Showing results by narrator "David Thorn"

Edith Nesbit re-tells the stories of William Shakespeare's plays, making them accessible to children, while evoking the drama and excitement of the originals.

Based on historical fact, full of intrigue and chivalry at a time when Normandy was not part of France, this is the romantic childhood history of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy. After his father was assassinated, when he was just nine years old, he is kidnapped and imprisoned by Louis of France, who wanted to annex Normandy. But thanks to the bravery and daring of Richard's loyal squire and knight, Osmond de Centeville, he makes good his escape.

American author Howard Pyle (who also wrote The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood) weaves the tales of chivalrous knights, the magic sword of Excalibur, the magician Merlin the Wise, and the legendary Arthur, later to become King of Britain. Pyle describes bouts of jousting and knightly jealousies played out in grand style.

Here are American author Howard Pyle's exciting and hilarious tales of Robin Hood and his merry band of outlaws, who reigned over Sherwood Forest doing many good deeds for the poor - and deserved misdeeds to the pompous and haughty rich.

Wodehouse introduces us once again to the "wonder butler" Jeeves, who, as usual is able to solve any and all of Bertie Wooster's endless problems with ease and finesse. And he also introduces us to a character not dissimilar to Bertie . . . by name of Reggie. Such fun to follow Jeeves in the hijinks!

Published after his death, Dickens brilliantly brings to life a broad cast of colorful characters in the never solved mysterious disappearance of one Edwin Drood, all set in the rural hamlet of Cloisterham around the Cathedral close. Against a background of opium dens, nocturnal graveyard visits, and moldering monastic crypts, Dickens weaves a tightly knit plot centered on the ominous disappearance of young Edwin Drood.

Ms. Christie introduces us for the first time to Hercule Poirot as he solves the mysterious demise of Mrs. Alfred Inglethorpe at her country estate, Styles Court. Many suspects come under his scrutiny but it is his genius to unravel all the intricacies and end up solving the crime in a very surprising ending.

Returning to her hometown after the funeral of her parents, writer Erica Falck finds a community on the brink of tragedy. The death of her childhood friend, Alex, is just the beginning. Her wrists slashed, her body frozen in an ice cold bath, it seems that she has taken her own life. Erica conceives a memoir about the beautiful but remote Alex, one that will answer questions about their lost friendship. While her interest grows to an obsession, local detective Patrik Hedstrom is following his own suspicions about the case.

From quarks to computing, this fascinating introduction covers every element of the quantum world in clear and accessible language. Drawing on a wealth of expertise to explain just what a fascinating field quantum physics is, Rae points out that it is not simply a maze of technical jargon and philosophical ideas, but a reality which affects our daily lives.

Since publication in 1908, The Wind in the Willows has established itself as one of the most popular children's books ever written. The animals Rat, Toad, Mole, Badger, and many more share their trials and tribulations as well as joys as they progress through the seasons of the year. The magical fantasy of their journeys starts on the river bank and goes to the heights of Toad Hall, a truly fine mansion of many secret passages. All children will delight and be taken away on the wings of imagination.

Entertaining stories of nature with a moral lesson thrown in for good measure are fun as well as thought provoking. Children will be enthralled with the intimate look into the lives of the woodland creatures and their way of life. Subtleness in making a moral point is always a strength in Ms. Gatty’s stories.

In the fishing community of Fjällbacka, life is remote, peaceful—and for some, tragically short. Foul play was always suspected in the disappearance 20 years ago of two young holidaymakers in the area. Now a young boy out playing has confirmed this grim truth. Their remains, discovered with those of a fresh victim, send the town into shock. Local detective Patrik Hedstrom, expecting a baby with his girlfriend Erica, can only imagine what it is like to lose a child.

The colorful Cossack way of life is made alive and real in this historical novel.

Tolstoy's first novel and acknowledged as one of his best, it is based on his own forays into the Caucasus, abandoning his aristocrat life of gambling and carousing in Moscow and volunteering to be attached to the regular army.

Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End is the first novel in a trilogy that is the defining account of the unsolved assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme in 1986 that still haunts the collective Swedish memory. Beginning with the death of an unknown American citizen in Stockholm, Persson slowly unravels the complex web of international espionage, greed, sheer incompetence and a poorly constructed Swedish intelligence force, that in this fiction lead to the murder of the Prime Minister.

After their fateful adventure in China, Captain Will Laurence of His Majesty's Aerial Corps and his extraordinary dragon, Temeraire, are waylaid by a mysterious envoy bearing urgent new orders from Britain. Three valuable dragon eggs have been purchased from the Ottoman Empire, and Laurence and Temeraire must detour to Istanbul to escort the precious cargo back to England. Time is of the essence if the eggs are to be borne home before hatching.

The ubiquitous butler, Jeeves, comes to the rescue of his new master, Bertie Wooster, from a fate worse than death, so they say. And in the second tale, poor Bertie is summarily dispatched to New York, by an overbearing aunt, to extract his cousin from an amorous affair with a vaudeville artiste! How absolutely dreadful! Jeeves’ managing of affairs offers such wonderful amusing stories that make us laugh and enjoy his ingenuity to the fullest.

Through twenty-two connected short stories, Sherwood Anderson looks into the lives of the inhabitants of a small town in the American heartland. These psychological portraits of the sensitive and imaginative of Winesburg’s population are seen through the eyes of a young reporter-narrator, George Willard. Their stories are about loneliness and alienation, passion and virginity, wealth and poverty, thrift and profligacy, carelessness and abandon.

Halli Sveinsson has grown up in the House of Svein, listening to the legends of the heroes as all his forefathers did. His is a peaceful society where the violence of the past has been outlawed and disputes are settled by the Council. But young Halli has never quite seemed to fit in with the others. For starters, he was not at all handsome or tall, like his attractive blond siblings. He's stumpy and swarthy, with a quick mind and aptitude for getting in trouble.

Ernest Seton's stories reach, inside the animals he writes about in telling their stories. He gives us a greater understanding of their lives on planet earth. Adventure, comedy and sadness all intertwine to make these stories hard to put down until the last word...

When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo - an unhatched dragon egg - fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle.