Modern Classics

Bad, mad and brilliant to know - the Bagthorpes are back! Something even stranger than normal is happening in the Bagthorpe house. Ever since Uncle Parker won a luxury cruise in a competition, the family's gone competition crazy. Only Jack and his trusty dog, Zero, are staying out of it. So just how does the mixed-up mutt become the most famous dog in Britain?

Lolly Willowes, so gentle and accommodating, has depths no one suspects. When she suddenly announces that she is leaving London and moving, alone, to the depths of the countryside, her overbearing relatives are horrified. But Lolly has a greater, far darker calling than family: witchcraft.

If you want to discover the captivating history of Europe, then this audiobook might be what you're looking for. It includes five books that cover topics like ancient history, influence of ancient Greece and Rome, fall of the Roman Empire, the Renaissance, important events, and much more.

This collection of masterful reinterpretations brilliantly demystifies and breathes new life into Shakespeare's work, demonstrating the continued resonance of a playwright whose popularity remains more than 400 years after his death. Now, the passion, heartbreak, deception, reconciliation, and mortality of Shakespeare’s originals can be understood by all, without the need to cross-reference to an enjoyment-sapping study guide.

Now more than ever, our children need to learn about the people who live all around the world. This engaging guide to other lands weaves world history into a storybook format. Designed as a project for parents and children to share (or for older listeners to enjoy alone), this book covers the major historical events in the years 1600-1850 on each continent, with tales from each culture.

He kills without motive. He vanishes without trace. And he wears a tuxedo to every crime. In 1911, the world met a new kind of villain: Fantômas. Master of disguise. Genius of terror. A phantom whose crimes made Sherlock Holmes look like an amateur—and whose shadow still darkens every masked killer, supervillain, and antihero today. In Fantômas: The Phantom Lord of Crime and the Birth of the Modern Villain, explore how this pulp fiction menace became the template for an entire century of evil. From his origin in French penny dreadfuls to his resurrection by Surrealist poets, from silent...

Ten years ago only Flynn Carsen, the last of the Librarians, stood against an ancient criminal organization known as The Forty. They stole the oldest known copy of The Arabian Nights by Scheherazade, and Flynn fears they intend to steal Aladdin's fabled lamp. He races to find it first, before they can unleash the trapped malevolent djinn upon the world. Today Flynn is no longer alone. A new team of inexperienced Librarians, led by Eve Baird, their tough-as-nails Guardian, investigates an uncanny mystery in Las Vegas.

In the winelands of 16th-century Germany, Obsopoeus witnessed the birth of a poisonous new culture of bingeing, hazing, peer pressure, and competitive drinking. Alarmed, and inspired by the Roman poet Ovid's Art of Love, he wrote The Art of Drinking (1536), a how-to manual for drinking with pleasure and discrimination. In How to Drink, Michael Fontaine offers the first proper English translation of Obsopoeus' text, rendering his poetry into spirited, contemporary prose and uncorking a forgotten classic that will appeal to drinkers of all kinds and (legal) ages.

Whispers of Pemberley is a trilogy where each book stands on its own as a romance novel, yet the stories are interconnected through direct or subtle nods to Jane Austen’s literature and characters. The inaugural volume, Elizabeth and Darcy 1800, is a variation of Pride and Prejudice—a creative twist setting the foundation for the series. In this adaptation, Elizabeth Bennet embarks on a journey as a writer, echoing the life and struggles of Jane Austen herself. The subsequent volumes, while maintaining the iconic names of the main characters, Elizabeth and Darcy, explore the lives of ...

Artist Laura Matthews finds her new home in the Welsh mountains to be a place so charged with tales and legends that she is able to reach through the gossamer-fine veil that separates her own world from that of myth and fable. She and her husband, Dan, have given up their city life and moved to Blaencwm, an ancient longhouse high in the hills. Here, she hopes that the wild beauty will inspire her to produce her best art and will give her the baby they have longed for.

What if the remarkable story of Ebenezer Scrooge was true? What if the account was relayed to Dickens, and he turned it into A Christmas Carol? What if the ghostly visitations did not begin or end with Scrooge, but the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and yet to come visit one misanthropic soul in need of reclamation every Christmas Eve? This modern-day sequel to the Charles Dickens classic assumes all of the above. And this time, the spiritual trio’s attentions have been directed to a not-so-nice woman in Philadelphia.

Orwell's graphically unforgettable descriptions of social injustice, cramped slum housing, dangerous mining conditions, squalor, hunger and growing unemployment are written with unblinking honesty, fury and great humanity. It crystallized the ideas that would be found in his later works and novels and remains a powerful portrait of poverty, injustice and class divisions in Britain.

Mark Haddon's gripping modern classic has been adapted and edited by Angela T. Wesker and specially designed for learners of ESL at a B1+ level or native English-speaking school students who need a quicker reading with a complete and extended analysis. This edition aims at encouraging a love of reading and promoting thoughtful interaction with books while developing language and thinking skills. The text comes with an introduction, notes, and a wide range of activities for a deeper understanding. This guided version of "The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time" is a family drama, a ...

Fifteen years ago, in Mitch Albom’s beloved novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, the world fell in love with Eddie, a grizzled war veteran turned amusement park mechanic who died saving the life of a young girl named Annie. Eddie’s journey to heaven taught him that every life matters. Now, in this magical sequel, Mitch Albom reveals Annie’s story.

His Majesty’s Prison BlackRock is where Evil is sent to die. None of the killers imprisoned on the island prison, 30 miles off the coast of Scotland, will ever leave. When Scottish billionaire, social philanthropist, and prison reformer, Ethan Mackay, is murdered during a VIP visit to the island, it becomes dangerously clear that not all the murderers are behind bars. Cut off from the mainland during a ferocious winter storm, the rest of the VIP tour take refuge in the Governor’s residence and patiently wait for the storm to pass. But what secrets lurk beneath the surface? What ...

I do not pretend to have given an exhaustive picture of the Polish Underground, its organisation and its activities. Because of our methods, I believe that there is no one today who could give an all-embracing recital...This book is a purely personal story, my story. Jan Karski's Second World War memoir is a heroic act of witness: the courageous testimony of a man who risked everything for his country. First published in 1944, the book became an instant bestseller in the US while the war still raged in Europe.

With all the education options available today, choosing the right school or curriculum for your child can be daunting. But what if you knew what the ideal education looked like? Now you will! C.S. Lewis, the beloved author of the Chronicles of Narnia series, guides us on a journey that contrasts classical and contemporary education approaches. Lewis explains that while the cultivation of virtue was central to classical education, modern education stifles such moral formation by teaching a scientifically-inspired mechanistic vision of the world.

In New Orleans in 1937, a man and woman embark on a headlong flight into the wilderness of illicit passion. In Mississippi ten years earlier, a convict risks his one chance at freedom to rescue a pregnant woman. From these separate stories Faulkner composes a symphony of deliverance and damnation.

Celebrated historian John Hirst offers a fascinating exploration of the qualities that made Europe a world-changing civilization. The Shortest History of Europe begins with a rapid overview of European civilization, describing its birth from an unlikely mixture of classical learning and Christianity and German warrior culture. Over the centuries, this unstable blend produced highly distinctive characters - pious knights and belligerent popes, and beyond - and its coming apart provided the dynamic of European history in modern times.

Stones Before The Ocean is an anthology of poetry for use in prayer and worship, featuring over 200 poems from modern and classic poets.