Showing results by author "Charles" in All Categories

’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 learns that life is full of trouble and misery and cruelty. But he also finds laughter and kindness, trust and friendship . . . and love.

Gerald Dickens, great, great grandson of Charles Dickens, reads this traditional tale.Oliver Twist is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. The time honoured story is about the orphan Oliver Twist, who escapes from a workhouse and travels to London where he meets the renowned Artful Dodger, leader of a gang of juvenile pickpockets. Oliver is led to the lair of their elderly criminal trainer Fagin, naively unaware of their unlawful activities.

Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby performed by his great-great-grandson Gerald Dickens. A tale that brings to life the adventures of Nicholas Nickleby as he meets the wicked Wackfors Squeers, the theatrical Crumbles, and the cheerful Cheerybyle Brothers (to name a few). Complete and unabridged.

In Coketown, England, wealthy retiree Thomas Gradgrind has founded a school based on his belief that life should be factual - not fanciful. Among his pupils are his children, Thomas and Louisa, who are raised on his teachings of rational self-interest and grow into loveless, despairing adults. As he bears witness to his children’s suffering, Gradgrind is forced to confront the dangers of his dispassionate, utilitarian philosophy.

Read by Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow, A Literary Christmas is a seasonal anthology that collects together poems, short stories, and prose extracts by some of the greatest poets and writers in the English language. Like Charles Dickens’ ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, they are representative of times old and new - from John Donne’s Elizabethan hymn over the baby Jesus to Rudyard Kipling’s "Christmas in India", from Thomas Tusser counting the cost of a Tudor feast to Laurie Lee’s "Cider with Rosie".

When orphan Pip meets the escaped convict Magwitch in an overgrown churchyard on the Kent marshes, little does he know that the incident will change his life forever. Some years later, now apprenticed to his blacksmith brother-in-law, Pip falls in love with the beautiful Estella. Her half-crazed and bitter guardian Miss Havisham, however, exerts a malign influence over the girl and forces a wedge between the two.

This inspiring anthology collects enduring and entertaining stories that have enthralled young and old, by the cherished authors whose tales have captivated children for generations. Perfect for the family car trip or at-home listening, these recordings sparkle with the wit and wonder of time-tested storytelling.

In this beautiful exposition of the unmerited kindness of King David toward the poor lame orphan Mephibosheth, we see a picture of the kindness of God, through Jesus Christ. The condition of fallen man, the wondrous grace of God in His kindness to poor lost sinners and the privileges of conferred sonship - "and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually" - are clearly brought out by this gifted expositor.

Ian Rutledge returns to his career at Scotland Yard after years fighting in the First World War. Unknown to his colleagues he is still suffering from shell shock, and is burdened with the guilt of having had executed a young soldier on the battlefield for refusing to fight. A jealous colleague has learned of his secret and has managed to have Rutledge assigned to a difficult case which could spell disaster for Rutledge whatever the outcome. A retired officer has been murdered, and Rutledge goes to investigate.

Sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge has an emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and yet to come. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. A Christmas Carol has never been out of print and has been adapted to film, opera, and other media.

Augustine of Hippo's masterpiece The City of God is one of the greatest books ever written, yet its size - nearly 1,000 pages - too often intimidates even serious readers. Composed in the years after the sack of Rome in the fifth century, it ushers you on an astounding historical and theological journey through the final years of the ancient world. What made this book so powerful? What mysteries lie within it? What relevance does the 1,600-year-old text have for our world today?

It is Christmas Eve, and the air outside is as cold as Scrooge’s heart. Come nightfall, Scrooge receives three visitors: the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Each spirit takes him on a hair-raising journey through time, yielding glimpses of Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit—and even Scrooge’s painfully hopeful younger self. Will Scrooge’s heart be opened? Can he escape his cursed fate?

When the young orphan called Pip encounters the escaped convict Magwitch, the child's life is altered forever - in ways he cannot even imagine. In the course of his story, Pip encounters such memorable characters as the eccentric Miss Havisham and her beautiful ward Estella - and a mysterious benefactor. This recording includes both of the endings Dickens wrote for this classic novel.

When German troops moved into Austria in 1938, Jägerstätter was the only man in his village to vote against the Anschluss (Annexation of Austria). Although he was not involved in any political organization and did, in fact, undergo one brief period of military training, he remained openly anti-Nazi and declared he would not fight in Hitler's war. This 20th century martyr, a husband and father of three, was beheaded for his refusal to serve a ruler his conscience could not accept.

On the birth of Princess Aurora, an evil fairy places a curse on her and declares that before the sun sets on her 16th birthday, she will die by pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. To protect her from the evil spell, the king agrees to place Aurora in the care of three spirited good fairies who live in a cottage in the woods. One of the fairies conjures a spell so Aurora will fall into a deep sleep instead, to be awakened only by a kiss from her true love. 

Science fiction can often seem to be pure imaginative fantasy, but many authors are more fluent in real science than many readers and viewers may realize. Professor Charles L. Adler of St. Mary’s College of Maryland was the perfect choice for this subject, as he is both a longtime science-fiction fan and a real-world scientist. Professor Adler’s talent for using literature to shine a light on science - both the accurate and not-so-accurate versions employed by creators, spanning two centuries - makes this course a great survey for fans of both science fact and science fiction. 

A three-year-old murder case was coming together nicely. A killer Hoke once put in prison has moved in across the street. And Hoke's daughter has blue hair. But now Hoke has to pretend to be a bum. In a dusty corner of South Florida, Hoke enters a world of Haitian migrant workers, soup kitchens, and whores. In the searing heat he'll meet the man he's been sent to kill - the most vicious beast in the land....

Sergeant Hoke Moseley is losing his mind: His ex-wife just remarried, his teenage daughters want to quit school, and his beat partner is eight months pregnant - and living in his house. A handsome, cowboy-hatted psychopath is planning another armed robbery - one that will leave half a dozen bystanders dead. And in this hilarious, wicked tale of crime and midlife crisis, it seems that only Hoke can stop him.

Raised in squalor in the marsh country of Kent, the orphan Pip is taken under the wing of the eccentric and reclusive Miss Havisham - only to blindly give his heart to the dowager’s beautiful but ice-cold adopted daughter, Estella. Even as a mysterious benefactor helps to shape Pip’s life into one of fortune, success, and self-discovery, the unspeakable secrets of his unrequited love continue to haunt him - and promise to change his life once again. 

At the beginning of 1864, the Civil War was far from won; terrible and bloody Union setbacks and casualties lay ahead. Abraham Lincoln was facing a re-election battle as some northern Democrats were ready to start peace talks that could leave the Confederacy a separate slaveholding American nation and as his secretary of the treasury, Salmon P. Chase, challenged him for the Republican nomination. But by the end of the year, the war's end was in sight, and slavery was on the verge of extinction.