خيال كلاسيكي

Ravaged by years of war and civil conflict, Britain has changed its name to Airstrip One and become part of Oceania – one of the three totalitarian blocks dominating the world – ruled by a mysterious leader called Big Brother who keeps the population in thrall through strict surveillance and brutal police repression. In a society where the individual is suppressed and turned into an “unperson” for not conforming, and where not only personal thought, but also historical record and language itself are constantly being manipulated by the ruling regime, Ministry of Truth worker Winston Smith tries to make sense of the rebellious thoughts and passions that are stirring inside him, and finds himself impotent against the inexorable machine that surrounds him and threatens to crush him at any time.

Arguably the greatest dystopian novel of all time and the most influential post-war work of fiction – which enriched the English language with words such as “Newspeak”, “doublethink” and “thoughtcrime” – Nineteen Eighty-Four is a riveting read and a groundbreaking exploration of mass surveillance, censorship and mind control, which has a deep resonance with the world we live in.

Over the last fifteen years of his life, Tolstoy collected and published the maxims of some of the world's greatest masters of philosophy, religion and literature, adding his own contributions to various questions that preoccupied him in old age, such as faith and existence, as well as matters of everyday life.

Banned in Russia under Communism, A Calendar of Wisdom was Tolstoy's last major work, and one of his most popular both during and after his lifetime. This new translation by Roger Cockrell will offer today's generation of readers the chance to discover, day by day, these edifying and carefully selected pearls of wisdom.

Alma Classics is committed to make available the widest range of literature from around the globe. All the titles are provided with an extensive critical apparatus, extra reading material including a section of photographs and notes. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition (or collated from the most authoritative editions or manuscripts) and edited using a fresh, intelligent editorial approach. With an emphasis on the production, editorial and typographical values of a book, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading the classics.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a lonely, miserly old man who hates Christmas, which he dismisses as “humbug”. One Christmas Eve, however, he is visited by a series of ghosts who reveal to him the innocence he has lost, the wretchedness of his future and the poverty of the present, which he has so far ignored. This experience teaches Scrooge the true meaning of the holiday and leaves him a transformed man.

With its memorable cast of characters such as Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol is the most heart-warming of seasonal tales, a timeless classic that continues to enchant readers around the world and a lesson in charity and hopefulness that is as powerful today as when it was first written in 1843.

This eBook edition has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices.Dorothy Hare is the weak-willed daughter of a disagreeable widowed clergyman. Her father is Rector of Knype Hill, a small town in East Anglia. She keeps house for him, fends off creditors, visits parishioners and makes costumes for fund-raising events. Throughout she practises mortification of flesh to be true to her Christian faith. In the evening she is invited to dinner by Mr Warburton, Knype Hill's most disreputable resident, a middle-aged bachelor who is an unashamed lecher and atheist. He attempts to seduce Dorothy, having previously raped her on several occasions. As she leaves he forces another embrace on her and they are seen by Mrs Semprill, the village gossip and scandal-monger. Dorothy returns home to her conservatory late at night to work on the costumes. Dorothy is transposed to the Old Kent Road with amnesia. Eight days of her life are unaccounted for. She joins a group of vagrants, comprising a young man named Nobby and his two friends, who relieve her of her remaining half-crown and take her with them on a hop-picking expedition in Kent. Meanwhile, the rumour is spread by Mrs Semprill that Dorothy has eloped with Mr Warburton...

Against the backdrop of growing discontent in Paris, Doctor Manette is released from the Bastille after eighteen years of unjust imprisonment and begins a new life in England with his devoted daughter Lucie. There, the gifted but dissolute lawyer Sydney Carton and the exiled French nobleman Charles Darnay find their lives increasingly intertwined with those of the Manettes. Yet soon both men are drawn ineluctably from the peaceful English capital to the horror and bloodshed of the Paris Terror and the looming threat of the guillotine.

Representing a departure from the social satire of most of his other novels and deemed by Dickens himself to be “the best story I have written”, A Tale of Two Cities is a powerful historical novel about the repercussions of epochal events on the personal lives of people on both sides of the Channel.

Published to coincide with Alice in Wonderland's 150th anniversary, this volume includes John Tenniel's iconic engravings, the sequel Through the Looking Glass and a facsimile of Alice's Adventures Under Ground, the early manuscript version of the novel illustrated by Lewis Carroll himself. Originally conceived by its author as an entertaining story for Alice Liddell, the daughter of an Oxford dean, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the fantastic tale of the young Alice's encounters with the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, has captured the imaginations of young and old throughout the world since it was first published in 1865. In addition to the vivid and unforgettable characters, it is the book's experimental style, linguistic inventiveness and myriad of jokes and puzzles that account for the timeless fascination it inspires.

ABOUT THE SERIES: Alma Junior Classics series of illustrated classics includes some of the greatest books ever written for younger readers and new translations of unjustly neglected international works. Our aim is to give our list an international feel and offer young readers to opportunity to connect with other cultures and literatures this applies not only to the titles we chose but also to the illustrators we commission so that we can bring a bit of novelty into the canon of British children's literature. All children's classics contain extra material for young readers, including a profile of the author, a section on the book, a list of characters, a glossary and a test-yourself quiz.

Leo Tolstoy's most personal novel, Anna Karenina scrutinizes fundamental ethical and theological questions through the tragic story of its eponymous heroine. Anna is desperately pursuing a good, “moral” life, standing for honesty and sincerity. Passion drives her to adultery, and this flies in the face of the corrupt Russian bourgeoisie. Meanwhile, the aristocrat Konstantin Levin is struggling to reconcile reason with passion, espousing a Christian anarchism that Tolstoy himself believed in.

Acclaimed by critics and readers alike, Anna Karenina presents a poignant blend of realism and lyricism that makes it one of the most perfect, enduring novels of all time.

A battle of wits between the nimblest French thief and the shrewdest British detective

This volume contains two adventures which pit the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin against Sherlock Holmes, the world's most famous detective. In 'The Blonde Lady', Holmes must discover the identity of a mysterious female thief who is linked to Lupin, while in 'The Jewish Lamp' he finds out that the theft of a lamp containing a precious jewel conceals an astonishing secret.

