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 . . .
Life in the community where Jonas lives is idyllic. Designated birthmothers produce newchildren, who are assigned to appropriate family units. Citizens are assigned their partners and their jobs. No one thinks to ask questions. Everyone obeys. Everyone is the same. Except Jonas. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex …
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…
While travelling from Switzerland to Australia, William, Elizabeth and their four sons, Fritz, Ernest, Jack and Franz, are caught in a terrible storm. Shipwrecked on a desert island, they are left to fend for themselves, equipped with supplies salvaged from the wreckage and surrounded by an array of animals. Every day brings new challenges to overcome, and the family must use their wits to s…
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…
"I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote in an introduction to The Crucible, his classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. Based on historical people and real events, Miller's drama is a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hyst…