Thomas Hardy – The Short Stories - An Introduction. Many giants of Literature originate from the shores of these emerald isles; Shakespeare, Dickens, Chaucer, The Brontes and Austen to which most people would willingly add the name Thomas Hardy. Far From The Madding Crowd, Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, The Mayor Of Casterbridge are but three of his literary masterpieces. But let us add to this his short stories. They are often overlooked as being the poor, under-developed relative of a greate...

These are strange times for the English aristocracy. When hard-up William Fitz William Delamere Chalmers, Lord Dawlish—otherwise known as Bill—sets off for America to make a fortune, he does not expect to be left one by an American millionaire with whom he strikes up a passing acquaintance.Honor demands that Bill Dawlish should restore this unexpected windfall to the rightful heirs, but this involves him in complicated adventures with greedy relations, haughty dowagers, dogs, chick...

The abridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Kenneth Graham's much-loved classic, The Wind in the Willows, read by James Saxon, June Whitfield, Nigel Anthony and Nigel Lambert.When Mole goes boating with Ratty instead of doing his spring-cleaning, he discovers a whole new world. As well as adventures on the river and in the Wild Wood, there are high jinks on the open road with that reckless ruffian, Mr Toad of Toad Hall. Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad become the firmest o...

Alice’s adventures, funny, inventive and disturbing, have fascinated children and adults alike since their publication. This is a new unabridged recording using many voices to take the parts of The White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat and, of course, Alice herself. It makes for a roller-coaster ride of delightful fantasy.

This hardcover edition of the classic tale of THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS has been read and loved by children for generations. Start a new tradition of reading this timeless tale in your home today!•Fully illustrated in color, bringing each tale to life•Filled with humor, adventure and imagination for children of all ages•Great first-time reading for children as well as reading again for parents and grandparents•Beautiful story and unforgettable characters

Thomas Hardy was born in the hamlet of Upper Bockhampton about three miles east of Dorchester in Dorset, England, on 2nd June 1840.Despite a fairly wide education and being an avid reader his parents thought it unlikely he would lead a successful scholarly or clerical career and he was apprenticed in 1856, at age 16, to a local architect whose speciality was in church restoration. Hardy’s only opportunity to read was in the morning before work between the hours of five and eight.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

Charles Dickens enjoyed entertaining his friends with readings of ghost stories, especially at Christmas time. In his classic tale The Signalman, the then high technology world of steam railway comes to contact with what looks like a good old fashioned haunting. A night at a desolate country inn dramatically changes Tom Smart's fortunes in The Bagman's Story. Together with Christmas Ghosts and Mr Testator’s Visitation, these tales are fine examples of Dickens’s spine-chilling talents. Thes...

Charles Dickens is a name that dominates the landscape of English literature. From his early years of hardship he rose to become one of the great novelists of any age. But amongst his other talents were that of short story writer, turning his pen to many subjects and genres as well as travel articles, speaking tours and as an advocate for social justice. He was also amongst the first to commercialise Christmas and a publisher of various periodical magazines for which he also contributed an...

When Ned helps his grandmother clear out her attic, he finds a very unusual Victorian doll – she speaks! Ned and Lady Daisy soon become fast friends, even though he's teased at school for owning a doll. Ned learns to stand up to his father and the school bully in order to protect Lady Daisy. But then the doll is stolen – will Ned ever find her again?

Lubber the dog and Squintum the cat join forces with a racing pigeon and a pretty young Irish setter to search for Lubber's home. All he can remember is that he lives in a cottage below a hillside on which is carved a white horse.

Dorothea considers it a disgrace that one of her children has the white saddle-shaped patch on his bottom, and not on his back. Life doesn't look too promising for Saddlebottom, until he runs away from home and meets a very unusual cat. With the aid of a ginger tom named Bendigo he proves his mother wrong.