Classics Narrated

Dinah declines Seth's proposal, which he bears meekly, and Adam finishes work his father, a drunk absent without explanation, has neglected.

Dinah, a beautiful young Methodist woman, preaches an outdoor sermon to the villagers of Hayslope. Not ordained, but saintly, she speaks as one of them, about their commonplace struggles and temptations, and the solace of their redemption in Christ.

We meet Adam and Seth Bede, and the other carpenters in Mr. Burge's shop as their work day ends. The time is late 18th century, in the rural English Midlands. They tease and quarrel over a young female Methodist who will preach on the green that evening.

Anticipating the concept of "frenemy," Poe gives us vanity, self-righteousness, and terrible cruelty in revenge, as stone-hearted Montresor lures credulous Fortunato to his doom.

NOT recommended for children; Edgar Allan Poe's tale of increasing evil, alcoholism, and murder may haunt the listener as the cat haunted the protagonist.

  Tom learns how Injun Joe died, he and Huck search for treasure, and adjust to "respectability."  

Lost in gloom, almost without food, the only person Tom and Becky see after wandering many hours in the trackless cavern means death. Leaving the exhausted Becky, Tom at last sees sunlight through a passage to safety.

The Thatchers return, so Becky and Tom with a large group go on a picnic and cave exploration. Huck spies on dangerous men and averts an attack against an innocent woman. The day following the picnic, Tom and Becky are missing!

Tom & Huck set out to find treasure, first by digging, then looking into a haunted house, which holds danger and loot. What follows tests their courage still more...

Tom "reforms" for the sake of a gaudy uniform, falls ill for weeks, and returns to old habits with his chums. Muff Potter's trial approaches, Tom's testimony could keep him alive and free, but at risk of his own life from vengeful, violent Injun Joe.

Back at home, Tom shows uncanny insight about events that took place while he was supposedly "away." Aunt Polly questions his good nature, Becky Thatcher rejects and accepts him, and school comes to a resounding close for the summer.

Tom, Joe and Huck leave civilization behind, but notice a search for them. Tom spies on his family back home, but in spite of homesickness, storm, and trouble learning to smoke, the boys stay out until they have a chance to hear their own eulogies.

Witness of a murder makes a heavy burden for Tom and Huck. This brings Tom very low, Aunt Polly tries to cure him, and Tom doses the cat. Rejected in love, Tom turns to "piracy" with Huck and Joe.

Understanding between Becky and Tom is brief, driving Tom to consider life as an outlaw. When he and Huck visit the graveyard at midnight, drawbacks become all too clear.

At church, Tom's mind wanders, and he lets his "pinch bug" out of the box, to wander and make exciting friends. Monday Tom avoids school, fakes illness, talks with the outcast Huck Finn, and confesses. Punishment? To sit next to the admired new girl!

Tom tries for a little justice of his own, changes his affections, leads a small army, is unjustly punished, and wins a Bible by showing more scholarship than he actually has.

Tom tries to get the most out of life as a small boy in a small river town in Missouri before the Civil War, and his Aunt Polly tries to bring him up to responsible respectability, giving him the odious chore of whitewashing their board fence.

Unable to get Bartleby to leave his office, the owner of the law firm moves the office instead. Bartleby remains in the old building until removed by the landlord, and is sent to the Tombs, a Manhattan prison.

A phlegmatic lawyer who gets more business hires an additional copyist, or scrivener, in mid-19th century Manhattan. At first, work goes well, but Bartleby's quirks grow, upsetting the lawyer and his temperamental staff.

Returning from the Inner Station, Marlow falls ill after Kurtz dies. Recovering, he is compelled to carry Kurtz's writings back to Europe, and to bring sympathy to his bereft fiancee, trying hard not to speak ill of the dead.

The Russian trader explains Kurtz's overwhelming force of personality to Marlow. They find Kurtz desperately sick, but unwilling to leave the jungle and its people, and take him back on board the steamer regardless.

At the Inner Station, Marlow finds violence, death, uncanny echoes of Kurtz's presence, and an odd trader, who informs him that the people fought to keep Kurtz with them.

Marlow steams deeper into the jungle, to the Inner Station, growing more fascinated as he learns more of Kurtz, a man of remarkable abilities. Hunger follows the ship, whose crew are cannibals, with dense fog adding to the palpable tension.

