English Literature Great

Daniel Bradford, a poor young Brit, is separated in a cruel twist of fate from his sister, Lyna, and left to rot in the infamous Dartmoor Prison. His only hope for escape comes when he agrees to a seven-year indenture in America. But he discovers he had traded one imprisonment for another under a cruel and exacting master, Sir Leo Rochester.

Four adventurous siblings—Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie—step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia, a land frozen in eternal winter and enslaved by the power of the White Witch. But when almost all hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change...and a great sacrifice.

In the early years of the 20th century, a group of female factory workers in Newark, New Jersey, slowly died of radiation poisoning. Around the same time, an Indian elephant was deliberately put to death by electricity in Coney Island. These are the facts. Now these two tragedies are intertwined in a dark alternate history of rage, radioactivity, and injustice crying out to be righted. Prepare yourself for a wrenching journey that crosses eras, chronicling histories of cruelty both grand and petty in search of meaning and justice.

After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There—after encountering a pair of barnstorming pilots passing through town in beat-up biplanes—Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fourteen she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy bootlegger who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe.

Imogen Dacres is flying to Bermuda to investigate the mysterious death of her brother when the unthinkable happens. The plane crashes. She wakes up in hospital where she learns three things: One: everyone thinks she is the wealthy Isadora Van Harte. Two: no one else survived the crash. Three: some scary-looking men are outside looking for Imogen Dacres. Realizing they must be connected to her brother’s death, Imogen assumes Isadora Van Harte’s identity. Can she keep safe long enough to find out what happened to her brother?

Ralph Kern presents Book 2 in the Great War series.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men remains one of America's most widely read and beloved novels. Here is Steinbeck’s dramatic adaptation of his novel-as-play, which received the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play in 1937-1938 and has featured a number of actors who have played the iconic roles of George and Lennie on stage and film, including James Earl Jones, John Malkovich and Gary Sinise.

Great Expectations follows Pip's life from a plucky but poor and put-upon child in the Kent marshes, to a young man with "great expectations" in London and the choices he must make as a result of his winding journey. On the way, we meet some of Dickens' most memorable and unique characters - the mysterious and brutal Magwtich; eternally heartbroken Miss Havisham; and her cold-hearted child Estella.

A German advocate of the Kaiser discovers he is a facial/physical match for young Englishman Everard Dominey, who is near death after harrowing experiences in Africa. The remarkable doppelgänger resemblance leads Major-General Baron Leopold Von Ragastein to infiltrate the UK in perfect disguise. He wants to lead his country’s efforts as Europe is racing toward war. Part of the plan is to murder Dominey and have the Baron take his place in English society.

The terror and purges of Stalin's Russia in the 1930s discouraged Soviet officials from leaving documentary records, let alone keeping personal diaries. A remarkable exception is the unique diary assiduously kept by Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to London between 1932 and 1943. This selection from Maisky's diary grippingly documents Britain's drift to war during the 1930s, appeasement in the Munich era, negotiations leading to the signature of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact....

Thomas Watson was one of the most famous Puritan preachers in history, and his 17th-century writings are still read across the world today. A highly influential example of Puritan writing, The Great Gain of Godliness is Watson's study of Malachi 3:16-18. British Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon bemoaned the fact that he couldn't find a copy of The Great Gain of Godliness.

These treasured stories from the most influential authors of the 19th and early 20th centuries are selected for their literary importance as well as their dramatic, oral qualities. Listen to these 10 unabridged classics by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, O. Henry, and Willa Cather.

The small, rundown village of Great Diddling is full of stories—author Berit Gardner can feel it. The way the villagers avoid outsiders, the furtive stares and whispers in the presence of newcomers… Berit can sense the edge of a story waiting to be unraveled, and she's just the person to do it. In fact, with a book deadline looming over her and no manuscript (not even the idea for a manuscript, truth be told), Berit doesn't just want this story. She needs it. Then, while attending a village tea party, Berit becomes part of the action herself.

Zane Grey shows his knowledge of Indian tribes and their history and the peon system of Mexican plantations.

Insurrection is in the air in the city of Ankh-Morpork. The Haves and Have-Nots are about to fall out all over again. Captain Sam Vimes of the city's ramshackle Night Watch is used to this. It's enough to drive a man to drink. Well, to drink more. But this time, something is different - the Have-Nots have found the key to a dormant, lethal weapon that even they don't fully understand and they're about to unleash a campaign of terror on the city. Time for Captain Vimes to sober up.

Under the Great British Baking Contest competition tent, there's more at stake than winning the title of Best Baker in All of Britain. For amateur baker Poppy Wilkinson, there are mysteries to solve, secrets and lies, even murder. As a fledgling witch, Poppy's having enough trouble controlling her sponge cake, never mind trying to control her powers.

In America, Lady Halcyone Syramore-Forbes, known as Flame, is a student with a talent for designing jewelry. She is introduced to jewelry boss Reece Dexter and finds him arrogant. She is also wildly attracted to him. Then she discovers her mother is marrying Reece’s father.

Cristin de Monaham is a powerful and respected warlord. Her family and the planet of ice she rules are all that matters. When she hears about how Prometheus freed the slaves, she grows worried. Would he come for her next? On a barren world of freezing wind and snow, one doesn’t get second chances. It is better to kill and survive than risk diplomacy. Rather than wait on this conqueror, she’ll go to him - with her allies in tow, she’ll crush him.

Charis Scott, a princess descended from Hawaiian royalty, isn’t prepared for the arrival of Jago Marsh in her life. He flies halfway across the world under the pretense of buying her cosmetics company, but the real reason isn’t business—or even pleasure—it’s revenge. These self-made millionaires are already butting heads. But sparks really fly when a priceless family heirloom—the Heart of Fire—goes missing. Would Jago really stoop that low? Charis is about to find out that she’s met her match…in more ways than one.

Orphan Harriet Jensen inherits a beautiful manor house and turns it into the successful Windrush Hotel. But her estranged relatives—including the handsome Giles—believe they should have inherited the property. Despite their battles, Harriet and Giles find themselves drawn to each other. Vania McAllen runs away to England from her stifling life in America. She gets a job in Harriet’s hotel and the two become firm friends. Then, the man she loves tracks her down.