Welsh Fiction

April 1284. As a newly widowed lady-in-waiting to the very pregnant Queen Eleanor of England, Catrin never expected to return to Wales again. She was definitely unprepared to be confronted with murder when she got there - or to find herself face-to-face with Rhys, the childhood friend she lost 20 years before. Rhys had never intended to return home either, but a lifetime of war has deposited him right back where he started - impoverished and owing service to Catrin's older brother.

April 1284. As a newly widowed lady-in-waiting to the very pregnant Queen Eleanor of England, Catrin never expected to return to Wales again. She was definitely unprepared to be confronted with murder when she got there-or to find herself face-to-face with Rhys, the childhood friend she lost twenty years before. Rhys had never intended to return home either, but a lifetime of war has deposited him right back where he started-impoverished and owing service to Catrin's older brother.

Sarah Gilchrist has fled London and a troubled past to join the University of Edinburgh's medical school in 1892, the first year it admits women. She is determined to become a doctor despite the misgivings of her family and society, but Sarah quickly finds plenty of barriers at school itself: professors who refuse to teach their new pupils, male students determined to force out their female counterparts, and - perhaps worst of all - her female peers who will do anything to avoid being associated with a fallen woman.

Catrin and Rhys come up against outlaws, robbers, thieves and malefactors in the sixth Welsh Guard Mystery! Having crossed the border into Wales once again, King Edward is on a mission. Outlaws have settled in the countryside around the Cistercian Abbey of Valle Crucis, and he is determined to root them out. Little does he know that they have plans for him, as well—not because they seek justice for the Welsh people, but because they seek it for themselves.

Jane Eyre es una niña huérfana que se ha educado en un orfanato, su inteligencia y su afán por aprender consiguen apartarla del mundo de su infancia. Al llegar a los dieciocho años abandona la institución y comienza a trabajar como institutriz, para educar a la hija del señor Rochester. Poco a poco, el amor irá tejiendo su red entre ellos, pero la casa y la vida de Rochester guardan un estremecedor y terrible misterio.

Captain Marryat's The Children of the New Forest is a wonderful tale in narrative, historically rich and quite fascinating. This story of adventure, treachery, and love takes place during the English Civil War, when fellow countrymen are found enemies, and are set against each other, Roundhead and Cavalier, Parliament and the King. Many hoped for the same thing: justice. But, for a long time, neither could find it. In the midst of all were the Beverlies, the family of a faithful Cavalier, who died in service of the king.

This book is considered a prophetical novel foretelling the advent of nuclear weapons. A constant theme in Wells’ work, such as his 1901 nonfiction book Anticipations, was the role of energy and technological advance as a determinant of human progress. The novel opens with this: "The story of mankind is the history of the attainment of external power. Man is the tool-using, fire-making animal...."

Marked by Irvine Welsh’s scabrous humor and raw Scottish vernacular, Skagboys transports us to 1980s Edinburgh, where the Trainspotting crew is just getting started. Mark Renton has it all: the first in his family to attend university, he has a pretty girlfriend and a great social life. But when economic uncertainties and family problems intervene, Rent succumbs to the defeatism - not to mention the drug use - that has taken hold in Edinburgh’s tougher quarters. His friends are responding according to personality....

August 1284. On the heels of King Edward's triumph over Wales, the high point of his reign thus far, he receives the worst news possible: his eldest living son and heir to the throne of England has died. Concerned that his victories in Wales, and even more the means by which he came by them, have brought the wrath of the Almighty down upon his house, King Edward sends Catrin and Rhys to Windsor Castle to investigate.

July 1284. King Edward has invited the nobility of England, Ireland, and Scotland to Nefyn, one of the most remote spots in Wales, for a Round Table—a tournament as in the tales of King Arthur to celebrate Edward's victory over the Welsh and his ascension to Arthur's throne. Not everyone sees the tournament as a friendly competition, however, and in short order, Rhys and Catrin are called to investigate the death of a knight in the retinue of the Earl of Gloucester.

Young, impressionable Aubrey is fascinated by the enigmatic Lord Ruthven, and accompanies him on a tour to Europe. But Aubrey develops a growing distaste for Lord Ruthven’s sinister and grotesque conduct - especially as it concerns human blood. This novella, penned during that tempestuous night in Switzerland amongst such notables as Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and Mary Shelley, served as the great inspiration for Bram Stoker to create Dracula.

It's 1999, and Eira Hart and Ru Tattersall are set up to co-host The Lonely Harts Club, a new late-night radio show to help New Yorkers find love. It's a last chance attempt for both Eira, expert in Celtic mythology and amateur Welsh matchmaker, and Ru, once-hot-shot Aussie DJ, to achieve their New York dreams. The thing is, you either click with a co-host, or you don’t. It’s a bit like falling in love. There’s co-host chemistry, or there isn’t. With the countdown to a new millennium, it feels like the world as they know it is about to end.

In The Wisdom of the Shire, Noble Smith sheds light on the life-changing ideas tucked away inside the classic works of J. R. R. Tolkien and his most beloved creation—the stouthearted Hobbits. Drawing on The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and other tales of Middle-earth, Smith shows how a snug hobbit-hole is actually just a state of mind and how even the smallest person can have the valor of a Rider of Rohan.

"Brother, you have often declared that you would not end your days in slavery. I see no possible way in which you can escape with us; and now, brother, you are on a steamboat where there is some chance for you to escape to a land of liberty. I beseech you not to let us hinder you. If we cannot get our liberty, we do not wish to be the means of keeping you from a land of freedom."

September 1284. Catrin and Rhys travel with the royal court to Overton-on-Dee where King Edward has called a thousand Welsh bards to a royal eisteddfod, a music festival, in honor of his conquest of Wales. Every bardd in Wales has been commanded to attend.

Finnegans Wake is the greatest challenge in 20th-century literature. Who is Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker? And what did he get up to in Phoenix Park? And what did Anna Livia Plurabelle have to say about it? In the rich nighttime and the language of dreams, here are history, anecdote, myth, folk tale and, above all, a wondrous sense of humor, colored by a clear sense of humanity. In this exceptional reading by the Irish actor Barry McGovern, with Marcella Riordan, the world of the Wake is more accessible than ever before.

Ever since Colin Firth's Mr Darcy emerged from the lake in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, the novels of Jane Austen have become more popular than ever, delighting millions of fans all over the world. Now, Alison Larkin's critically acclaimed narrations of Austen's six completed novels are brought together in this very special 200th anniversary audio edition. "Alison Larkin's narration will captivate listeners from the first sentence" raves AudioFile magazine about the Earphones Award-winning recording of Sense and Sensibility, which starts the collection.

In the 1880's, an American senator observes, with some perplexity, English country life and all of its social echelons. To add some spice along the way, we follow the romances and intrigues of the flirtatious Arabella Trefoil.

September, 1284. Within moments of rejoining the king's company, Rhys and Catrin learn King Edward has not only melted down the silver seal of their murdered prince and turned it into a chalice, but the chalice itself has gone missing a matter of days before its intended consecration at Vale Royal Abbey.

As heir to Ardinmuir, Connor MacKean had one job: fulfill the marriage pact that's held his family captive for 300 years. Except his sister's the one who took the plunge, and now there's nothing standing in the way of him finding a real and lasting love. Nothing except the fact that the object of his affections has never seen him as anything more than her best friend's little brother.