Family Classics

Howards End is the story of the liberal Schlegel sisters and their struggle to come to terms with social class and their German heritage in Edwardian England. Their lives are intertwined with those of the wealthy and pragmatic Wilcox family and their country house, Howards End, as well as the lower-middle-class Basts. When Helen Schlegel and Paul Wilcox's brief romance ends badly the Schlegels hope to never see the Wilcoxes again.

Schooldays at St Clare's are never dull for twins Pat and Isabel O'Sullivan in Enid Blyton's much-loved boarding school series. In audiobook four, the twins have made it to second form. New girls Gladys and Mirabel have great talents for acting and music, and Elsie, the form's unpopular head girl, learns to be less spiteful. Expect more mischief at St Clare's!

After surviving a nearly insurmountable peril, a starship captain returns to Earth with his badly distressed ship and remaining crew and passengers in hyper sleep over three hundred years after they were believed to be destroyed and finds his most perilous trial. In humanity’s drive towards individuality by being like everyone else, due to genetic manipulation there are only 33 standard female and male models and he and his crew will be made beautiful like everyone else unless he can figure out a way to stop it.

As Elsie Dinsmore grows up and becomes a young woman, her family undergoes major changes. Her father, Horace Dinsmore, falls in love and marries sweet Rose Allison, whom Elsie has loved since childhood. Soon two new members, Horace Jr. and Rosebud, join the happy family.

Mary Lennox is sent to Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire England after her parents die from Cholera. Also living in the manor house is her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as spoiled as she. Mary and Colin are like two peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors, until a secret garden captures their imaginations. As spring brings new life to the Earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to change.

The entire family is thrown into turmoil, however, when a carriage accident threatens the life and sanity of Grandpa Dinsmore and Aunt Enna, and Violet is burned with a troublesome secret. Everyone in the family is thrilled as young Elsie blossoms under the warmth of new love, but sorrow strikes as Lily is gathered into the arms of the Good Shepherd despite all the efforts to save her life.

"The Swiss Family Robinson" is an adventure novel co-authored by Johann David Wyss and Johann Rudolf Wyss. It has a plot that exemplifies family ideals and the use of the natural world to achieve self-reliance. The story begins with the family in the hold of a sailing ship, riding out a huge storm. The passengers abandon ship without them, and William and Elizabeth Robinson and their four children (Fritz, Ernest, Jack and Francis) are left to survive on their own. How will they cope?

Charlie and Esther Moore have been married nearly 50 years when the contented life they've built together begins to crumble. Esther has been forgetful recently, but it's rarely a problem until the day she puts her car in drive instead of reverse, flying off the end of the carport and into the backyard. Esther's accident and declining health shatter their reverie, and the couple must come to terms with all the paths their lives have not taken if they ever hope to pull their marriage out of winter.

When Marshal of the Nobility Pozdnyshev suspects his wife of having an affair with her music partner, his jealousy consumes him and drives him to murder. Controversial upon publication in 1890, The Kreutzer Sonata illuminates Tolstoy's then-feverish Christian ideals, his conflicts with lust and the hypocrisies of nineteenth-century marriage, and his thinking on the role of art and music in society.

"Stop it!" cried Eustace. "It's some silly trick you are playing! Ow!" A great cold salt splash had broken right out of the frame and they were breathless from the smack of it, as well as being wet through. Lucy and Edmund, stuck with their awful cousin Eustace, suddenly find themselves in a picture of a sailing ship, the Dawn Treader, and realise they have been drawn back into the land of Narnia.

The story of four generations of a wealthy bourgeois family in northern Germany facing the advent of modernity; in an uncertain new world, the family’s bonds and traditions begin to disintegrate. As Mann charts the Buddenbrooks’ decline from prosperity to bankruptcy, from moral and psychic soundness to sickly piety, artistic decadence, and madness, he ushers the listener into a world of stunning vitality, pieced together from births and funerals, weddings and divorces, recipes, gossip, and earthy humor.

Corduroy is excited to celebrate Christmas! To get ready, he decorates his tree, bakes cookies, and wraps presents. When the snow starts falling on Christmas Eve, Corduroy hangs up his stocking and leaves a note for Santa. Merry Christmas, Corduroy!

Glancing sideways, she was intrigued by his flawless profile. He had bronzed skin and a straight nose, with tousled blond hair that was effortlessly stylish. Lounging in his chair elegantly, he looked like the type of guy you could place anywhere and he would look at ease. He turned suddenly and caught her staring at him. Their eyes locked and suddenly she felt lost. They were the bluest eyes she had ever seen… Lydia Kelly is in a good place. Determined to pursue her dream of being a writer, she enrols to do a Master’s degree in English. It means being separated from her handsome ...

It's Christmas time for Emily Elizabeth and Clifford! While they count down the days to their favorite holiday, Clifford gets a tree, a stocking, and a surprise under the mistletoe.

A Nebraska native, Claude Wheeler wants to attend the State University but instead lives a typical college life as a Temple College student. However, when his successful father decides to expand the family farm, Claude's reality is changed forever as he's forced to drop out to help realize his father's dream. Later, as war wages on in Europe, he enlists, hoping to escape his dreary fate and find purpose.

After receiving a rose covered sweater from Grandma, Harry is determined to lose it. He tries leaving it all over town, but it is always returned - until a bird catches sight of a loose thread and Harry's luck finally changes.

Calamity is confronting two big transitions: the death of her beloved father and the beginning of menopause, a physical shift that has rekindled her gift for finding lost things. Suddenly, she is getting hot flashes that seem to forge objects out of thin air, most notably a four-year old boy. As Calamity takes the child into her care, she discovers that all is not as it seems. Then, Calamity must reawaken to the mysteries surrounding her own childhood and the early disappearance of her mother.

In the heart of Texas' booming oil industry, firefighter Wesley Black faces his greatest challenge yet. When a series of suspicious fires erupt across the oil fields, Wesley finds himself embroiled in a deadly conspiracy that threatens everything he holds dear. As he digs deeper, he uncovers a web of corruption and greed that reaches the highest echelons of power. With his family in danger and his loyalties tested, Wesley must confront not only the raging infernos but also the darkness within his own hometown. In a world where ambition and betrayal run rampant, one man will risk everything ...

Considered by Time magazine to be one of the best fantasy books of all time, Edith Nesbit's Five Children and It follows a tribe of children on their magical adventures during a summer in the English countryside. When a strange, furry creature appears in front of the children and offers a wish a day, the children take advantage of the creature's abilities and discover that their wishes have many unforeseen - and often quite funny - consequences.

A funny, charming and moving book that will keep you hooked until the end. This is the story of a cat called Mateo and his owner, a poor bricklayer who struggled to make ends meet. But it is also the story of three children and their unpredictable behaviour, and the story of an old lady and her peculiar little world, and the story of a beautiful model and her crazy boyfriend… Age 9+