While their tone is at times ironic and firmly tongue-in-cheek, the two stories in Arsène Lupin vs Sherlock Holmes bear all the hallmarks of classic detective fiction, and will put a smile on the lips and set the pulses racing of all fans of mystery and detective fiction.

The interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce has gone on for so long that it has become a subject of mirth in legal circles and a source of great profit to those professionally engaged in it. Held in its inexorable grip – along with a diverse cross section of mid-Victorian society, from baronets to crossing-sweepers – are two wards of court, Ada Clare and Richard Carstone, who, along with the selfless Esther Summerson, are taken in by the kindly philanthropist John Jarndyce, owner of the eponymous Bleak House. But as the legal machinery grinds mercilessly on, the quixotic but feckless Richard, determined to resolve the lawsuit once and for all, seems doomed to be crushed under its weight, while Esther uncovers a shocking mystery concerning her own past. Elsewhere, others are driven to ever more heinous acts, including blackmail – and even murder.

Part panoramic social satire and – with the introduction of the indefatigable police investigator Mr Bucket – part prototype of the detective genre, this dark, complex and intricately plotted book is considered by many to be both Dickens's greatest work and the finest novel of the Victorian age.

Tolstoy's first published work, completed in 1856, Childhood, Boyhood, Youth recounts his early life up to his university days. These are not memoirs in the strict sense of the word, as the author's Stendhalian take on the autobiographical genre confronts and blurs the notions of reality and imagination, combining nostalgic anecdote with frank personal assessment and philosophical extrapolation. An early display of Tolstoy's storytelling genius, written in his classically simple yet colourful language, these chronicles provide the reader with invaluable insight into the personal and literary development of one of the greatest writers of all time.

George Bowling, a forty-five-year-old insurance salesman with a wife and two children, is overweight, depressed and haunted by ever-present portents of imminent global conflict. Dreaming of escaping the staid suburban rut in which he has become embedded, he reminisces about his home town in Oxfordshire, Lower Binfield. But as he seeks refuge in the rural idyll of his treasured childhood memories, the rapacious forces of “progress” continue their relentless march, eventually forcing George to reflect on the folly of nostalgia and the impossibility of reliving the past.

By turns comic and melancholy, Orwell’s fourth novel – published in 1939 to critical and commercial acclaim by Victor Gollancz – is Wellsian in its exploration of the frustrations and helplessness of a lower-middle-class protagonist faced with the indifference of a rapidly changing world, and a vital record of a society on the verge of war.

Part of Alma George Orwell Collection to include 1984, Animal Farm, Burmese Days, Homage to Catalonia and Keep the Aspidistra Flying.

Alma Classics is committed to making available a wide range of literature from around the globe. Most of the titles are enriched by an extensive critical apparatus, notes and extra reading material, as well as a selection of photographs. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition and edited using a fresh, accessible editorial approach. With an emphasis on production, editorial and typographical values, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading classics.

In 2018, model Rosie Viva was arrested after a psychotic episode at Stansted Airport led to a full evacuation. Hospitalised and diagnosed with bipolar disorder, her life changed overnight.

In Completely Normal and Totally Fine, Rosie shares her powerful journey through mania, depression and recovery - navigating love, work, and identity while embracing a new normal. With honesty and heart, she sheds light on the realities of bipolar disorder and challenges the stigma around mental health, encouraging us all to speak more openly about our messy minds.


'Bursts with authenticity and warmth. A gift to anyone touched by bipolar.'
LEANNE TOSHIKO SIMPSON, AUTHOR OF NEVER BEEN BETTER

"A fittingly open and honest account of what happens when you lose your mind"
SERVICE95

Poverty-stricken and cut off from society, former law student Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov leads a desolate life in a dreary little room in St Petersburg. Having abandoned all hopes of sustaining himself through work, he now obsesses over the idea of changing his fortunes through an act of extreme violence: the killing of an elderly pawnbroker. His mind baulks at the horror of his plan, but when he hears that his sister Dunya is about to agree to a loveless marriage in order to escape the advances of her employer, his disgust for the world becomes unbounded, and his feelings of rebellion and revenge push him closer and closer to the edge of the precipice.

A masterpiece of psychological insight, Dostoevsky's 1866 novel features some of its author's most memorable characters – from the temperamental protagonist Raskolnikov to the amoral sensualist Svidrigailov and the immoral lawyer Luzhin. Presented here in a sparkling new translation by Roger Cockerell, Crime and Punishment is a towering work in nineteenth-century Russian fiction and a landmark of world literature.

One of the most famous and celebrated Victorian coming-of-age novels, David Copperfield charts the adventures and vicissitudes of its eponymous hero’s life, from the misery of his childhood after his mother’s marriage to the tyrannical Mr Murdstone, through to his first steps as a writer and his search for love and happiness. Along the way he encounters a vast array of gloriously vivid characters – many of whom number among the most memorable in literature – such as the eccentric aunt Betsey Trotwood, the eloquent debtor Wilkins Micawber and the obsequious villain Uriah Heep.

Replete with comedy and tragedy in equal measure, and cited by Dickens as “his favourite child”, this partially autobiographical work provides tantalizing glimpses into Dickens’s own childhood and remains one of the most enduringly popular novels in the English language.

Alma Classics Evergreens is a series of popular classics. All the titles in the series are provided with an extensive critical apparatus and extra reading material, including a section of photographs and notes. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition (or collated from the most authoritative editions or manuscripts) and edited using a fresh, intelligent editorial approach. With an emphasis on the production, editorial and typographical values of a book, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading the classics.

As ideological ferment grips Russia, a small group of revolutionaries, led by Pyotr Verkhovensky and inspired by Nikolai Stavrogin, plan to spread destruction and anarchy throughout the country. Morally bankrupt, they are prepared to use whatever means necessary to achieve their goal, including murder and incitement to suicide. But when they are forced to test the limits of their doctrine and kill one of their own to secure the secrecy of their mission, the ragtag group breaks up in mutual recrimination.
Devils is at once a compelling political statement and a study of atheism and its calamitous effect on a country that is teetering on the edge of an abyss. Seen as Dostoevsky's most powerful indictment of man's propensity to violence, this darkly humorous work, shot through with grotesque comedy, is presented here in Roger Cockrell's masterful new translation.

