Short Stories audiobooks

My Black Mirror

By: Wilkie Collins

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 34 minutes

Abridged: No

Wilkie Collins describes a traveller who has a magic mirror in his possession which enables him to recall scenes from his travels. In a series of amusing sketches he relives various travels in the Tyrol and the Alps before taking a decision about his next holiday destination. Read more

The Judgment of Paris

By: Leonard Merrick

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 20 minutes

Abridged: No

The story of a bizarre love triangle. Two popular comedians, Robichon and Quinquart vie for the love of a pretty actress. She declares that she will marry the one who is a better actor... but how to decide? The pretty Suzanne's answer is that all Paris should decide. But how is this to be achieved?

The two agree that to test their acting skills... Read more

The King is Dead, Long Live the King

By: Mary Coleridge

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 17 minutes

Abridged: No

The King is Dead, Long Live the King by Mary Coleridge (1861-1907) has the simple directness of a fairy tale, albeit one which is run through with cynical irony.

A king on his deathbed is granted one hour after death in which he may return to his kingdom. If during that hour, he finds three people who would wish him alive again, then he can... Read more

Six Short Stories

By: Wilkie Collins

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 4 hours 33 minutes

Abridged: No

Six of Wilkie Collins' best short stories: "The Dead Hand", "The Devil's Spectacles", "Major Namby", "Nine O'Clock", "A Terribly Strange Bed", and "My Black Mirror". Read more

The Saloon Passenger

By: E.W. Hornung

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 31 minutes

Abridged: No

Skrimshaw is the saloon passenger on board the Lochwinnoch, bound for Australia. He is relieved as the ship sets sail from England, because for the next three months at least, he is safe from the gallows. He has just committed a brutal murder and is fleeing justice. But within a month, news of the fugitive passenger is signalled to the captain... Read more

The Black Ferry

By: John Galt

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 28 minutes

Abridged: No

John Galt (1779-1839) was a Scottish novelist, entrepreneur, and political and social commentator.

One night, a traveller is waiting for the young ferryman to return, as he is unable to take himself over the river, owing to a broken arm. While he waits, a young military recruit and a heavily pregnant woman arrive, arguing. They set off together... Read more

The Clockmaker of Poissy

By: Stanley John Weyman

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 38 minutes

Abridged: No

Stanley John Weyman (1855-1928) was an English novelist most famous for his historical romances set in the turmoil of 16th- and 17th-century France.

In this story, when a position is granted to a member of the household of the King's beloved, which M. de Perrot had coveted for his own son, a round of intrigue begins. M. de Perrot enlists the... Read more

The Story of a Piebald Horse

By: W.H. Hudson

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 25 minutes

Abridged: No

W. H. Hudson (1862-1922) is best known for his stories, which give a vivid picture of South American life. He was a gifted naturalist and keen observer of wildlife and landscapes, as well as an acute and astute judge of humans and their characters.

In The Story of a Piebald Horse, a stranger appears at the cattle branding one day, and in an... Read more

Portrait of a Lady

By: Jerome K. Jerome

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 26 minutes

Abridged: No

An enchantingly sentimental tale of a traveller who finds a very beautiful miniature portrait of a young woman in his temporary lodgings.

Seeking to learn more about the beauty, he eventually comes across some personal papers which reveal the tragedy of her life. Now all he needs to do is find out her identity.... Read more

The Young Man Who Stroked Cats

By: Morley Roberts

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 50 minutes

Abridged: No

Morley Roberts (1857-1942) was an English novelist and short story writer. In The Young Man Who Stroked Cats, Thomas Meredith finds himself the recipient of a very mysterious and unexpected gift. A Persian kitten in a basket. More mysterious still, the note accompanying it only reads: For the young man who strokes cats.

Thomas is indeed a... Read more

The Man who was Blind

By: Edwin Pugh

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 32 minutes

Abridged: No

Ferdinand was born blind. Now aged 25, he hears of an Italian doctor who is rumoured to be able to cure cases like his own.

His family persuade the doctor to travel to England and attempt to heal his eyes. The cure is lengthy and arduous. Ferdinand must lie in a darkened room for weeks, his eyes bound up in an irritating plaster and wet bandages.... Read more

The Severed Hand

By: Wilhelm Hauff

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 31 minutes

Abridged: No

The narrator, Zaleukos, a native of Constantinople, studied medicine in Paris and, following his father's death, develops a successful business as a travelling merchant and healer.

