Great Classics

In this, perhaps Dickens' most profound and personal novel, we are invited to share in the sentimental education of Pip, the poor boy from the village forge who risks losing himself in snobbery and selfishness when he mysteriously inherits a fortune. The story moves from the bleak Kentish marshes of Pip's childhood to a thrilling climax that mingles tragedy and triumph.

When we hear the name Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, most people think of Sherlock Holmes, his most famous creation. However, detective stories were not Doyle's favorite. His lifelong passion was the supernatural and because of this he wrote a number of fascinationg supernatural stories. This section includes 7 of the best.

Here is the first novel of the famous Balkan Trilogy, previously successfully adapted for BBC television, starring Emma Thompson and Kenneth Brannagh. The book is perfectly suited to audio. Charting the experiences of a young couple caught up in the politics of war when living abroad, it is a compelling story of love, loss and reconciliation.

When orphan Pip meets the escaped convict Magwitch in an overgrown churchyard on the Kent marshes, little does he know that the incident will change his life forever. Some years later, now apprenticed to his blacksmith brother-in-law, Pip falls in love with the beautiful Estella. Her half-crazed and bitter guardian Miss Havisham, however, exerts a malign influence over the girl and forces a wedge between the two.

In one of the most beloved works of 20th-century literature, audiences step into the decadent but tumultuous life of Nick Carraway, a young man looking to make his way in the bustling New York City business world. He soon meets Gatsby, his mysterious neighbor known for throwing extravagant galas in his gilded home. Jay Gatsby is a man of extravagant taste and has great wealth but only wants what he can’t have - Daisy Buchanan, a flighty debutante married to an unfaithful husband.

Some consider The Great Gatsby the greatest American novel ever written about love, dreams, business, bootlegging, Wall Street, the Midwest, and the East, as well as Yale, prep schools, the rich, and more. F. Scott Fitzgerald followed up with Tender Is the Night, also considered equally compelling.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to The Great Gatsby and experience a classic work of fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

What you’re about to hear takes place in West Inch, a city on the English-Scottish border. The title is an unusual reference to a shadow forming over the city that’s said to be about the influence and reputation of the infamous Napoleon. This is all a change of literary output by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, famed for his stories about Sherlock Holmes. He had gotten a little tired of that character and turned, at least for a while, to a man named Jock Calder, who was one of the soldiers at the scene of military activity, including the battle of Waterloo.

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, the novel depicts narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. A youthful romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922 inspired the novel.

George Ward Nichols was born in Tremont, Maine, on 21st June, 1831. He worked as a journalist until the outbreak of the American Civil War and then joined the Union Army. He served under General William Sherman and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He published The Story of the Great March, essentially a journal he kept during that march in 1865 and it became an immediate best seller.

This book, Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Memorial Edition, takes us to 14 homes of the great, including Dickens, Shakespere, Victor Hugo, and Thomas Edison.

Ignoring the opportunity to own a comprehensive guide to one of the world's most creative literary minds would be an Elizabethan tragedy of modern proportions. Elevating your intellect to become a Shakespeare connoisseur has never been easier or this much fun with The Great American Bathroom Book Shakespeare edition!

Hear some of the greatest American essays ever written! This unabridged collection covers a multitude of subjects, including philosophy, politics, turkeys, and dogs.

The is the heart-rending tale of carpenter Adam Bede's love for pretty, superficial Hetty Sorrel, her trial for the murder of her ilegitimate child, the plight of her seducer, and Adam's growing affection for Dinah Morris, a Methodist preacher. Eliot's comments on pastoral life and the wisdom and candor of Mrs. Poyser add zest and humor.

A vintage collection of some of the greatest short stories ever written

After the smashing success of his first novel, This Side of Paradise, written when he was 23, F. Scott Fitzgerald rocked the literary world with his masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, in l925 - a passionate love story about a poor young man's unwavering love for the lovely Daisy, belle of Louisville. Told with extraordinarily beautiful language, Fitzgerald's characters sizzle with vitality and life as Gatsby pursues the love of his life amid the splendor of his Long Island estate by throwing truly amazing parties set to the music of the Jazz Age.

Art and life. Each the mirror of the other. This then is the classic definition of what ‘Realism’ as a writing form really is. Some might call it a fancy term for the mundane day to day pursuits but in the hands of an author it comes alive. We are drawn into characters and landscapes that we can empathize with, we can, metaphorically speaking, help shoulder their burden, be on the long trail with them whatever the landscapes, the hurdles, incidents and other people may place in their literary way.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, unique tales inspired by traditional literary forms appeared frequently in socialist-leaning British periodicals, such as the Clarion, Labour Leader, and Social Democrat. Based on familiar genres, these stories were meant to entertain readers of all ages - and some challenged the conventional values promoted in children’s literature for the middle class. Acclaimed critic and author Michael Rosen brings together more than 40 of the best and most enduring examples of these stories in one beautiful volume.

A vintage collection of some of the greatest short stories ever written: "The Purloined Letter", by Edgar Allan Poe; "The Nose", by Nikolai Gogol; "The Story of an Hour", by Kate Chopin; "The Gift of the Magi", by O. Henry; "The Apparition of Mrs. Veal", by Daniel Defoe; "The Lifted Veil", by George Eliot; "Life of Ma Parker", by Katherine Mansfield; "The Baron", by Katherine Mansfield; "The Cask of Amontillado", by Edgar Allan Poe; "The Seventh Pullet", by Saki; and more.

ONE OF NPR'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR A sweeping debut novel that explores the intimate struggle for independence and success of a young descendant of Indian indentured laborers in Mauritius, a small multiracial island in the Indian Ocean. "The beauty of Busjeet's splendid, often...