In late 1927, at the age of twenty-four, George Orwell relocated to a tiny flat on London’s Portobello Road, and from there embarked on a series of exploratory “tramping” expeditions to the city’s East End, then a place of great squalor and deprivation. Later he moved to Paris’s bohemian Latin Quarter, where, in early 1929, during a bout of serious illness, he was the victim of a robbery that left him in a state of near destitution, forcing him to work punishing hours in a series of menial jobs, including as a restaurant dishwasher. These real-life experiences laid the foundations for what would be the young writer’s first full-length work.

Populated by a troupe of colourful characters, replete with penetrating observations and cast in the limpid prose that would become Orwell’s hallmark, Down and Out in Paris and London – published by Victor Gollancz in 1933 – provides both an invaluable historical snapshot and an insight into the perennial social evils of inequality, poverty and alienation.

Alma Classics is committed to making available a wide range of literature from around the globe. Most of the titles are enriched by an extensive critical apparatus, notes and extra reading material, as well as a selection of photographs. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition and edited using a fresh, accessible editorial approach. With an emphasis on production, editorial and typographical values, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading classics.

Regarded as one of the most influential horror stories of all time and the inspiration for countless literary spin-offs, the tale of the young Englishman Jonathan Harker's journey into the very heart of Count Dracula's evil realm remains a compelling read to this day.

A thriller of hypnotic power, a dark exploration of human passion, mythology and the paranormal, and a plain old-fashioned masterpiece of storytelling, the nightmarish saga of Dracula is one of the enduring classics of supernatural fiction.

Part of Alma Classics Evergreens series, this new edition of Frankenstein contains pictures and an extensive section on Shelley's life and works. Since it was first published in 1818, Mary Shelley's seminal novel has generated countless print, stage and screen adaptations, but none has ever matched the power and philosophical resonance of the original. Composed as part of a challenge with Byron and Shelley to conjure up the most terrifying ghost story, Frankenstein narrates the chilling tale of a being created by a bright young scientist and the catastrophic consequences that ensue. Considered by many to be the first science-fiction novel, the tragic tale of Victor Frankenstein and the tortured creation he rejects is a classic fable about the pursuit of knowledge, the nature of beauty and the monstrosity inherent to man.

One of Dickens's very last writings, 'George Silverman's Explanation' is a dark and psychologically insightful investigation of failure and guilt. This volume also includes two other lesser-known pieces of fiction: the novella for children 'Holiday Romance' and the detective story 'Hunted Down'. After a traumatic early childhood spent living in poverty in a Preston cellar, the suddenly orphaned George Silverman grows up convinced that he is at fault for all the misfortunes in his life. Hoodwinked by hypocritical clergymen and exploited by his employer, he finds himself forsaking love and facing professional ruin. One of Dickens's very last writings, 'George Silverman's Explanation' is a dark and psychologically insightful investigation of failure and guilt. This volume also includes two other lesser-known pieces of fiction: the novella for children 'Holiday Romance' and the detective story 'Hunted Down'.

Alma Classics is committed to make available the widest range of literature from around the globe. All the titles are provided with an extensive critical apparatus, extra reading material including a section of photographs and notes. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition (or collated from the most authoritative editions or manuscripts) and edited using a fresh, intelligent editorial approach. With an emphasis on the production, editorial and typographical values of a book, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading the classics.

The pampered daughter of a wealthy Georgian plantation owner of Irish descent, sixteen-year-old Scarlett O’Hara soon realizes that young men can’t resist her charms, despite her forthright manners and her refusal to embrace her mother’s ladylike ways. Her romantic intrigues lead her to an early marriage, but when the war between the Union and the Southern States breaks out and she is left a young widow, Scarlett’s life is turned upside down, and she finds herself embroiled, together with the world surrounding her, in a long struggle for survival.

Both a coming-of-age tale and a historical epic, Gone with the Wind is regarded as one of the great American novels, and is perhaps one of the most popular stories in the Western canon. Famously inspiring the iconic 1939 Oscar-winning film starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett and Clark Gable as the rakish but cynical Rhett Butler, it is Margaret Mitchell’s only published novel, and a living testament to the irrepressible resilience of the American spirit.

ABOUT THE SERIES: Alma Classics Evergreens is a series of popular classics. All the titles in the series are provided with an extensive critical apparatus and extra reading material, including a section of photographs and notes. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition (or collated from the most authoritative editions or manuscripts) and edited using a fresh, intelligent editorial approach. With an emphasis on the production, editorial and typographical values of a book, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading the classics.

One of Dickens’s finest novels, Great Expectations chronicles the fortunes of its young protagonist Pip as he is unexpectedly endowed by a mysterious benefactor with the life of a gentleman, enabling him to escape to London from the prospect of a humble blacksmith’s career in rural Kent. In the bustling, unforgiving capital he must learn for himself the pitfalls of love and wealth, and how to sort his friends from his enemies.

Through the lives of its unforgettable and iconic characters – such as Magwitch, Miss Havisham and Estella – Great Expectations charts the course of an England undergoing rapid social and economic change, and tells a tale that is among the foremost classics of the English language.

Hadji Murat, one of the most feared and venerated mountain chiefs in the Caucasian struggle against the Russians, defects from the Muslim rebels after feuding with his ruling imam, Shamil. Hoping to protect his family, he joins the Russians, who accept him but never put their trust in him – and so Murat must find another way to end the struggle.

Tolstoy knew as he was writing this, his last work of fiction, that it would not be published in his lifetime, and so gave an uncompromising portrayal of the Russians' faults and the nature of the rebels' struggle. In the process, he shows a mastery of style and an understanding of Chechnya that still carries great resonance today.

In Hard Times, Dickens illustrates the condition of England through his depiction of the fictional northern city of Coketown. Among its inhabitants are Thomas Gradgrind, the utilitarian headmaster who attempts to impose his rigid worldview on his family circle, and the uncaring businessman Mr Bounderby. Their materialist philosophies, as opposed to the world of 'fancy', or imagination, are tested throughout the novel, which also explores workers' conditions in factories, trade unions and the spurious use of statistics. Perhaps the most polemical of his major novels - in which hard-biting satire, moving drama and exuberant comedy find a very succinct and powerful expression - Hard Times is possibly the best introduction to the world of Charles Dickens.

