Classic short texts  adapted for audio. Selection includes complete stories by Dickens, Chekhov, Maupassant, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edith Wharton, E Nesbit, M.R. James, Katherine Anne Porter and other great writers. Plus self contained extracts from Diary of a Nobody, Three Men in a Boat and other famous works.

Classic Stories

Final part of classic Stephen Crane tragi-comedy of the old West, adapted for audio. Scratchy Wilson roams Yellow Sky, drunk and dangerous, in search of old nemesis, town marshall, Jack Potter. Potter has just returned from San Antonio with his new bride.

Text of this version free to download here: https://www.eslreading.org/bride_comes_to_yellow_sky.html

Adapted fromThe Bride Comes to Yellow Sky first published in McClure’s Magazine, February 1898 here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.loa.org/images/pdf/Crane_Bride_Yellow_Sky.pdf

The Bride Comes to  Yellow Sky - Part 3: Showdown

Part Two of Stephen Crane's tragi-comedy of the old West, adapted for audio. In the The Weary Gentlemen saloon they await the return of town marshall Jack Potter. Meanwhile news arrives that Scratchy Wilson is drunk and looking for trouble.

Complete original & adapted adapted text free to download here: https://www.eslreading.org/bride_comes_to_yellow_sky.html

The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky - Part 2

Part One of Stephen Crane tragi-comic elegy for the old West, adapted for audio. Marshall Jack Potter is returning to his home town with his new bride on a Pullman train. He is anxious about the reception he will receive.

Complete original & adapted text free to download here: https://www.eslreading.org/bride_comes_to_yellow_sky.html

The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky - Part 1

"One of the greatest short stories ever written" Vladimir Nabokov
The opening of Chekhov's The Lady with the Little Dog (1899), abridged for audio.

Nearly forty Dmitri Gurov has a successful career and a young family. but is bored and dissatisfied. Holidaying alone, he meets a mysterious young woman - 'the lady with the little dog'  

Free illustrated transcript:  ⁠https://tinyurl.com/3wu6kbaz
Read the complete original story at Project Gutenberg: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

My adaptation stays very close to the original Constance Garnett translation  —  which is divided into four sections. Changes are mostly for length and clarity.

In this section I have changed Gurov's infamous phrase ''an inferior race' to 'an inferior sex', as that is what is meant in context.

Ten Minute Tales

The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov - Part 1

A comic story about a bell-ringer with a very unusual method

Ringing Bells - part one

The day of the wedding arrives - and nobody is happy. Ding Dong won’t sing in a dirty bell tower but Vera doesn’t want to climb the 39 steps to clean it.

Ringing Bells - Part 2

“Arsène Lupin is on board your ship.” A telegram to a transatlantic liner alarms passengers sailing first class.

The Arrest Of Arsène Lupin is the opening chapter of Lupin, the Gentleman Thief, by Maurice Leblanc (1907) the first outing for the most famous anti-hero in French literature. 

This version has been adapted for audio shorter than the original but stays close to the spirit of the text. Adapted text free to access here: https://medium.com/ten-minute-tales/arrest-of-arsène-lupin-part-1-4fa63453416f

The Arrest Of Arsène Lupin

Extract from classic story/novella set in early 1950s London. In this passage the young narrator goes to a slightly seedy dance hall where the band "are at it like cats on dustbins and tearing their guts out." Soundtrack: Sing Sing Sing (here performed by the BBC Big Band).

When My Girl Comes Home by V.S. Pritchett

Many years ago I adapted a story we all know.  This is a shortened, simplified version of the opening chapter is based on my text. You won't take long to work out the original source - story here: https://tinyurl.com/4p8ds44n (free five minute read)

The Night Water

Joseph Davranche tells the bittersweet tale of his black-sheep brother forced to leave Le Havre for exile in America. Classic Maupassant story (1883) adapted for audio in three five-minute parts. The illustrated adapted text is free to access here: https://medium.com/best-short-stories/my-uncle-jules-part-one-90551f83efec

My Uncle Jules by Guy de Maupassant - Part 1

The Davranche family wait for news from `uncle Jules. Suitors are sought for Joseph's sisters. Classic Maupassant story adapted for audio in three five minute parts. Adapted text here: https://medium.com/best-short-stories/my-uncle-jules-part-two-29a1310e2b64

My Uncle Jules by Guy de Maupassant - Part 2

The Davranche family react to sensational news about Uncle Jules.. Final part of a classic Maupassant story adapted for audio. Complete adapted text here: https://eslreading.medium.com/my-uncle-jules-part-two-29a1310e2b64

My Uncle Jules by Guy de Maupassant - Part 3

Gurov goes to Anna's hotel room - and famously eats a slice of melon while she pours her heart out. Later that night the watch the sun rise in a beautiful coastal village.  A holiday affair?

Free illustrated transcript:  ⁠https://tinyurl.com/3wu6kbaz
Read the complete original story at Project Gutenberg: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

Nabokov called The Lady with the Little Dog (1899) "One of the greatest short stories ever written". My adaptation stays very close to the original Constance Garnett translation and the  original four part structure (I-IV) . 

Changes are mostly for length and the clarity of the storyline. For more on some of the social nuances - Anna's dismissal of her husband as a ‘lackey’ for example - I would advise going onto the original text: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

The Lady with Little Dog by Anton Chekhov - Part 2

Increasingly obsessed by Anna Sergeyevna, Gurov travels to her hometown under the cover of a supposed business trip to Petersburg. 

Free illustrated transcript:  ⁠https://tinyurl.com/3wu6kbaz
Read the complete original story at Project Gutenberg: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

Nabokov called The Lady with the Little Dog (1899) "One of the greatest short stories ever written". My adaptation stays very close to the original Constance Garnett translation and the  original four part structure (I-IV) . 

Changes are mostly for length and the clarity of the storyline. For more on some of the social nuances - Anna's dismissal of her husband as a ‘lackey’ for example - I would advise going onto the original text: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

Lady with Little Dog by Anton Chekhov - Part 3

Gurov back in Moscow after Yalta (short extension of Part 2).
Free illustrated transcript:  ⁠https://tinyurl.com/3wu6kbaz
Read the complete original story at Project Gutenberg: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

Nabakov called The Lady with the Little Dog (1899) "One of the greatest short stories ever written" Vladimir Nabokov
My adaptation stays very close to the original Constance Garnett translation and the  original four part structure (I-IV) . Changes are mostly for length and the clarity of the storyline. For more on some of the social nuances - Anna’s dismissal of her husband as a ‘lackey’ for example - I would advise going onto the original text: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.


The Lady with Little Dog by Anton Chekhov - Part 2.2

Final part - Anna comes to Moscow. What is the future of her relationship with Gurov?
Free illustrated transcript:  ⁠https://tinyurl.com/3wu6kbaz
Read the complete original story at Project Gutenberg: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

Nabakov called The Lady with the Little Dog (1899) "One of the greatest short stories ever written" Vladimir Nabokov
My adaptation stays very close to the original Constance Garnett translation and the  original four part structure (I-IV) . Changes are mostly for length and the clarity of the storyline. For more on some of the social nuances - Anna Sergeyevna’s dismissal of her husband as a ‘lackey’ for example - I would advise going onto the original text: https://tinyurl.com/ycxactya⁠.

Classic Stories

Kieran Mcgovern Reading)