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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Piano Man
New
Tim Vicary
A woman finds a man on a beach. He is very cold, his clothes are wet, and he cannot speak. The woman phones for help, and an ambulance comes and takes the man to hospital. In hospital they ask the man questions, but he does not answer. He still cannot speak - or does not want to speak.
Who is he, this strange man from the sea? What is his name? Where did he come from? And why do they call him the Piano Man?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Piano Man Pack
New
Tim Vicary
A woman finds a man on a beach. He is very cold, his clothes are wet, and he cannot speak. The woman phones for help, and an ambulance comes and takes the man to hospital. In hospital they ask the man questions, but he does not answer. He still cannot speak - or does not want to speak.
Who is he, this strange man from the sea? What is his name? Where did he come from? And why do they call him the Piano Man?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 San Francisco Audio CD Pack
New
'It's a good place for gold,' said people in the 1840s, and they came from all over the world. 'It's a good place for a prison,' said the US government in the 1920s, and they put Al Capone there on the island of Alcatraz. 'It's a good place for love,' said the hippies in the 1960s, and they put flowers in their hair and came to Haight Ashbury. And San Francisco is still a good place - to take a hundred photographs, or see the Chinatown parade, or just to sit in a coffee shop and be in this interesting, different city . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 San Francisco
New
'It's a good place for gold,' said people in the 1840s, and they came from all over the world. 'It's a good place for a prison,' said the US government in the 1920s, and they put Al Capone there on the island of Alcatraz. 'It's a good place for love,' said the hippies in the 1960s, and they put flowers in their hair and came to Haight Ashbury. And San Francisco is still a good place - to take a hundred photographs, or see the Chinatown parade, or just to sit in a coffee shop and be in this interesting, different city . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter The Girl with Green Eyes Audio CD Pack
Greg is a porter at the Shepton Hotel in New York.
When a girl with beautiful green eyes asks him for help, Greg can't say no.
The girl's name is Cassie, and she says she is an artist. She tells Greg that her stepfather has her sketchbooks, and now she wants them back.
Cassie says her stepfather is staying at Greg's hotel . . . so what could go wrong?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter The Girl with Green Eyes
Greg is a porter at the Shepton Hotel in New York.
When a girl with beautiful green eyes asks him for help, Greg can't say no.
The girl's name is Cassie, and she says she is an artist. She tells Greg that her stepfather has her sketchbooks, and now she wants them back.
Cassie says her stepfather is staying at Greg's hotel . . . so what could go wrong?
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Bookworms Club Stories for Reading Circles Ruby (Stages 4 and 5)
Short stories from Oxford Bookworms with a unique set of resources and information for running successful Reading Circles.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Bridge and Other Love Stories Audio CD Pack
Christine Lindop
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Luke is a good-looking young man, but he's not very clever with words. Gemma is clever with words, but what does she want? Lucy and Becky are good friends, but what about Sam? He makes wonderful cakes, but does he make mistakes too? Nina and Dragan are in love, so deeply in love, but they live in the wrong place, at the wrong time ...
All love stories have moments of happiness, pain, misunderstanding, laughter, and sometimes great sadness. But love will
nearly always
find a way ...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Bridge and Other Love Stories
Christine Lindop
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Luke is a good-looking young man, but he's not very clever with words. Gemma is clever with words, but what does she want? Lucy and Becky are good friends, but what about Sam? He makes wonderful cakes, but does he make mistakes too? Nina and Dragan are in love, so deeply in love, but they live in the wrong place, at the wrong time ...
All love stories have moments of happiness, pain, misunderstanding, laughter, and sometimes great sadness. But love will
nearly always find
a way ...
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Bookworms Club Stories for Reading Circles Coral (Stages 3 and 4)
Short stories from Oxford Bookworms with a unique set of resources and information for running successful Reading Circles.
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Bookworms Club Stories for Reading Circles Pearl (Stages 2 and 3)
Short stories from Oxford Bookworms with a unique set of resources and information for running successful Reading Circles.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Mysterious Death of Charles Bravo Audio CD Pack
Tim Vicary
STAGE 3 - True Stories
Charles Bravo died from the poison antimony. He took three days to die, and the doctors could do nothing to help him.
There were three people who had reasons for wanting Charles Bravo dead - Florence Bravo herself, Charles Bravo's new young wife; Dr James Gully, Florence's former lover; and Mrs Jane Cox, Florence's friend and companion.
But the enquiry into the death in 1876 could not decide who the murderer was, and for more than 130 years people have wondered who did kill Charles Bravo ...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Mysterious Death of Charles Bravo
Tim Vicary
STAGE 3 - True Stories
Charles Bravo died from the poison antimony. He took three days to die, and the doctors could do nothing to help him.
