Showing results for "Icon" in Literature & Fiction

When Matthew Spear, a young curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, meets the lovely Ana Kessler, an art dealer who has inherited an impressive group of pieces, he discovers a prize:the collection includes the Holy Mother of Katarini -- a sacred icon long thought destroyed. But while Matthew...

Wuthering Heights is a fierce and haunting tale of love, vengeance, and the wild forces that shape the human heart. Set against the storm-lashed moors of northern England, the story follows the doomed and unforgettable bond between Heathcliff, a brooding foundling of mysterious origin, and Catherine Earnshaw, the restless young woman who becomes both his salvation and his torment.

The Iliad stands as the blazing cornerstone of all Western storytelling, an ancient epic that captures the violent splendor, tragic heroism, and unbearable human cost of the Trojan War. Attributed to Homer but shaped by generations of oral poets, it plunges listeners directly into the final, furious weeks of a ten-year siege, where gods interfere in mortal affairs, armies clash on the dusty plains beneath Troy’s towering walls, and the fate of empires turns on the choices of men driven by pride, rage, love, and grief.

This bundle includes A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Battle of Life.

Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield is a sweeping tale of resilience, growth, and self-discovery—often regarded as the author’s most personal and heartfelt work. Following the life of David from his troubled childhood to his journey toward maturity, the novel captures the struggles, joys, and moral lessons that shape him into the man he becomes. Along the way, Dickens fills the story with some of his most memorable characters: the loyal Peggotty family, the ever-optimistic Mr. Micawber, and the slyly deceitful Uriah Heep.

Charles Dickens, one of the most influential writers of the 19th century, is particularly renowned for his Christmas stories, which have become an enduring part of holiday traditions. His most famous work, A Christmas Carol, tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a cold-hearted miser who, after being visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve, undergoes a profound transformation. This tale is a powerful exploration of redemption, highlighting the importance of generosity, compassion, and embracing the true spirit of Christmas.

In the turbulent streets of late-eighteenth-century London, the echo of mob fury rises like a storm wind through a city on the edge of chaos. Barnaby Rudge is Charles Dickens’s sweeping historical novel set amid the Gordon Riots of 1780, when fear, prejudice, and political fervor tore through the fabric of society. Against this backdrop of violence and upheaval, Dickens weaves a tale of innocence and guilt, vengeance and forgiveness, where personal destinies are shaped by the blind force of history itself.

Emma is Jane Austen’s most subtle and deceptively brilliant portrait of privilege, misunderstanding, and the unpredictable pathways of the human heart. At the center stands Emma Woodhouse, clever, charming, wealthy, and absolutely certain she knows what is best for everyone around her.

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ rises anew in this sweeping, unabridged presentation that restores Lew Wallace’s monumental epic to its full emotional, spiritual, and cinematic grandeur, telling the story of Judah Ben-Hur with a vividness and intensity that resonates far beyond its historical setting.

The journey opens with Old Christmas by Washington Irving, a vivid and affectionate portrait of traditional English Yuletide life. Next comes Classic Christmas Stories by Lucy Maud Montgomery, a tender blend of hope, innocence, and emotional truth from the beloved creator of Anne of Green Gables. The collection concludes with The Christmas Reindeer by Thornton W. Burgess, a warm woodland adventure filled with curiosity, courage, and the gentle moral lessons that made Burgess a generation-spanning favorite.

Anna Karenina remains one of the most profound and human stories ever written, a sweeping portrait of desire, duty, sacrifice, and the quiet storms of the heart. In this definitive presentation of Leo Tolstoy’s original masterpiece, listeners are drawn into a world where the glitter of Imperial Russia hides wounds that only love—and its consequences—can reveal.

Set against the turmoil of late‑18th‑century London, Barnaby Rudge follows the gentle and simple‑hearted Barnaby as he navigates a city on the brink of chaos. Dickens’ gripping historical novel unfolds during the Gordon Riots, capturing fear, violence, and the struggle for justice in a world fraught with social and political tension.

Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield is a timeless coming-of-age story filled with humor, heartbreak, and unforgettable characters. Told through the eyes of its earnest and resilient hero, the novel follows David from his difficult childhood to his struggles and triumphs as a young man.

Howard's End is about three families in England at the beginning of the twentieth century. The three families represent different gradations of the Edwardian middle class: the Wilcoxes, who are rich capitalists with a fortune made in the Colonies; the half-German Schlegel siblings (Margaret, Tibby, and Helen), who represent the intellectual bourgeoisie and have a lot in common with the real-life Bloomsbury Group; and the Basts, a couple who are struggling members of the lower-middle class. The Schlegel sisters try to help the poor Basts and try to make the Wilcoxes less prejudiced.

Cathy Kotsikas is as unsettled as anyone in postwar Britain. A hasty marriage has become an exhausting clash of personalities. Leon, her Greek husband, as charming as he is ruthless and self-centred, understands neither her mildly eccentric character nor her need for freedom. Cathy’s sanctuary is Sandlings, a remote cottage on the barren Suffolk coast left to her by her grandfather. For Leon, however, his business in London and the restoration of his family home in Greece are of paramount importance.

Crime and Punishment, and Notes from Underground are two of the most famous novels written by Fyodor Dostoevsky, a Russian author widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. These three books, in particular, are often cited as among his greatest works.

“Please sir, I want some more," the famous line spoken by Oliver Twist at age nine becomes the tipping point of a huge change in Oliver's life. He is soon captured into the service of the evil Fagin and his gang of pick-pocketing boys. Mr. Brownlow, however, saves him from arrest, and for the first time in his young life, Oliver finds comfort and caring. Unfortunately, he is soon recaptured into the seedy world from which he had escaped and meets with Bill Sykes, a highly dangerous criminal.

The Dream of the Red Chamber (also known as The Story of the Stone) is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of China, and considered the greatest of them all. Almost 40 main characters and some 500 minor characters tell the fortunes of the Chia family; the book details mainly the life of Chia Pao-yü, the heir apparent, who is described as very intelligent, but also as carefree and self-indulging. The already wealthy Chia family rises to new heights when Pao-yü's elder sister becomes an imperial consort.

Charles Dickens’ final completed novel, Our Mutual Friend, explores the tangled web of wealth, ambition, and human folly in Victorian London. The story revolves around the inheritance of a vast fortune from the recently deceased John Harmon and the lives it touches—including the humble yet determined Bella Wilfer, the gentle Lizzie Hexam, and a host of morally complex characters.

In the midst of the fighting, two Russian soldiers seek refuge in the crypt of a German church. There, clutched in the hands of a skeleton priest, they find The Shepherd - a priceless icon thought to have been destroyed long ago. When news of its discovery reaches Moscow, Stalin calls upon his most trusted investigator, Inspector Pekkala, once a favorite of the tsar and known to all of Russia as The Emerald Eye.