ABOUT THE SERIES: Alma Evergreens is a series of popular classics. All the titles in the series are provided with an extensive critical apparatus, extra reading material including a section of photographs and notes. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition (or collated from the most authoritative editions or manuscripts) and edited using a fresh, intelligent editorial approach. With an emphasis on the production, editorial and typographical values of a book, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading the classics.

New annotated edition of George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, a first-hand account of the brutal conditions of the Spanish Civil War. Here presented in its original version, as published by Secker & Warburg in 1938.

After travelling to Spain at the end of 1936 with the intention of working as a correspondent for a British socialist newspaper, thirty-three-year-old George Orwell decided to join the Republican efforts to overturn Franco's Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. Having enrolled in the POUM militias, the young writer was soon forced to experience first-hand the hardships and dangers of trench warfare, before becoming involved in the Barcelona May Day street fighting and nearly being killed by a bullet on his return to the front line. Orwell's initial idealistic dreams of a victorious fight against fascism were gradually tainted by doubt and disillusionment as the divisions and infighting within the Republican coalition became apparent.
Part war memoir, part tract, part expose, Homage to Catalonia is a pivotal work in Orwell's uvre, and a key to understanding his political ideas and commitment to the socialist cause. Rejected by Orwell's long-standing publisher, Gollancz, on political grounds, it is here presented in its original version, as published by Secker & Warburg in 1938.

First published in 1861, Humiliated and Insulted plunges the reader into a world of moral degradation, childhood trauma, unrequited love and irreconcil­able relationships. At the centre of the story are a young struggling author, an orphaned teenager and a depraved aristocrat, who not only foreshadows the great figures of evil in Dostoevsky's later fiction, but is a powerful and original presence in his own right.

This new translation catches the verve and tumult of the original, which – in concept and execution – affords a refreshingly unfamiliar glimpse of the author.

Despite hailing from a comfortable family background, budding poet Gordon Comstock decides to declare war on money and all the middle-class trappings that wealth can buy. Working in a small bookshop and living in a bedsit in London, he dreams of completing an ambitious poem in rhyme royal and devoting his life to literature. But when poverty begins to damage his self-esteem and taint his worldview, and his romantic and professional lives start falling apart, will Gordon be able to uphold his anti-money principles, or will he succumb to the lure of lucre and everything he stands against?

First published in 1936, Keep the Aspidistra Flying is the author’s third novel, and one of his most outspoken works of social criticism. Partly autobiographical, it sits alongside Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four as a reminder of Orwell’s lucid narrative style and his abilities as a politically and socially engaged writer.

This edition is enriched by an extensive critical apparatus, almost 300 notes and extra reading material.

If you enjoyed reading Keep the Aspidistra Flying, you can try reading Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, both included in Alma Classics Evergreens series.

ABOUT THE SERIES: Alma Classics Evergreens is a series of popular classics. All the titles in the series are provided with an extensive critical apparatus and extra reading material, including a section of photographs and notes. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition (or collated from the most authoritative editions or manuscripts) and edited using a fresh, intelligent editorial approach. With an emphasis on the production, editorial and typographical values of a book, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading the classics.

Published in the Christmas edition of Charles Dickens's magazine All the Year Round, Mugby Junction is the spellbinding result of a literary collaboration between some of the leading writers of the day, and contains four unforgettable contributions by Dickens himself, including 'The Signalman' – a chilling tale of a spectral apparition whose appearances forebode fatal accidents on the line.

The eight stories included in this volume range from the hilarious to the hair-raising, and not only remain as fresh today as when they first appeared in 1866, but stand as a testament to the versatility and exuberance of Dickens's unrivalled genius.
Includes: 'Barbox Brothers', 'Barbox Brothers and Co.', 'Main Line: The Boy at Mugby' and 'No. 1 Branch Line: The Signalman' by Charles Dickens, 'No. 2 Branch Line: The Engine Driver' by Andrew Halliday, 'No. 3 Branch Line: The Compensation House' by Charles Collins, 'No. 4 Branch Line: The Travelling Post-Office' by Hesba Stretton and 'No. 5 Branch Line: The Engineer' by Amelia B. Edwards

From award-winning author Neil Gaiman comes this collector's edition box set, which contains paperback editions of three of his bestselling novels: The Graveyard Book, Coraline, and Fortunately, The Milk.

Each book in this set is illustrated in trademark inspired, hilarious and moving style by acclaimed artist Chris RIddell, Children's Laureate and two-time winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal.

From the creepy mists of the strange house in Coraline to the laugh-out-loud hilarity of Fortunately, the Milk, this box set is guaranteed to delight children and adults alike.

The Graveyard Book:
Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, raised and educated by ghosts. There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard. But it is in the land of the living that the real danger lurks, for it is there that the man Jack lives…

Coraline:
There is something strange about Coraline's new home. It's not the mist, or the cat that always seems to be watching her. It's the other house. Another mother and father with black-button eyes are waiting for Coraline to join them there. And they want her to stay with them. For ever...

Fortunately, the Milk:
Mum's away. Dad's in charge. There's no milk. So Dad saves the day by going to buy some. Really, that's all that happens. Very boring. There are absolutely NO aliens, pirates, or intergalactic police inside. And most definitely NOT a time-travelling hot-air balloon piloted by the brilliant dinosaur scientist Professor Steg...

The unnamed narrator of the novel, a former government official, has decided to retire from the world and lead a life of inactivity and contemplation. His fiercely bitter, cynical and witty monologue ranges from general observations and philosophical musings to memorable scenes from his own life, including his obsessive plans to exact revenge on an officer who has shown him disrespect and a dramatic encounter with a prostitute.

Seen by many as the first existentialist novel and showcasing the best of Dostoevsky's dry humour, Notes from Underground was a pivotal moment in the development of modern literature and has inspired countless novelists, thinkers and film-makers.

Charles Dickens’s second novel is the tale of a young orphan who faces the gruelling conditions of a Victorian workhouse before finding himself sucked into the criminal underworld of London. Teeming with unforgettable characters such as the villainous Fagin, the virtuous Nancy and the brutal Bill Sikes, Oliver Twist combines dark humour, elements of melodrama and social polemic.

At once a ferocious indictment of the author’s era and a timeless story of coming of age, this classic has enthralled readers and inspired countless adaptations and imitations since it was first published in 1838.