There were three people who had reasons for wanting Charles Bravo dead - Florence Bravo herself, Charles Bravo's new young wife; Dr James Gully, Florence's former lover; and Mrs Jane Cox, Florence's friend and companion.
But the enquiry into the death in 1876 could not decide who the murderer was, and for more than 130 years people have wondered who did kill Charles Bravo ...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 A Passage To India
E. M. Forster
STAGE 6 - Classics
A mysterious incident at the Marabar Caves, involving Adela Quested, newly arrived from England, and Dr Aziz, an Indian doctor, leads to a drama that divides the British and Indian communities in anger, distrust, and fear.
Forsters great novel brings to life all the dangers and misunderstandings of colonialism but, as Forster himself wrote, the story is about something wider than politics, about the search of the human race for a more lasting home, about the universe as
embodied
in the Indian earth and the Indian sky, about the horror lurking in the Marabar Caves...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Little Lord Fauntleroy Audio CD Pack
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Cedric Errol is seven years old. He lives with his mother in a little house in New York. They don't have much money, but mother and son are good friends. Cedric is a kind, friendly little boy, and everybody likes him. His father was English, but he is now dead, and Cedric and his mother are alone in the world.
But one day a lawyer arrives from England with some very surprising news about Cedric's grandfather...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Little Lord Fauntleroy
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Cedric Errol is seven years old. He lives with his mother in a little house in New York. They don't have much money, but mother and son are good friends. Cedric is a kind, friendly little boy, and everybody likes him. His father was English, but he is now dead, and Cedric and his mother are alone in the world.
But one day a lawyer arrives from England with some very surprising news about Cedric's grandfather...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Playing with Fire: Stories from the Pacific Rim
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 3 - World Stories
He smiled, showing teeth yellow from cigarette smoke. He looked at his desk diary, then at her papers again. 'Mmm... a hundred pesos a month, Why, that's one thousand two hundred pesos a year. Surely, you can afford to buy me a forty-peso dinner!'
How can Marina say no? How can she refuse the Chief's next request? He is an evil man, but she needs her promotion...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter The Girl with Red Hair Audio CD Pack
Christine Lindop
STARTER - Human Interest
Every day people come to Mason's store - old people, young people, men and women.
From his office, and in the store, Mark watches them. And when they leave the store, he forgets them.
Then one day a girl with red hair comes to the store, and everything changes for Mark. Now he can't forget the beautiful face, those green eyes, and that red hair...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter The Girl with Red Hair
Christine Lindop
STARTER - Human Interest
Every day people come to Mason's store - old people, young people, men and women.
From his office, and in the store, Mark watches them. And when they leave the store, he forgets them.
Then one day a girl with red hair comes to the store, and everything changes for Mark. Now he can't forget the beautiful face, those green eyes, and that red hair...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Land of my Childhood: Stories from South Asia Audio CD Pack
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 4 - World Stories
'My brother preferred being with mother and me. He used to help us prepare vegetables in the kitchen or make the bread. But what he liked best was listening to my mother's stories.'
But those childhood days are long gone, and now a great distance divides sister and brother, children and mother.
The stories in this volume of World Stories come from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The writers are Romesh Gunesekera, M. Athar Tahir, Chitra Divakaruni, Anu Kumar, Anne Ranasinghe, Ruskin Bond, Anita Desai, Vijita Fernando, and Amara Bavani Dev.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Long White Cloud: Stories from New Zealand Audio CD Pack
Retold by Christine Lindop
STAGE 3 - World Stories
Nani Tama looked at each of us - Dad, Auntie Hiraina, my cousin Timi, and myself. His eyes were angry. 'You fullas want me to die here in this room? Looking at these four walls? When the whakapapa is not yet finished?'
But Nani Tama gets his own way, and his grandson drives him through the night, to find the missing pieces from the family history.
The stories from this volume of World Stories are by New Zealand writers James Courage, Witi Ihimaera, Philip Mincher, and Joy Cowley.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Land of my Childhood: Stories from South Asia
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 4 - World Stories
'My brother preferred being with mother and me. He used to help us prepare vegetables in the kitchen or make the bread. But what he liked best was listening to my mother's stories.'
But those childhood days are long gone, and now a great distance divides sister and brother, children and mother.
The stories in this volume of World Stories come from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The writers are Romesh Gunesekera, M. Athar Tahir, Chitra Divakaruni, Anu Kumar, Anne Ranasinghe, Ruskin Bond, Anita Desai, Vijita Fernando, and Amara Bavani Dev.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Dancing with Strangers: Stories from Africa Audio CD Pack
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 3 - World Stories
'Sometimes I think this search is hopeless. So much has happened since I last saw my friends. Perhaps they have died or the rebels have taken them away. But I know I have to find Laker. I know she needs me.'
