Voices of Today VOTVO

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The Evolution Of Christian Doctrine
By Joseph McCabe

Narrated by Oberon Michaels

In the opinion of secular scholar Joseph McCabe, the teaching of Jesus was “almost entirely ethical.” He contends that the dogmatic pillars of organizational Christianity, such as original sin, the atonement and the divinity of Christ, were not part of Jesus’ message and originated with Paul. He also discusses the interminable and insoluble disagreements among theologians over the following two millennia. In conclusion, he expends particular vitriol on the institution of the priesthood, of which he had himself been a member in his younger days.

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Measure for Measure
By William Shakespeare
Narrated by Gary MacFadden, David Shears, Graham Scott, Josh Innerst, Kendra Murray, Blaise Doran, Simon Paxton, Roberta Jackson, Alexandra Lee Smith, Alan Weyman and Denis Daly

Measure for Measure is one of darkest of Shakespeare’s comedies. Written in about 1603 and first performed in 1604, it immediately preceded the composition of the major tragedies Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth.

Duke Vincentino, the ruler of Vienna, fears that under his mild sovereignty, the people may have become lazy and lax. He decides to “go over cover” in the disguise of a monk and appoint his deputy, Angelo, who is a reputed paragon of virtue, as temporary ruler.

On assuming power, Angelo inaugurates draconian provisions regarding sexual propriety. One of the first victims of this new regime is young Claudio, who has impregnated his lover Juliet, and is accordingly sentenced to death.

Claudio’s sister, Isabella, who is preparing to enter religious life, is encouraged to approach Angelo and plead for her brother’s life. Angelo is immediately smitten with the beautiful Isabella and makes her an offer: her brother will be spared if she yields to Angelo’s sexual advances. Isabella indignantly rejects this proposal, but finds herself unable to reveal Angelo’s hypocrisy publicly, as she fears her accusations will lack credence.

Fortunately, the Duke, who has not left Vienna, befriends Isabella in his assumed role of friar, and hatches a plan to both save Claudio and to unmask Angelo.

Featuring the voices of Denis Daly, Gary D. MacFadden, David Shears, Graham Scott, Josh Innerst, Kendra Murray, Blaise Doran, Simon Paxton, Roberta Jackson, Alexandra Lee Smith, and Alan Weyman.

Audio edited by Denis Daly.

Tunes for songs provided by Alan Weyman.

The text used for this performance was kindly provided by playshakespeare.com.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com:
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Wildly Weird But Totally True: Australia
Fun Facts, True Stories and Trivia
By Seana Smith
Narrated by Gregory Dwyer

Your kids will love hearing the weird and wonderful facts about Australia in this brand new book!

Check out this hilarious Australian kids book, chock full of amazing facts, trivia, and stories.

Learn about Australia in this amusing and entertaining children’s book, which will appeal to adults too.

You will laugh and you will gasp, and then you will want to explore Australia and see its amazing animals and places for yourself.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com:
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The Watsons
A Fragment by Jane Austen and Concluded by L. Oulton
By Jane Austen & L. Oulton
Narrated by Catherine Bilson, Sarah Jane Rose, Graham Scott, Linda Barrans and Denis Daly

Jane Austen probably commenced writing The Watsons in 1803 and discontinued it after her father’s death in 1805. The original text contains no chapter divisions. It was first published in 1871 as an appendix to A Memoir of Jane Austen, by the novelist’s nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh.

The story concerns the young and vivacious Emma Watson, one of six children of a widowed clergyman. Emma has spent most of her life under the care of a wealthy aunt of liberal views, and has received a good education. However, when her aunt enters into a second marriage, Emma is forced to return to the family home, where she is affronted by the crass hunting for husbands undertaken her sisters, Penelope and Margaret.

Emma herself attracts the notice of local nobleman, Lord Osborne, and also of Mr. Howard, vicar of the nearby parish church.

The sisters are invited to visit the home of their brother, Robert, an attorney in Croydon, but Emma refuses to join them. The original text concludes at this point.

Several completions of the novel have been composed after the author’s death. The first appeared in 1850, and was written by her niece, Catherine Hubback, who expanded the story into a three volume novel entitled, The Younger Sister. In 1923, the completion by L. Oulton was published. And in 1928, another completion appeared, this time written the granddaughter of Catherine Hubback, Emily Brown, and her husband Francis Brown.

In the version completed by Oulton, the narrative concludes with a resolution fairly typical of an Austen novel. However, the full text is considerably shorter than any of the novels completed by the Austen.

There has been much speculation as to why Austen discontinued writing the novel. One surmise is that the author may have felt the narrative was uncomfortably close to the events of her own life.

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In a German Pension
By Katherine Mansfield

Narrated by Susannah Fullerton, Lisa Giles, Erin White, Naomi Barton, Amy Soakes, Kylie Elliott, Sarah Bacaller, Lyndal Curran Doolan

In a German Pension (1911) was Katherine Mansfield’s first published collection of short stories. Many of these works had been previously published in the British weekly magazine, The New Age, which also featured work by figures including G. K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells, and George Bernard Shaw. The word “pension" in the title refers to a European guest-house.

After several relationally tumultuous years—which saw Mansfield fall pregnant out of wedlock, only to marry another man whom she left on the night of the wedding (an outcome that Mansfield’s mother blamed on a lesbian relationship)—Katherine was whisked off by her mother to Bad Wörishofen, a German spa town. Around this time, she miscarried her child. The stories contained in this collection were written soon after.

Contents:
“Germans at Meat”
“The Baron”
“The Sister of the Baroness”
“Frau Fischer”
“Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding”
“The Modern Soul”
“At ‘Lehmann’s’”
“The Luft Bad”
“A Birthday”
“The Child Who Was Tired”
“The Advanced Lady”
“The Swing of the Pendulum”
“A Blaze”

“About Katherine Mansfield"—written and read by Susannah Fullerton.

The complete audiobook is available at Audible.com:
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Jane Eyre
By Charlotte Brontë
Narrated by Robin Siegerman, Blaise Doran, Graham Scott, Mai Ling Turner, Denis Daly, Alexandra Lee Smith and Jen Smith

First published in 1847, Jane Eyre was the last and most popular of the novels composed by the Brontë sisters. The narrative bristles with energy and passionate conviction, and is one of the first novels written from the perspective of a child.

Jane is an orphan, raised in the household of an unsympathetic aunt, who shows great favor to her own children—but not to Jane. Jane is soon sent to a boarding school, presided over by the harsh and tyrannical Mr. Brocklehurst. She completes her education and works for two years as a teacher before applying to be governess at Thornfield Hall, a rural mansion in Yorkshire.

There, Jane and the master, Edward Rochester, fall in love. A wedding is planned. But the ceremony is interrupted by a claim that Rochester is already married....

Jane flees over the moor. She spends the little money she has saved, and finds herself homeless and starving in an unfamiliar town. Jane is taken in by the Rivers, who nurse her back to health, and an alternative future begins to unfold. But the voice of Rochester continues calling to her....