upon the noblemen's return to Messina, Claudio and Hero quickly fall in love and wish to marry in a week; on the contrary, Benedick and Beatrice resume their verbal war, exchanging insults with each other. To pass the time prior to the marriage a plot to trick Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love has been set in motion. Unbeknownst to both our couples, a fouler plot to crush the love and happiness between Hero and Claudio has also begun to unfold.

William Shakespeare (Author), Susan Bones, Zacharias Prewett (Narrator)

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The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare's earliest and shortest plays. This comedy utilizes slapstick humor, word play, and mistaken identities to create a series of farcical accidents. Over time, the play's title has become an idiom used to describe 'an event or series of events made ridiculous by the number of errors that were made throughout.' In Ephesus, the law forbids entry to any merchants from Syracuse, and if they are discovered within the city, they must pay a thousand marks or be put to death. Aegeon, an old Syracusian merchant, is arrested and Solinus, the Duke of Ephesus, listens to his story of coming to the city. Long ago, Aegeon was on a sea voyage. Traveling with him was his wife, his twin sons, and their twin slaves. The family becomes separated during a tempest; Aegeon, one son, and one slave were rescued together, and the others were never to be seen again. Years later his son Antipholus and his slave Dromio left to search for their long lost siblings; after the boys didn't return, Aegeon set out to bring his son back home. Moved by this story, the duke allows Aegeon one day to get the money to pay his fine and to find his family.

William Shakespeare (Author), Susan Bones, Zacharias Prewett (Narrator)

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Measure for Measure

Duke Vincentio has given his deputy Angelo temporary power over Vienna before his leave for a diplomatic mission. But instead of leaving the city, the Duke disguises himself as a friar named Lodowick, and stays behind to observe the city's happenings and Angelo's brief reign. Meanwhile, Angelo decides to enforce the laws on prostitution and debauchery, effectively shutting down the red-light district. A man named Claudio gets arrested for impregnating his lover, and Angelo sentences him to death. Claudio's sister enlists a certain friar's help to trick Angelo into releasing her brother.

William Shakespeare (Author), Susan Bones, Zacharias Prewett (Narrator)

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The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Two close friends, Proteus and Valentine, are saying their goodbyes in the streets of Verona. Valentine plans to travel to Milan and discover the world, but Proteus wants to stay with Julia, a woman he loves. While in Milan, Valentine falls in love with the duke's daughter, Sylvia, and plans to elope with her. Antonio, Proteus' father, later orders his son to join Valentine in Milan. Before leaving, Proteus exchanges rings and vows of undying love with Julia. When Proteus enters the aristocratic courts of Milan, he instantly falls in love with Sylia and forgets all about Julia. The love triangle between Sylvia, Proteus, and Valentine will test the loyalty of friendship.

William Shakespeare (Author), Susan Bones, Zacharias Prewett (Narrator)

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The Merry Wives of Windsor

First published in 1602 by William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor features the popular figure Sir John Falstaff, who first appeared in Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2. Some speculate that Merry Wives was written at the behest of Queen Elizabeth I, who wanted to see Falstaff in love; and that Shakespeare was forced to rush its creation as a result, and so it remains one of Shakespeare's lesser-regarded plays. The play revolves around two intertwined plots: the adventures of the rogue Falstaff who plans to seduce several local wives, and the story of young Anne Page who is being wooed by prominent citizens while she has her sights set on young Fenton. The wives come together to teach Falstaff a lesson, and in the end love triumphs. The Merry Wives of Windsor is believed to have been first performed in 1597 and was subsequently published in quarto in 1602, in a second quarto in 1619, and then in the 1623 First Folio. Despite holding a lesser place in Shakespeare's canon, it was one of the first Shakespearean plays to be performed in 1660, after the reinstatement of Charles II and theatre once again was permitted to be performed in London.

William Shakespeare (Author), Susan Bones, Zacharias Prewett (Narrator)

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The Tempest

The Tempest is a play by English playwright William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610-1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that Shakespeare wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, the rest of the story is set on a remote island, where the sorcerer Prospero, a complex and contradictory character, lives with his daughter Miranda, and his two servants: Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel, an airy spirit. The play contains music and songs that evoke the spirit of enchantment on the island. It explores many themes, including magic, betrayal, revenge, and family. In Act IV, a wedding masque serves as a play-within-a-play, and contributes spectacle, allegory, and elevated language. Although The Tempest is listed in the First Folio as the first of Shakespeare's comedies, it deals with both tragic and comic themes, and modern criticism has created a category of romance for this and others of Shakespeare's late plays. The Tempest has been put to varied interpretations, from those that see it as a fable of art and creation, with Prospero representing Shakespeare, and Prospero's renunciation of magic signaling Shakespeare's farewell to the stage, to interpretations that consider it an allegory of Europeans colonizing foreign lands.

William Shakespeare (Author), Susan Bones, Zacharias Prewett (Narrator)

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The Little Women Trilogy: Little Women, Little Men & Jo's Boys

The Little Women Trilogy includes three novels about the four March sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott, which was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. Alcott wrote the books over several months at the request of her publisher. Following the lives of the four March sisters - Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy - the novel details their passage from childhood to womanhood and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. Scholars classify Little Women as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel. Little Women was an immediate commercial and critical success, with readers demanding to know more about the characters. Alcott quickly completed a second volume (entitled Good Wives in the United Kingdom, although this name originated from the publisher and not from Alcott). It was also successful. The two volumes were issued in 1880 as a single novel entitled Little Women. Little Men, or Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys, is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott, first published in 1871. The novel reprises characters from Little Women and is considered by some the second book in an unofficial Little Women trilogy, which is completed with Alcott's 1886 novel Jo's Boys, and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to 'Little Men'. It tells the story of Jo Bhaer and the children at Plumfield Estate School. It was inspired by the death of Alcott's brother-in-law, which reveals itself in one of the last chapters, when a beloved character from Little Women passes away. Jo's Boys, and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to 'Little Men' is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott, first published in 1886. The novel is the final book in the unofficial Little Women series. In it, Jo's children, now grown, are caught up in real world troubles.