In the summer of 1844, taking a break from novel-writing, the thirty-two-year-old Charles Dickens embarked on a journey to Italy with his wife, his five children and his young sister-in-law. Struck by the scenery and the rapid diorama of monuments and novelties around him, the celebrated author of Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol captured his experiences and impressions in vivid detail. The result is a travelogue like no other, written by one of the finest writers of all time.

Presented as a series of letters between the humble copying clerk Devushkin and a distant relative of his, the young Varenka, Poor People brings to the fore the underclass of St Petersburg, who live at the margins of society in the most appalling conditions and abject poverty. As Devushkin tries to help Varenka improve her plight by selling anything he can, he is reduced to even more desperate circumstances and seeks refuge in alcohol, looking on helplessly as the object of his impossible love is taken away from him. Introducing the first in a long line of underground characters, Poor People, Dostoevsky's first full-length work of fiction, is a poignant, tragi-comic tale which foreshadows the greatness of his later novels.

When the publishers of the Pickwick Papers, Chapman & Hall, brought out the anonymous 'Sketches of Young Ladies' in 1837, their resounding success prompted the twenty-six-year old Dickens to write, the following year, a companion piece, the 'Sketches of Young Gentlemen', followed two years later – to coincide with the engagement of Princess Victoria and Prince Albert – by the 'Sketches of Young Couples'.

First published in a single volume in 1843, and including the iconic original engravings by Phiz, these satirical portraits not only reveal the dazzling brilliance of young Dickens's genius, but also offer a humorous glimpse into Victorian mores and attitudes.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets are among the most lyrical and moving pieces of poetry in any language, abounding with examples of his genius for wordplay, rhythm and metaphor and dealing with the eternal themes of love, memory, beauty and the ravishes of time. First published in 1609, after Shakespeare had written many of his most famous works, the Sonnets have been the subject of literary curiosity ever since, mainly concerning the identity of the two addressees, “Mr W.H.” and the “Dark Lady”, and the light they could shine on Shakespeare’s life.

This collection constitutes one of English literature’s most profound poetic meditations on life and love, and is a vital complement to the plays, offering clues to Shakespeare’s own biography. Presented here in an annotated edition that makes them accessible to twentieth-century readers, these poems are worth returning to again and again.

If you enjoyed Sonnets by Shakespeare, we recommend The Portrait of Mr W.H. by Oscar Wilde and Is Shakespeare Dead by Mark Twain as a companion pieces.

Alma Classics is committed to making available a wide range of literature from around the globe. Most of the titles are enriched by an extensive critical apparatus, notes and extra reading material, as well as a selection of photographs. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition and edited using a fresh, accessible editorial approach. With an emphasis on production, editorial and typographical values, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading classics.

Charles Dickens wrote a number of supernatural and horror stories, some of which were included in his longer works, while others were published in magazines. This collection gathers them together in one volume, providing an invaluable insight into the author's storytelling apprenticeship and his steady growth towards excellence. As well as offering a further dimension to the world of his better-known masterpieces, these tales, from "A Madman's Manuscript" to "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton" to the celebrated "The Signalman," illustrate Dickens's well-known love of a spooky story told around a blazing fire, the pastime of a bygone age to be rediscovered for our own delight.

Among Dostoevsky's later novels, The Adolescent occupies a very special place: published three years after The Devils and five years before his final masterpiece, The Karamazov Brothers, the novel charts the story of nineteen-year-old Arkady – the illegitimate son of the landowner Versilov and the maid Sofia Andreyevna – as he struggles to find his place in society and “become a Rothschild” against the background of 1870s Russia, a nation still tethered to its old systems and values but shaken up by the new ideological currents of socialism and nihilism.

Both a Bildungsroman and a novel of ideas, dealing with themes such as the relationship between fathers and sons and the role of money in modern society, The Adolescent – here presented in a brand-new translation by Dora O'Brien – shows Dostoevsky at his finest as a social commentator and observer of the workings of a young man's mind.

From his Baker Street apartment, Sherlock Holmes wields his powers of deduction in pursuit of justice and truth, venturing out into foggy Victorian London accompanied by his faithful sidekick Dr Watson. This classic collection of Holmes tales includes many of the detective's most-loved exploits: Holmes is confronted by a venomous snake in 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band', mystified by a missing thumb in 'The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb' and beguiled by a beautiful opera singer in 'A Scandal in Bohemia', never once losing his famous cool.

First appearing separately in the Strand Magazine, these stories were published together in 1892 in a volume that rapidly became one of the most popular Sherlock Holmes collections. Showcasing Arthur Conan Doyle's inimitable genius for mystery and storytelling, these tales are proof that the famous detective remains one of the greatest crime fighters ever created.

Once again the eminent detective is presented with a series of seemingly impenetrable cases: an anonymous but illustrious client employs him to rescue the daughter of a famous personage from the clutches of a roguish aristocrat and suspected murderer; a retired art-supply dealer asks him to investigate the suspicious disappearance of his wife with a neighbour and a stash of money; a veteran of the Boer War appeals to him to track down a missing friend; a man has become convinced that his wife has been sucking their baby son's blood. Will the most famous of sleuths be persuaded to offer his services and set off in pursuit of the criminals?

The final collection of Holmes adventures, containing twelve brilliant, unpredictable stories, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes is a fitting conclusion to its protagonist's long career and a powerful send-off for Conan Doyle's greatest creation.

The judge Ivan Ilyich Golovin has spent his life in the pursuit of wealth and status, devoting himself obsessively to work and often neglecting his family in the process. When, after a small accident, he fails to make the expected recovery, it gradually becomes clear that he is soon to die. Ivan Ilyich then starts to question the futility and barrenness of his previous existence, realizing to his horror, as he grapples with the meaning of life and death, that he is totally alone.

Included in this volume is another celebrated novella by Tolstoy, The Devil, which addresses the conflicts between desire, social norms and personal conscience, providing at the same time a further exploration of human fear and obsession.

Constantly rebuffed from the social circles he aspires to frequent, the timid clerk Golyadkin is confronted by the sudden appearance of his double, a more brazen, confident and socially successful version of himself, who abuses and victimizes the original. As he is increasingly persecuted, Golyadkin finds his social, romantic and professional life unravelling, in a spiral that leads to a catastrophic denouement.

