Irish American

When her father remarries, the honest, innocent Molly Gibson suddenly finds herself with a new stepsister, Cynthia, who is beautiful, worldly and impetuous. This would be more than enough to deal with, but the new wife is the deeply snobbish (and darkly secretive) Hyacinth. Thwarted love, scheming ambition and small-town gossip underlie the warmth, irony and brilliant social observation which link the relationships and the inevitable conflicts as profound change comes to rural England.

Best-selling and Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie offers incisive, often humorous takes on literature, culture, and world events in this New York Times Notable Book. In these stimulating pieces, Rushdie addresses a variety of subjects, including the death of the novel, India, soccer, and the Rolling Stones.

"The Patrician" (1911) is a historical romance by John Galsworthy. Excerpt from the book: "Light, entering the vast room - a room so high that its carved ceiling refused itself to exact scrutiny - travelled, with the wistful, cold curiosity of the dawn, over a fantastic storehouse of Time. Light, unaccompanied by the prejudice of human eyes, made strange revelation of incongruities, as though illuminating the dispassionate march of history. For in this dining hall - one of the finest in England - the Caradoc family had for centuries assembled the trophies and records of their existence.

From Paris to Prague, from the past to the present, authors and artists say farewell in this unique collection. In this audiobook you'll find personal letters, reminiscences, poetry, art and brand new fiction from some of the most talented and important voices at work today, including Jessie Burton, Alain de Botton, Matt Haig, Richard Herring, Owen Jones, Mark Kermode, Robert Macfarlane, Kate Mosse, Chris Riddell, Lionel Shriver and many others.

This audiobook looks at 12 works written by Robert Burns which were inspired by nature. We look at the works themselves, give a modern translation of each one and look at when, where, and, possibly, why they were written. This gives you quick, easy to understand information about Burns - so that you can surprise your friends with your 'in-depth knowledge.'

Mr. Midshipman Easy is the 1836 novel by Frederick Marryat, a retired Captain in the 19th century Royal Navy. The novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, in which Marryat himself served with distinction. It was adapted twice into films in 1916 and in 1935 as Midshipman Easy. Captain Frederick Marryat (July 10, 1792 - August 9, 1848) was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story.

When beautiful young Lucy Graham accepts the hand of Sir Michael Audley, her fortune and her future look secure. But Lady Audley's past is shrouded in mystery, and Sir Michael's nephew, Robert, has vague forebodings. When Robert's good friend, George Talboys, suddenly disappears, he is determined to find him and to unearth the truth. His quest reveals a tangled story of lies and deception, crime and intrigue, whose sensational twists turn the conventional picture of Victorian womanhood on its head. Can Robert's darkest suspicions really be true?

The beautiful Miss Alison Brooke is the envy of London's 18th-century royal society. When villainy occurs, an unexpected hero comes to her aid. But rumors result, and Miss Brooke finds herself in the center of tawdry gossip. Her rescuer, Robert Anderson, Viscount Charmaine, is preoccupied with troubled finances, an ill father, and defense of the Crown. Problematically, Charmaine's best friend, Marquis Anthony Farrington, is clandestinely helping fund the American Revolution. Miss Brooke's large dowry tempts both men. Her father, however, wants his daughter to marry for love, not money.

"He Knew He Was Right" is an 1869 novel written by Anthony Trollope which describes the failure of a marriage caused by the unreasonable jealousy of a husband worsened by the stubbornness of a willful wife. A wealthy young English gentleman, Louis Trevelyan, visits the fictional Mandarin Islands, and becomes infatuated with Emily Rowley, the eldest daughter of the governor, Sir Marmaduke Rowley. The Rowleys accompany Trevelyan to London, where he marries Emily.

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so he may find new blood and spread the undead curse. It then relates the epic battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

As a widowed mother of three, new love seems impossible for Freya - until she meets Duncan, and suddenly she feels alive again. While Freya’s older children are less than welcoming, six-year-old Sophie helps Duncan find his place in the family - but even Sophie harbours fears that threaten to overshadow any chance of a new start. The past is hard to leave behind when pictures of Freya’s idolised late husband hang in every room, and the more Duncan tries to find the source of Sophie’s anxiety, the more he is convinced that Reuben was not the perfect husband and father Freya remembers.

Throughout his life, Noel Coward the master songwriter, 'derived a considerable amount of private pleasure from writing verse'. Much of it is gathered in this first ever audio collection. From moving war-time encounters to satirical barbs at familiar Coward targets and personal reminiscences, this delightful collection is a perfect blend of vintage Noel Coward sure to be enjoyed by faithful fans and new listeners alike.

After her beloved grandmother Rozenn’s death, Morane is heartbroken to learn that her sister is the sole inheritor of the family home in Cornwall - while she herself has been written out of the will. With both her business and her relationship with her sister on the rocks, Morane becomes consumed by one question: what made Rozenn turn her back on her? When she finds an old letter linking her grandmother to Brittany under German occupation, Morane escapes on the trail of her family’s past. In the coastal village where Rozenn lived in 1941, she uncovers a web of shameful secrets.

"A weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares." This is how Marlowe describes his journey into the Belgian Congo. And while Europeans go mad, Corporations turn tyrannous, and the legend of a great Ivory hunter is dangled before him, Marlowe observes everything with a keen eye, as we journey with him, into the Heart of Darkness. This audiobook also includes another short story featuring Marlowe, "Youth".

Una de las novelas más conocidas de Dickens, un clásico de la literatura inglesa del siglo XIX. La historia transcurre entre dos ciudades, Londres y París, durante la época de la Revolución Francesa. La indiferencia de Dickens por la política y su desprecio por los políticos alejan la novela de cualquier debate político o filosófico sobre la revolución.

Conrad’s Lord Jim is the iconic story of a romantic young man and his struggle with guilt and self-loathing. The novel begins with Jim’s earlier life as a ship’s officer. He and the other crew members abandon an imperiled vessel and its passengers after a mysterious collision reveals a dangerous bulge below the water line. But the ship does not sink and Jim survives to face an official inquiry. He is stripped of his license and faces universal scorn and the reality of his own guilt.

Le capitaine Marlow raconte sa remontée d'un grand fleuve africain sur un vapeur jusqu'au "cœur des ténèbres", à la recherche d'un certain Kurtz.

Monica a abandonné sa carrière d'avocate pour réaliser son rêve : ouvrir un café sur Fulham Road. Le jour où un de ses clients oublie son carnet sur une table, elle ne peut s'empêcher de le lire. Les premières pages lui révèlent la confession de Julian Jessop, un artiste excentrique, âgé de soixante-dix-neuf ans qui exprime toute sa tristesse et sa solitude depuis la mort de sa femme. Touchée par cette idée de révéler des sentiments intimes à des inconnus, Monica décide de continuer le carnet avant de le déposer dans un bar à vin.

Under the Greenwood Tree, Hardy's second novel, was published in 1872 and became the first of his great series of Wessex novels. The book, subtitled A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, tells the endearing tale of a group of church musicians who accompany the hymns at the local Mellstock parish choir and we follow the fortunes of one of its member, Dick Dewy, who falls in love with the new school mistress, Fancy Day.

"The Prisoner of Zenda" is an adventure novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. The king of the fictional country of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces are such that in order for the king to retain his crown his coronation must go forward. An English gentleman on holiday who fortuitously resembles the monarch, is persuaded to act as his political decoy in an attempt to save the situation.