Family Life Classics

Schooldays at St Clare's are never dull for twins Pat and Isabel O'Sullivan in Enid Blyton's much-loved boarding school series. In audiobook four, the twins have made it to second form. New girls Gladys and Mirabel have great talents for acting and music, and Elsie, the form's unpopular head girl, learns to be less spiteful. Expect more mischief at St Clare's!

The story of Flem Snopes' ruthless struggle to take over the town of Jefferson, Mississippi, this is the second volume of Faulkner's trilogy about the Snopes family, his symbol for the grasping, destructive element in the post-bellum South.

One the twins is simply not having it. St Clare's is beneath them, and they're determined to cause a stir. But life at St Clare's is not as easy as they thought. They have several surprises and arguments before they admit their troubles are of their own making and settle down to make friends. Expect mischief at St Clare's!

The disregard of a dying woman's bequest, a girl's attempt to help an impoverished clerk, and the marriage of an idealist and a materialist intersect at an estate called Howards End. There, the lives of three families become entangled. As chance brings them together, societal conventions come into question as does the ownership of Howards End. Through the fate of the estate - as well as the lives of the families who are affiliated with it - Forster creates a brilliant parallel to the fate of English society itself.

The lovable Jo March, introduced to us in Little Women, is now married with two sons of her own and an adopted family of 12 boys. And she couldn't be happier. Since starting an informal school at Plumfield, Jo and Professor Bhaer provide a haven for poor orphaned boys who thrive on warmth, goodness, and the affectionate interest of the March and Bhaer families.

Paddington Bear always manages to find himself in tricky situations, sometimes extraordinary situations. Like the time he had a difficult encounter with a policeman or when he found himself in deep water with a newspaper reporter. But since arriving from his native Peru after an earthquake Paddington has always felt at home with the Brown family who found him on Paddington station.

Pressures of the celebrity lifestyle weigh heavily on Dayne and Katy Matthews as they take on separate movie projects. Tabloid rumors talk of trouble and unfaithfulness between the two. And then a dramatic cover photo threatens to destroy everything they've worked to build together. Only Dayne knows the truth about the photo, truth that would help Katy believe him.

The five children have grown up, and World War I has begun in earnest. The sand fairy has become a creature of stories...until, for the first time in 10 years, he suddenly reappears. Before this last adventure ends, all will be changed; the two younger children will have seen the Great War from every possible viewpoint, and the war's impact will be felt right at the heart of their family.

In the opening scene of Falling Man, Keith Neudecker emerges from the smoke and ash of the burning tower where he worked, and makes his way to the apartment of his ex-wife and young son uptown. Throughout this bold and haunting novel, DeLillo traces the way the events of September 11 kindled or rekindled relationships, reconfigured our emotional landscape, our memory, and our perception of the world.

When Pollyanna Whittier's loving but impoverished father dies, she is left orphaned and alone. Her wealthy spinster aunt, Aunt Polly, agrees to take her in, so she and her few belongs are packed onto an eastbound train. Pollyanna looks forward to living with her aunt, but Aunt Polly is cold and strict. She puts Pollyanna in a musty attic room and expects her to keep quiet and stay out of the way.

Since the publication of his first novel 30 years ago, Don DeLillo has lived in the skin of our times. He has found a voice for the forgotten souls who haunt the fringes of our culture and for its larger-than-life real figures. The Body Artist is DeLillo's haunting and profoundly moving new novel.

Ronja, die Tochter des Räuberhauptmanns Mattis, wächst mitten im Wald auf - zwischen Räubern, Graugnomen und Wilddruden. Eines Tages trifft sie auf Birk, den Räubersohn aus der verfeindeten Sippe von Borka. Trotz aller Umstände freunden sich die Kinder an. Sehr zum Missfallen der beiden Familien... Eine märchenhafte Geschichte voller Fantasie, und ein Plädoyer gegen Vorurteile und Ungerechtigkeit.

First published in three volumes in 1860 it tells the story of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, a brother and sister growing up on the river Floss. Maggie is deeply attached to her brother but their conflicting temperaments and outlook produce only stress and misunderstanding until they are finally reconciled in a moment of revelation before tragedy overtakes them.

It's the start of the Easter term, and the twins are looking forward to meeting all their friends at St Clare's once more. They are determined to be obedient and studious, but the new girls prove to be so much fun. Poor Mam'zelle had better watch out. Expect mischief at St Clare's!

In this epic, mythical debut novel, a newly-wed couple escapes the busy confusion of their homeland for a distant and almost-uninhabited lakeshore. They plan to live there simply, to fish the lake, to trap the nearby woods, and build a house upon the dirt between where they can raise a family. But as their every pregnancy fails, the child-obsessed husband begins to rage at this new world: the song-spun objects somehow created by his wife’s beautiful singing voice, the giant and sentient bear that rules the beasts of the woods, the second moon weighing down the fabric of their starless sky, and the labyrinth of memory dug into the earth beneath their house.

Elizabeth Ann is being carefully brought up by her Aunt Frances. Aunt Frances shares in all Elizabeth Ann's fears and slights, walks her to and from school each day, and conscientiously follows the most modern theories on child-rearing. She is the original helicopter parent. Not surprisingly, at nine years old Elizabeth Ann is timid and shy, friendless, and completely dependent on her doting aunt. Then an emergency occurs, and the fearful little girl is temporarily sent to other relatives who live on a farm in Vermont.

Randy and Oliver Melendy awake one morning full of gloom. Their brothers and sisters are away, the house seems forlorn and empty, and even Cuffy, their adored housekeeper, can't pick up their spirits. Will they have to face a long and lonely winter?

When Sally's family moves to Miami Beach for the winter of 1947, she is excited and nervous at the same time. What will school be like in Florida? Will she make any friends? Will she fit in so far away from home?

Joe Chapin led a storybook life. A successful small-town lawyer with a beautiful wife, two over-achieving children, and aspirations to be president, he seemed to have it all. But as his daughter looks back on his life, a different man emerges: one in conflict with his ambitious and shrewish wife, terrified that the misdeeds of his children will dash his political dreams, and in love with a model half his age.

Schooldays at St Clare's are never dull for twins Pat and Isabel O'Sullivan in Enid Blyton's much-loved boarding school series. In audiobook three, Pat and Isabel look forward to their first summer term at St Clare's. They soon make friends with new girl Carlotta, who has a secret past that she's desperate to hide. But sneaky Prudence finds out and tells everybody. How will the class react? There'll be mischief at St Clare's!