In a country torn by war, it is easy to stop hoping. All Atita has is an old photograph. She does not even know if she will recognize Laker after all these years . . .
The stories in this volume of World Stories
are by African writers Jackee
Budesta Batanda, Jack Cope, Mandla Langa, and M. G. Vassanji.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Changing their Skies: Stories from Africa Audio CD Pack
Retold by Jenifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - World Stories
'Then a letter came for Aloo from a famous college in America. They offered him a place . . . a place with a scholarship. Aloo could not believe it at first. He read the letter again and again.'
Aloo is very happy, but soon he finds that it is not so easy. He will need money to live on, money for his plane ticket . . . And then there is Mother . . .
The stories in this volume of World Stories come from Malawi,
South Africa, and Tanzania by African
writers Steve Chimombo, Farida Karodia, and M. G. Vassanji.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Dancing with Strangers: Stories from Africa
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 3 - World Stories
'Sometimes I think this search is hopeless. So much has happened since I last saw my friends. Perhaps they have died or the rebels have taken them away. But I know I have to find Laker. I know she needs me.'
In a country torn by war, it is easy to stop hoping. All Atita has is an old photograph. She does not even know if she will recognize Laker after all these years . . .
The stories in this volume of World Stories
are by African writers Jackee
Budesta Batanda, Jack Cope, Mandla Langa, and M. G. Vassanji.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Long White Cloud: Stories from New Zealand
Retold by Christine Lindop
STAGE 3 - World Stories
Nani Tama looked at each of us - Dad, Auntie Hiraina, my cousin Timi, and myself. His eyes were angry. 'You fullas want me to die here in this room? Looking at these four walls? When the whakapapa is not yet finished?'
But Nani Tama gets his own way, and his grandson drives him through the night, to find the missing pieces from the family history.
The stories in this volume of World Stories are by New Zealand writers James Courage, Witi Ihimaera, Philip Mincher , and Joy Cowley.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Changing their Skies: Stories from Africa
Retold by Jenifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - World Stories
'Then a letter came for Aloo from a famous college in America. They offered him a place . . . a place with a scholarship. Aloo could not believe it at first. He read the letter again and again.'
Aloo is very happy, but soon he finds that it is not so easy. He will need money to live on, money for his plane ticket . . . And then there is Mother . . .
The stories in this volume of World Stories come from Malawi,
South Africa, and Tanzania by African
writers Steve Chimombo, Farida Karodia, and M. G. Vassanji.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Bestseller Pack
Pack contains one copy of each of the following eight titles:
Brat Farrar
David Copperfield
Deadlock
Far from the Madding Crowd
Ghost Stories
Great Expectations
Sense and Sensibility
Wuthering Heights
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Bestseller Pack
Pack contains one copy of each of the following eight titles:
American Crime Stories
Cry Freedom
The Enemy
Jane Eyre
Night Without End
Oliver Twist
Pride and Prejudice
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Heat and Dust
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Human Interest
Heat and dust - these simple, terrible words describe the Indian summer. Year after year, endlessly, it is the same. And everyone who experiences this heat and dust is changed for ever.
We often say, in these modern times, that sexual relationships have changed, for better or for worse. But in this book we see that things have not changed. Whether we look back sixty years, or a hundred and sixty, we see that it is not things that change, but people. And, in
the heat and
dust of an Indian summer, even people are not very different after all.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Treading on Dreams: Stories from Ireland
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - World Stories
'At home we started with an innocent life. Walking home from village dances across pale wet fields, looking at birds on the moonlit lake, playing a tune across the water in the early morning with no other sound in the clear cold air.'
Innocence and experience, loss and longing, humour and sadness run hand in hand through these stories.
The stories in this volume of World Stories are by Irish writers Brian Friel, Edna O'Brien,
William Trevor, Lorcan Byrne,
Frank O'Connor, Claire Keegan, Eamonn Sweeney, and Somerville & Ross.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Red Roses Audio CD Pack
Christine Lindop
STARTER - Human Interest
'Who is the man with the roses in his hand?' thinks Anna. 'I want to meet him.'
'Who is the girl with the guitar?' thinks Will. 'I like her. I want to meet her.'
But they do not meet.
'There are lots of men!' says Anna's friend Vicki, but Anna cannot forget Will. And then one rainy day . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Decline and Fall
Evelyn Waugh
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Human Interest
After a wild, drunken party, Paul Pennyfeather is forced to leave Oxford and begin a new life out in the wide world. His experiences take him from a boys' private school in Wales, where he meets some rather strange people, to a life of luxury in a grand country house and the Ritz Hotel, and then to seven years' hard labour in prison. Where will it all end?
