Great Classics

The Essential Classics Collection is a continent-hopping, century-spanning collection of five of the greatest novels ever written, and the perfect way to listen to those classics you've always been meaning to try. Read by a cast of incredible narrators including Joanne Froggatt, Stephen Fry, David Rintoul, Hugh Kermode, and Malk Williams.

William Shakespeare, long hailed as history's greatest dramatic writer, has been lauded for his mastery of poetic expression, his insight into the human condition, and his deep exploration into the psyche and motivations of his characters.

When orphan Pip meets the escaped convict Magwitch in an overgrown churchyard on the Kent marshes, little does he know that the incident will change his life forever. Some years later, now apprenticed to his blacksmith brother-in-law, Pip falls in love with the beautiful Estella. Her half-crazed and bitter guardian Miss Havisham, however, exerts a malign influence over the girl and forces a wedge between the two.

A spectacular collection of outstanding half-hour short stories...perfect for commuters or bedtime listening. 'The Whistle' by Hugh Walpole, 'The Well' by W. W. Jacobs, 'The Scrupulous Father' by George Gissing, 'The Debt' by Edith Wharton, 'The Problem of the Five Marks' by Melville Davisson Post, 'The Purple Wig' by G. K. Chesterton, 'Pickman's Model' by H. P. Lovecraft, 'Humplebee' by Geroge Gissing.

Philip Pirrip, also known as Pip, a blacksmith’s apprentice in a country village, falls in love with Estella, the beautiful but cold-hearted daughter of eccentric Miss Havisham, a wealthy woman who lives in seclusion. He becomes motivated and aspires to become a gentleman to win her affection. His hopes are fueled when he receives a large and mysterious inheritance from a mysterious benefactor, this sets off a chain of events that will change his life.

Hans Christian Andersen's most famous fairy tales in one great collection. 50 stories, among them: The red shoes, Thumbelina, The flying trunk, The snowman, The swineherd, and many more!

Edward Exeter assumes the mantle of Liberator in the strange, alternate world called Nextdoor - a far-flung outpost of British imperialism where earthborn mortals possess the powers of gods. His decision has made him the target of betrayals and murderous plots. But Exeter has learned the Game well in his short time in Nextdoor and he plays it boldly to its unexpected, worlds-shattering conclusion.

"Someone will be born hereabouts who will look just like the Great Stone Face, and he will be the noblest person of his time." This is the age-old prophecy that lies at the heart of the titular short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne of his remarkable collection, centering on tales situated in the White Mountains region. The hero in the first tale turns out to be the actual Great Stone Face, but it will take the villagers and himself a lifetime to realize this!

1922, New York. La Première Guerre Mondiale est encore toute récente dans les esprits. Pendant que le monde change, la jeunesse veut profiter de la vie, être divertie et consommer malgré la Prohibition. Dans la banlieue de West Egg, l'énigmatique Monsieur Gatsby donne des fêtes extravagantes et reçoit les gens par centaines. Personne ne sait qui il est ni comment il a fait sa fortune. On dit qu'il est bootlegger, on dit qu'il a tué. Témoin privilégie, Nick Carraway, se verra offrir l'occasion de découvrir ce qui se cache derrière ces racontars, et qui est le vrai Gatsby.

Great Expectations is one of Charles Dickens’ greatest critical and popular successes. The first-person narrative relates the coming-of-age of Pip (Philip Pirrip). Reared in the marshes of Kent by his disagreeable sister and her sweet-natured husband, the blacksmith Joe Gargery, the young Pip one day helps a convict to escape. Later he is sent to live with Miss Havisham, a woman driven half-mad years earlier by her lover's departure on their wedding day. Her other ward is the orphaned Estella, whom she is teaching to torment men with her beauty.

This collection provides a wide selection of literary masterworks by authors of numerous nationalities. Included are: "The Father" and "Railroad and Churchyard" by Bjornstjerne Bjornson; "The Outlaws" and "A Christmas Guest" by Selma Lagerloff; "The Lover" by Maxim Gorky; "The Fountain of Youth" by Rudolf Baumbach; "The 47 Ronins" by Takashi Takamya; "Patient Griselda" by Giovanni Boccaccio; "The Distracted Preacher" by Thomas Hardy; "The Lady of Launay" by Anthony Trollope; and more.

Just as the lovely Alvina Houghton comes of age, her widowed father’s business starts to dry up. In a drastic effort to regain his fortune and secure his daughter’s standing in society, James Houghton buys, of all things, a theater. Her father’s plans and dreams go misunderstood in the town, but the theater itself does quite well...for a time. One of the traveling players employed at the theater, a sensual Italian man named Ciccio, catches Alvina’s eye, and she finds herself intensely attracted to him.

When F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in the early 1920s, the American Dream was already on the skids. Originally based on the idea that the pursuit of happiness involves not only material success but also moral and spiritual growth, the dream had by Fitzgerald's time become increasingly focused on money and pleasure—a phenomenon the high-living writer was only too familiar with.

As the First World War reaches its final year, an illicit love affair is beginning between a 16-year-old boy and a young woman married to a soldier at the front. They meet secretly in her flat on the outskirts of Paris, in cornfields and on river banks. When she receives letters from her husband, they burn them together. Intoxicated by passion, they cannot bear to end their affair, even when it causes a scandal among their friends and neighbours. Instead, they can only hurtle towards tragedy.

Ao se mudar para a casa ao lado, Nick Carraway adentra o mundo de extravagância e luxo de Jay Gatsby, um misterioso milionário que, na verdade, busca a atenção de um antigo amor, Daisy Buchanan, de quem se separou na Primeira Guerra Mundial.

C.S. Lewis's dazzling allegory about heaven and hell - and the chasm fixed between them - is one of his most brilliantly imaginative tales, as he takes issue with the ideas in William Blake's ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'. In a dream, the narrator boards a bus on a drizzly afternoon and embarks on an incredible voyage through Heaven and Hell. He meets a host of supernatural beings far removed from his expectations.

The young John Updike’s portrayal of a haughty seminary student working as a lifeguard is witty and poetic, as the naïve hero surveys the beachgoers in his care, and contemplates a future of saving souls as well as bodies.

Sherlock Holmes! The very name of the world's greatest detective conjures up images of Victorian London, gaslit streets, hansom cabs, and dense fogs. But there was a time, a dark three-year period, when London had to make do without Sherlock Holmes. From 1891 to 1894, he was presumed dead, having perished during the epic struggle with that infamous Napoleon of crime, Professor Moriarty, atop the Reichenbach Falls. But unknown to most, even his friend Dr. Watson, Holmes survived.

Unveiling the Mysteries of the Great Gatsby is a comprehensive guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, offering insights and analysis on the complex themes, characters, and symbols that make the book a masterpiece of American literature.

A glorious collection of some of the finest British short stories ever written. The Dog – Arnold Bennet, Not On The Passenger List – Barry Pain, The Old Man’s Tale About The Queer Client – Charles Dickens, The Half Brothers – Elizabeth Gaskell, The Veiled Portrait – James McGovan, Markheim – Robert Louis Stevenson, The Bottle Imp – Robert Louis Stevenson, The Adventures Of The Kind Mr. Smith – William J. Locke, The Man Of Mystery – Barry Pain, The Brazilian Cat – Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle.