Simon Hester

Premium Audiobooks

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

Perhaps the most famous and most accessible of Dickens' stories which can be enjoyed every year afresh at Christmas time, as we never tire of the inspirational story of Scrooge's redemption and transformation. Here performed with warmth and compelling...

A Study in Scarlet

A Study in Scarlet

In a Study in Scarlet Conan Doyle fist presented to the world his unique creation Mr Sherlock Holmes almost complete.Over successive stories we learn a little more about the man, but it is not for character development that we turn to the Chronicles...

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll's timeless tale of fantasy, nonsense and beautiful absurdity, narrated by Simon Hester. Author - Lewis Carroll. Narrator - Simon Hester. Published Date - Sunday, 22 January 2023. Copyright - © 1865 Simon Hester ©.

Around the World in 80 Days

Around the World in 80 Days

The imperturbable Englishman Phileas Fogg attempts to makes an exciting journey around the World in 80 Days. By his side is the ever resourceful and faithful Passpartout and on his heels is the determined Detective Fix.Jules Verne's classic story...

Bulldog Drummond

Bulldog Drummond

In the swirling mists of post-World War I England, a character emerged from the pen of "Sapper", (H.C.McNeile) whose adventures would captivate readers and endure through the ages. Bulldog Drummond, the invincible hero, burst onto the literary scene...

Conan Doyle - More Selected Short Stories

Conan Doyle - More Selected Short Stories

More Short Stories Duration - 9h 21m. Author - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Narrator - Simon Hester. Published Date - Tuesday, 02 January 2024.

Conan Doyle - Selected Short Stories

Conan Doyle - Selected Short Stories

Head Stories Audio presents a selection of 16 short stories by the creator of Sherlock Holmes.Despite being over a century old, Conan Doyle's short stories continue to captivate readers and inspire other works of fiction. Many modern writers including...

Edgar Allan Poe - Selected Tales

Edgar Allan Poe - Selected Tales

Edgar Allan Poe will always be associated with the macabre and mysterious. In this selection of 11 of his short stories Poe's unique voice can be heard in all its Gothic splendour."The Fall of the House of Usher" a death obsessed man, in his desperate...

Five Children and It

Five Children and It

The story of three wishes being granted is an old one and often takes the form of a precautionary tale with the resultant moral being “be careful what you wish for!” Such is the fallibility of human nature that we can’t easily be trusted to use those...

Far from its popular image, the story of Frankenstein as told by Mary Shelley is not a tale that finds horror in a hideous "monster" or a "crazed" scientist. The darkness in the narrative is found in the profound loneliness of both Creator and Created...

H.G Wells - Selected Short Stories

H.G Wells - Selected Short Stories

Head Stories Audio presents 16 selected short stories by one of the genre’s masters, H.G. Wells.Not unexpectedly some, such as “The Crystal Egg” and “The Remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes” are typical of Wells’ popular science fiction and explore the...

Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow

Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow

Jerome, as in his other comic works presents a seeming stream of consciousness that can shift in a moment from the ridiculous to the sublime, from self-deprecation to intense longing.Such “Idle Thoughts” will not be in vain while we can still...

Just So Stories

Just So Stories

The World has always yearned for creation stories. We cannot hope to know where we are going if we do not know from where we came.Rudyard Kipling’s whimsical tales of the origins of, amongst others, the tides, the Elephant’s trunk, the Leopard’s spots...

King Solomon's Mines

King Solomon's Mines

Written in 1885, “King Solomon’s Mines” by Henry Rider Haggard is at first glance, very much a book of its time. Its narrator, Alan Quartermain, is the archetype Colonial white hunter and adventurer.He thinks nothing of bagging an elephant or two for...

First published in 1905 Kipps soon became H.G Wells’ most popular novel. It is a rags to riches story of a “simple soul” Arthur Kipps, a naïve young man who finds himself suddenly struggling to keep afloat in the deep waters of unlooked for wealth. He...

Meet Mr Mulliner

Meet Mr Mulliner

In Mr Mulliner, P.G Wodehouse (1881 -1975) has created a conduit for all manner of tall tales. The amiable gentleman happily regales the drinkers in the Angler’s Rest Pub with fascinating stories, usually about his own relatives, which range from the...

Mr Pim Passes By

Mr Pim Passes By

A.A. Milne will be forever associated with the timeless "Winnie the Pooh" books. In the Pooh stories and in his poetry for children Milne was able to enter the world of childhood in a unique way. Adults continue to enjoy the books as precious windows...

Notes from the Underground

Notes from the Underground

Dostoevsky's novella " Notes from the Underground" is part embittered monologue and part brief descriptions of anecdotes from the anonymous writer's life. As the author himself states:"The author of the diary and the diary itself are, of course,...

Pictures from Italy

Pictures from Italy

Who better to travel to Italy with than Charles Dickens? From the travails of 19th century travel to the wonder of discovering the great art of western civilization, all are brought to life with the characteristic humour, wryness, sentimentality,...

It may be that we are too sophisticated in this day and age for as simple a morality tale as Carlo Collodi’s “Pinocchio”. It is certainly true that the original tale is much darker in its tone than the later versions which smooth out some of sharper...

Rupert of Hentzau

Rupert of Hentzau

In the realm of classic adventure literature, few novels have achieved the enduring charm and timeless appeal of Anthony Hope's "Rupert of Hentzau." Originally published in 1898 as a sequel to "The Prisoner of Zenda," this captivating tale of...

Selected Short Stories by Saki

Selected Short Stories by Saki

Here are 12 specially selected tales by one of the masters of this miniature art, Saki (H.H Munro). They range from the comic deception of "The Schartz Metterklume Method" to "The Cobweb", a subtle meditation on life, change and death. Also included...

Selected Tales of Mystery & Terror

Selected Tales of Mystery & Terror

Here is a selection of chilling tales only to be enjoyed of a dark evening when safely by the warmth of the fire.The Monkey's PawIn The Penal ColonyO Whistle and I'll Come to You my LadA Warning to the CuriousAfterwardsThe Haunted and the HaunterThe...

Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow

Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow

Conan Doyle had attempted to bring his Sherlock Holmes stories to a fitting close in 1893 with “The Final Problem” but public outrage both persuaded him to resurrect his famous detective.It was therefore not through a dramatic struggle with the evil...

Though brief in length, George Eliot’s (Mary Ann Evans) Silas Marner is a beautifully nuanced tale. It touches on many themes such as social acceptance, the harshness of legalistic religion, the equally harsh consequences of familial expectations and...