Based on the story of Desmond Bagley. Retold by Ralph Mowat. ... On a beautiful summer evening in the quiet town of Marlow, a young woman is walking home from church. She passes a man who is looking at the engine of his car. He turns round, smiles at her... and throws acid into her face. Then her father, the scientist George Ashton, disappears. And her sister, Penny, discovers that her husband-to-be, Malcolm, is a government agent. Why has Ashton disappeared, and why is Malcolm told to hunt for him? Who is George Ashton, anyway? And who is the enemy? Classics, modern fiction, non-fiction and more. Written for secondary ... |
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Based on the story of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Retold by Clare West. ... Gatsby's mansion on Long Island blazes with light, and the beautiful, the wealthy, and the famous drive out from New York to drink Gatsby's champagne and to party all night long. But Jay Gatsby, the owner of all this wealth, wants only one thing - to find again the woman of his dreams, the woman he has held in his heart and his memory for five long years. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, is one of the great American novels of the twentieth century. It captures perfectly the Jazz Age of the 1920s, and goes deep into the ... |
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Based on the story of Colin Dexter. Retold by Clare West. ... Chief Inspector Morse is drinking a pint of beer. He is thinking about an attractive woman who lives not far away. The woman he is thinking of is hanging, dead, from the ceiling of her kitchen. On the floor lies a chair, almost two metres away from the woman's feet. Chief Inspector Morse finishes his pint, and orders another. Perhaps he will visit Anne, after all. But he is in no particular hurry. Meanwhile, Anne is still hanging in her kitchen, waiting for the police to come and cut her down. She is in no hurry, either. Classics, modern fiction, non- ... |
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Based on the story of Buchi Emecheta. Retold by Rosemary Border. ... When her father dies, Aku-nna and her young brother have no one to look after them. They are welcomed by their uncle because of Aku-nna's bride price - the money that her future husband will pay for her. In her new, strange home one man is kind to her and teaches her to become a woman. Soon they are in love, although everyone says he is not a suitable husband for her. The more the world tries to separate them, the more they are drawn together - until, finally, something has to break. Classics, modern fiction, non-fiction and more. Written for ... |
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Based on the story of Katherine Mansfield. Retold by Rosalie Kerr. ... "Oh, how delightful it is to fall in love for the first time! How exciting to go to your first dance when you are a girl of eighteen! But life can also be hard and cruel, if you are young and inexperienced and travelling alone across Europe... or if you are a child from the wrong social class... or a singer without work and the rent to be paid." By the book Set in Europe and New Zealand, these nine stories by Katherine Mansfield dig deep beneath the appearances of life to show us the causes of human happiness and despair. Classics, modern ... |
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Based on the story of Anne Tyler. Retold by Jennifer Bassett. ... Everyday life in Baltimore, USA, is full of problems - getting the washing done, buying groceries and dog food, avoiding the neighbours... After the death of his son and the departure of his wife, Macon's attempts to run his own life become increasingly desperate - and more and more odd. Meanwhile, he has to get on with his work, writing tourist guides for business people. Then his dog Edward starts to bite people, and he has to send for Muriel, the dog trainer. And day by day, Macon's life gets more and more complicated. Classics, modern fiction, ... |
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Based on the story of Isaac Asimov. Retold by Rowena Akinyemi. ... A human being is a soft, weak creature. It needs constant supplies of air, water, and food; it has to spend a third of its life asleep, and it can't work if the temperature is too hot or too cold. But a robot is made of strong metal. It uses electrical energy directly, never sleeps, and can work in any temperature. It is stronger, more efficient - and sometimes more human than human beings. Isaac Asimov was one of the greatest sciencefiction writers, and these short stories give us an unforgettable and terrifying vision of the future. Classics, ... |
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Based on the story of Charles Dickens. Retold by Clare West. ... In a gloomy, neglected house Miss Havisham sits, as she has sat year after year, in a wedding dress and veil that were once white, and are now faded and yellow with age. Her face is like a death's head, her dark eyes burn with bitterness and hate. By her side sits a proud and beautiful girl, and in front of her, trembling with fear in his thick country boots, stands young Pip. Miss Havisham stares at Pip coldly, and murmurs to the girl at her side: 'Break his heart, Estella. Break his heart!' Classics, modern fiction, non-fiction and more. ... |
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Retold by Rosemary Border. ... "After dinner we turned the lights out and played hide and seek. In the dark, I touched a hand, a very cold hand. Now, because of the game, I had to hide in the dark with... with this cold person - not speaking, not knowing who it was. Slowly the others found us, hid with us, until we were all there - all thirteen. Thirteen? But there were only twelve people in the house! We touched each other in the dark, counting. Thirteen. Quickly, nervously, I lit a match to see..." By the book Classics, modern fiction, non-fiction and more. Written for secondary and adult students the ... |
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Based on the story of Jerome K. Jerome. Retold by Diane Mowat. ... "I like work. I find it interesting... I can sit and look at it for hours." By the book With ideas like this, perhaps it is not a good idea to spend a holiday taking a boat trip up the River Thames. But this is what the three friends - and Montmorency the dog - decide to do. It is the sort of holiday that is fun to remember afterwards, but not so much fun to wake up too early on a cold, wet morning. This famous book has made people laugh all over the world for a hundred years... and they are still laughing. Classics, modern fiction, non- ... |
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Based on the story of Louisa May Alcott. Retold by John Escott. ... When Christmas comes for the four March girls, there is no money for expensive presents and they give away their Christmas breakfast to a poor family. But there are no happier girls in America than Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. They miss their father, of course, who is away at the Civil War, but they try hard to be good so that he will be proud of his little women when he comes home. This heart-warming story of family life has been popular for more than a hundred years. Classics, modern fiction, non-fiction and more. Written for secondary and adult ... |
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Based on the story of Jonathan Swift. Retold by Clare West. ... "Soon I felt something alive moving along my leg and up my body to my face, and when I looked down, I saw a very small human being, only fifteen centimetres tall... I was so surprised that I gave a great shout." By the book But that is only the first of many surprises which Gulliver has on his travels. He visits a land of giants and a flying island, meets ghosts from the past and horses which talk... Classics, modern fiction, non-fiction and more. Written for secondary and adult students the Oxford Bookworms Library has seven reading levels ... |
