Family Classics

This is the tale of two distinguished snails whose adopted son is in need of a wife. The mother and father snail believe they know more about life than any creature, but accept the help of ant and gnat to find a wife for their son. A short tale of whimsy and delight from the pen of Hans Christian Andersen.

Owen Wister (July 14, 1860-July 21, 1938) was an American writer and historian, considered the "father" of western fiction. He is best remembered for writing a biography of Ulysses S. Grant and the novel The Virginian, in which Wister created the archetypal cowboy.

Following a wild and raging storm, the Swiss family Robinson are stranded at sea. But the thundering waves have swept them off to a tropical island, where a new life awaits them. Shipwrecked passengers on a deserted island: how will they survive? Their ship is laden with supplies and the island is packed with treasures, so they soon adapt and discover new dangers and delights every day.

Die südfranzösische Stadt Plassan ist der Ursprung der bürgerlichen Familien Rougon und Macquart, deren weit verzweigte Familiengeschichte hier ihren Anfang nimmt. Im Zuge des Staatsstreiches vom 2. Dezember 1851 und den damit verbundenen Aufständen in ganz Frankreich, gelingt es einigen Familienmitgliedern durch Intrigen, Betrug und Verrat sich gesellschaftlich in der Kleinstadt zu etablieren; andere stürzen grausam ab.

Narrheit und Schelmenstreiche haben ihre lustigen Seiten. So gibt es über Till Eulenspiegel viele, ja unglaubliche Geschichten. Oft hat sich dieser Held der Kinder dumm gestellt, sodass Leute über ihn gelacht und ihn aufgrund seiner Einfälle zu einem Narren erklärt haben. Aber in Wirklichkeit war er schlau, meist schlauer als die Menschen in seiner direkten Umgebung, und hat den Menschen so saftige, ja einfallsreiche Streiche gespielt.

Delight in a collection of tales for all the family, voiced by our favourite celebrities....

Many would have disliked to live if possessed of the peculiar features of Arthur Jermyn, but he had been a poet and scholar and had not minded, until a peculiar box object arrived from Africa and after seeing it, he went out on the moor and set himself on fire. Discover what it was about the object that explained his peculiar personal appearance, and made him end his life.

Banished! Old Witch likes nothing better than to fly about on her broomstick crying "Heh-Heh!" and casting abracadabras, but now she has been sent away, by two young girls. Amy and Clarissa love to tell stories about Old Witch, until one day they decide she is just too mean and wicked. Drawing a rickety old house upon a barren glass hill, the girls exile Old Witch there with the warning that she'd better be good - or else no Halloween.

Маме Авроры и Сократика предложили новую работу в городке Фабельвике, и вся семья отправляется в путешествие на север Норвегии. Сначала они едут на машине, потом – на поезде, потом на теплоходе и, наконец, на катере. Их ждут приключения и новые знакомства. Но особенно все обрадовались, когда к ним в гости приехали старые друзья вместе с бабушкой восьмерых внуков.

Heidi, a five-year-old orphan girl, is sent to live with her grandfather up in the mountains of Dorfli after her Aunt Dete receives a job offer in the city. Enchanted by the old man and his jaded attitude towards the villagers and God, Heidi wins him over with her enthusiasm and love. When her aunt returns, she insists Heidi go to live with a wealthy family in Frankfurt. Disappointed to leave her grandfather and her friend, Peter, Heidi reluctantly agrees.

Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow was born on 22nd April 1873, in Richmond, Virginia. She published her first novel ‘The Descendant’ anonymously in 1897, at age 24. In 1923 came her short story collection ‘The Shadowy Third & Other Stories’, which included ‘The Difference’, a classic tale of a marriage hitting a problem and the moral and realistic reaction to that. Further works followed and, in 1941, she published ‘In This Our Life’.

In The Secret Adoption, a young boy is placed with an eccentric, well-connected family in the glamorous world of Hollywood’s elite, his origins hidden by a notorious lawyer with secrets of his own. Desperate to keep the truth under wraps, his adoptive mother enlists the help of powerful friends—including one of television’s biggest stars—to ensure he never discovers his past.

"What happens when an irresistible force encounters an immovable object?" The ancient paradox becomes a real-life problem when a woman, whose wealth and influence are matched only by her arrogance and violent temper, encounters someone with the strength of character to rival her own. It is bad enough that this new, formidable foe is a mere girl. But to make matters worse, she also happens to be the great lady's only granddaughter.

One of the world's best-loved stories of shipwreck and survival, The Swiss Family Robinson portrays a family's struggle to create a new life for themselves on a strange and fantastic tropical island. Blown off course by a raging storm, the family - a Swiss pastor, his wife, their four young sons, plus two dogs and a shipload of livestock - must rely on one another in order to adapt to their needs the natural wonders of their exotic new home.

In the evening, the back porch of the country home took on an aura of enchantment. As dusk settled and the lamp was lit, children wandered in from their play to sit on the floor or snuggle in their parents' laps. Glasses of iced tea were refilled and someone would settle back, look up at the stars and say, "I remember when..." Thus began one of many tales, often embellished with some distant imagining. Each one taught a lesson of life.

Tallulah MacBride hasn't been back to North Carolina since her parents' tragic deaths 20 years ago. But now, Tal heads to cousin Delta Whittlespoon's famous Crossroads Café in the mountains above Asheville, hoping to find a safe hiding place for her young daughter, Eve. What she finds is cousin Delta gone, the café in a biscuit crisis, and a Scotsman who refuses to believe she's passing through instead of "running from." He believes she needs a knight in shining flannel.

The hit on the head that sends Hank Morgan back through 13 centuries does not affect his natural resourcefulness. Using his knowledge of an upcoming eclipse, Hank escapes a death sentence, and secures an important position at court. Gradually, he introduces 19th century technology and soon has an easy life. He becomes "The Boss" of the Kingdom, second only to the King.

In this next story, Alice Hill, who is happily married, bears three daughters and is stricken with Alzheimer's in her later years. Was this her destiny chosen by the goddess Lachesis, or was her destiny just meant to be?

The Talisman is Sir Walter Scott's tale of the Crusades, a tale of chivalry, of violence, of virtue, romance, and deceit.

Il romanzo venne pubblicato nel 1840 su un settimanale , e come volume nel 1842. Si compone di una carrellata di personaggi e di descrizioni dettagliate dei luoghi attraversati dalla piccola Nell e da suo nonno, nella loro fuga da Londra. Il libro alterna momenti di caratterizzazione comica dei personaggi (vi si intravedono le radici di altri successivi umoristi di lingua inglese, come Jerome e Wodehouse) a passaggi drammatici, che, tuttavia, come in tutta l’opera di Dickens, non mancano di morale.