The Double, Dostoevsky's second published work of fiction, which foreshadows in its themes many of his mature novels, is the surreal and hallucinatory tale of an unfortunate anti-hero, at once chilling in its depiction of the dark sides of human nature and exuberantly comical.

During a stifling St Petersburg summer, the rich landowner Velchaninov is haunted by the figure of a man he keeps glimpsing in the street. When he receives a surprise visit from him late at night, he realizes he is an old friend, Trusotsky, whose late wife, Natalya, was his secret lover. As the two men renew their acquaintance, Velchaninov becomes aware that Trusotsky's child is, in fact, his own daughter. From then on, the destinies of the two old friends become intertwined as they engage – at turns repelled and attracted by each other – in a dangerous game of cat and mouse that will lead to a final dramatic confrontation.

Compelling, gripping, darkly humorous, The Eternal Husband – composed by the author at the peak of his writing powers, between The Idiot and Devils, and described by Dostoevsky's biographer Joseph Frank as “a small masterpiece” – shows Dostoevsky at his best as a ruthless dissector of the quirks and foibles of the human character.

In order to repay a small debt, the young student Mitya is persuaded by a friend to falsify a bank bond and cash it in. Little does he suspect that this small misdemeanour will have a profound impact on the lives of many other people around him - indirectly even leading to the gravest of crimes. This in turn sets off a long journey towards redemption and rehabilitation.

Published only in 1911, after Tolstoy's death, The Forged Coupon examines the deep, unpredictable consequences of every human act, revealing the Russian master's moral preoccupations in the last years of his life, as well as his rejection of Christianity's simplistic division between good and evil.

Alma Classics is committed to make available the widest range of literature from around the globe. All the titles are provided with an extensive critical apparatus, extra reading material including a section of photographs and notes. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition (or collated from the most authoritative editions or manuscripts) and edited using a fresh, intelligent editorial approach. With an emphasis on the production, editorial and typographical values of a book, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading the classics.

Inspired by Dostoevsky's own gambling addiction and written under pressure in order to pay off his creditors and retain his rights to his literary legacy, The Gambler is set in the casino of the fictional German spa town of Roulettenburg and follows the misfortunes of the young tutor Alexei Ivanovich. As he succumbs to the temptations of the roulette table, he finds himself engaged in a battle of wills with Polina, the woman he unrequitedly loves.

With an unforgettable cast of fellow gamblers and figures from European high society, this darkly comic novel of greed and self-destruction reveals Dostoevsky at his satirical and psychological best.

Having moved into an abandoned haunted house, the narrator, undaunted by the warnings of the locals, invites a party of friends over; on Twelfth Night he and his guests gather together, and relate the supernatural experiences they have had. The resulting ghost stories thrill, shock and amuse by turns.

For this work, commissioned for his periodical All the Year Round, Dickens enlisted some of the era's most famous writers, including Elizabeth Gaskell and Wilkie Collins, to collaborate with him on this Victorian supernatural classic.

A gorgeous new edition of the Hogwarts Library containing three much loved classics – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages and The Tales of Beedle the Bard – from the wizarding world. These handsome hardback editions feature stunning jacket art by Jonny Duddle and beautiful interior illustrations by Tomislav Tomic – they are irresistible reading for all Harry Potter fans, wizards and Muggles. A treasure trove of magical facts and fairy tales, the Hogwarts Library is an essential companion to the Harry Potter series. This set includes the updated edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which features a new foreword from J.K. Rowling (writing as Newt Scamander) and six new beasts!

This gorgeous new paperback edition of the Hogwarts Library brings together three much loved classics from the Wizarding World - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Each handsome paperback features stunning colour art by Jonny Duddle and beautiful interior line illustrations by Tomislav Tomic.

A treasure trove of magical facts and fairytales, the Hogwarts Library is an essential companion to the Harry Potter series, illuminating everything from the origins of the Golden Snitch to the curious habits of Nifflers and the haunting Tale of the Three Brothers. Required reading in every wizarding household, these are a delight for both wizards and Muggles alike.

This set includes the updated edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which features a foreword from J.K. Rowling (writing as acclaimed Magizoologist Newt Scamander) and six new beasts!

The House of the Dead recounts the story of Alexander Goryanchikov, a gentleman who is sent to a prison colony in Siberia for killing his wife. Largely ignored at first by his fellow inmates due to his noble blood, he gradually settles in and becomes an avid observer of the new world around him – watching his fellow prisoners being brutally and cruelly punished by the guards, listening to their past stories of blood and murder, assimilating the institution's social codes and learning that even convicts are capable of acts of pure generosity.

Based on Dostoevsky's own autobiographical experiences of penal servitude in Siberia, this genre-defying novel is not only an unflinching exposé of the conditions faced by prisoners during the Tsarist period, but also a call to see the human side in criminals and rediscover the values of forgiveness and compassion.

After spending several years in a sanatorium recovering from an illness that caused him to lose his memory and ability to reason, Prince Myshkin arrives in St Petersburg and is at once confronted with the stark realities of life in the Russian capital – from greed, murder and nihilism to passion, vanity and love. Mocked for his childlike naivety yet valued for his openness and understanding, Prince Myshkin finds himself entangled with two women in a position he cannot bring himself to resolve.

Dostoevsky, who wrote that in the character of Prince Myshkin he hoped to portray a “wholly virtuous man”, shows the workings of the human mind and our relationships with others in all their complex and contradictory nature. Populated by an unforgettable cast of characters, from the beautiful, self-destructive Nastasya Filippovna to the dangerously obsessed Rogozhin and the radical student Ippolit, The Idiot is one of Dostoevsky's most personal and intense works of fiction.

On a train journey, Pozdnyshev tells his story to a stranger: how his relationship with his wife gradually deteriorated from one of love and passion to jealousy and resentfulness, culminating in a mad act of desperation while she practised Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata with her violin teacher.

An uncompromising examination of lust, suspicion and infidelity which was once forbidden by censors in Russia and banned in the US due to its shocking content, Tolstoy's controversial novella – here presented in a new translation, along with 'The Prisoner of the Caucasus', 'Master and Man' and 'After the Ball' – is now considered one of the masterpieces of Tolstoy's late period.