Arriving in Florence, he sets up shop as usual. But after he has been in town a few days, he finds a small handwritten note from an unknown stranger, asking to meet... Read more

An Idyll of London

By: Beatrice Harraden

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 33 minutes

Abridged: No

Beatrice Harraden (1864–1936) was a British writer and suffragette. In An Idyll of London she describes the poignant friendship between two lonely individuals, both of them artists. One is an old man approaching the end of a miserable life, where he has nursed resentment and bitterness towards all around him. The other is a young woman who has... Read more

The Heaven of Animals

By: David James Poissant

Narrated by: Susan Bennett, Ken Marks, Scott Sowers, Richard...

Length: 9 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

In this masterful debut, an award-winning writer and first-rate storyteller explores the tenuous bonds of family-- fathers and sons, husbands and wives-- as they are tested by the sometimes brutal power of love. In each of the stories in this remarkable collection, David James Poissant delivers a moving portrayal of a relationship in turmoil.... Read more

My Last Blind Date

By: Susan Hatler

Narrated by: Martha Lee

Length: 36 minutes

Abridged: No

A sweet short story about risking your heart to find love. It’s Valentine’s Day and Rachel Price has a choice: Stay home and watch TV with her loveable doggy or let her best friend, Ellen, set her up on a blind date. What to do…?
Ellen says the guy is a “10,” but the last guy she set her up with was a “–5.” Rachel’s been flirting with coworker... Read more

The Mystery of Sasassa Valley

By: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 28 minutes

Abridged: No

A couple of law students, Tom Donague and Jack Turnbull, who have run out of money, set off for South Africa to make their fortune. For three years, they fail to make any money, but then one day, as they are up country in a remote spot, their luck changes.

A friend, Dick Wharton appears unexpectedly one night during heavy rain, telling a strange... Read more

Around the World in Eighty Tales

By: Various Authors

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 37 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

A breathtaking collection of eighty classic short stories inspired by different locations, people and customs across the globe.

Australia
1. A Visit to Droughtland by Banjo Paterson
2. The Drover’s Wife by Henry Lawson
3. Hughey’s Dog by Banjo Paterson
4. In the Cattle Country by Banjo Paterson
5. An Error of Judgement by John Barry
6. A Strange... Read more

Hughey's Dog

By: Banjo Paterson

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 11 minutes

Abridged: No

Banjo Paterson's wry tale of a pugilistic sheep-worrying hound on a remote sheep station in Australia. When Hughey wants a dog "as can fight" the Super brings him Stumpy, a psychotic canine whose ability to murder other members of his own and other species is undisputed.

Hughey's dog becomes the sensation of the station, but when he is unleashed... Read more

A Visit to Droughtland

By: Banjo Paterson

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 11 minutes

Abridged: No

Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson (1864 – 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. This is his poignant description of a journey through the country during a period of severe drought in Australia, describing the rugged determination and imperfect grasp of basic economics of the "cockies" or rural settlers. Read more

The Drover's Wife

By: Henry Lawson

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 19 minutes

Abridged: No

Henry Lawson's poignant tale of a woman bringing up her four children alone in the Australian outback. When her family is threatened by a venomous snake that has invaded their home, she (with the help of Alligator, the family's dog-of-all-breeds) must find a way to defend her children. Read more

Long Odds

By: H. Rider Haggard

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 36 minutes

Abridged: No

Allan Quatermain, or Hunter Quatermain as his friends call him, recounts his South African adventure of hunting four lions. Read more

Great Australian Short Stories

By: Henry Lawson, Guy Boothby, Banjo Paterson & Joh...

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 3 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

A fascinating collection of short stories by some of Australia's best classic writers:

"A Visit to Droughtland", by Banjo Paterson
"The Drover’s Wife", by Henry Lawson
"Hughey’s Dog", by Banjo Paterson
"A Professor of Egyptology", by Guy Boothby
"In the Cattle Country", by Banjo Paterson
"The Restless Dead", by Lord Halifax
... Read more

Short Stories of the Great War

By: John Buchan, Sapper & Multiple Authors

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 5 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

A fascinating collection of short stories by great writers that examine aspects of the first world war, from action in the trenches, to the psychological impact of war on individuals and their relationships, to heroic adventure stories, to ghosts and war graves. A wonderful collection!

"The King of Ypres", by John Buchan
"War", by Sherwood... Read more

The Greater Battle

By: Edgar Wallace

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

Length: 20 minutes

Abridged: No

Major Milton is in the thick of defending a key line in the trenches of Flanders, playing the key role of commanding the various positions from his field telephone system. But his attention is distracted by another, greater battle which is being fought on the home front... Read more