Publisher: Dead Dodo Detective Classics
A young woman is killed by an arrow in the middle of the museum. An older woman seems to be in shock and huddles next to the girl. Mr. Gryce is an old man now, but he is still sharp of mind. He and his detectives slowly unravel the mystery of who could've have killed the girl and why. It involves a lot of thinking and chasing and interviews. Lots of twists and turns.
When an earthquake swallows Dorothy, her kitten Eureka and cousin Zeb, and Zeb's horse Jim, they're captured by the Mangaboos! The Wizard of Oz must save them by winning a magic contest—using only his wits and nine tiny piglets. Then: watch out for the savage Invisible Bears, who devour anyone they catch! Dorothy and her friends race across the Invisible Valley, trying to reach the spiral staircase inside Pyramid Mountain. But halfway up the mountain lives the strange Braided Man! Plus: Dorothy meets her old friends - the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion and more! And Eureka is charged with murder for eating one of the Wizard's piglets! The Wizard of Oz has a secret plan to save Eureka, but can it possibly work? Don't miss this thrilling installment in the critically acclaimed Oz adaptations!Show book
In 1862, during a boating party on the Thames River, a young Englishman named Lewis Carroll entertained three little girls by spinning a wondrous story of a disappearing cat, a mad tea party, and a croquet-playing Queen of Hearts. The story so enchanted one of the girls that she begged him to put it in writing. The result was overwhelming fame and fortune for the author and a beloved fantasy classic for children’s literature. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has captivated generations of children and adults with its unforgettable blend of laughter, magic and mischief. It is a hot summer afternoon when Alice spies a white rabbit hurrying across the riverbanks. “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” he cries, glancing at a watch drawn from his waist-coat pocket. Of course, Alice has never seen a rabbit wear a waist-coat or a watch before. Curious, she follows the creature—and plunges down a rabbit hole into a strange and unforgettable world.Show book
Dorothy Edwards, an only child, was born on the 18th August 1902 at Ogmore Vale in Glamorgan. Her father was a headmaster and an early activist in the Independent Labour Party. At age 9 Dorothy, dressed in red, welcomed Keir Hardy on to the stage at Tonypandy during the national coal strike of 1912. She was taught that revolution was at hand, that class barriers would be a thing of the past. Dorothy won a scholarship and boarded at Howell's School for Girls in Llandaff before moving to University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire where she read Greek and philosophy. Her early hopes to be an opera singer were set to one side after graduating and the death of her father. Instead she took on part-time work to supplement her mother’s pension with whom she now lived. Dorothy managed to write a number of short stories which appeared in the literary journals of the day. She spent several months with her mother in Vienna, all the time revising or writing before embarking on ‘Winter Sonata’, a short novel published in 1928. Introductions to several members of the Bloomsbury Group meant a move to London and a division of her time between child-care for the family of Bloomsbury author David Garnett and the promise of an advance payment for her work on a new volume of stories. However, Dorothy’s life was starting to spiral out of control; she was attracted to the Welsh nationalist movement but felt that her Welsh provincialism made her, in London at least, feel socially inferior. Leaving her mother dependent on a hired companion consumed her with guilt as did the end of an affair with a married musician. On the 5th January 1934, having spent the morning burning her papers, Dorothy Edwards threw herself in front of a train near Caerphilly railway station. Her suicide note read: "I am killing myself because I have never sincerely loved any human being all my life. I have accepted kindness and friendship and even love without gratitude, and given nothing in return."Show book
Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. It is widely regarded as a significant work of English literature and part of the Western canon. The story tells of Charles Marlow, an Englishman who took a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a ferry-boat captain in Africa. Heart of Darkness exposes the myth behind colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters—the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the European's cruel treatment of the natives, and the unfathomable darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil. Although Conrad does not give the name of the river, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver. However, his more pressing assignment is to return Kurtz, another ivory trader, to civilization, in a cover-up. Kurtz has a reputation throughout the region. This symbolic story is a story within a story or frame narrative. It follows Marlow as he recounts from dusk through to late night, to a group of men aboard a ship anchored in the Thames Estuary his Congolese adventure. The passage of time and the darkening sky during the fictitious narrative-within-the-narrative parallel the atmosphere of the story.Show book
In what may be Dickens's best novel, humble, orphaned Pip is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman—and one day, under sudden and enigmatic circumstances, he finds himself in possession of "great expectations." In this gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, the compelling characters include Magwitch, the fearful and fearsome convict; Estella, whose beauty is excelled only by her haughtiness; and the embittered Miss Havisham, an eccentric jilted bride.Show book
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame or Notre-Dame de Paris is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831.The story is set in Paris in 1482 during the reign of Louis XI. The gypsy Esmeralda (born as Agnes) captures the hearts of many men, including those of Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire, but especially Quasimodo and his guardian Archdeacon Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his obsessive lust for Esmeralda and the rules of Notre Dame Cathedral. He orders Quasimodo to kidnap her, but Quasimodo is captured by Phoebus and his guards, who save Esmeralda. Gringoire, who attempted to help Esmeralda but was knocked out by Quasimodo, is about to be hanged by beggars when Esmeralda saves him by agreeing to marry him for four years.Show book