The black humour of this story about English society in the 1920s is as fresh today as it was when the
novel was
first written.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Jeeves and Friends - Short Stories
P.G. Wodehouse
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Human Interest
What on earth would Bertie Wooster do without Jeeves, his valet? Jeeves is calm, tactful, resourceful, and has the answer to every problem. Bertie, a pleasant young man but a bit short of brains, turns to Jeeves every time he gets into trouble. And Bertie is always in trouble.
These six stories include the most famous of P. G. Wodehouse's memorable characters. There are three stories about Bertie and Jeeves, and three about Lord Emsworth,
who, like Bertie, is
often in trouble, battling with his fierce sister Lady Constance, and his even fiercer Scottish gardener, the red-bearded Angus McAllister . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Tess of the d'Urbervilles Audio CD Pack
Thomas Hardy
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Classics
A pretty young girl has to leave home to make money for her family. She is clever and a good worker; but she is uneducated and does not know the cruel ways of the world. So, when a rich young man says he loves her, she is careful - but not careful enough. He is persuasive, and she is overwhelmed. It is not her fault, but the world says it is. Her young life is already stained by men's desires, and by death.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 David Copperfield Audio CD Pack
Charles Dickens
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
'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.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Ethan Frome
Edith Wharton
Retold by Susan Kingsley
STAGE 3 - Classics
Life is always hard for the poor, in any place and at any time. Ethan Frome is a farmer in Massachusetts. He works long hours every day, but his farm makes very little money. His wife, Zeena, is a thin, grey woman, always complaining, and only interested in her own ill health.
Then Mattie Silver, a young cousin, comes to live with the Fromes, to help Zeena and do the housework. Her bright smile and laughing voice bring light and hope into the Fromes' house - and into Ethan's lonely life.
But poverty is a prison from which few people escape . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Ethan Frome Audio CD Pack
Edith Wharton
Retold by Susan Kingsley
STAGE 3 - Classics
Life is always hard for the poor, in any place and at any time. Ethan Frome is a farmer in Massachusetts. He works long hours every day, but his farm makes very little money. His wife, Zeena, is a thin, grey woman, always complaining, and only interested in her own ill health.
Then Mattie Silver, a young cousin, comes to live with the Fromes, to help Zeena and do the housework. Her bright smile and laughing voice bring light and hope into the Fromes' house - and into Ethan's lonely life.
But poverty is a prison from which few people escape . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Go, Lovely Rose and Other Stories
H.E. Bates
Retold by Rosemary Border
STAGE 3 - Human Interest
A warm summer night. The moon shines down on the quiet houses and gardens. Everyone is asleep. Everyone except the man in pyjamas and slippers, standing on the wet grass at the end of his garden, watching and waiting . . .
In these three short stories, H. E. Bates presents ordinary people like you and me. But as we get to know them better, we see that their feelings are not at all ordinary. In fact, what happens to them - and in them - is passionate, and even extraordinary. Could this happen to you and me?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Card
Arnold Bennett
Retold by Nick Bullard
STAGE 3 - Human Interest
Every town should have a 'card' - someone who gets talked about, someone who does mad and wonderful things, someone who makes you laugh.
Bursley in the Five Towns has a 'card': Edward Henry Machin (Denry for short). Denry begins life in a poor little house where the rent is twenty-three pence a week. But before he's thirty, he's made a lot of money, and had more adventures than you and I have had hot dinners. The town of Bursley never stops talking about him. Whatever will young Denry do next?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Railway Children Audio CD Pack
Edith Nesbit
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 3 - Human Interest
'We have to leave our house in London,' Mother said to the children. 'We're going to live in the country, in a little house near a railway line.'
And so begins a new life for Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis. They become the railway children - they know all the trains, Perks the station porter is their best friend, and they have many adventures on the railway line.
But why has their father had to go away? Where is he, and will he ever come back?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 'Who, Sir? Me, Sir?'
K. M. Peyton
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 3 - Human Interest
Sam Sylvester is a teacher who wants his class to have ambition, and to do great things in life. So he enters them for a sporting competition against the rich students of Greycoats School.
The team that he has chosen for the competition think Sam has gone crazy. 'Who, Sir? Me, Sir?' says little Hoomey, his eyes round with horror. 'We'll never beat Greycoats,' the others cry. 'Never in a million years!'
But you don't know what you can do
- until you try . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Persuasion
Jane Austen
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 4 - Classics
At nineteen Anne Elliot refuses an offer of marriage from Frederick Wentworth, persuaded to do so by Lady Russell, a friend of her dead mother. Wentworth is a sailor, with no money and an uncertain future, says Lady Russell - just a nobody, certainly not worthy of a baronet's daughter.
Eight years later Wentworth returns, a rich and successful captain, looking for a wife. Anne is still unmarried, but Captain Wentworth clearly prefers the company of the two
Musgrove girls
. . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Scarlet Letter Audio CD Pack
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Classics
Scarlet is the colour of sin, and the letter 'A' stands for 'Adultery'. In the 1600s, in Boston, Massachusetts, love was allowed only between a husband and a wife. A child born outside marriage was a child of sin.
