Family Classics

For Smoke and his daughter, Denny, life on the Sugarloaf Ranch is more valuable than all the gold in the world. Which works out fine, since all the gold mines in Big Rock were squeezed dry years ago. Even so, that won't stop a pair of smooth-talking businessmen from trying to squeeze out a little more. One of them has developed a newfangled method for extracting gold-something called "hydraulics" - and he's bought up all the old mines to do it.

To the Lighthouse chronicles the lives of the Ramsay family and their close friends, from the tranquil and motherly Mrs. Ramsay to the tragic and eccentric Mr. Ramsay, and their eight children and varied guests. Woolf uses the three movements of the novel to capture their complex family allegiances and the tensions between men and women at the time. Centered around their visits to the Isle of Skye between 1910 and 1920, the novel is an examination of the quiet, seemingly trivial moments of everyday life.

The classic transformation story by Kafka. A man is transformed into a bug and how everyone deals with the situation from his mother and father, to his employer and paying boarders, and himself.

Set at the outbreak of World War II, Lady Sophia Garfield dreams of becoming a beautiful spy but manages not to notice a nest of German agents right under her nose. Until the murder of her maid and the kidnapping of her beloved bulldog force them on her attention, with heroic and absurd results. One of Mitford's earliest novels and written before Christmas 1939, Pigeon Pie is delivered with a touch lighter than that of her later masterpieces but no less entertaining. This comedy combines glamour, wit and a fiendishly absurd plot into an irresistible literary confection.

A classic tale of adventure and survival, The Swiss Family Robinson has been a best seller ever since it was published in 1812, just over 200 years ago. Written by Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss, it begins with a shipwreck. A boat carrying a family of settlers to a distant colony is driven onto a reef just off an uncharted tropical island. The sailors desert the ship in lifeboats, leaving the family onboard.

The story of four generations of a wealthy bourgeois family in northern Germany facing the advent of modernity; in an uncertain new world, the family’s bonds and traditions begin to disintegrate. As Mann charts the Buddenbrooks’ decline from prosperity to bankruptcy, from moral and psychic soundness to sickly piety, artistic decadence, and madness, he ushers the listener into a world of stunning vitality, pieced together from births and funerals, weddings and divorces, recipes, gossip, and earthy humor.

Spinky is convinced that his family hates him and goes off to sulk in his hammock. His brother and sister try to make amends. His mom even brings him a beautiful tray of food. But nothing can get Spinky to stop sulking - not even a circus passing by on his street! Will Spinky ever cheer up?

Summer, 1947. Kate Herrick, a war widow, returns to her childhood home for a final visit before the house is sold. But Rose Cottage is not the idyllic paradise she remembers from her youth and someone has been there before her. As Kate uncovers an old secret that haunts the home she thought she knew, she is forced to confront a dark truth from her own past.... Beyond the weedy garden with its riot of rose bushes, nothing had changed. And someone was crossing the bridge to approach the garden gate. Someone I knew well....

Humbug! On a cobblestone street in London, on a cold Christmas Eve, the wealthy, greedy Ebenezer Scrooge is staying late at work at his “counting-house,” keeping his clerk, poor Bob Cratchit, busy and cold and away from his family. But little does Scrooge know that his old business partner, Jacob Marley—dead for seven years—is about to pay him a ghostly visit! His intention: to warn Scrooge that three spirits, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, will be soon coming to see him, in order to convince him to change his ways before it’s too late!

Penguin presents Happy Families: The Audio Collection by Allan Ahlberg, read by Alexander Armstrong. Families come in all shapes and sizes. Listen to the story of Mrs Wobble the Waitress, Mr Biff the Boxer, Miss Dirt the Dustman's Daughter and many more in the first ever audio collection of Allan Ahlberg's beloved Happy Families. Features 11 classic tales brought to life with music and dazzling sound effects.

When Sara Stanley returns to Carlisle to spend the winter with the King family, she comes up with a great idea: She, Felicity, Cecily, and Dan will publish a magazine to help everyone through the dreary months ahead. From “Personals” to “Fashion Notes”, from the etiquette column to stories of the most interesting happenings in Carlisle, Our Magazine quickly becomes the most entertaining publication anyone in town has ever read.

E. M. Forster's first novel is a witty comedy of manners that is tinged with tragedy. It tells the story of Lilia Herriton, who proves to be an embarrassment to her late husband's family as, in the small Tuscan town of Monteriano, she begins a relationship with a much younger Italian man - classless, uncouth, and highly unsuitable. A subtle attack on Edwardian values and a humanely sympathetic portrayal of the clash of two cultures, Where Angels Fear to Tread is also a profound exploration of character and virtue.

Some of the most famous children's tales to be enjoyed by the whole family.

The Glass Menagerie is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his histrionic mother, and his mentally fragile sister, Laura.

A heartwarming classic tale that has been enjoyed by generations of children and adults alike, Heidi tells the story of a young orphan whose innocent and boundless love transforms the lives of all she encounters. Having to adapt to new and uncomfortable surroundings more often than most by her age, Heidi finds joy in the mundane, beauty in the outcasts, and hope in the most dismal of situations.

At age 26, Advika Srinivasan considers herself a failed screenwriter. To pay the bills and keep her mind off of the recent death of her twin sister, she’s taken to bartending A-list events, including the 2015 Governors Ball, the official afterparty of the Oscars. There, in a cinematic dream come true, she meets the legendary Julian Zelding—a film producer as handsome as Paul Newman and ten times as powerful—fresh off his fifth best picture win. Despite their 41-year age difference, Advika falls helplessly under his spell.

The most acclaimed Scottish novel of all time, Sunset Song is a powerful portrait of a land and people in turmoil, seen through the life and struggles of its heroine, Chris Guthrie. In the years up to and beyond the First World War, Chris' resilience, like the land itself, endures despite everything and is portrayed with a lyrical intensity that echoes through the years and still resonates today.

In this charming classic story, Harry, the little white dog with black spots, runs away before bath time and plays outside until he changes into a black dog with white spots.

Jane and Vincent have finally gotten some much-needed rest after their adventures in Italy - then Vincent receives word that his estranged father has passed away on one of his properties in the West Indies. His brother, who manages the estate, is overwhelmed, and no one else in his family can go. Grudgingly, out of filial duty, the couple decide to go.

The dreams, pranks, misfortunes, and courtships of the March girls form a charming family portrait.