Catalog Search Results
2) The proposal
Author
Summary
Gwendoline, Lady Muir, has seen her share of tragedy, especially since a freak accident took her husband much too soon. Content in a quiet life with friends and family, the young widow has no desire to marry again. But when Hugo, Lord Trentham, scoops her up in his arms after a fall, she feels a sensation that both shocks and emboldens her. Hugo never intends to kiss Lady Muir, and frankly, he judges her to be a spoiled, frivolous, if beautiful, aristocrat....
Author
Summary
Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" is an enchanting and thought-provoking tale that transcends time and gender, offering a profound exploration of identity, self-discovery, and the limits of societal roles. The novel tells the story of Orlando, a young nobleman in the Elizabethan era who miraculously transforms into a woman and embarks on a centuries-long journey through history. Through Orlando's extraordinary adventures-from Shakespeare's court to modern-day...
Author
Lexile Measure
720L
Summary
One of Agatha Christie's most famous novels, featuring her beloved detective Hercule Poirot--and her most surprising twist.The story that made Agatha Christie famous ends with one of her most dramatic twists. The villagers of King's Abbot are shocked when a wealthy local widow commits suicide and the very next day her fiancé, Roger Ackroyd, is stabbed to death. Dr. James Sheppard, the local physician, discovers the body of his friend and narrates...
Author
Summary
"An English manor home, an unsolved mystery, too many suspects to count -- It's the perfect holiday for romance novelist Sara Medlar. After solving two murder cases in their hometown of Lachlan, Florida, Sara Medlar, her niece Kate and their friend Jack need a change of scenery. Sara arranges for them to visit an old friend of hers in England. Upon arrival at Oxley Manor, a centuries-old estate that has been converted to a luxury hotel, Kate and Jack...
7) Hard times
Author
Lexile Measure
1080L
Summary
"Hard Times is perhaps the archetypal Dickens novel, full as it is with family difficulties, estrangement, rotten values and unhappiness. It was published in 1854 and it is the story of the family of Thomas Gradgrind, and occurs in the imaginary Coketown, an industrial city inspired by Preston. Gradgrind is a man obsessed with misguided 'Utilitarian' values that make him trust facts, statistics and practicality more than emotion and is based upon...
Author
Summary
This "jewel at the heart of English comic literature" chronicles the daily fortunes and misfortunes of a middle-age, middle-class clerk (William Trevor, The Mail on Sunday).
Since its original publication in 1892, The Diary of a Nobody has become a much-loved classic. It is a fictional man's dissection of the everyday drama of his life as an office worker in a London firm. With dry wit, the authors step into the character of Charles Pooter as...
Author
Summary
In 1919, young couple Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley form a partnership, hiring themselves out as "young adventurers". Their first case, however, is more of an adventure than they expect--working to find documents that, if they were known to the general public, would fuel a communist revolution in Britain. Undercover agents Tommy and Tuppence know that Jane Finn was carrying top secret documents when she disappeared five years ago. What they...
11) Ethan Frome
Author
Lexile Measure
1200L
Summary
A marked departure from Edith Wharton's usual ironic contemplation of the fashionable New York society to which she herself belonged, Ethan Frome is a sharply etched portrait of the simple inhabitants of a nineteenth-century New England village. The protagonist, Ethan Frome, is a man tormented by a passionate love for his ailing wife's young cousin. Trapped by the bonds of marriage and the fear of public condemnation, he is ultimately destroyed by...
Author
Summary
Fielding's classic novel chronicles the adventures of Tom Jones, who was abandoned as an infant and grows into a lusty, imprudent young man. Promising to mend his ways, Tom competes with an abusive rival for the affections of a wealthy squire's daughter, and eventually learns the truth about his identity.
13) 'Salem's Lot
Author
Lexile Measure
860L
Summary
The town knew darkness ... and the awful, heavy silence of terrifying images grotesquely dancing in and out of the shadows ... and stark white faces, huge empty eyes and long gnarled hands that reached out with lustful insistence ... and the paralyzing fear of a diabolical corruption and a hideous peril more dreadful than death.
Salem's Lot is a small New England town with the usual quota of gossips, weirdos and respectable folk. Of course there...
14) Howard's End
Author
Summary
An enduring classic by E.M. Forster about human connection, society, and legacy.
Set in Edwardian England, Howards End delves into the intricate relationships between three families with contrasting values and aspirations: the idealistic and intellectual Schlegels, the wealthy and pragmatic Wilcoxes, and the struggling, working-class Basts.
At the heart of the story lies Howards End, a quaint country house symbolizing heritage, connection, and...
15) Sons and lovers
Author
Summary
Sons and Lovers is one of the landmark novels of the twentieth century. When it appeared in 1913, it was immediately recognized as the first great modern restatement of the oedipal drama, and it is now widely considered the major work of D. H. Lawrence's early period. This intensely autobiographical novel recounts the story of Paul Morel, a young artist growing to manhood in a British working-class family rife with conflict. The author's vivid evocation...
16) Jacob's room
Author
Summary
This landmark novel tells the story of the all-too-brief life of Jacob Flanders, from his childhood in Scarborough through his student years at Cambridge and his bachelor days in London to his death while still a young man during World War I. Though he is an object of love and desire for many of the characters in the novel, Jacob remains curiously unknowable during his short life, as remote and mysterious as the classical landscapes and Greek ruins...
Author
Lexile Measure
710L
Summary
It's seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing an evening dress and heavy makeup, which is now smeared across her cheeks. But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry? The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple into their home to investigate. Amid rumors of scandal, she baits...
Author
Summary
Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers and Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley are forced to confront the past as they try to solve a crime that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of a quiet, historic medieval town in England. The cozy, bucolic town of Ludlow is stunned when one of its most revered and respected citizens --Ian Druitt, the local deacon --is accused of a serious crime. Then, while in police custody, Ian is found dead. Did he kill himself?...
Author
Lexile Measure
1180L
Summary
Jane Austen's first published novel, sparkling with wit and artistry, captures the inequities of birth, class, and marriage faced by the sisters Dashwood. Published in 1811, Sense and Sensibility has delighted generations of readers with its masterfully crafted portrait of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Forced to leave their home after their father's death, Elinor and Marianne must rely on making good marriages as their means of support....
20) Pulse
Author
Summary
"A smartly dressed man has been found unconscious at the local racecourse and is rushed to the hospital, where he subsequently dies. But who is he? Where does he come from? He had no form of identification on him, and no one claims the body. Doctor Chris Rankin, a specialist who treated the deceased--and who struggles with mental health issues--is intrigued by the nameless dead man, obsessed even, and starts asking questions. However, someone doesn't...