Hester Prynne must wear the scarlet letter on her dress for the rest of her life. How can she ever escape from this public shame? What will happen to her child, growing up in the shadow of the scarlet letter? The future holds no joy for Hester Prynne.
And what will happen to her sinful lover - the father of her child?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
Into the narrow social world of New York in the 1870s comes Countess Ellen Olenska, surrounded by shocked whispers about her failed marriage to a rich Polish Count. A woman who leaves her husband can never be accepted in polite society.
Newland Archer is engaged to young May Welland, but the beautiful and mysterious Countess needs his help. He becomes her friend and defender, but friendship with an unhappy, lonely woman is a dangerous path for a young man to
follow -
especially a young man who is soon to be married.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 The Bride Price
Buchi Emecheta
Retold by Rosemary Border
STAGE 5 - Human Interest
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.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 The Dead of Jericho
Colin Dexter
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Crime & Mystery
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.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 The Garden Party and Other Stories
Katherine Mansfield
Retold by Rosalie Kerr
STAGE 5 - Human Interest
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.
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.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Dublin People - Short Stories
Maeve Binchy
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 6 - Human Interest
A young country girl comes to live and work in Dublin. Jo is determined to be modern and independent, and to have a wonderful time. But life in a big city is full of strange surprises for a shy country girl . . .
Gerry Moore is a man with a problem - alcohol. He knows he must give it up, and his family and friends watch nervously as he battles against it. But drink is a hard enemy to fight . . .
These stories by the Irish writer Maeve Binchy are full of affectionate humour and wit, and sometimes a little sadness.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Human Interest
There are so many things that a mother wishes to teach her daughter. How to lose your innocence but not your hope. How to keep hoping, when hope is your only joy. How to laugh for ever.
This is the story of four mothers and their daughters - Chinese-American women, the mothers born in China, and the daughters born in America. Through their eyes we see life in pre-Revolutionary China, and life in downtown San Francisco; women struggling to find a cultural
identity that can
include a past and a future half a world apart.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Far from the Madding Crowd Audio CD Pack
Thomas Hardy
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
Bathsheba Everdene is young, proud, and beautiful. She is an independent woman and can marry any man she chooses - if she chooses. In fact, she likes her independence, and she likes fighting her own battles in a man's world.
But it is never wise to ignore the power of love. There are three men who would very much like to marry Bathsheba. When she falls in love with one of them, she soon wishes she had kept her independence. She learns that love brings misery, pain, and violent passions that can destroy lives . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Great Expectations Audio CD Pack
Charles Dickens
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
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!'
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Stories from the Five Towns Audio CD Pack
Arnold Bennett
Retold by Nick Bullard
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
Arnold Bennett is famous for his stories about the Five Towns and the people who live there. They look and sound just like other people, and, like all of us, sometimes they do some very strange things. There's Sir Jee, who is a rich businessman. So why is he making a plan with a burglar? Then there is Toby Hall. Why does he decide to visit Number 11 Child Row, and who does he find there? And then there are the Hessian brothers and Annie Emery - and the little problem of twelve thousand pounds.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Children of the New Forest Audio CD Pack
Captain Marryat
Retold by Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
England in 1647: King Charles is in prison, and Cromwell's men are fighting the King's men. These are dangerous times for everybody.
The four Beverley children have no parents; their mother is dead and their father died while fighting for the King. Now Cromwell's soldiers have come to burn the house - with the children in it.
The four of them escape into the New Forest - but how will they live? What will they eat? And will Cromwell's soldiers find them?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Last Sherlock Holmes Story
Michael Dibdin
Retold by Rosalie Kerr
STAGE 3 - Crime & Mystery
For fifty years after Dr Watson's death, a packet of papers, written by the doctor himself, lay hidden in a locked box. The papers contained an extraordinary report of the case of Jack the Ripper and the horrible murders in the East End of London in 1888. The detective, of course, was the great Sherlock Holmes - but why was the report kept hidden for so long?
This is the story that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never wrote. It is a strange and frightening tale . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Railway Children
Edith Nesbit
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 3 - Human Interest
'We have to leave our house in London,' Mother said to the children. 'We're going to live in the country, in a little house near a railway line.'
And so begins a new life for Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis. They become the railway children - they know all the trains, Perks the station porter is their best friend, and they have many adventures on the railway line.
But why has their father had to go away? Where is he, and will he ever come back?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Tooth and Claw
Saki
Retold by Rosemary Border
STAGE 3 - Human Interest
Conradin is ten years old. He lives alone with his aunt. He has two big secrets. The first is that he hates his aunt. The second is that he keeps a small, wild animal in the garden shed. The animal has sharp, white teeth, and it loves fresh blood. Every night, Conradin prays to this animal and asks it to do one thing for him, just one thing.