Marlow travels to central Africa, finds death, callous indifference, anxiety, and avarice instead of vaunted civilizing ideals in his employer's stations.

At a conference on board ship near London, an old sailor named Marlow recounts his decision to join a European trading company active in Africa.

Lucy has frustrating conversations with the Misses Alan and her mother, but a chance meeting with old Mr. Emerson helps her realize what she's tried to deny. The last chapter brings us back to Florence, and the room whose view started the tale.

Mr. Beebe learns that Cecil's engagement to Lucy has been broken, as Cecil leaves Windy Corners. Without completely understanding her motives, he supports her plan to escape, by traveling to Greece with the elderly ladies they met in Florence.

Lucy, denying her feelings for George, throws him out, following lively discussion. She then breaks her engagement to Cecil, who behaves exasperatingly well.

Lucy refuses to face her feelings for George, as he and his father settle in the neighborhood. Cecil, oblivious, narrates a passage from a new novel clearly based on her encounter with George in Florence.

The Emersons arrive in the Summer Street neighborhood. Freddy and Mr. Beebe make friends with George, and Cecil falls further in the estimation of Lucy's mother.

A clearer picture of the Honeychurch family's position in their community emerges. Cecil meddles in finding new tenants, and Lucy goes to visit him and his mother at their place in London.

Cecil meets the neighbors of the Honeychurch family, and dislikes them. His first kiss from Lucy goes awry.

From Italy, the scene shifts to Sussex, England. Here we meet Lucy's mother and brother, and find she has a new suitor.

All our cast goes for a sight-seeing drive, with a reckless and amorous coachman. Lucy has an encounter with George Emerson that causes consternation; Charlotte decides they must leave Florence.

Lucy, confused by the previous day, accompanies Charlotte on errands. En route, they meet the novelist, Miss Lavish, and hear distressing rumors of the Emersons from the Rev. Mr. Eager.

Only at the piano does Lucy reveal her inward passion; conversation with Miss Alan and Rev. Mr. Beebe shows social constraints. She goes alone on an errand, and sees a violent crime. Faint, she accepts George Emerson's company.

Lucy sets out to view the Church of the Holy Cross, with a clever lady as guide. They lose their way, and then lose sight of one another. Lucy meets the Emersons at the church, and learns more of them than she wanted to know.

Miss Honeychurch, chaperoned by Miss Bartlett, touring Florence in the early 1900's, has an unsuitable room; unsuitable strangers offer their better rooms instead.

For listeners who may want further information on the historical background of Lorna Doone, my spouse and I offer this.

The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story, and How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp For Mr. Fox (the Briar Patch).

Of course you've heard of Rip's long nap; here's the whole story of the henpecked feckless farmer who went for a ramble, drank strange drink with strangers, drowsed off a loyal subject of George III, and woke 20 years later in the young USA.

Jack London's account of a foolhardy arctic Yukon trip, in late December of the early twentieth century.

John, exhausted, wounded, and sick, believes Lorna dead. Almost, but Ruth brings her back with devoted care, and Lorna's recovery enables John's.

Lorna, in charge of herself (thanks to bribing Lord Jeffreys), returns to John and Plover's Barrows. Their wedding is tragically disrupted by Carver, who finally faces John's implacable wrath.

Local people, under John's leadership, fight to rid themselves of the murderous Doones. Much is unsettled after the battle, and the most dangerous Doone, Carver, escapes.

Sir John returns to Exmoor and finds the Doones have newly outraged their long-suffering neighbors. He tries to talk them into making amends. When they refuse with bullets, he joins the plan for a new attack.

John and Lorna see one another after long separation, and come to a clear understanding, despite her rank and wealth. John prevents her uncle from being robbed, and gains royal regard.

John is led to badly wounded rebel Tom by Winnie, Tom's mare. Tom escapes, but innocent John is captured, and threatened with death. Reprieved to wait trial in London, he hears there from Lorna.

Annie boldly obtains a truce from the Doones, freeing John to search for her husband, who rashly joined the Monmouth Rebellion. Amid carnage, John finds a sign of Tom.

Lives of ordinary people and outlaws alike change when Charles II dies. Disturbances follow, which John tries to ignore in his sorrow at Lorna's absence and silence, but he is caught up too.

In Lorna's absence, sharp tempers and hurt feelings abound. John seeks comfort from sister Annie at her new home. Getting none, and giving less, he goes to cousin Ruth in Dulverton.