DescriptionArguably Turgenev's greatest work and certainly one of the most controversial Russian novels ever written, Fathers and Sons incited protests from all branches of Russian society. Turgenev dramatized the volcanic issues that divided a Russia torn by social unrest and conflict: peasants against masters, generations against generations, and fathers against sons.
DescriptionBarnaby, a kind, half-witted young man, joins the Gordon rioters to proudly carry their banner. He, his murderous father, the hangman Dennis, and the mapcap Hugh are arrested and condemned to death. There are vivid and gruesome scenes of pillage, battles, and executions, as well as myriad characters who are grim, romantic, or humorous.
DescriptionThe story opens in the country parsonage of Dr. Primrose, a kindly man who has a good heart, a good family, and a good income. Suddenly, his idyllic life is cruelly devastated by a series of misfortunes, and he ends up in prison. Yet, despite all this calamity and injustice, the vicar never loses sight of Christian morality, a conviction which lends him genuine nobility and, in the end, also brings justice and the restoration of his family and fortune. Through this simple, almost fairytale plot, Goldsmith gives us a charming comedy. It is not a novel of sentiment but rather an artful send-up of many of the familiar literary conventions of his day: the pastoral scene, the artificial romance, the unquestioning stoic bravery of the hero, all culminating, of course, in a gloriously improbable denouement.
DescriptionIn an enchanting performance, two-time Academy Award-winner Sally Field takes us on a topsy-turvy adventure through Wonderland. Irresistibly delightful, fascinating, and funny, Ms. Field's stunning interpretation brings Alice, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, and all of Lewis Carroll's remarkable characters to life. Carroll's triumph will charm the entire family. Produced in a simple manner that allows imaginations to soar, this audiobook is destined to become an instant classic. It will help introduce your family to the unique pleasure of classic literature.
DescriptionMary Anne knew the grinding heel of poverty, and determined it would never grind her again. With beauty, brains, ambition, and the glittering decadence of Regency London to sustain her, she chose the only route that could take a cockney girl to the top, as mistress to the Royal Duke of York. But soon she provoked a scandal that rocked the country, placed the Duke on trial before Parliament, and risked losing Mary Anne everything.
DescriptionFirst published in 1749, this is considered one of the first and most influential of British novels. It follows the life and times of Tom Jones, who is discovered as an abandoned baby in the home of prosperous widower Mr Allworthy. He lives with his ill-tempered unmarried sister, Bridget; they are later joined by the obnoxious Captain Blifil, who marries Bridget, and then by their son, Master Blifil. As childhood and school days segue into adulthood, Tom's affections for a playmate, Sophia, mature, and she seems to reciprocate. But life is never simple. It appears she is intended for the scheming Master Blifil, and complications arise when Tom is duped. In disgrace, he leaves home at age 19 for Bristol and the sea. Sophia too runs away, and the course is set for numerous adventures and misadventures.
DescriptionSwan Song is the sixth of the nine novels in The Forsyte Chronicles and the conclusion of the second trilogy, called A Modern Comedy. John Galsworthy's epic story of the moneyed Forsyte family is a fascinating study of the British propertied class during the decline of the Victorian age. The "man of property", Soames Forsyte, has mellowed with the passing of the years until, in his old age, he is a patient and benign figure, guarding with especial tenderness the welfare of his daughter, Fleur. But all his watchfulness and devotion are powerless to avert tragedy when Fleur revives her old love affair with Jon Forsyte on Jon's return to England with his American wife. John Galsworthy received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1932.
DescriptionGeorge Eliot's most ambitious novel is a masterly evocation of diverse lives and changing fortunes in a provincial community. Peopling its landscape are Dorothea Brooke, a young idealist whose search for intellectual fulfillment leads her into a disastrous marriage to the pedantic scholar Casaubon; the charming but tactless Dr. Lydgate, whose marriage to the spendthrift beauty Rosamund and pioneering medical methods threaten to undermine his career; and the religious hypocrite Bulstrode, hiding scandalous crimes from his past. As their stories interweave, George Eliot creates a richly nuanced and moving drama, hailed by Virginia Woolf as 'one of the few English novels written for adult people.'…
DescriptionThe Moonstone, a priceless yellow diamond, is looted from an Indian temple and maliciously bequeathed to Rachel Verinder. On her 18th birthday, her suitor Franklin Blake brings the gift to her. That very night, it is stolen again. No one is above suspicion, as the idiosyncratic Sergeant Cuff and Franklin piece together a puzzling series of events as mystifying as an opium dream and as deceptive as the nearby Shivering Sands.
