An old family document says that everyone who l ivesat Baskerville Hall is in danger from a terrifying animal which lives on Dartmoor. When Sir Charles Baskerville dies in a mysterious way, his nephew, the young Sir Henry Baskerville, comes to live on Dartmoor. Is he in danger too? Is there really a ...
London 1923. The First World War has been over for five years, but the effects are still being felt all round the metropolis. A ocialite and politician’s wife prepares for one of her famous parties while somewhere else in the city an old friend contemplates the pain of past and present love, a war veteran ...
The daring and handsome nobleman Robin Hood is forced to live as an outlaw in Sherwood Forest, after the evil Sheriff of Nottingham kills his family and takes his land and money. With the help of his Merry Men, Robin becomes a hero, stealing from the rich to give to the poor.
Until, that is, he meets three evil witches after a battle against King Duncan''s enemies. They tell him that one day he, Macbeth, will be King of Scotland. This is the beginning of a story of ambition and evil, involving him and his calculating wife, Lady Macbeth. What follows leads them to terrible ...
David Copperfield looks back on the first twenty-five years of his life. He is only eight years old when his mother, a young pretty widow, remarries. Unfortunately Mr Murdstone is not a good husband or father. David is sent away to school and only returns home when tragedy strikes. Unloved and unwanted, ...
Gulliver is a doctor on a ship. He travels from England to many places. He meets little people and giants, he meets people from the past and horses who can talk. He also encounters pirates and terrible storms. Will he ever return home? Will he be happy in England?
Marlow, a man who has spent his life at sea, tells the story of a journey up the River Congo which changed his life. His journey upriver to find Kurtz, the charismatic head of a colonial trading station, takes him into the very heart of Africa and leads Marlow to question both Kurtz’s dubious methods ...
Late nineteenth-century London: a city of contrasts. Great wealth and terrible poverty, beauty and ugliness, purity and immorality. Oscar Wilde takes the reader into this strange and fascinating world through the strange story of the picture of Dorian Gray. Young, handsome and innocent, the aristocratic ...
The story of Romeo and Juliet is probably the most famous love story of all time. It is set in mediaeval Verona and follows Romeo, son of the house of Montague as he falls in love with Juliet, daughter of the rival house of Capulet. The story moves quickly towards its conclusion as bitter hate and ancient ...
The gothic tale of Frankenstein and his construction of a human being who runs amok has, with the help of numerous films, become one of the most vivid of horror stories.
The story of the little boy who refused to grow up has captured the imagination of generations of children (and the adults they grew into) since its publication in 1904. Peter Pan flies in through the bedroom window one night and teaches Wendy, John and Michael to fly.
The world of Hans Christian Andersen is seen through the eyes of children. There is the everyday wonder of an ugly duckling being transformed into a swan; the puffed-up Emperor being fooled by his own importance.
his highly enjoyable account of the life of Jane Austen is regarded as the classic biography of one the greatest English novelists. It illustrates not only the character and opinions of an unusually perceptive and gifted woman, but also the social life amongst the county gentry of Georgian England.
Following the demise of bloodthirsty buccaneer Captain Flint, young Jim Hawkins finds himself with the key to a fortune. For he has discovered a map that will lead him to the fabled Treasure Island. But a host of villains, wild beasts and deadly savages stand between him and the stash of gold.
This is the first in a series of classics retold for younger listeners. Oliver Twist, Dickens''s second novel, has enthralled generations of readers since its publication in 1838. Orphaned and desolate, Oliver''s journey to London and subsequent induction into its dingy underworld is narrated with ceaseless ...
Presents the tale of a young governess who becomes entangled with the powerful Mr Rochester, finding mystery and uneasiness in his house.
Pinocchio is a wooden puppet who comes to life and has the most astonishing adventures.
From a new introductory series In a Nutshell with Darwin, marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of the English naturalist. Peter Whitfield explains how Darwin came to his revolutionary views following his voyage on the Beagle – and his initial reluctance to publish his findings.
Five great American short story writers, dating from the turn of the 19th/20th centuries, are represented here. Different in atmosphere and writing style, they nevertheless caught the mood and concerns of the day in a way that was distinctly American.
Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find he has been transformed into a gigantic insect. This extraordinary tale of imagination was written by Kafka against the backdrop of increasing turmoil in central Europe and remains not just an affecting tale but a disturbing allegory.
