House Classics

An old mansion in Salem, moss-covered and gabled, broods over the destiny of a distinguished but troubled New England Family, the Pynchons. A haunting, centuries-old curse, a forceful probing of national and personal guilt, a romance between the young heroine and an attractive stranger all intertwine in this classic work by one of America's greatest novelists.

In the mid 1800s, Pyncheon is still a revered namesake in Salem, with the gloomy Pyncheon mansion serving as a stark reminder of the family's upper class history. However, the house - unique for its seven gables - has a dark and deadly past. Its current occupant, the older and unmarried Hepzibah Pyncheon, is all but destitute and unwilling to accept any assistance from her wealthy but unrelenting cousin, Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon.

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton examines conflicts between rigid social expectation and personal desire. Lily Bart is adept at playing society's games, which expect her to achieve an advantageous marriage. Torn between her desire for luxurious living and a relationship based on mutual respect and love, she manages to sabotage all her possible chances for a wealthy marriage.

The House of the Seven Gables was Hawthorne's follow-up to The Scarlet Letter. The book tells the story of an evil house, cursed by a man who was hanged centuries before for witchcraft. The house is haunted by the ghosts of its past, and wrapped in the fear of the living.

"Halfway down a by-street of one of our New England towns stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables, facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge, clustered chimney in the midst. The street is Pyncheon Street; the house is the old Pyncheon House; and an elm-tree, of wide circumference, rooted before the door, is familiar to every town-born child by the title of the Pyncheon Elm."

Some of the greatest ghost stories of all time, here to send chills down your spine.

Azt ne gondoljátok, hogy a csudálatos Mary Poppins megint visszajött! Nem - el se ment! Ezek a történetek ugyanis akkor esnek meg a csudálatos Maryvel, a Banks gyerekekkel meg a többi régi, kedves ismerőssel, amikor Mary Poppins ott van a Cseresznyefa utca 17-ben, és a "dadatündér" bearanyozza valamennyiük életét!

Este libro es una explosiva mezcla de crimen, suspense, pistas falsas y venganzas, donde los archifamosos Sherlock Holmes, doctor Watson e inspector Lestrade unirán sus fuerzas por vez primera para seguir el rastro de un misterioso asesino en las calles de Londres.

Journalist Angus Logan returns to the island of La Roque, where he grew up as part of the Courvel family. Maurice de Courvel has died under extremely mysterious circumstances. What has happened to the island since Angus’ departure is equally shocking. As the details of what have led to the violent death slowly begin to unravel, Angus cannot escape his own past and the danger that has begun to surround him.

The blind man was well aware that her reply was but a subterfuge. Little, however, did he dream the cause. Little did he know that a dark shadow had fallen upon the young girl's life - a shadow of evil. "Gabrielle," he said in a low, intense voice, "why aren't you open and frank with me as you once used to be? Remember that you, my daughter, are my only friend!".

Witty socialite Lily Bart has expensive tastes. Unfortunately, she does not have the social status to match. So far she has managed to get by on ‘old money’ and has become accustomed to a certain level of luxury. Her luck seems to be running out, however, as she approaches thirty and begins to scramble for an eligible bachelor who will secure her both an elevation of social status and stability.

Lexington confessed to a crime he didn't commit to save Elle's life. Now she's summoned the one and only person who can spare him, but it comes at a dangerous price: confessing every one of her secrets to the King. That she is the one who has been curing the Bitten, and who the true father of her unborn child is. Trying to do good comes with unforeseen consequences - a cured Bitten, one who should have just walked away, and tried to forget, wants revenge. The cycle must stop, and the only way to do it is to expose all vampires to the world.

Esther Summerson, a young woman raised in a tough and unloving atmosphere, is unexpectedly requested to be a companion to two teenage orphans, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, for whom the court has appointed as guardian, John Jarndyce. They take up residence at Mr. Jarndyce’s home, Bleak House. The story of their lives and fortunes is the main thrust of the novel, and is related at times through the eyes of Esther, whose gentle point of view gives the listener a different and more intimate perspective.

In its oppressive atmosphere of fog, mist, and mud, nothing conjures up the dreary days of November and its "implacable" weather like the celebrated opening of Bleak House. The plot concerns a long-running legal dispute (Jarndyce and Jarndyce) that has far-reaching consequences for all involved. Dickens' assault on the flaws of the British judiciary system is based in part on his own experiences as a law clerk.

Published in 1853, Bleak House is one of Dickens' most mature and ambitious novels. From London's slums to the Court of Chancery, where the endless case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce devours the future of several generations, the author's canvas of Victorian society vividly conveys an indictment of legal corruption, a riveting tale of detection, and a compelling emotional drama.

In Craven House, among the shifting, uncertain world of the English boardinghouse, with its sad population of the shabby genteel on the way down and the eternal optimists who would never get up or on, the young Patrick Hamilton, with loving, horrified fascination, first mapped out the territory that he would make uniquely his own. Although many of Hamilton's lifelong interests are here, they are handled with a youthful brio and optimism conspicuously absent from his later work.

Happy House by Jane D. Abbott (1881-1968) was recently released into the public domain. It is a lovely, articulate look at life as a recent college graduate in 1920s America. Writing in the vein of Louisa May Alcott et. al., Ms. Abbott delights in this tale of two young women who share a name and decide on an identity switch that sends one of them on the trip of a lifetime. A plethora of high-spirited New Englanders peoples this tale performed by professional actor and narrator Sara Morsey.

This terse and startling novel is the story of a struggle for possession and of its devastating consequences. Three women seek to secure the affections of one man, while he, in turn, tries to satisfy them all. But in the middle of this contest of wills stands his unwitting and vulnerable young daughter. The conclusion of The Other House makes it one of the most disturbing and memorable of Henry James' depictions of the uncontrollable passions that lie beneath the polished veneer of civilized life.

Rahmenhandlung dieses großen Gesellschaftsromans ist das Gerichtsverfahren Jarndyce gegen Jarndyce um eine Erbschaft. Der Roman lebt jedoch von Einzelgeschichten, die ineinander verwoben sind. Da ist die Erzählung um das "Waisenmädchen" Esther Summerson, das nach dem Tod seiner Tante von John Jarndyce, einem Beteiligten des Erbschaftsstreits und reichen Oberschichtler, in Bleak House aufgenommen wird.

The long, drawn-out case of Jarndyce versus Jarndyce provides the background to this novel, which takes us into Dickens' world of impoverished people on the street, lovers fallen on hard times, and the grand riches of the upper classes. It is read movingly by Sean Barrett.