David's life isn't easy. His father is dead and his mother is getting married to the meanest man in the country. To top things off, when he is sent to school, David discovers punishments more terrible than he can imagine. Surely life can't get any worse! The only happy ever afters David knows are in the pages of his favourite books. Can he rewrite his own ending?
With daily beheadings and famous buildings being burnt to the ground, Paris during the Revolution is not the safest place to be. When Dr Manette is released from prison and reunited with his daughter, everything seems to finally be getting better. But his daughter's fiancé is keeping some dangerous secrets that lead the family on a deadly adventure. How long can 'happy ever after' really l…
Coketown is no place for imagination. There are facts and figures and absolutely nothing else, or so Thomas Gradgrind thinks. When the circus appears in town, it brings Sissy Jupe with it. A young girl who has been abandoned by her father and is taken in by Thomas Gradgrind. Full of fun and energy, will Sissy save the Gradgrind children from a miserable life of facts and figures before it's too…
Oliver Twist is poor. Always has been, always will be. Being born in a workhouse means that you'll probably always be treated like rubbish. Oliver does not want a life of hard work and measly meals, but he soon learns that it's never safe to ask for more. What Oliver really needs is a family. But is a family of thieves, kidnappers and killers really a family at all?
Amy Dorrit's father has been in prison for as long as she can remember. That s totally normal, right? Just like doing chores for horrid Mrs Clennam, fixing her sister's dresses (without getting any thanks) and saving her own dinner to feed her father. But when Mrs Clennam's son returns from abroad, he brings with him a host of family secrets and turns Amy's normal life on its head.
Oliver Twist is a gripping portrayal of London's dark criminal underbelly. The story of Oliver Twist - orphaned, and set upon by evil and adversity from his first breath - shocked readers when it was published. After running away from the workhouse and pompous beadle Mr Bumble, Oliver finds himself lured into a den of thieves peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the Artful Dodger, viciou…
from the back cover: Christmas is humbug, Scrooge says - just a time when you find yourself a year older and not a penny richer. The only thing that matters to Scrooge is business, and making money. But on Christmas Eve three spirits come to visit him. They take him travelling on the wings of the night to see the shadows of Christmas past, present, and future - and Scrooge learns a lesson t…
from the back cover: In a gloomy, neglected house Miss Havisham sits, as she has sat year after year, in a wedding dress and veil that were once white, and are now faded and yellow with age. Her face is like a death's head; her dark eyes burn with bitterness and hate. By her side sits a proud and beautiful girl, and in front of her, trembling with fear in his thick country boots, stands young …
from the back cover: 'Please, Mr Murdstone! Don't beat me! I've tried to learn my lessons, really I have, sir!' sobs David. Although he is only eight years old, Mr Murdstone does beat him, and David is so frightened that he bites his cruel stepfather's hand. For that, he is kept locked in his room for five days and nights, and nobody is allowed to speak to him. As David grows up, he lear…