A Tale of the Passions
Mary ShelleyA young emissary enters hostile Florence with a plea that could alter a kingdom's fate.
54 min · Tragic
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- Settings
- The city
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
The story shelf
Follow your curiosity.
A name you know. A mood you’re in. Ten minutes to yourself. Start anywhere.
The narrator’s attitude toward the story.
Euphrasia
Mary ShelleyA reckless English volunteer joins Greek fighters and survives a battle beside their grieving young leader.
25 min · Tragic
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- Themes
- Empire & colonialism · Family · Sacrifice
- Settings
- The city · Wilderness
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
Ferdinando Eboli
Mary ShelleyA Neapolitan officer's secret mission makes him a stranger to everyone he loves.
32 min · Suspenseful
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- Themes
- Identity · Love · Confinement & escape
- Settings
- Country houses & estates · Wilderness
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
The Brother and Sister
Mary ShelleyA banished young Sienese entrusts his sister to the rival who toppled their family.
53 min · Melancholy
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- Settings
- The city · Wilderness
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Journeys & quests
The Dream
Mary ShelleyAn embattled French countess seeks a dream that will decide whether she can forgive the man she loves.
25 min · Romantic
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- Settings
- Country houses & estates
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
The Elder Son
Mary ShelleyAn orphaned heiress's secret promise entangles her with two brothers divided by inheritance.
47 min · Foreboding
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- Themes
- Love · Honor & reputation · Family
- Settings
- Country houses & estates
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
The Evil Eye
Mary ShelleyA feared Albanian bandit carries a child across the mountains, leaving a family to chase a terrifying rumor.
35 min · Adventurous
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- Themes
- Family · Parenthood · Revenge
- Settings
- Wilderness · At sea
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Kidnapping & ransom · Hunts & pursuits
The Heir of Mondolfo
Mary ShelleyA despised prince secretly marries the peasant woman who restores his faith in the world.
56 min · Suspenseful
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- Themes
- Love · Class & poverty · Family
- Settings
- Country houses & estates · Wilderness
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Journeys & quests · Inheritance & wills
The Invisible Girl
Mary ShelleyA grieving traveler follows an unexplained beacon to an abandoned Welsh tower.
26 min · Eerie
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- Themes
- Love · Confinement & escape · Family
- Settings
- At sea · Country houses & estates
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
The Mortal Immortal
Mary ShelleyAfter drinking an alchemist's unfinished elixir, a lovesick young man begins to outlive everyone he knows.
25 min · Melancholy
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- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate
- Pace
- Leisurely
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Forbidden experiments
The Mourner
Mary ShelleyA prosperous man guards a grave whose story begins with a runaway schoolboy and a haunted young woman.
37 min · Melancholy
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- Settings
- The countryside
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Leisurely
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
The Parvenue
Mary ShelleyA poor steward's daughter marries the lord who saved her from a burning home.
17 min · Melancholy
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- Themes
- Class & poverty · Family · Love
- Settings
- Country houses & estates · The city
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
The Pilgrims
Mary ShelleyTwo young pilgrims seek shelter with a Swiss baron haunted by the daughter he drove away.
40 min · Solemn
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- Themes
- Family · Redemption · Revenge
- Settings
- Country houses & estates · Wilderness
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
The Pole
Mary ShelleyA Polish exile in Naples finds love while carrying papers that could imperil an empire.
55 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Love · Empire & colonialism · Loyalty
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Hunts & pursuits
The Sisters of Albano
Mary ShelleyTwo devoted sisters face the terrible cost of loving an outlaw.
28 min · Tragic
More details
- Settings
- The countryside · Wilderness
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
The Swiss Peasant
Mary ShelleyA Swiss orphan torn between gratitude and love must reckon with a revolution gathering in her valley.
36 min · Romantic
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- Themes
- Love · Class & poverty · Redemption
- Settings
- The countryside · Wilderness
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
- Motifs
- Orphans & foundlings
A Blackjack Bargainer
O. HenryA ruined lawyer is offered cash for his inherited feud, forcing an old mountain honor code into a startling new bargain.
25 min · Suspenseful
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- Settings
- Villages & small towns · The countryside
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Descriptive · Dialect-rich
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
A Double-Dyed Deceiver
O. HenryA fugitive from a Texas gunfight is offered a dangerous new identity in a distant coastal country.
19 min · Suspenseful
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- Themes
- Love · Redemption · Identity
- Settings
- The frontier · Wilderness
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Dialect-rich
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
A Service of Love
O. HenryTwo young artists quietly sacrifice for each other when money runs out and their shared creative life is threatened.
10 min · Tender
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- Settings
- The home · Offices & workplaces
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Conversational · Plain
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
The Furnished Room
O. HenryA young man searching for a vanished singer rents a decaying room whose lingering traces seem to answer his longing.
11 min · Melancholy
More details
- Settings
- The city
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Ornate · Descriptive
- Pace
- Leisurely
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Haunted house
Mr. Spaceship
Philip K. DickA dying professor lends his brain to an experimental warship, and the machine begins making decisions its creators never authorized.
48 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Science & progress · War & peace · Rebellion
- Settings
- Offices & workplaces · Space & spacecraft
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
- Motifs
- Kidnapping & ransom · Journeys & quests
The Gun
Philip K. DickExplorers land on a dead planet and discover that one weapon has outlived the civilization it was built to defend.
22 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Science & progress · Survival · War & peace
- Settings
- Space & spacecraft
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Buried treasure
The Hanging Stranger
Philip K. DickA shopkeeper notices a corpse that his entire town ignores, then realizes being the only person alarmed may mark him as prey.
24 min · Chilling
More details
- Themes
- Appearance vs reality · Isolation · Survival
- Settings
- Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Hunts & pursuits
The Skull
Philip K. DickA condemned hunter is sent two centuries into the past to kill a religious founder, armed only with a gun and the target’s skull.
35 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Fate & chance · War & peace · Sacrifice
- Settings
- Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults