Even when we mean to be kind we can sometimes be cruel. We each have a streak of nastiness inside us. In these ten tales of cruelty master storyteller Roald Dahl explores how and why it is we make others suffer. Among others, you'll read the story of two young bullies and the boy they torment, the adulterous wife who uncovers her husband's secret, the man with a painting tattooed on his back…
Emma Woodhouse believes herself to be an excellent matchmaker, though she herself does not plan on marrying. But as she meddles in the relationships of others, she causes confusion and misunderstandings throughout the village, and she just may be overlooking a true love of her own.
It is one of the most memorable first lines in all of literature: "When Gregor Samsa woke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into some kind of monstrous vermin." So begins Kafka's famous short story, The Metamorphosis. Kafka considered publishing it with two of the stories included here in a volume to be called Punishments. The Judgment explores an enigmatic power stru…
Peter Pan and Tinkerbell lead the three Darling children over the rooftops of London and away to Neverland - the island where the lost boys play. Magic and mischief is in the air but if villainous Captain Hook has his way, before long someone will be swimming with the crocodiles . . .
When Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane and their baby brother move to the countryside, they encounter ‘It’ – a grumpy, strange-looking Sand-fairy known as a Psammead. The Psammead can grant the children one wish every day – but whether they request to be beautiful or rich, to fly or live in a castle, it seems every wish is destined to lead the five children into a great deal of trouble . .…
Inspired by the bedtime stories Rudyard Kipling told his daughter that had to be recited ‘just so’, this collection includes mythical animal origin stories like ‘How the Camel got his Hump’ and ‘How the Rhinoceros got his Skin’, alongside other playful inventions, such as the reason for the ebb and flow of the tides and how the alphabet was invented. These rhythmically told, trad…
After Mary Lennox’s parents pass away, she is sent to a large, isolated house in Yorkshire to live with an uncle she has never met. Ill-tempered, obstinate Mary dislikes her new home, but when she finds the key to a locked garden she realises there are fascinating secrets waiting to be uncovered at Misselthwaite Manor. With the help of new friends, Mary resolves to bring the neglected ga…