Great Literature

The vast and deadly conflict between Alexander the Great's former generals as they battle for control of his empire has reached a tense stalemate. No one seems able to strike the decisive blow. But with everything in the balance, a secret emerges: hidden in the remote mountains is a young man who could change everything: Herakles, the son of Alexander. Whoever aspires to Alexander's mantle must now control his one legitimate heir - or destroy him - and a war being played across the known world is set for its final, bloody conclusion.

The story is told from the point of view of Pip, an orphan of humble origins who dreams of being a gentleman. From a chilling encounter with a convict when he was seven, through his coming of age and early adulthood, he tells of his "memorable days" and the "great changes" they wrought in him. Pip is apprenticed to kind-hearted Joe Gargery, the blacksmith, husband to his ill-tempered sister. On meeting the eccentric and reclusive Miss Havisham and her proud and haughty ward, the beautiful Estella, Pip becomes ashamed of his origins and hopes to one day better himself.

In a gloomy, neglected house Miss Havisham sits, as she has sat year after year, in a wedding dress and veil that were once white, and are now faded and yellow with age. Her face is like a death’s head; her dark eyes burn with bitterness and hate. By her side sits a proud and beautiful girl, and in front of her, trembling with fear in his thick country boots, stands young Pip.

An engrossing collection of detective stories featuring all the great classic sleuths, including Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Max Carrados, J. G. Reeder, and C. Auguste Dupin. 1.The Tea-Leaf by Edgar Jepson & Robert Eustace 2.The Queer Feet by G. K. Chesterton 3.The Curious Circumstances of the Two Left Shoes by Ernest Bramah 4. The Club of One-Eyed Men by Arthur Somers Roche 5.Diamond Cut Diamond by F. Britten Austin 6.The Game Played in the Dark by Ernest Bramah

As much about the life of the city as it is about a life lived, sometimes, in the city, John Banville's "quasi-memoir" is as layered, emotionally rich, witty, and unexpected as any of his novels. Born and bred in a small town a train ride away from Dublin, Banville saw the city as a place of enchantment when he was a child, a birthday treat, the place where his beloved, eccentric aunt lived.

Henry Farber, a well-meaning psychiatrist, is forced into hiding when the nation’s chief executive—a narcissistic autocrat in his disastrous second term—is found dead on the consulting room couch. From an isolated bungalow, Farber sets out to clear his name while offering an intimate view of a flawed populist leader.

康熙八岁即位，由顺治遗命，以索尼、苏克萨哈、遏必隆和鳌拜四人为辅臣。其中鳌拜居功自傲，专横跋扈，待老臣索尼病死后，他拉拢遏必隆，处死了不与他合作的苏克萨哈，更是朝政独揽，经常咆哮金殿，强制康熙屈从他的意愿。…… 康熙八歲即位，由順治遺命，以索尼、蘇克薩哈、遏必隆和鰲拜四人為輔臣。其中鰲拜居功自傲，專橫跋扈，待老臣索尼病死後，他拉攏遏必隆，處死了不與他合作的蘇克薩哈，更是朝政獨攬，經常咆哮金殿，強制康熙屈從他的意願。

In this final installment of Ted Dekker's groundbreaking Circle Trilogy, Thomas Hunter has only days to survive two separate realms of danger, deceit, and destruction. The fate of both worlds hinges on his unique ability to shift realities through his dreams.

Robert Browning’s popular poems "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" and "How They Brought the Good News" are often anthologised, but it is in his dramatic lyrics such as "My Last Duchess" and the chilling "Porphyria’s Lover" that his poetic genius shines. Browning, with his unusual use of language, can be a challenging poet, but one who is always rewarding. This selection shows the many imaginative facets of this often neglected Victorian poet.

In these five tales, Sherlock Holmes is shown at the height of his powers: he co-operates with a young Winston Churchill in the famed Siege of Sydney Street, helps defeat a plan for a German invasion outlined in the Zimmerman Telegram, establishes a link between two missing lighthouse keepers and the royal treasures of King John, contends with a supernatural curse places upon an eccentric aristocrat, and discovers a lost epic of Lord Byron.

On Christmas Day, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev delivered a ten-minute televised speech announcing his resignation as Soviet president. Moments later, with little pomp and less circumstance, the red flag was lowered from its floodlit perch atop the Kremlin, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Into the vacuum—before a new democracy had time to put down roots—surged the Russian mafia, supplying what the new state could not: krysha, or “roof”—protection for the privately owned businesses sprouting across the country.

Tempers are fraying and the cream is melting as summer temperatures hit the competition tent at Broomewode in the UK just in time for patisserie week. With only four contestants left, the pressure is mounting in the race to be chosen the best amateur baker in the UK. Poppy's working hard to find out who her parents were and what happened to them, even as she's trying to become a more accomplished witch, so she definitely doesn't have time for romance. Then someone dies and it looks like a crime of passion. Can she unmask a killer before she's the one who gets creamed?

Every baker has their weak spot. For Poppy, it’s bread. So, when The Great British Baking Contest hits bread week, she’s as fragile as an overbaked croissant. Just when she needs to keep all her focus on flour, water, yeast, and salt, another ingredient enters the mix. Death. Someone is not who they appear to be, and secrets from the past are bringing deadly consequences to the present.

Helia has served as the Sage of Hope for the Great Library of Tomorrow for centuries. She is one of the chosen few who embody and protect the values of humanity across the numerous realms of Paperworld, which are connected within the Library itself via magical portals controlled by the Book of Wisdom. But even her hope is tested when she and her partner, Xavier, the Sage of Truth, are attacked while visiting the famous Rose Garden in the realm of Silvyra. Wounded and in shock amid a storm of fire, they are confronted by a deadly figure known to them as the Ash Man.

In the greatest novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald, listeners can be transported back to that world to experience both the highs and lows of the time. These novels incorporated Fitzgerald’s own life experiences to give listeners a firsthand view of what life truly was like for his generation.

Hans Holbein the Younger is chiefly celebrated for his beautiful and precisely realized portraiture, which includes representations of Henry VIII, his advisors Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell, his wives Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves, and an array of the Tudor lords and ladies encountered during the course of two sojourns in England. But beyond these familiar images, which have come to define our perception of the age, Holbein was a multifaceted genius: a humanist, satirist, and political propagandist, and a deft man whose work was rich in layers of symbolism and allusion.

Sex and the City meets The Great Gatsby – das vergessene Meisterwerk aus den 1920ern von Ursula Parrott. Patricia ist 24, als ihr Mann beschließt, die Ehe mit ihr zu beenden. Vor den Kopf gestoßen von dieser Entscheidung versucht sie zunächst, um ihren Mann zu kämpfen, merkt dann aber schnell, dass sie auch ohne ihn ein Leben führen und viel glücklicher sein kann.

Ignoring the opportunity to own a comprehensive guide to one of the world's most creative literary minds would be an Elizabethan tragedy of modern proportions. Elevating your intellect to become a Shakespeare connoisseur has never been easier or this much fun with The Great American Bathroom Book Shakespeare edition!

William Shakespeare may have been the greatest playwright in the English language, but how does he measure up as a historian? In this brilliant comparison between the events and characters in Shakespeare's history plays and the actual events that inspired them, acclaimed historian John Julius Norwich examines the nine works that together amount to an epic masterpiece on England's most fascinating period.

This 14th-century Italian poet was a model for many who followed him. His passionate sonnets to Laura became the epitome for love poetry. Over some 40 years he wrote 366 sonnets to Laura, whom he probably never even spoke to, and they remain immediate and affecting even now. Called "Rime Sparse (Scattered Rhymes)", they influenced Chaucer and many others.