Wanda McCaddon

It's August in the Barsetshire village of Worsted, and Richard Tebben, just down from Oxford, is contemplating the gloomy prospect of a long summer in the parental home. But the numerous and impossibly glamorous Dean family--exquisite Rachel, her capable husband and six of their nine brilliant children--have come for the holidays, and their hostess Mrs Palmer plans to rope everyone into performing in her disastrous annual play. Surrounded by the irrepressible...

"From its opening pages, in which she recounts her own premature birth, triggered by terrifying rumors of an incipient pogrom, Bernstein's tale is clearly not a typical memoir of the Holocaust. She was born into a large family in rural Romania and grew up feisty and willing to fight back physically against anti-Semitism from other schoolchildren. She defied her father' s orders to turn down a scholarship that took her to Bucharest, and got herself...

Charlotte Brontë’s romantic gothic novel, featuring one of literature’s most memorable heroines.
 
With her 1847 novel, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë created one of the most unforgettable heroines of all time. Jane Eyre is an orphan, penniless and plain, but full of courage and spirit. She has endured incredible hardship to secure her humble status as a governess in the household of her brooding

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When South Africa is riven by war and the Smales, a white couple, take refuge in the village of their former servant July, their relationships are completely transformed.

Covering the entire course of English history, this epic follows five families that mirror the social and political forces that have shaped Britain--the Wilsons, the Masons, the Porteuses, the Shockleys, and the Godfreys. A masterpiece that is breathtaking in its scope, Sarum is an epic novel that traces the entire turbulent course of English history. This rich tapestry weaves a compelling saga of five families who preserve their own particular characteristics...

In recent years, The Origins of Totalitarianism has become essential reading as we grapple with the rise of autocrats and tyrannical thought across the globe. The book begins with the rise of anti-Semitism in central and western Europe in the 1800s and continues with an examination of European colonial imperialism from 1884 to the outbreak of World War I. Hannah Arendt then explores the institutions and operations of totalitarian movements, focusing...

From the Booker Prize-winning author of Possession comes a wonderfully erudite novel in which enlightenment and sexuality, Elizabethan drama and contemporary comedy, intersect richly and unpredictably.
"Large, complex, ambitious, humming with energy and ideas ... a remarkable achievement." —Iris Murdoch

In Yorkshire, the Potter family are preparing to celebrate Elizabeth II’s arrival on the throne. Its...

Kissing Christmas Goodbye continues the tradition in M. C. Beaton's beloved Agatha Raisin mystery cozy series—now a hit show on Acorn TV and public television.
Unlike quite a number of people, Agatha had not given up on Christmas. To have the perfect Christmas had been a childhood dream whilst surviving a rough upbringing in a Birmingham slum. Holly berries glistened, snow fell gently outside, and inside, all was Dickensian

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A collection of 13 stories written by Dame Daphne du Maurier before she was 23 years old, The Doll is a valuable part of the author's body of work. Each story in the collection highlights du Maurier's deep understanding of human nature.

Recently retired widow Eleanor Trewynn has moved to the small Cornwall village of Port Mabyn, ready for an uneventful life with her dog and her friends. Unfortunately, excitement seems to happen around her. Her friend and neighbor, Nick Gresham, returns from a trip to find his paintings slashed, reportedly by rival local artist Geoffrey Clarke. When Nick goes to have it out with him, with Eleanor in tow, they find Clarke's body, fatally stabbed in...