Modern Classics Literature

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.

A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts. A hungry ocean, churning with secrets and sorrow. A fiery, addicted heiress. An irresistible, unpredictable boy. A summer of unforgivable betrayal and terrible mistakes. Welcome back to the Sinclair family. They were always liars.

Josef Vadassy, a Hungarian refugee and language teacher living in France, is enjoying his first break for years in a small hotel on the Riviera. But when he takes his holiday photographs to be developed at a local chemists, he suddenly finds himself mistaken for a Gestapo agent, and a charge of espionage is levelled at him. To prove himself innocent to the French police, he must discover which one of his fellow guests at his pension is the real spy. As he desperately tries to uncover the true culprit's identity, Vadassy must risk his job, his safety and everything he holds dear.

Orphaned at a young age. Rejected by her stepfamily. Shipped off to boarding school. Has Jane finally found her fairy tale as a live-in tutor for the daughter of the infamously moody yet strangely compelling rap artist Edward Richmond, aka “E.R.”? Maybe Beauty and the Beast. Except she’s no beauty - just plain Jane. And his rock-and-roll lifestyle disturbs and even endangers her. It’s safer following her principles than passion. Yet Jane finds herself simultaneously attracted and repelled by this reputed “bad boy” who seems oddly determined to win her approval.

Following the framework of a tale within a tale, Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, which features the subtitle The Modern Prometheus follows the scientific - and at times horrific - exploits of Victor Frankenstein. Victor studied alchemy in college, and after a mere two years he figures out that he can put human body pieces back together and restore the entire corpse to life.

A Modern Cinderella is a collection of four short stories by Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women. Like her more famous novels, Alcott tells stories of young women interacting with people and events from the late 1800s. Louisa May Alcott bestows a truly amusing and thoroughly modern retelling of The Brothers Grimm's Cinderella. Alcott pokes fun throughout, describing a "cool blonde" as "having many cares those happy little housewives never know."

This is a story from the Canterbury Tales I: Modern Verse Translation collection. Chaucer's greatest work, written towards the end of the fourteenth century, paints a brilliant picture of medieval life, society and values. The stories range from the romantic, courtly idealism of "The Knight's Tale" to the joyous bawdy of the Miller's; all are told with a freshness and vigor in this modern verse translation that make them a delight to hear.

Lord Dunsany was the most influential writer in the genre that came to be known as fantasy, which his stories set trends for that continue to this day. In this collection you’ll find sixteen stories from the first and greatest master of the fantasy genre.

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.

Texan billionaire General Midwinter will stop at nothing to bring down the USSR - even if it puts the whole world at risk. The fourth and final novel featuring the cynical, insolent narrator of The IPCRESS File sees him sent from his shabby Soho office to bone-freezing Helsinki in order to penetrate Midwinter's vast anti-Communist network - and stop a deadly virus from wiping out the planet.

"Die Welt der Guermantes" ist die des mondänen Paris der Belle Époque. Marcel Proust schildert bis ins Detail die Gesellschaft der Aristokraten, Intellektuellen und Künstler zwischen den Salons der Metropole und den verträumten Strandbädern der Normandie. Doch der eigentliche Gegenstand des Romans bleibt die Zeit, die hinter den alltäglichsten Vorgängen die "Essenz der Dinge" aufleuchten lässt.

Territory of Light is the radiant story of a young woman living alone in Tokyo with her two-year-old daughter. Its 12 chapters follow the first year of the narrator's separation from her husband. The novel is full of light, sometimes comforting and sometimes dangerous: sunlight streaming through windows, dappled light in the park, distant fireworks, dazzling floodwater, desaturated streetlamps and mysterious explosions. The delicate prose is beautifully patterned: the cumulative effect is disarmingly powerful and bright after-images remain in your mind for a long time afterwards.

Detective stories existed for centuries before the concept of the detective itself—amateur or professional— was fully formulated, and tales of mystery and intrigue have been thrilling readers since ancient times. The Lock and Key Library is the classic overview of the history of the mystery genre, at once a rousing listen for fans of the unsolved and unknown as well as an essential literary resource for those seeking to understand the roots of modern pulp fiction. This volume is sure to delight and enthrall armchair detectives and fans of classic mysteries alike.

This is a story from the Canterbury Tales I: Modern Verse Translation collection. Chaucer's greatest work, written towards the end of the fourteenth century, paints a brilliant picture of medieval life, society and values. The stories range from the romantic, courtly idealism of "The Knight's Tale" to the joyous bawdy of the Miller's; all are told with a freshness and vigor in this modern verse translation that make them a delight to hear.

The Antichrist is a book by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, originally published in 1895. Although it was written in 1888, its controversial content caused its publication to be delayed. The German title can be translated into English as either The Anti-Christ or The Anti-Christian, depending on how the German word Christ is translated. Nietzsche claimed in the foreword to have written the book for a very limited readership. In order to understand the book, he asserted that the reader "...must be honest in intellectual matters to the point of hardness to so much as endure my seriousness, my passion."

It is 1797, and the African kingdom of Segu, born of blood and violence, is at the height of its power. Yet Dousika Traore, the king's most trusted advisor, feels nothing but dread. Change is coming. From the East, a new religion, Islam. From the West, the slave trade. These forces will tear his country, his village and the lives of his beloved sons apart, in Maryse Condé's glittering epic.

Mimei Ogawa, a prolific author of short stories nearly 100 years ago, is considered to be one of the founding figures of modern Japanese children’s literature. He has also been called the Hans Christian Andersen of Japan because of how his works were influenced by Andersen. This collection contains a fresh, modern translation of one of Mimei Ogawa’s most famous works, "The Mermaid and the Red Candles", as well as several other stories that have never been translated and published in English before.

Mary Shelley´s FRANKENSTEIN oder: Der moderne Prometheus, gelesen von Ingolf Kloss. Mary Shelleys Frankenstein ist eine erschreckende Vision des wissenschaftlichen Fortschritts ohne moralische Grenzen und führt den Zuhörer auf eine gefährliche Reise von der erhabenen Schönheit der Schweizer Alpen in die trostlose Einöde des Polarkreises. Besessen von der Idee, das Leben selbst zu erschaffen, plündert Victor Frankenstein Friedhöfe und Schlachtereien.

Als Friedrich Nietzsche im Jahre 1878 sein aphoristisches Werk "Menschliches, Allzumenschliches" herausbrachte, war schlagartig klar, dass hier einer der ganz Großen der Philosophie die Weltbühne betreten hatte. Die hier vorliegende Sammlung vereint die Teile "Von den ersten und letzten Dingen", "Zur Geschichte der moralischen Empfindungen", "Aus der Seele der Künstler und Schriftsteller", "Der Mensch im Verkehr", "Der Mensch mit sich allein", sowie eine Auswahl aus seinem 1887 veröffentlichten Werk "Die fröhliche Wissenschaft".

Melinda Van Allen is beautiful, headstrong and sexy. Unfortunately for Vic Van Allen, she is his wife. Their love has soured, and Melinda takes pleasure in flaunting her many affairs to her husband. When one of her lovers is murdered, Vic hints to her latest conquest that he was responsible. As rumours spread about Vic's vicious streak, fiction and reality start to converge. It's only a matter of time before Vic really does have blood on his hands.