Carti in categoria Literature & Biography

Anna Karenina is one of the most loved and memorable heroines of literature. Her overwhelming charm dominates a novel of unparalleled richness and density.Tolstoy considered this book to be his first real attempt at a novel form, and it addresses the very nature of society at all levels,- of destiny, death, human relationships and the irreconcilable contradictions of existence. It ends tragically, and there is much that evokes despair, yet set beside this is an abounding joy in life's many ephem...

An immediate best-seller on publication, Ben Hur remains a dazzling achievement by any standards. A thoroughly exhilarating tale of betrayal, revenge and salvation, it is the only novel that ranks with Uncle Tom's Cabin as a genuine American folk possession. This was the book that finally overcame the inherent suspicion of fiction that still prevailed in much of america in the late nineteenth century. Wallace writes with a freshness and immediacy that brings every action-packed scene to life and...

Crime and Punishment is one of the greatest and most readable novels ever written. From the beginning we are locked into the frenzied consciousness of Raskolnikov who, against his better instincts, is inexorably drawn to commit a brutal double murder.From that moment on, we share his conflicting feelings of self-loathing and pride, of contempt for and need of others, and of terrible despair and hope of redemption: and, in a remarkable transformation of the detective novel, we follow his agonised...

Dickens wrote of David Copperfield: 'Of all my books I like this the best'. Millions of readers in almost every language on earth have subsequently come to share the author's own enthusiasm for this greatly loved classic, possibly because of its autobiographical form.Following the life of David through many sufferings and great adversity, the reader will also find many light-hearted moments in the company of a host of English fiction's greatest stars including Mr Micawber, Traddles, Uriah Heep, ...

Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is best known for War and Peace and Anna Karenina, commonly regarded as amongst the greatest novels ever written. He also, however, wrote many masterly short stories, and this volume contains four of the longest and best in distinguished translations that have stood the test of time.In the early story Family Happiness, Tolstoy explores courtship and marriage from the point of view of a young wife. In The Kreutzer Sonata he gives us a terrifying study of marital brea...

Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.Considered one of Shakespeare’s most rich and enduring plays, the depiction of its hero Hamlet as he vows to avenge the murder of his father by his brother Claudius is both powerful and complex. As Hamlet tries to find out the truth of the situation, his troubled relationship with his mother comes to the fore, as do the paradoxes in his personality. A play of carefully crafted conflict and tragedy, Shakespeare’s intricate dialogue cont...

Alice felt very, very tired. She followed the White Rabbit down a rabbit hole, and met a caterpillar, and the Queen of Hearts!Ladybird Readers is a graded reading series of traditional tales, popular characters, modern stories, and non-fiction, written for young learners of English as a foreign or second language. Beautifully illustrated and carefully written, the series combines the best of Ladybird content with the structured language progression that will help children develop their reading, ...

Many animals live in the world's oceans. Find out about animals that hide, animals that live in the dark, and animals with big teeth!Ladybird Readers is a graded reading series of traditional tales, popular characters, modern stories, and non-fiction, written for young learners of English as a foreign or second language.Beautifully illustrated and carefully written, the series combines the best of Ladybird content with the structured language progression that will help children develop their rea...

Guy of Gisbourne and the Sheriff of Nottingham made a plan to arrest Robin Hood. What happened when Robin and his outlaws heard about the plan?Ladybird Readers is a graded reading series of traditional tales, popular characters, modern stories, and non-fiction, written for young learners of English as a foreign or second language. Recommended for children aged 4+, the eight levels of Readers and Activity Books follow the CEFR framework (Pre-A1 to A2+) and include language activities that help de...

Jim Hawkins finds a map which shows buried treasure! Can Jim stop Long John Silver from finding the treasure on Treasure Island?Ladybird Readers is a graded reading series of traditional tales, popular characters, modern stories, and non-fiction, written for young learners of English as a foreign or second language. Recommended for children aged 4+, the eight levels of Readers and Activity Books follow the CEFR framework (Pre-A1 to A2+) and include language activities that help develop key skill...

Some of the most amazing animals are very small! They must stay away from dangerous predators, and find enough food to survive.Ladybird Readers is a graded reading series of traditional tales, popular characters, modern stories, and non-fiction, written for young learners of English as a foreign or second language. Recommended for children aged 4+, the eight levels of Readers and Activity Books follow the CEFR framework (Pre-A1 to A2+) and include language activities that help develop key skills...

Follow the funny adventures of Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad! Can the animals help Toad get his home back from the weasels?Ladybird Readers is a graded reading series of traditional tales, popular characters, modern stories, and non-fiction, written for young learners of English as a foreign or second language. Recommended for children aged 4+, the eight levels of Readers and Activity Books follow the CEFR framework (Pre-A1 to A2+) and include language activities that help develop key skills and pr...

Oliver escapes the workhouse he goes to London. What happens when the Artful Dodger takes Oliver to meet Fagin and his gang?Ladybird Readers is a graded reading series of traditional tales, popular characters, modern stories, and non-fiction, written for young learners of English as a foreign or second language. Recommended for children aged 4+, the eight levels of Readers and Activity Books follow the CEFR framework (Pre-A1 to A2+) and include language activities that help develop key skills an...

Black Beauty meets many different people during his difficult life. Can Black Beauty ever be as happy as he was at Mr Gordon's farm?Ladybird Readers is a graded reading series of traditional tales, popular characters, modern stories, and non-fiction, written for young learners of English as a foreign or second language.Beautifully illustrated and carefully written, the series combines the best of Ladybird content with the structured language progression that will help children develop their read...

Translated and with an Introduction by John R. WilliamsLike George Orwell, Franz Kafka has given his name to a world of nightmare, but in Kafka’s world, it is never completely clear just what the nightmare is. The Trial, where the rules are hidden from even the highest officials, and if there is any help to be had, it will come from unexpected sources, is a chilling, blackly amusing tale that maintains, to the very end, a relentless atmosphere of disorientation. Superficially about bureauc...

With a new Introduction by Cedric Watts, Research Professor of English, University of Sussex.A Pair of Blue Eyes, though early in the sequence of Hardy's novels, is lively and gripping. Its dramatic cliff-hanging episode, for example, is at once tense, ironic, feministic and erotic.With settings in Wessex and London, the novel also has some strongly autobiographical features, as the blue-eyed heroine, Elfride Swancourt, is based largely on Emma Gifford, who became Thomas Hardy's first wife. Elfr...

With a new Introduction by Cedric Watts, Research Professor of English, University of Sussex.James Joyce's astonishing masterpiece, Ulysses, tells of the diverse events which befall Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus in Dublin on 16 June 1904, during which Bloom's voluptuous wife, Molly, commits adultery.Initially deemed obscene in England and the USA, this richly-allusive novel, revolutionary in its Modernistic experimentalism, was hailed as a work of genius by W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot and Ernes...

The Diary of a Nobody is so unassuming a work that even its author, George Grossmith, seemed unaware that he had produced a masterpiece. For more than a century this wonderfully comic portrayal of suburban life and values has remained in print, a source of delight to generations of readers, and a major literary influence, much imitated but never equalled.If you don't recognise yourself at some point in The Diary you are probably less than human. If you can read it without laughing aloud you have...

In seeking to discover his inner self, the brilliant Dr Jekyll discovers a monster. First published to critical acclaim in 1886, this mesmerising thriller is a terrifying study of the duality of man's nature, and it is the book which established Stevenson's reputation as a writer.Also included in this volume is Stevenson's 1887 collection of short stories, The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables.The Merry Men is a gripping Highland tale of shipwrecks and madness; Markheim, the sinister study of...