Under the pseudonyms of Francis Goodchild and Thomas Idle, Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins set off on a walking tour of the north-west of England, reporting back on their adventures for Dickens's magazine Household Words. A unique insight into the friendship of two of the towering figures of Victorian literature, and featuring a pair of chilling ghost stories from the leading exponents of the genre, The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices is a charming evocation of the adventures they experienced on their trip and the gently mocking nature of their relationship.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The 101 Pages series has been created with the aim of redefining and enriching the classics canon by promoting unjustly neglected works of enduring significance. These texts have been treated with a fresh editorial approach, and are presented in an elegantly designed format.

With Sherlock Holmes's reputation as the scourge of the criminal underworld preceding him, the ingenious detective, with the aid of Dr Watson, is confronted in these stories by some of his most fiendishly difficult cases yet.

The collection culminates in 'The Final Problem', in which the evil Professor Moriarty is plotting the detective's downfall. Soon Holmes and Watson are led across Europe in a deadly pursuit of their devilish quarry, until the final showdown in Switzerland, at the precipitous Reichenbach Falls…

The Mudfog Papers, a collection of sketches by Dickens published in Bentley’s Miscellany between 1837 and 1838, describes the local politics of the fictional town of Mudfog – such as the delusions of grandeur of its mayor Nicholas Tulrumble and his disastrous attempts at putting on a public show – and the meetings of its Society for the Advancement of Everything, during which the town is overrun by illustrious scientists and professors conducting ostensibly pointless research.

Written at the same time as Oliver Twist – indeed the serialized version of the novel referred to Mudfog as the protagonist’s home town – The Mudfog Papers lampoons all manner of journalistic and scientific writing of the time and showcases the young Dickens at his satirical best.

The beautiful Nell is a thirteen-year-old orphan who lives with her grandfather in a London bric-a-brac shop. Worried about his charge's future, the old man secretly gambles at night in order to provide an inheritance for her, but finally loses the little he has and is evicted from the shop by the evil hunchback and loan shark Daniel Quilp, suffering a breakdown as a result. Forced to leave the city, the young girl is left to take care of her grandfather and protect herself from the scheming villains who are hot on their heels.
Dickens's fourth novel, initially serialized in his magazine Master Humphrey's Clock between 1840 and 1841, The Old Curiosity Shop proved to be a huge hit on publication and is still regarded as one of its author's major works, featuring one of his best-loved and most memorable heroines.

A rich and varied array of stories and vignettes, The Pickwick Papers is based around the investigations of the Corresponding Society of the Pickwick Club, consisting of its founder Mr Samuel Pickwick and Messrs Tracy Tupman, Augustus Snodgrass and Nathaniel Winkle, who travel around the country and then report back to the club concerning their extraordinary adventures and experiences.

Dickens's first novel, The Pickwick Papers was an immediate success and caught the public imagination in a manner that few debuts have ever matched. Replete with colorful characters, fantastical anecdotes and a farcical plot, it catapulted its twenty-four-year-old author to literary stardom, and is widely considered to be one of the great comic masterpieces of nineteenth-century literature.

“Holmes!” I cried. “Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss?”

London's criminal underworld has risen once again, and a dangerous individual with an air gun is prowling the streets. The capital is in greater need of its protector Sherlock Holmes than ever.

Three years have passed since Holmes and the evil mastermind Professor Moriarty fell, locked in combat, into the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, and when Doctor Watson collides with an odd-looking old book collector in the street, little does he know that the world's greatest detective is about to return…

George Orwell, the author of "1984" and "Animal Farm" and the prophet of dystopia, was always a staunch socialist throughout his life. This may confuse today's readers who do not understand the changes in the political spectrum, but for Orwell, this was a natural choice.
In the 1930s, commissioned by a left-wing book club, Orwell went to the industrial areas of northern England to investigate and record the real situation of the working class. Orwell did more than just investigate; he went down to the deepest part of the mine, lived in dilapidated and filthy workers' houses, and used the tip of his pen to vividly reveal every aspect of the coal miners' lives. Reading today, 80 years later, Still shockingly true. The despair and poverty conveyed by this picture have a terrifying power that transcends time and national boundaries. At the same time, the Road to Wigan Pier is also Orwell's road to socialism as he examines his own inner self. Born in the British middle class, he recalled how he gradually began to doubt and then hate the strict class barriers that divided British society at that time. Because in his mind, socialism ultimately means only one "justice and freedom."

Presented in a new translation by Roger Cockrell, The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants was originally conceived as a play and first published in 1859, shortly after the author's release from forced military service. Gogolian in style and tone, and waspish in its description of the villainous Opiskin, it is a sustained exercise in caricatural cruelty and a comedic tour de force.

The young Sergei is summoned from St Petersburg by his uncle, the retired colonel Yegor Rostanev, to the remote country estate of Stepanchikovo. Rostanev's household, populated by a medley of remarkable characters, is dominated by the figure of Foma Opiskin, a devious, manipulative hanger-on who has everyone in thrall and plots to marry the colonel to the woman of his choice, Tatyana Ivanova. When Opiskin finds that his plans are being thwarted, a confrontation with Rostanev ensues, and all hell is let loose.

One of Tolstoy's last published works of fiction, The Devil revolves around the young landowner Yevgeny's irrepressible lust for Stepanida, a sensual peasant woman. Even when he gets married to a respectable upper-class lady, he finds himself unable to put an end to his encounters with Stepanida, and becomes increasingly consumed by guilt and helplessness in the face of his urges.

In some ways comparable to the controversial Kreutzer Sonata, The Devil shows Tolstoy at his most salacious, and addresses the conflicts between desire, social norms and personal conscience. Also included in this volume is Family Happiness, one of Tolstoy's earliest works, an entertaining and cynical account of marriage from the perspective of a disillusioned wife, and A Landowner's Morning.

The small town of Mordasov is all abuzz at the arrival of Prince K-, a wealthy, ageing landowner, after an absence of several years. Maria Alexandrovna Moskalyova, a local gossip and fearsome schemer, decides that he would be an advantageous match for her daughter Zina. But in her endeavours to make such a union come about, she must contend with rival matchmakers and Zina's wilfulness.

