Classics World Literature

Three tales from The Canterbury Tales, read in the original Middle English by Richard Bebb under the direction of Britain's foremost Chaucer scholar, Derek Brewer.

Emile Zola, along with fellow novelists Honoré de Balzac and Gustave Flaubert, was an early realist in French literature. In novels such as Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Zola's Nana, sex and violence were examined with vivid clarity. These realists soon adopted the word naturalism to describe their writings.

When the Tooting family finds an old engine and fits it to their camper van, they have no idea what kind of adventure lies ahead. The engine used to belong to an extraordinary car, and it wants its bodywork back! But as the Tootings hurtle across the world rebuilding the original Chitty, a sinister baddie is on their trail - one who will stop at nothing to get the magnificent car for himself.

Considered to be French novelist Victor Hugo's masterpiece, Les Miserables, which was published in 1862, is a sprawling historical and philosophical epic that covers from 1815 through the Paris Uprising in 1832. Notable for its many subplots and digressions from the main storyline, the novel's stated aim is a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, which can be seen most clearly in the story of the central character Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who struggles to shake the sins of his past and become a good man.

One night in the reform club, Phileas Fogg bets his companions that he can travel across the globe in just 80 days. Breaking the well-established routine of his daily life, he immediately sets off for Dover with his astonished valet Passepartout. Passing through exotic lands and dangerous locations, they seize whatever transportation is at hand - whether train or elephant - overcoming set-backs and always racing against the clock.

In My Religion, Leo Tolstoy accuses the church of hiding the true meaning of Jesus, which is to be found in the Sermon on the Mount and the call to resist evil. For Tolstoy, it is this command that has been most damaged by ecclesiastical interpretation. Tolstoy had not always been possessed of the religious ideas set forth in My Religion. For 35 years of his life, he was, in the proper acceptation of the word, a nihilist - not a revolutionary socialist but a man who believed in nothing.

Gwen's barely gotten a taste of normal when her resident god shows up with an assignment. The bridge between the human world and the world of the gods is weakening, and the nine hosts of Heimdall must find each other if they hope to fix it. One small problem - Gwen and the Keens must travel to another world to find Heimdall's remaining hosts. Gwen has always relied on books for her education, but no amount of reading can prepare her for what waits outside the human world.

Des batignolles à Auteuil, un mécanicien de locomotive erre, le couteau à la main, hanté par une idée fixe : tuer une femme... Dans le train qui mène au Havre, un couple poignarde sauvagement un notable du régime impérial, avant de le jeter sur la voie. À la Croix-de-Maufras, lieu dit reculé, un garde-barrière empoisonne son épouse, dans l'espoir de mettre enfin la main sur son magot.

The Man of Property, the first novel in Galsworthy's epic social satire The Forsyte Saga, introduces us to Soames Forsyte, a solicitor and prominent man of his important family. Accustomed to getting whatever he wants, he sets his sights with absolute determination on the beautiful Irene in spite of her pennilessness and her indifference to him.

Under Western Eyes, Conrad's novel of political treachery and oppression, begins with a bomb that kills a hated Russian minister of police along with innocent bystanders. A young student named Razumov hides the perpetrator, then betrays him and becomes a spy among his exiled comrades. He faces a moral dilemma from which there is no escape. This masterwork, published six years before the Russian Revolution, is a chillingly accurate prophecy of what was to come.

Audie-nominated narrator Deepti Gupta shares a classic love story set among the fires of India's struggle for independence. Bimala is torn between her commitment to her husband, Nikhil, who holds Western beliefs, and the radical Sandip, a leader of the Swadeshi movement under the British Raj. Bimala finds herself asking what freedom truly means for herself and for her country.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience is a collection of 45 poems by English poet William Blake. "Songs of Innocence" is the first part of the collection and appeared in 1789 with engraved illustrations by Blake. The second part, "Songs of Experience", also illustrated, was added in 1794 when Blake published the whole under the full title of Songs of Innocence and Experience Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.

L'amour et l'indépendance de la jeune fille, les préséances sociales et les revanches sur le passé, l'attirance pour les idéaux généreux, les messages de la passion triomphant du temps et de l'espace, les flammes de la folie, tels sont quelques-uns des thèmes qui se détachent sur un fond d'observation à la Dickens et qui sont emportés par un grand souffle romanesque.

Set in Venice at the close of World War II, Across the River and into the Trees is the bittersweet story of a middle-aged American colonel, scarred by war and in failing health, who finds love with a young Italian countess at the very moment when his life is becoming a physical hardship to him.

Ce roman est une brillante illustration du principe du crime en lieu clos.

First published in 1940, Florence Scovel Shinn's work has been praised and referenced by self-improvement experts as diverse as Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Louise Hay, and Norman Vincent Peale. Shinn interprets biblical passages as pathways to activating our beliefs. The Secret Door to Success includes success stories of her students to illustrate the power of the spoken word to attract prosperity, love, and good health. This book is a sequel to The Game of Life and How to Play It.

Ein überreiches Potpourri deutscher Literatur erwartet die Hörerschaft, mit Meisterwerken aus vielen Jahrhunderten. Die vorliegenden zwanzig Erzählungen, Novellen oder Geschichten künden vor allem von der Freude am Erzählen. Mit dabei: Joseph Roth (Stationschef Fallmerayer), Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (Krambambuli), Wolfgang Borchert (Die Hundeblume), Kurt Tucholsky (In der Hotelhalle), Friedrich Glauser (Verhör), A.J. Mordtmann (Der Untergang der Carnatic), Franz Kafka (Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle), Johann Peter Hebel (Unverhofftes Wiedersehen), Wilhelm Hauff (Das kalte Herz).

Dive into the immersive world of Jules Verne with The Classic Collection, featuring five iconic novels. Around the World in 80 Days follows the enigmatic Phileas Fogg and his adventurous journey to circumnavigate the globe in record time, encountering obstacles and excitement at every turn. In Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, readers plunge into the depths of the ocean aboard the remarkable submarine, the Nautilus, with the enigmatic Captain Nemo. Journey to the Center of the Earth takes readers on a daring expedition into the Earth's core, where incredible discoveries await beneath the surface.

Widely hailed as a milestone in American literature, Sinclair Lewis' Main Street vividly describes a country on the verge of massive change, with traditional values being threatened by progress. The novel's heroine, Carol Milford, is a highly educated, ambitious woman who plans to join a newly enlightened society. But after marrying a small-town doctor, she finds herself trapped in the role of a dutiful wife. Carol's desires for social change conflict with the security of her comfortable married life, as she struggles to understand the cost of conformity...and rebellion. As relevant today as it was upon its 1920 publication, Main Street is both a masterful piece of writing and a fascinating microcosm of America's social evolution.

Incontestablement l'un des grands maîtres à penser de la jeunesse contemporaine... Couronné du Prix Nobel à un âge où tant d'écrivains débutent, Albert Camus est une des consciences les plus exigeantes, les plus attentives, les plus lucides de son temps.