Classic Fiction Audio Books Download

A heady mix of romantic travel guide, Moorish legends, and historical fact, enhanced by Spanish guitar music

Written in 1831, Washington Irvings dreamlike description of the Alhambra, the beautiful Moorish castle that defined the height of Moorish civilization, and of the surrounding territory of Granada remains one of the most entertaining travelogues ever written of this region in Spain.

Enhanced here with exquisite Spanish guitar music, the narrative is a heady mix of historical fact, medieval myth and mystery, sensual descriptions, and an appreciation for a civilization that valued beauty, philosophy, literature, science, and the arts on an equal level with warrior skills. Secret chambers, desperate battles, imprisoned princesses, palace ghosts, and fragrant gardens, described in a wistful and dreamlike eloquence, will transport listeners to a paradise of their own.

Washington Irving (1783-1859) was born in New York and studied law; on account of his poor health he went to Europe in 1804. He visited Rome, Paris, the Netherlands and London, and in 1806 returned to New York where he was admitted to the bar. His first writing was in Salmagundi (1807), a semi-monthly sheet in imitation of the Spectator which ran for twenty numbers. His first work, A History of New York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (1809), was a good-natured burlesque upon the old Dutch settlers of Manhattan Island.

Ralph Cosham has acted in numerous roles for film and TV and in more than one hundred professional theater roles in addition to narrating books for Blackstone Audiobooks. He lives in Reston, Virginia.