Family Classics

At age 26, Advika Srinivasan considers herself a failed screenwriter. To pay the bills and keep her mind off of the recent death of her twin sister, she’s taken to bartending A-list events, including the 2015 Governors Ball, the official afterparty of the Oscars. There, in a cinematic dream come true, she meets the legendary Julian Zelding—a film producer as handsome as Paul Newman and ten times as powerful—fresh off his fifth best picture win. Despite their 41-year age difference, Advika falls helplessly under his spell.

The free-spirited Anne Shirley has a beautiful way of looking at the world and touching our hearts. In this, the third volume of the Anne of Green Gables series, the irrepressible Anne dreams of the woman she hopes to be when she decides to leave Green Gables and her beloved Prince Edward Island for college. She is eager for new adventure.

Elizabeth Gaskell's novella The Moorland Cottage takes place near the town of Combehurst where Mrs. Browne lives with her children, Edward and Maggie, and their servant, Nancy. Near the Brownes' cottage lives the Bruxton family in a luxurious mansion. The two families grow closer with time and the author shows how childhood education and growing up shape and effect the adult personality.

Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character, Elizabeth Bennet, as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of the British Regency. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters of a country gentleman living near the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, near London.

The adventures of the mischievous young midshipman Percival Keene begin when he learns that the demanding Captain Delmar, a member of the wealthy and titled De Versely family, is actually his natural father. Stung by his father's refusal to acknowledge him, Keene sets about to win his father's love and acceptance and gain the family fortune. To do so, Keene survives shipwreck and capture by murderous pirates, fights duels of honor with his fellow officers, and battles against the French.

Reece Morgan had been a newly orphaned ten-year-old when he came to Serenity Falls to live with the grandfather he barely knew. He spent the next eight years butting heads with the stern old man, determined to prove that there wasn’t a rule made – and his grandfather made plenty of them - that he couldn’t break. Sheer pig-headedness kept him on the right side of the law and got him through school but the moment Reece picked up his diploma, he blew out of town, swearing he’d never set foot in the place again. But twenty years later, he was back. He only planned to stay long enough to...

Since the publication of his first novel 30 years ago, Don DeLillo has lived in the skin of our times. He has found a voice for the forgotten souls who haunt the fringes of our culture and for its larger-than-life real figures. The Body Artist is DeLillo's haunting and profoundly moving new novel.

Every so often a love story so captures our hearts that it becomes more than a story - it becomes an experience to remember forever. The Notebook is such a book. It is a celebration of how passion can be ageless and timeless, a tale that moves us to laughter and tears and makes us believe in true love all over again.... At 31, Noah Calhoun, back in coastal North Carolina after World War II, is haunted by images of the girl he lost more than a decade earlier.

This is the charming, human account of the adventures of lovely, wealthy Rose Campbell as she grows into young womanhood. Rose's greatest attraction undoubtedly is that she's such a real girl. She has her trials and disappointments, her temptations and failures. But with the aid of loving counsel and a level head she manages to turn out into a thoroughly lovable, admirable woman.

It's the start of the Easter term, and the twins are looking forward to meeting all their friends at St Clare's once more. They are determined to be obedient and studious, but the new girls prove to be so much fun. Poor Mam'zelle had better watch out. Expect mischief at St Clare's!

Bee Ridgway’s wildly inventive debut novel, The River of No Return, blends romance, conspiracy, and time travel for a tale sure to intrigue listeners. When soldier and aristocrat Nick Falcott is sent from a Napoleonic battlefield in 1815 to modern-day London, he never expects to go back - until the Guild calls for him. Returning home as if from the dead, Nick reunites with his lost love, Julia Percy, and enlists her help in finding a mysterious object known as the Talisman.

When Simeon Simcox, a socialist clergyman, leaves his entire fortune not to his family but to the ruthless, social-climbing Tory MP Leslie Titmuss, the Rector's two sons react in very different ways. Henry, novelist and former 'angry young man' turned grumpy old reactionary, decides to fight the will and prove their father was insane. Younger brother Fred, a mild-mannered country doctor, takes a different approach, quietly digging in Simeon's past, only to uncover an entirely unexpected explanation for the legacy.

First published in 1812, The Swiss Family Robinson may sometimes seem old-fashioned to modern audiences, especially the family’s attitude toward wildlife (if it moves, shoot it). However, it’s a truly exciting adventure and a timeless story of warm and loving family life.

On a pristine island in the Gulf of Finland, six-year-old Sophia is awakening to life, while her wise yet cranky grandmother is contemplating its end. This unlikely duo becomes each other's perfect companions for a season of unforgettable adventures. From crafting boats out of bark to creating their own miniature Venice, they explore their island world with youthful curiosity and aged wisdom.

Pregnant with her second child, Martha King finds her marriage to lawyer Austin King more and more frustrating when her husband befriends his young foster cousin, Nora, and, in the process, unwittingly jeopardizes his marriage, career, and place in the community.

Penguin presents Happy Families: The Audio Collection by Allan Ahlberg, read by Alexander Armstrong. Families come in all shapes and sizes. Listen to the story of Mrs Wobble the Waitress, Mr Biff the Boxer, Miss Dirt the Dustman's Daughter and many more in the first ever audio collection of Allan Ahlberg's beloved Happy Families. Features 11 classic tales brought to life with music and dazzling sound effects.

In this charming classic story, Harry, the little white dog with black spots, runs away before bath time and plays outside until he changes into a black dog with white spots.

They tell Jip he tumbled off the back of a wagon when he was small, and no one ever came back for him. He never had a reason to question this tale - but then a stranger shows up and begins asking about him around town. Who is this man, and could he possibly know something about Jip's past?

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming.... This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth.

When Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables send for a boy orphan to help them out at their farm, they mistakenly get Anne Shirley, a feisty, independent but warm-hearted 11 year-old girl. Fortunately her sunny nature and quirky imagination win the hearts of her reluctant foster parents and everyone in the community. But not a day goes by without some memorable adventure or prank in the tragicomedy of her life.