Louisa May Alcott (Author), Susan Bones (Narrator)

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The d'Artagnan Romances: The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After & The Vicomte of Bragelonne - Ten

The d'Artagnan Romances include three novels by Alexandre Dumas, telling the story of the 17th-century musketeer d'Artagnan. Dumas based the character and attributes of d'Artagnan on captain of musketeers Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan (c. 1611–1673) and the portrayal was particularly indebted to d'Artagnan's semi-fictionalized memoirs as written 27 years after the hero's death by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (published 1700). The Three Musketeers (French: Les Trois Mousquetaires): Situated between 1625 and 1628, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. Although d'Artagnan is not able to join this elite corps immediately, he befriends the three most formidable musketeers of the age - Athos, Porthos and Aramis, the three inseparables, as these are called - and gets involved in affairs of the state and court. Twenty Years After (French: Vingt ans après): The novel follows events in France during the Fronde, during the childhood reign of Louis XIV, and in England near the end of the English Civil War, leading up to the victory of Oliver Cromwell and the execution of King Charles I. Through the words of the main characters, particularly Athos, Dumas comes out on the side of the monarchy in general, or at least the text often praises the idea of benevolent royalty. His musketeers are valiant and just in their efforts to protect young Louis XIV and the doomed Charles I from their attackers. The Vicomte of Bragelonne - Ten Years Later (French: Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ou Dix ans plus tard): It is the third and last of The d'Artagnan Romances, following The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After. In the English translations, the chapters of this large volume are usually subdivided four individual books: 1. The Vicomte de Bragelonne 2. Ten Years Later 3. Louise de la Vallière 4. The Man in the Iron Mask

Alexandre Dumas (Author), Susan Bones, Zacharias Prewett (Narrator)

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The Brontë Sisters Collection: Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey & Jane Eyre

The Brontë Sisters Collection includes the three most important novels of Emily, Anne and Charlotte Brontë. The Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family, born in the village of Thornton and later associated with the village of Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte (1816-1855), Emily (1818-1848), and Anne (1820-1849), are well known as poets and novelists. Like many contemporary female writers, they originally published their poems and novels under male pseudonyms: Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Their stories immediately attracted attention for their passion and originality. Charlotte's Jane Eyre was the first to know success, while Emily's Wuthering Heights, Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and other works were later to be accepted as masterpieces of literature. Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's only novel. Written between October 1845 and June 1846, Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell; Brontë died the following year, aged 30. Wuthering Heights and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey were accepted by publisher Thomas Newby before the success of their sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. Agnes Grey is the debut novel of English author Anne Brontë (writing under the pen name of Acton Bell), first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. The novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works within families of the English gentry. Scholarship and comments by Anne's sister Charlotte Brontë suggest the novel is largely based on Anne Brontë's own experiences as a governess for five years. Primarily of the Bildungsroman genre, Jane Eyre follows the emotions and experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr. Rochester, the Byronic master of fictitious Thornfield Hall. In its internalization of the action - the focus is on the gradual unfolding of Jane's moral and spiritual sensibility, and all the events are colored by a heightened intensity that was previously the domain of poetry - Jane Eyre revolutionized the art of fiction.

Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë (Author), Susan Bones (Narrator)

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The Anne of Green Gables Collection

The Anne of Green Gables Collection includes four novels about Anne Shirley, two books which focus on Anne's children, or on other family friends and 27 short stories relating to the fictional Canadian village of Avonlea. Anne of Green Gables is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (published as L. M. Montgomery). Written for all ages, it has been considered a classic children's novel since the mid-twentieth century. Set in the late 19th century, the novel recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan girl, who is mistakenly sent to two middle-aged siblings; Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, originally intending to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in the fictional town of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way through life with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town. Based on the popularity of her first book, Montgomery wrote a series of sequels to continue the story of her heroine Anne Shirley. Included in this collection: 1. Anne of Green Gables (1908) 2. Anne of Avonlea (1909) 3. Anne of the Island (1915) 4. Anne's House of Dreams (1917) 5. Rainbow Valley (1919) 6. Rilla of Ingleside (1921) 7. Chronicles of Avonlea (1912) 8. Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920)

L.M. Montgomery (Author), Susan Bones (Narrator)

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The Complete Novels Collection

The Complete Novels Collection includes all of Jane Austen's novels. Jane Austen (16 December 1775 - 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her use of biting irony, along with her realism, humour, and social commentary, have long earned her acclaim among critics, scholars, and popular audiences alike. With the publications of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, a short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and another unfinished novel, The Watsons. Her six full-length novels have rarely been out of print, although they were published anonymously and brought her moderate success and little fame during her lifetime. Included in this collection: 1. Sense and Sensibility (1811) 2. Pride and Prejudice (1813) 3. Mansfield Park (1814) 4. Emma (1815) 5. Northanger Abbey (1818, posthumous) 6. Persuasion (1818, posthumous) 7. Lady Susan (1871, posthumous)

Jane Austen (Author), Susan Bones (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Susan Bones