This collection of short stories is clever, funny, and shows us 'Nature, red in tooth and claw'. In other words, it is Saki at his very best.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Washington Square Audio CD Pack
Henry James
Retold by Kieran McGovern
STAGE 4 - Classics
When a handsome young man begins to court Catherine Sloper, she feels she is very lucky. She is a quiet, gentle girl, but neither beautiful nor clever; no one had ever admired her before, or come to the front parlour of her home in Washington Square to whisper soft words of love to her.
But in New York in the 1840s young ladies are not free to marry where they please. Catherine must have her father's permission, and Dr Sloper is a rich man. One day Catherine will have a fortune of 30,000 dollars a year . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 David Copperfield
Charles Dickens
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
'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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Far from the Madding Crowd
Thomas Hardy
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
Bathsheba Everdene is young, proud, and beautiful. She is an independent woman and can marry any man she chooses - if she chooses. In fact, she likes her independence, and she likes fighting her own battles in a man's world.
But it is never wise to ignore the power of love. There are three men who would very much like to marry Bathsheba. When she falls in love with one of them, she soon wishes she had kept her independence. She learns that love brings misery, pain, and violent passions that can destroy lives . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Cold Comfort Farm
Stella Gibbons
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Human Interest
The farm lies in the shadow of a hill, and the farmyard rarely sees the sun, even in summer, when the sukebind hangs heavy in the branches. Here live the Starkadders - Aunt Ada Doom, Judith, Amos, Seth, Reuben, Elfine... They lead messy, untidy lives, full of dark thoughts, moody silences, and sudden noisy quarrels.
That is, until their attractive young cousin arrives from London. Neat, sensible, efficient, Flora Poste cannot bear messes
(they are so
uncivilized). She begins to tidy up the Starkadders' lives at once . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Sally's Phone Audio CD Pack
Christine Lindop
STARTER - Human Interest
Sally is always running - and she has her phone with her all the time: at home, on the train, at work, at lunchtime, and at the shops.
But then one afternoon suddenly she has a different phone . . . and it changes her life.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Classics
Scarlet is the colour of sin, and the letter 'A' stands for 'Adultery'. In the 1600s, in Boston, Massachusetts, love was allowed only between a husband and a wife. A child born outside marriage was a child of sin.
Hester Prynne must wear the scarlet letter on her dress for the rest of her life. How can she ever escape from this public shame? What will happen to her child, growing up in the shadow of the scarlet letter? The future holds no joy for Hester Prynne.
And what will happen to her sinful lover - the father of her child?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Sense and Sensibility Audio CD Pack
Jane Austen
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
Sometimes the Dashwood girls do not seem like sisters. Elinor is all calmness and reason, and can be relied upon for practical, common sense opinions. Marianne, on the other hand, is all sensibility, full of passionate and romantic feeling. She has no time for dull common sense - or for middle-aged men of thirty-five, long past the age of marriage.
True love can only be felt by the young, of course. And if your heart is broken at the age of seventeen, how can you ever expect to recover from the passionate misery that fills your life, waking and sleeping?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Wuthering Heights Audio CD Pack
Emily Brontë
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
The wind is strong on the Yorkshire moors. There are few trees, and fewer houses, to block its path. There is one house, however, that does not hide from the wind. It stands out from the hill and challenges the wind to do its worst. The house is called Wuthering Heights.
When Mr Earnshaw brings a strange, small, dark child back home to Wuthering Heights, it seems he has opened his doors to trouble. He has invited in something that, like the wind, is safer kept out of the house.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Matty Doolin
Catherine Cookson
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
Matty is fifteen and is leaving school in a few weeks' time. He wants to work with animals, and would like to get a job on a farm. But his parents say he's too young to leave home - he must stay in the town and get a job in ship-building, like his father. They also say he can't go on a camping holiday with his friends. And they say he can't keep his dog, Nelson, because Nelson barks all day and eats his father's shoes.
But it is because of Nelson that Matty
finds a new
life . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Stories from the Five Towns
Arnold Bennett
Retold by Nick Bullard
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
Arnold Bennett is famous for his stories about the Five Towns and the people who live there. They look and sound just like other people, and, like all of us, sometimes they do some very strange things. There's Sir Jee, who is a rich businessman. So why is he making a plan with a burglar? Then there is Toby Hall. Why does he decide to visit Number 11 Child Row, and who does he find there? And then there are the Hessian brothers and Annie Emery - and the little problem of twelve thousand pounds.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Too Old to Rock and Roll and Other Stories
Jan Mark
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
Greg is a teenager with a problem - his father. After the death of Greg's mother in an accident, his father takes no interest in life at all. Greg tries hard to help him. His father is too old to rock and roll, of course . . . or is he?
