A big drinker in India tries to reform for a woman whom he believes is worth making the transformation for. As the first woman reveals herself to be less than holy herself, the man is blind to her faults, and exalts her virtues as his savior, even after he has married a good woman. An anthropological and sociological study of Raj India and human fo...

This is a story about a Worm who turned. Though the name of this story's exceedingly pretty protagonist is Henry Augustus Ramsey Fusan, the narrative refers to him as 'The Worm'. The Worm is found unhappy in this classic India-set tale, as he finds himself at odds with the shakaris regiment, a group to whom one must be able to prove himself by abil...

A tough-minded young administrator, 'Georgie Porgie', in a wild hard district of Upper Burma, feels the need for a woman to look after him. As was not uncommon in those times, he buys a Burmese girl for 500 rupees from her father, a village headman, and calls her 'Georgina'. She lives with him, manages his household, and loves him dearly. Unfortuna...

This story of a love triangle in British India sees a young lady choosing between a young and handsome and an old and ugly suitor. Her Mother makes her choosing clear, but when the situation boils down to an archery competition, the result is not as might have been expected. A typically Kiplingesque study and quasi-acceptance of the strange and int...

The story is an illustration of the power of Mrs Hauksbee. (It is Kipling's third story about her in book form.) Tarrion, a "clever and amusing" young officer in an unfashionable regiment, longs for a permanent appointment in Simla. There he has the good fortune to do Mrs Hauksbee a favour, and in return is due his reward.

W. W. Jacobs was one of the most popular English humorists of the early twentieth century. His stories, many of them amusing tales of life along the London docks, were much in demand by magazine publishers, as his name on the cover assured wide sales.

After a Dublin 'tea taster', salesman Tom Kernan loses consciousness while drunk and takes a nasty fall down the stairs. His friends, who want to help rescue Kernan from inevitable consequences of his flawed ways, gather in his bedroom and talk about a catholic retreat, which is taking place for the benefit of businessmen. They persuade him to atte...

Eveline is short story from James Joyce's celebrated short story collection 'Dubliners'. It begins with Eveline, a nineteen-year-old girl, who has met a sailor, Frank, who has convinced her to run away to Buenos Aires with him. Should she go with Frank, or remain in Ireland, her homeland? This beautiful story gives great insight into the predicamen...

The story involves a boy, the narrator, and his friend, Mahony, taking a day off from school and going to the shore, to seek adventure in their otherwise dull lives. As the narrator says, "The mimic warfare of the evening became at last as wearisome to me as the routine of school in the morning because I wanted real adventures to happen to myself....

From Dubliners: The Dead - At a party, Gabriel Conroy offends three women and realizes in an epiphany that passionless people like himself are already dead. At 15-16,000 words this story has also been classified as a novella. The Dead was adapted to film by John Huston, written for the screen by his son Tony and starring his daughter Anjelica as M...

A day in the life of Farrington, an Irish man X who faces daily trials and tribulations in this anthropological story from James Joyce's Dubliners. A listener hears Farrington's tribulation-full journey from the office, to the pub and home. This tale makes no judgments but portrays a life-beaten man who is neither entirely wrong nor right in his ow...

One of Joyce's celebrated tales from his 'Dubliners' collection, which follows Maria, a likeable maid, as she travels from work to her make-shift-family home. Written in Joyce's famous train-of-consciousness style, his words work well on audio, especially when read in T.P. McKenna's lyrical and nimble Irish tone.

An insight into early science fiction full of marvelous imagination and rare scientific genius reaching far beyond the author's time.

Actor J. Kingston Platt makes an appearance in this amusing story about a supposed 'get away' to the country that is not all that it seems. Asked by his agent to accompany him and his girlfriend down to a country cottage in the Cotswolds, Kigston Platt reluctantly agrees, to find out that there is more to the trip than meets the eye. Entangled furt...

Edward Hardwicke reads, says Publishers Weekly, with "unadorned old-school stiff upper lip".

A classic short story by Mark Twain, originally broadcast in the Afternoon Reading slot on BBC Radio 4 on 9 November 2010, to accompany the Autobiography of Mark Twain (aired on Book of the Week). Read by Stuart Millligan. This is the first of three of Twain's classic short story broadcasts featuring the McWilliamses, with his familiar trademarks...

A classic short story by Mark Twain, originally broadcast in the Afternoon Reading slot on BBC Radio 4 on 10 November 2010, to accompany the Autobiography of Mark Twain (aired on Book of the Week). Read by Stuart Millligan. This is the second of three of Twain's classic short story broadcasts featuring the McWilliamses, with his familiar trademark...

Simmering tensions come to a head as three friends take a road trip across Canada. Animal Brooks wants Vic, but Vic and Duncan are an item. Violence threatens when a playful dig from a stranger pushes Duncan to react... The BBC National Short Story Award 2011 is managed in partnership with Booktrust.

The fictionalised recreation of Denis Noble's 'eureka moment': the point at which the pioneering biologist came to understand the machinations of the human heart. The BBC National Short Story Award 2011 is managed in partnership with Booktrust.

Set in 1960s Sydney, the presence of a luxurious liner seems to offer Trudy and her young husband, James, a tantalising opportunity to fulfil their dreams... The BBC National Short Story Award 2011 is managed in partnership with Booktrust.

The young poet Stephen has been recalled from Paris to Dublin to be at his mother's deathbed. But he refuses her dying wishes: to kneel and pray for her. Now, holed up in his Martello tower outside the city walls, he has to suffer the taunts of Buck Mulligan by day and, by night, the vision of 'her eyes, shaking out of death to shake and bend my so...