Great Classics

A wonderful collection of classic stories on the theme of love. A must-listen for the incurable romantic.

Henry VIII folis a plot by the scheming Cardinal Wolsey and rejects his 20-year marriage with the tragic Katherine of Aragon. All the while he is keeping his wandering eye on the beautiful Anne Boleyn.

William Shakespeare, long hailed as the 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. These skills are perhaps best encapsulated in the monologues he gives his various protagonists, villains, and bit players.

In this work, Pascal draws an analogy between a man who was appointed king just because he resembled a long-lost king and those who are rich and powerful. He argues that the twists and turns of life are all due to chance and unforeseen events. The wealthy and powerful ought thus to despise desire and its kingdom and aspire to that kingdom of love in which all the subjects breathe nothing but love and desire nothing but the benefits of love.

Wilhelm Hauff's most popular fairytales are collected here! Listen to beautiful tales full of suspense like "The story of the stag florin", "The haunted ship", "The story of the hewn-off hand", "Fatima's deliverance", "Little Muck", "Dwarf Long-Nose", "How the caliph became a stork", and "A heart of stone"!

(Translated and Annotated: A unique and original translation of this classic work, annotated with extensive modern notes, context, and explanations.) The epic poem of the fall of Troy, the heroic journey, battles and loves of Aeneas, and the founding of Rome, by the great Latin poet Virgil -- as translated, condensed, and explained to modern readers by a professor who uses rhyme and a lively presentation to honor the spirit and true intent of Virgil -- without the customary literalism of previous translations. Epic in every way, this is one of the greatest and most entertaining adventure ...

Perennials are the backbone of the garden - a low-maintenance, long-growing mainstay that the garden revolves around. I've worked with perennials for 20 years, as a manager in the perennials section at the local nursery, and then as a municipal horticulturist in charge of more than 20 gardens around the city. I've grown perennials from seed, potted them bare-rooted, divided them, deadheaded them, treated them for diseases and pests. Everything I've learned over the years I share here in this book - Perennial Classics.

This ghostly (and ghastly) collection includes: "The Upper Berth", "The Lady's Maid", "Markheim", "Ghost Stories of the Tiled House","What Was It?", "Madame Crowl's Ghost" and "The Golden Arm".

Fresh out of Glasgow Veterinary College, to the young James Herriot 1930s Yorkshire seems to offer an idyllic pocket of rural life in a rapidly changing world. But from his erratic new colleagues, brothers Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, to incomprehensible farmers, herds of semi-feral cattle, a pig called Nugent and an overweight Pekingese called Tricki Woo, James finds he is on a learning curve as steep as the hills around him. And when he meets Helen, the beautiful daughter of a local farmer, all the training and experience in the world can’t help him.

A German advocate of the Kaiser discovers he is a facial/physical match for young Englishman Everard Dominey, who is near death after harrowing experiences in Africa. The remarkable doppelgänger resemblance leads Major-General Baron Leopold Von Ragastein to infiltrate the UK in perfect disguise. He wants to lead his country’s efforts as Europe is racing toward war. Part of the plan is to murder Dominey and have the Baron take his place in English society.

Leo Tolstoy & Charles Dickens: The Ultimate Collection brings together four major works of fiction from two of the greatest writers of the 1800s, as well as a one piece of their most renowned non-fiction. In this collection you'll hear Jonathan Keeble expertly narrating the grand epics of Anna Karenina and War & Peace, Stephen Fry narrating Great Expectations, Scrooge's ghostly journey narrated by Jason Isaacs, and other award-winning narrators bringing Tolstoy and Dickens' most beloved stories to life.

Fifty-One Tales is a collection of fantasy short stories by Irish writer Lord Dunsany, a major influence on J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin and others. Each story is a short vignette, a single moment of strangeness or horror in the face of death.

Here is perhaps Charles Dickens’ most beloved story, Philip Pirrip, known as “Pip”, narrates his own incredible journey, from the hindsight of 50 years. Pip grows up with his older sister after losing his parents as a boy. His sister, a tough woman, rules Pip and her husband Joe with an iron fist. While playing in the marshes, Pip is accosted by an escaped criminal whom he decides to help by stealing food from his own home. Miss Havisham, an eccentric recluse, sends for Pip to come to her house to play with Estella, a haughty girl about his age.

One of the greatest of all horror writers, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) also composed pioneering tales that seized upon the scientific developments of an era marked by staggering change. In this collection of 16 stories, he explores such wide-ranging contemporary themes as galvanism, time travel and resurrection of the dead.

Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens, first serialised in All the Year Round from December 1860 to August 1861. The action of the story takes place from Christmas Eve 1812, when the protagonist is about seven years old, to the winter of 1840. Great Expectations is written in a semi-autobiographical style, and is the story of the orphan Pip, tracing his life from his early days of childhood until adulthood.

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.

Published in 1915 and set in the 1890s, The Song of the Lark tells the story of Thea Kronberg, a gifted young singer who blazes her way into the world’s greatest opera houses. Thea’s arduous journey begins in Moonstone, Colorado, a burgeoning Western town, where she is one of seven children. Following an artistic awakening at an Arizona canyon, she eventually finds fame as an acclaimed opera singer, performing in Germany and at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

Often described as the great American novel, The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece of the Jazz Age - has become one of the most beloved and revered books of the 20th century. Narrated by the enigmatic Nick Carraway, the story takes place in the well-to-do section of Long Island, New York, where socialites and millionaires cavort about on their yachts and hydroplanes, oblivious to the day-to-day drudgery of the working-class drones they motor past each day.

A rich and varied anthology of inventive classic tales by some of the world's top storytellers. 'A Deal in Ostriches' by H. G. Wells, 'The Scarecrow' by G. Ranger Wormser, 'Only a Dream' by H. Rider Haggard, 'The Magic Shop' by H. G. Wells, 'The Business of Madame Jahn' by Vincent O'Sullivan, 'The Old Portrait' by Hume Nisbet, 'The Yellow Globe' by Alexander W. Drake, 'The Last Trump' by Hugh Walpole, 'The White Cat' by W. W. Jacobs.

This great American novel describes the lavish lifestyle, along with the cruelty and ugliness, of Long Island society during the Jazz Age. Told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, the book follows events surrounding Jay Gatsby, who, despite his enormous wealth, longs desperately for those things that money can't buy.