Family Life Classics

Brought to you by Penguin. 'There is only one book to a man,' Steinbeck wrote of East of Eden, his most ambitious novel. Set in the rich farmland of the Salinas Valley, California, this powerful, often brutal novel, follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons...

Brought to you by Penguin. This collection of letters forms a fascinating day-by-day account of Steinbeck's writing of EAST OF EDEN, his longest and most ambitious novel. The letters, ranging over many subjects - textual discussion, trial flights of workmanship, family matters - provide an...

A privileged college student desperate to save his mother from a life behind bars must convince his estranged uncle to hand over his inheritance during a rollicking cross-country road trip—by the beloved author of I Leave It Up to You and Flux. Connor Carby is a lucky guy. His mother is a...

A devastating, darkly comic journey into the heart of a Southern family As I Lay Dying follows the Bundrens as they set out to honor their dying mother's final wish: to be buried in her hometown of Jefferson, Mississippi. What begins as a simple promise unravels into a harrowing odyssey of flood...

The Fortnight in September chronicles one family’s seaside holiday. Though they visit every year, the joy of the familiar is not without its challenges. Sherriff’s writing is full of minute detail, capturing the sounds, smells and sights of everyday life for ordinary people. Every year the...

Literary critic, E. A. Koltonovskaya, described the literary style of novelist Maria Krestovskaya as follows, “Her pen, for all its feminine agility, is often remarkable for its nearly masculine reticence. She has none of the chaotic flood of thoughtless emotions, which so frequently plagues the works by female writers. She does not like lyrical diversions and allows her characters to speak and act for themselves. Even during the most dramatic scenes, her tone remains restrained. Her formulation of women’s issues gives one the sense of a broad, universal foundation...."

From the bestselling author of the Cazalet Chronicles, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Love All is a heartfelt story of love and adulthood in the 1960s. 'Graceful, moving' – Daily Express The late 1960s. For Persephone Plover, the daughter of distant and neglectful parents, the innocent, isolated days...

In 1987, Miri returns to her hometown to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life. Beautiful, gripping and deeply moving, In the Unlikely Event is an unforgettable novel from Judy Blume. Thirty-five years ago, when Miri Ammerman was fifteen and in love for the first time, three...

A gripping introduction to the world of Peter F. Hamilton’s Commonwealth Saga, Misspent Youth is set in the near-future, over three hundred years before Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained. For fans of Iain M. Banks and Stephen Baxter. Read by Steven Crossley, narrator of C.J. Sansom's...

Written with Gerald Durrell's usual sharp eye for observing humour in any situation, Rosy Is My Relative will delight fans both old and new. At the age of thirty, Adrian Rookwhistle's life hasn't quite turned out the way he'd have hoped. Working an unfulfilling job as a clerk in the city and...

Which of these stories is true and which is semi-true I have, of course, not the slightest intention of telling you, but I hope this will not detract from your enjoyment . . . Gerald Durrell introduces an eccentric cast of characters in this entertaining collection of stories, first published in...

Step into the quietly mesmerizing world of The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield, a landmark of classic literary fiction that reveals the beauty, tension, and emotional depth hidden in everyday life. This acclaimed collection explores family, social class, childhood, love, and inner awakening through luminous prose and subtle psychological insight. From a garden party shadowed by loss to intimate domestic scenes shaped by unspoken thoughts, each story captures ordinary moments that become unforgettable.

An entertaining and surprising ride through an India you thought you knew...

Step into the enchanting world of At the Bay by Katherine Mansfield—a luminous novella that captures life’s fleeting beauty and quiet dramas with unparalleled grace. Follow the residents of the idyllic coastal town, including the thoughtful and gentle Mrs. Fairfield, her children and husband, and their neighbors, as Mansfield explores their joys, disappointments, and secret desires. From the playful curiosity of children on sunlit beaches to the tender reflections and inner conflicts of adults, every moment is infused with emotional depth and quiet insight.

He's the destroyer of evil, the pervasive one in whom all things lie. He is brilliant, terrifying, wild and beneficent. He is both an ascetic and a householder, both a yogi and a guru. He encompasses the masculine and the feminine, the powerful and the graceful, the Tandava and the Laasya, the...

This delightful true story, written in the first person by the spouse of the title character, will have readers reliving their own pasts. Baby boomers will surely savor references to the pop culture, history, and politics of their collective youth as they get caught up in the personal lives of the author and his spouse. In an afternoon you will learn how a speeding ticket and an interest in four-part a cappella harmony intersected with the Cold War to start the protagonists on the road to holy matrimony.

"Alle glücklichen Familien ähneln einander, jede unglückliche Familie ist auf ihre Weise unglücklich." Dieser Anfangssatz aus "Anna Karenina" ist eines der bekanntesten Zitate von Tolstoi und lässt schon erahnen, dass die Ehe zwischen Mann und Frau eines seiner Lebensthemen war. In "Familienglück", gelesen von Gustl Halenke, heiratet ein Gutsbesitzer die weitaus jüngere Mascha. Eine leidenschaftliche Liebe entwickelt sich. Doch als das Landleben Mascha zu langweilen beginnt, stürzt sie sich in die dekadente Welt des russischen Adels.

This audiobook is about Heidi, who is an orphan and goes to live with her grandfather high in the Swiss Alps but then has to go live elsewhere so she can be educated. However, she deeply misses the beautiful pastures she previously enjoyed and eventually gets to bring her friend back there to see the wonderful hillsides.