Modern Classics

Considering herself unsuitable for any other contribution to the war effort, Monica Dickens opts for nursing, imagining herself gliding through the wards, serene in a pure white halo cap. On enrolment, however, she is promptly stripped of all illusions. Intelligent and headstrong, Monica struggles to submit to the iron rule of the Matron and toils over the mountains of menial work that are a trainee's lot. But there are friends among the staff and patients, night-time escapades to dances with dashing army men and her secret writing project to keep her going.

From Plato to Plutarch, Shakespeare to Churchill, Machiavelli to Melville, Jane Austen to Carl Jung, Pericles to Peter Drucker and many more - here are the best leadership ideas of the past 25 centuries. You don't need a big title or a business degree in order to lead with impact. What you need is practical wisdom: the insight, judgment and strength of character that all great leaders have but that most business schools and corporate workshops don't teach.

This collection of poetry explores the beauty and danger that can be found in AI. Every image was created by an AI generator that interpreted the poetry (word by word). While the images are aesthetically beautiful (or disturbing in some cases) they do absolutely no justice to the poetry. It is up to you, the reader, to interpret my words, without guidance and without preconceived notions. Can you look past the artificial and see the art?

It's Saturday, past midnight, and thick fog rolls in from the river like smoke. Link Williams is standing on the dock when he hears quick footsteps approaching and the gasp of a woman too terrified to scream. After chasing off her pursuer, he takes the woman to a nearby bar to calm her nerves, and as they enter, it's as if the oxygen has left the room: they, and the other patrons, see in the dim light that he's Black and she's white.

Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat and philosopher during the Renaissance, and a senior official in the Florentine Republic. After being imprisioned, and then exiled from politics, he wrote "The Prince" in 1513. While a keen commentator on political and military matters, Machiavelli also wrote poetry and comedies which were popular in his lifetime, unlike is political works. Still, his first love was ever and always politics.

Tom Ripley is quietly living in luxury at his chateau at Villeperce. He has a past, however, that would not bear too much close scrutiny. He is certain that he has covered his tracks where murder and forgery are concerned. But when a certain American couple move in next door, he soon realises his every move is being shadowed. Ripley fears his secrets may be discovered, and he will stop at nothing to prevent that from happening.

Rediscover the greatest love poetry ever written. Shakespeare’s sonnets are some of the nation’s favourite lines of verse, but the Elizabethan language can make it difficult to really understand them. Many guides offer to clarify the meaning, but lose the magic of the words by explaining them away. James Anthony has done something boldly different.

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.

Max Weber declared that compared to the Arthashastra, Machiavelli's "The Prince" is harmless. The Arthashastra -- "The science of politics and political economy" -- is an extended treatise on how to found and rule an empire. The author Chanyaka (also known as Kautilya) was the masterful advisor to ruler Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan empire, one of the greatest our world has ever seen.

When a troubled young runaway arrives on Tom Ripley's French estate, he is drawn into a world he thought he'd left behind: the seedy underworld of Berlin, involving kidnapping plots, lies and deception. Ripley becomes the boy's protector as friendship develops between the young man with a guilty conscience and the older one with no conscience at all.

Driven mad by three years of endless telegrams, phonecalls, mail, reporters and snoopers in the wake of his hugely successful novel On the Road, Jack Kerouac, 'King of the Beats', needs peace, quiet and sobriety: surrounded and outnumbered he has to 'get away to solitude again or die'. Amidst the wild beauty of the Californian landscape, Kerouac struggles to come to terms with his own myth and its malign impact upon his life.

Ease the hearts and minds of children who have recently moved with this delightful modern twist on the classic Christmas story, which teaches kids that true joy doesn't come from getting gifts.

Get ready to immerse yourself in the enduring power of Epictetus’ Stoic philosophy, brought to life by the strong, masculine voice of a rugged outdoors philosopher, also known as "the rucking philosopher." This audiobook isn’t just a recitation—it’s a bold journey into the timeless lessons of resilience, inner strength, and true freedom.

Somerset Maugham's success as a writer enabled him to indulge his adventurous love of travel, and he recorded the sights and sounds of his wide-ranging journeys with a unique urbane, wry style. The Gentleman in the Parlour is an account of the author's trip through what was then Burma and Siam, ending in Haiphong, Vietnam. Whether by river to Mandalay, on horse through the mountains and forests of the Shan States to Bangkok, or onwards by sea, Maugham's vivid descriptions bring a lost world to life.

This chilling tale of greed, lust, and deception opens on a midwinter night when Felix Canaris, a despairing writer about to take his own life, is saved by a knock at the door. The mysterious visitor, a Jasper Helwyze, promises Felix fame and fortune in return for his complete devotion.

Kenton's career as a journalist depends on his facility with languages, his knowledge of European politics and his quick judgment. Where his judgment sometimes fails him however, is in his personal life. When he travels to Nuremberg to investigate a story about a top-level meeting of Nazi officials, he inadvertently finds himself on a train bound for Austria after a bad night of gambling. Stranded with no money, Kenton jumps at the chance to earn a fee helping a refugee smuggle securities across the border.

Desperate in his search of the secret of life, young Dr Victor Frankenstein attempts to construct and then bring to life a previously inanimate creature. He succeeds, yet immediately finds himself horrified and repulsed by the fruit of his long-lasting labors and, as a result, abandons the creature without a word. This action begins a series of tragic events in the life of the scientist, as the enraged monster begins his quest to fill every minute of Dr. Frankenstein's life with terror, dread and misery.

Jagua Nana, no longer young but still irresistible, lives a life of hedonism in Lagos: men, parties, fights, wild nights in the Tropicana with her handsome young boyfriend, Freddie. Rushing from one experience to the next in search of something she can't quite grasp, Jagua finds herself embroiled in shady politics, caught up in village feuds and the source of drama wherever she goes. In this vivid depiction of 1960s Nigeria, everyone is hustling and everyone is on the make - and a woman like Jagua must find her own unconventional path to fulfilment.

Sitting in his cramped basement room in Brixton, Battersby dreams of money, women, a T-bone steak - and a place to call his own. So he and a group of friends decide to save up and buy a house together. But amid grasping landlords, the temptations of spending money and the less-than-welcoming attitude of the Mother Country, can this motley group of hustlers and schemers, Trinidadians and Jamaicans, men and women make their dreams a reality?

Bernard Samson is a spy on the run. But in the murky streets of Berlin, he knows where to hide. Wanted for an act of treachery he has not committed, he must not only escape the grasp of London Central but get to the bottom of a tangled conspiracy that is about to change everything. In the thrilling penultimate instalment of the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy, Bernard's personal and professional life collide with devastating consequences.