Showing results by narrator "Peter Joyce" in All Categories

This is Volume Five of the greatest romantic narrative novel of the early 19th century. John Halifax, Gentleman, tells the story of an orphan boy whose first words in the story are “Sir, I want work; may I earn a penny?” By hard work, diligent study and an unshakeable faith in his God John attains wealth and happiness, despite much hardship and heartbreak throughout his life. The story chronicles the class movement of the time and gives us a remarkable description of social, political, and industrial change.

"Stacy Aumonier was profoundly in love with life, and impregnated through and through by curiosity about life and its manifestations. All types were fish to his net; and he has given us the fruits of his passion for existence with a deft and always interesting fidelity. He is never heavy, never boring, and never really trivial and can't he write?" John Galsworthy. The stories are: Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty, "Face",

Ludwig Horace Holly, a Cambridge professor, travels to Africa with his adopted son Leo to investigate the death of Kallicrates, Leo’s ancestor, who was murdered by an unknown woman centuries before.They encounter the Amahagger, a fierce tribe of cannibals who live in the caves of Kôr, a huge burial ground of an ancient civilisation decimated by plague

A compelling drama and a merciless scrutiny of a newly monied upper-middle-class family at the turn of the 20th century, The Forsyte Saga has a sumptuous range of characters. If you have enjoyed The Forsyte Saga on television in the past, you will be familiar with this engrossing story; if not, prepare to be completely captivated and engaged by one of the best tales ever told.

Written in 1926... and published posthumously [without the authors customary revision] in 1930, The Virgin and the Gypsy is a minor masterpiece in short story writing. It provides an excellent introduction to Lawrence’s work, being a succinct distillation of his ideas about sexuality and its ability to transcend class barriers.

Dr. Wortle's School... is Trollope's most merciless attack on the false moralising and hypocrisy of the Victorian age. When Dr. Wortle, in good faith, hires a couple as teacher and matron at his school, scandal about their marriage is subsequently brought to light. Will the doctor submit to the social pressures brought to bear on him by the gossip, the local newspaper and the bishop or hold true to his humanism, perhaps losing his respect, school and livelihood as a result?

The second of Richard Hannays’ adventures takes him from the trenches of the First World War on a mission of vital importance to the British campaign in the East. In an attempt to manipulate their Turkish allies the Germans have created a religious figurehead, a prophet of a new order to unify the disparate tribes of Asia and crush the allied offensive.

The hugely successful romantic adventure story which continues to thrill a century after it was written. It has all the classic ingredients - a twisting plot of betrayal and deception, love interest, great swashbuckling action and a most beguiling villain in Rupert of Hentzau, who captured the public’s imagination and had them begging the author for a sequel. Rudolph Rassendyll visits Ruritania, with whose Royal Family he has a connection because of a scandalous sexual indiscretion in the past.

Over 100 years since it was first published Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow addresses subjects which are still relevant today – perhaps more so! Being hard up, being in the blues and being in love are just some aspects of the human condition on which Jerome K. Jerome reflects in his unique whimsical fashion. These insights are not given for the benefit of our education however, for as he says in his introduction, “This book would not elevate a cow.'

"He was too imperious, too masterful, too much inclined to think that all things should be made to go as he would have them." Thus Trollope describes his hero Harry Heathcote, a settler and sheep farmer in the untamed bush of Australia in 1871. However, Harry has made enemies. In seeking always to act in the honourable fashion he cannot bend and embrace the weaknesses of others.