Written soon after Dostoevsky was released from the prison camp that inspired The House of the Dead, Uncle's Dream shares very little of that novel's gloomy tone and contains many elements of a light, drawing-room farce. Beneath the surface, however, lies a sharply satirical voice which looks ahead in part to later novels such as Devils.

In June 1862, Dostoevsky left Petersburg on his first excursion to Western Europe. Ostensibly making the trip to consult Western specialists about his epilepsy, he also wished to see firsthand the source of the Western ideas he believed were corrupting Russia. Over the course of his journey he visited a number of major cities, including Berlin, Paris, London, Florence, Milan, and Vienna. His impressions on what he saw, "Winter Notes on Summer Impressions", were first published in the February 1863 issue of Vremya (Time), the periodical he edited.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

Dr Jekyll is a good person. He is nice, and he has lots of friends. But Mr Hyde is a bad person. He walks in the streets of London at night and does bad things. Why are the two men friends?

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

Little Women is the story of a poor American family in the American Civil War. The four sisters, Beth, Jo, Meg and Amy are very different. But together they work hard and help their mother and father. Sometimes their lives are very happy, and sometimes they are very sad. But the family's love always helps them.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

An American family buy Canterville Hall - a house with a ghost. But the ghost is not happy because it cannot frighten the family.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

In 1897, people found gold in the Klondike, Canada. Thousands of people traveled there to find more gold. They needed big, strong dogs to work for them. This is the story of one of those dogs, Buck. A man takes him from his family in California, and Buck has to pull a sled in Canada. Will he survive?

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Ghost Stories, a Level 3 Reader, is A2 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to three clauses, introducing first conditional, past continuous and present perfect simple for general experience. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear on most pages.

A strange whistle, a dangerous curse, a buried crown and a hotel without a room 13. Don't read these four frightening ghost stories by M.R. James late at night!

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.


Everybody wants to know Jay Gatsby. He is handsome and very rich. He owns a big house, and he has wonderful parties there. But after the music and dancing, does anybody really know who Jay Gatsby is? This is a story of love, money, and secrets.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

Emma Woodhouse is beautiful, clever and rich, and she has everything she wants. She does not want a husband for herself, but she loves match-making for her friends. But is Emma really as clever as she thinks? And what will she do when things start to go wrong?

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

David Copperfield lives happily with his mother and his nurse, Peggotty. Then his mother marries Mr Murdstone, and he and his sister come to live with them. Suddenly everything changes . .

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

Victor Frankenstein wants to make his own creature from stolen body parts. But when the creature is finished, Frankenstein is shocked by his creation and runs away. Lonely and angry, the creature plans to kill his maker and all the people that Frankenstein loves.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Sense and Sensibility, a Level 5 Reader, is B1 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing present perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech and second conditional. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly.

Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are sisters. After the death of their father and losing their home and money, they have to move to a small cottage across the country. There, both their lives completely change.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

It is winter in Yorkshire, England. A man rides through the snow to visit a house called Wuthering Heights. While there, the man learns about Catherine, who lived in the house years before. Catherine's story of love and sadness still affects the lives of those in the present.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

Oliver Twist's parents are dead and he grows up in the workhouse, where life is very hard. One day Oliver runs away to London. There, he enters a life of crime with the old man Fagin, the Artful Dodger, frightening Bill Sykes and kind-hearted Nancy. How will Oliver live in this dangerous world?

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.


Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

The world is a wonderful place to a brave wolf cub, as his mother teaches him all about nature. But then he meets humans. They call him White Fang, and take him away from the wild. Can he learn their ways to survive, and at what cost to himself?

This ELT Graded Reader is made for people learning English as an additional language. The short, simple text is also perfect for anyone looking for an easier read. It is an adapted version of the original story.

In this story Winston Smith re-writes history for the Ministry of Truth in Oceania. Big Brother and the Thought Police watch everyone for signs of Thought Crime. But when Winston falls in love with Julia, he begins to have new ideas and hopes. Winston and Julia start to question the world that they live in - but Big Brother does not like independent thought.

Our Penguin Readers books include:

• Simple text (CEFR-levelled)
• Pictures to help you understand the story
• Fun exercises to help you learn and practise English

With the print book, you can get even more help online:

• Read the book online
• Listen to the book being read out loud
• Get lesson plans for teachers
• Find answers to check your understanding

Note: online resources not available with the eBook.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

Being an original thinker can change the world. Learn how to recognize a great idea, to speak up for yourself, to choose the right time to act, and to manage fear and doubt by standing out from the crowd.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

There is no sun this morning. It is not here. It is sad for Juliet and her Romeo.
Romeo loves Juliet and Juliet loves Romeo. But their families are enemies and they cannot marry.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

Sir Charles Baskerville is dead. Did the hound of the Baskervilles kill him? Can Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson stop the hound from killing again?

A stunning new gift edition of The Snowman, re-imagined by beloved author Michael Morpurgo for a whole new generation of readers - now with beautiful full-colour illustrations.

One December morning, James is thrilled to wake up to see snow falling.

He spends the whole day making his perfect snowman; he has coal eyes, an old green hat and scarf and a tangerine nose... just like the snowman from his favourite story.

That night, something magical happens - the Snowman comes to life!

He and James take to the skies on a magical adventure where they meet someone very special.

Inspired by the timeless tale, Michael Morpurgo and Robin Shaw have created the perfect story for the whole family to share together as a new Christmas tradition.

Also available for 0-6yrs:
The Snowman - the classic wordless picture book by Raymond Briggs
The Snowman: Book of the Film - a picture book based on the classic film
The Snowman and the Snowdog - a picture book based on the classic film sequel

Praise for The Snowman:

'In Raymond Briggs' story, a boy's dream comes true. Somehow, Michael Morpurgo makes Briggs' story come true. . . it has all the wonder of reading The Snowman for the first time.' - Colin Firth

'If anyone was going to give words to this classic, it had to be Morpurgo. A perfect book, perfect story, perfectly told.' - Angels & Urchins

'The Snowman by Michael Morpurgo not only brings a much-loved tale to a new audience, it brings with it an extra layer of festive magic. We predict this book will fast become as much a part of every family Christmas as snuggling down with a hot chocolate to catch the classic animation on TV.' - JUNIOR magazine