Family Classics

Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of this, Louisa May Alcott's most popular and enduring novel. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy - united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.

Lady Charlotte French-McGrath has successfully ruled over her family with a rod of iron until the arrival of Cynthia: beautiful, young, talented, selfish - and engaged to her son, Desmond. When Cynthia enters the Jazz Age, on the surface her life passes in a whirl of hunting, drinking and romance. But the ghosts of Garonlea are only biding their time: they know the source of their power, a secret handed on from one generation to the next.

Professor Godfrey St. Peter is a man in his fifties who has devoted his life to his work, his wife, his garden, and his daughters, and achieved success with all of them. But when St. Peter is called on to move to a new, more comfortable house, something in him rebels. And although at first that rebellion consists of nothing more than mild resistance to his family's wishes, it imperceptibly comes to encompass the entire order of his life.

This fictionalized portrait of Joyce's youth is one of the most vivid accounts of the growth from childhood to adulthood. Dublin at the turn of the century provides the backdrop as Stephen Dedalus moves from town and society, towards the irrevocable decision to leave. It was the decision made by Joyce himself which resulted in the mature novels of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.

Un riche misanthrope brouillé avec le monde entier à l'exception de ses fidèles employés, Mr et Mrs Boffin, meurt après avoir fait fortune en exploitant les décharges de Londres (dustheaps). Son testament stipule que sa fortune est transmise à son fils, John Harmon, qu'il ne voit plus, mais à condition qu'il revienne du lointain étranger où il s'est établi - sans doute l'Afrique du SudN 5 -, pour la recevoir. Cette disposition est assortie d'une autre clause : Harmon doit épouser une jeune femme qu'il ne connaît pas, Miss Bella Wilfer.

The Subjection of Women is an 1869 essay by the English philosopher and political economist John Stuart Mill, based on ideas he developed jointly with his wife Harriet Taylor Mill. At the time of its publication, the essay's argument for equality between the sexes was an affront to conventional norms regarding the status of men and women. Mill contended that the emancipation and education of women would have positive benefits for all people; the companionship of equally educated persons would result in the greater intellectual development of all.

When orphaned Mary Lennox arrives at Misselthwaite Manor, her uncle's estate, everybody said she was the most disagreeable looking child ever seen. Depressed and withdrawn, Mary stumbles upon an arched doorway into an overgrown garden. She later discovers her pampered invalid cousin, tucked away in a dark room. Soon a charming journey into the magical secret garden begins.

It's 1953 and 11-year-old Penny dreams of a summer of butter pecan ice cream, swimming, and baseball. But nothing's that easy in Penny's family. For starters, she can't go swimming because her mother's afraid she'll catch polio at the pool. To make matters worse, her favorite uncle is living in a car. Her Nonny cries every time her father's name is mentioned. And the two sides of her family aren?t speaking to each other!

Hawthorne approached the Romantic notion of the ability of science to destroy art (or beauty) in the form of fictive "horror stories" of biological research out of control. This story is the best of that group. A devoted scientist marries a beautiful woman with a single physical flaw: a birthmark on her face. Aylmer becomes obsessed with the imperfection and his attempts to remove it via his scientific skills, thus rendering his bride perfect.

Dumas’ famous musketeers return in another exciting swashbuckler. And this time, Aramis is embarking on the most perilous mission of all: to depose King Louis XIV and put his twin brother, Philip, on the throne instead. Since childhood, Philip has been hidden away so no one would know of his existence - but Aramis believes that he would be the superior ruler. Is Aramis right...or is he making a deadly mistake?

Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic tale, with its engaging heroine and evocative description of the Prince Edward Island landscape, never fails to delight youngsters. When Matthew Cuthbert goes to the train station to pick up the orphan he and his sister Marilla plan to adopt, he expects to meet a boy who can help on the family farm. Instead it's Anne - a talkative, dreamy, red-haired, freckle-faced 11-year-old little girl who transforms the Cuthberts' life forever and fills it with love and joy.

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.

There is no finer way to welcome young people (or adults!) to the pleasures of Shakespeare than with these four masterful retellings of the Bard's most beloved plays. Ranging from the pure magic of A Midsummer Night's Dream to the heartbreak of young love in Romeo and Juliet, featuring the spine-tingling tragedy of Macbeth (complete with ghost and witches) and culminating in the laugh-out-loud hijinks of Twelfth Night.

Nick hadn't planned on being the prodigal son. But when his father dies and leaves half of Silver Buckle, the Noble family ranch, to Nick's former best friend, he must return home to face those he left behind - and to make sure that the Silver Buckle stays in the Noble family.

In this carefully crafted novel, Dickens reveals the complexity of London society in the enterprising 1840s as he takes the listener into the business firm and home of one of its most representative patriarchs, Paul Dombey.

When George, the eldest son of Matthew Silverman, announces he won’t follow in his father’s footsteps as editor of the family-owned local newspaper, the family finds itself on a course for change. The newspaper has been going for nearly 100 years. With younger brother Alexander and sisters Loraine and Alison growing up fast, too, and gradual progress in the world around them, can Matthew do what’s best for them all?

Sara Stanley is only 14, but she can weave tales that are impossible to resist. In the charming town of Carlisle, children and grown-ups alike flock from miles around to hear her spellbinding tales. And when Bev King and his younger brother Felix arrive for the summer, they, too, are captivated by the "Story Girl"....

When published in 1868, the world fell in love with this semiautobiographical story of the March sisters, and to this day the classic story is beloved and frequently adapted for the stage and screen. Little Women tells the story of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, sisters who love each other and work hard building their earnest lives in Massachusetts during the Civil War.

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.

Published in 1848, the novel follows the fortunes of a shipping firm owner, who is frustrated at the lack of a son to follow him in his footsteps. He initially rejects his daughter's love before eventually becoming reconciled with her before his death. The story features many Dickensian themes, such as arranged marriages, child cruelty, betrayal, deceit, and relations between people from different British social classes.