These short stories by Jan Mark look at life, love, and friendship through teenagers' eyes.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Lorna Doone
R.D. Blackmore
Retold by David Penn
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
One winter's day in 1673 young John Ridd is riding home from school, across the wild lonely hills of Exmoor. He has to pass Doone valley - a dangerous place, as the Doones are famous robbers and murderers. All Exmoor lives in fear of the Doones.
At home there is sad news waiting for young John, and he learns that he has good reason to hate the Doones. But in the years to come he meets Lorna Doone, with her lovely smile and big dark eyes. And soon he is deeply, hopelessly, in love . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The African Queen
C.S. Forester
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
The African Queen is an old, dirty, ugly, unreliable steamboat. No one would expect a missionary's sister and a rough, uneducated mechanic to take a boat like that down a dangerous river through the forests of Central Africa. But Rose Sayer and Charlie Allnutt do just that.
Why do they do it? The First World War has just begun, and Rose has a wild and crazy plan. She and Charlie set off down the river and come close to death many times, but they survive all dangers - except the danger of falling in love . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Washington Square
Henry James
Retold by Kieran McGovern
STAGE 4 - Classics
When a handsome young man begins to court Catherine Sloper, she feels she is very lucky. She is a quiet, gentle girl, but neither beautiful nor clever; no one had ever admired her before, or come to the front parlour of her home in Washington Square to whisper soft words of love to her.
But in New York in the 1840s young ladies are not free to marry where they please. Catherine must have her father's permission, and Dr Sloper is a rich man. One day Catherine will have a fortune of 30,000 dollars a year . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Great Expectations
Charles Dickens
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
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!'
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Sense and Sensibility
Jane Austen
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
Sometimes the Dashwood girls do not seem like sisters. Elinor is all calmness and reason, and can be relied upon for practical, common sense opinions. Marianne, on the other hand, is all sensibility, full of passionate and romantic feeling. She has no time for dull common sense - or for middle-aged men of thirty-five, long past the age of marriage.
True love can only be felt by the young, of course. And if your heart is broken at the age of seventeen, how can you ever expect to recover from the passionate misery that fills your life, waking and sleeping?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Barchester Towers
Anthony Trollope
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Classics
Mrs Proudie, the warlike wife of the new Bishop of Barchester, brings the Reverend Slope into the Bishop's Palace to help dominate her husband and rule the local clergy. But Slope is a snake in the grass, determined to find a rich wife, to win advancement for himself, even to fight Mrs Proudie if necessary.
Their battle becomes a furious dance, involving rich, pretty Widow Bold, angry Archdeacon Grantly, man-eating Signora Neroni, gentle Mr Harding, confused
Parson
Quiverful and his fourteen noisy children.
This classic comic story is Trollope's most famous novel.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Classics
A pretty young girl has to leave home to make money for her family. She is clever and a good worker; but she is uneducated and does not know the cruel ways of the world. So, when a rich young man says he loves her, she is careful - but not careful enough. He is persuasive, and she is overwhelmed. It is not her fault, but the world says it is. Her young life is already stained by men's desires, and by death.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Jane Eyre Audio CD Pack
Charlotte Brontë
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Classics
Jane Eyre is alone in the world. Disliked by her aunt's family, she is sent away to school. Here she learns that a young girl, with neither money nor family to support her, can expect little from the world. She survives, but she wants more from life than simply to survive: she wants respect, and love. When she goes to work for Mr Rochester, she hopes she has found both at once. But the sound of strange laughter, late at night, behind a locked door, warns her that her troubles are only beginning.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Children of the New Forest
Captain Marryat
Retold by Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
England in 1647: King Charles is in prison, and Cromwell's men are fighting the King's men. These are dangerous times for everybody.
The four Beverley children have no parents; their mother is dead and their father died while fighting for the King. Now Cromwell's soldiers have come to burn the house - with the children in it.
The four of them escape into the New Forest - but how will they live? What will they eat? And will Cromwell's soldiers find them?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 A Dubious Legacy
Mary Wesley
Retold by Rosalie Kerr
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
In 1944 Henry Tillotson brings his new wife, Margaret, home to his farmhouse in the English countryside. Margaret is a strange, unpleasant woman, determined, it seems, to make Henry's life miserable. 'Poor Henry!' say his friends, as they visit at weekends and holidays. 'What an awful life he has!' But Henry is not at all the sad and disappointed man we might expect him to be. He manages to enjoy life, and indeed, has quite a lot of fun, one way and another . . .
