Publisher: Reading Essentials
Excitement and anticipation are rife in the New World - it is a land offering new beginnings and new opportunities. Yet it is also a land of intrigue, deception and deadly opposition. Centred on the rich and fertile soils of Carolina at the time of the American War of Independence, 'The Carolinian' charts the interwoven stories of a host of interesting characters.
Bassanio, a young Venetian of noble rank, wishes to woo the beautiful and wealthy heiress Portia of Belmont. Having squandered his estate, he needs 3,000 ducats to subsidize his expenditures as a suitor. Bassanio approaches his friend Antonio, a wealthy merchant of Venice who has previously and repeatedly bailed him out. This edition of 'The Merchant of Venice' is an adaptation of Shakespeare's eponymous drama, narrated in plain modern English, capturing the very essence and key elements of the original Shakespeare's work. Read in English, unabridged.Show book
Prophecy may vary between being an intellectual amusement and a serious occupation; serious not only in its intentions, but in its consequences. For it is the lot of prophets who frighten or disappoint to be stoned. But for some of us moderns, who have been touched with the spirit of science, prophesying is almost a habit of mind.Show book
Oroonoko, the grandson of an African king, is madly in love with Imoinda, the daughter of the king's general. When the king-who is also in love with Imoinda-catches wind of their affair, he sells Imoinda as a slave. This betrayal sets off a chain of events that carries unforeseen consequences for everybody involved. Aphra Behn's Oroonoko has been hailed as one of the first great English novels and remains a classic of historical fiction.Show book
The heart of John Middleton by Elizabeth Gaskell. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell,often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor, and are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature.Show book
Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his detective stories, he also wrote other short stories which are masterpieces of mystery and suspense. In some of the stories, a suppressed uneasiness gradually builds up and evolves into sheer terror; in others, the story line unexpectedly changes and comes to an unexpected conclusion. In "The Beetle-Hunter," a beginning doctor is employed on a strange errand to a coleopterist.Show book
A young, inexperienced governess is charged with the care of Miles and Flora, two small children abandoned by their uncle at his grand country house. She sees the figure of an unknown man on the tower and his face at the window. It is Peter Quint, the master's dissolute valet, and he has come for Miles. But Peter Quint is dead.To all immediate appearances, The Turn of the Screw is a ghost story. But are appearances what they seem? A subtle, self-conscious exploration of the haunted house of Victorian culture, filled with echoes of sexual and social unease, The Turn of the Screw is probably the most famous and eerily equivocal of all ghostly tales.Show book
