B. J. Harrison Reads Desiree's Baby

Kate Chopin’s short story ”Desirée’s Baby” depicts a love story that is far from simple. Desirée was found as a baby by a wealthy French Creole couple, Monsieur and Madame Valmondé, in Louisiana before the American Civil War. She marries Armand, the son of another wealthy French Creole family, and has a son with him. Yet a happy event takes a scandalous turn when upon the child’s birth, the parents note that the child carries African blood in him. Whilst this short story is about social class, it also contains fairytale-like elements and even Gothic tones. Discover the story as read by the uncanny B.J. Harrison.

B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories. He masterfully plays with a wide array of voices and accents and has since then produced over 500 audiobooks. Now in collaboration with SAGA Egmont, his engaging narration of these famous classics is available to readers everywhere.

Kate Chopin (1850-1904), born Katherine O’Flaherty, was an American writer of novels and short stories mostly set in the 19th-century American South. Her works deals with themes of the female psyche and women's limited life opportunities in the Victorian era, often in a naturalist style. She was considered controversial in her time, but is now praised as a pioneer of 20th-century feminist, American literature. Her most famous works include the novel ”The Awakening” (1899), which explores themes of rebellion against femininity and motherhood at the turn of the 20th century.