Mary Wesley's story takes a sharp but light-hearted look at love, sex, and marriage - and the things people will do to get what they want.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Classics
'The moment I first met you, I noticed your pride, your sense of superiority, and your selfish disdain for the feelings of others. You are the last man in the world whom I could ever be persuaded to marry,' said Elizabeth Bennet.
And so Elizabeth rejects the proud Mr Darcy. Can nothing overcome her prejudice against him? And what of the other Bennet girls - their fortunes, and misfortunes, in the business of getting husbands?
This famous novel by Jane Austen is full of wise and humorous observation of the people and manners of her times.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Oliver Twist Audio CD Pack
Charles Dickens
Retold by Richard Rogers
STAGE 6 - Classics
London in the 1830s was no place to be if you were a hungry ten-year-old boy, an orphan without friends or family, with no home to go to, and only a penny in your pocket to buy a piece of bread.
But Oliver Twist finds some friends - Fagin, the Artful Dodger, and Charley Bates. They give him food and shelter, and play games with him, but it is not until some days later that Oliver finds out what kind of friends they are and what kind of 'games' they play . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Cries from the Heart: Stories from Around the World Audio CD Pack
Retold by Jenifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - World Stories
From Botswana to New Zealand, from Jamaica to Nigeria, from Uganda to Malaysia, from India to South Africa, these moving stories show us that the human heart is the same in every place. Fear and pain, happiness and sadness belong to us all.
These eight stories were winning entries in the 2004 Commonwealth Short Story Competition. The writers are Sefi Atta, Adrienne M. Frater, Lauri Kubuitsile, Erica N. Robinson, Jackee Budesta Batanda, Janet Tay Hui Ching,
Anuradha
Muralidharan, and Tod Collins.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Bestseller Pack
Pack contains one copy of each of the following ten titles:
Girl on a Motorcycle
New York Café
Drive into Danger
The Fifteenth Character
Mystery in London
Sally's Phone
Escape
Taxi of Terror
Robin Hood
Survive!
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 A Stranger at Green Knowe
Lucy M. Boston
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
When Ping sees Hanno in the zoo, he is excited, but also unhappy. Hanno is a magnificent African gorilla, big and black and much stronger than a man. But how can this wonderful wild animal live in a cage, behind bars and locked doors?
Then Hanno escapes from the zoo. And a few days later his footprints are seen near Green Knowe, the old house deep in the English countryside where Ping is spending his holiday . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Rabbit-Proof Fence
Doris Pilkington Garimara
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 3 - True Stories
Fourteen-year-old Molly and her cousins Daisy and Gracie were mixed-race Aborigines. In 1931 they were taken away from their families and sent to a camp to be trained as good 'white' Australians. They were told to forget their mothers, their language, their home.
But Molly would not forget. She and her cousins escaped and walked back to Jigalong, 1600 kilometres away, following the rabbit-proof fence north as part of their guide across the desert.
This is the true stoy of that walk, told by Molly's daughter, Doris. It is also a prize-winning film.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Red Roses
Christine Lindop
STARTER - Human Interest
'Who is the man with the roses in his hand?' thinks Anna. 'I want to meet him.'
'Who is the girl with the guitar?' thinks Will. 'I like her. I want to meet her.'
But they do not meet.
'There are lots of men!' says Anna's friend Vicki, but Anna cannot forget Will. And then one rainy day . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Bestseller Pack
Pack contains one copy of each of the following ten titles:
The Call of the Wild
Chemical Secret
A Christmas Carol
Frankenstein
Love Story
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Prisoner of Zenda
The Secret Garden
Skyjack!
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 New Yorkers - Short Stories Audio CD Pack (American English)
O. Henry
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
A housewife, a tramp, a lawyer, a waitress, an actress - ordinary people living ordinary lives in New York at the beginning of this century. The city has changed greatly since that time, but its people are much the same. Some are rich, some are poor, some are happy, some are sad, some have found love, some are looking for love.
O. Henry's famous short stories - sensitive, funny, sympathetic - give us vivid pictures of the everyday lives of these New Yorkers.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Bestseller Pack
Pack contains one copy of each of the following ten titles:
Black Beauty
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gulliver's Travels
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Little Women
Silas Marner
A Tale of Two Cities
The Thirty-Nine Steps
Three Men in a Boat
Treasure Island
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Remember Miranda
Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Cathy Wilson is driving to Norfolk, to begin her new job with the Harvey family. She is going to look after the two young children, Tim and Susan. Cathy meets the children's father, and their grandmother, and their aunt. She meets Nick, the farmer who lives across the fields. But she doesn't meet Miranda, the children's mother, because Miranda is dead.
She died two years ago, and Cathy cannot learn anything about her. Everybody remembers Miranda, but nobody wants to talk about her . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Remember Miranda Audio CD Pack
Rowena Akinyemi
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Cathy Wilson is driving to Norfolk, to begin her new job with the Harvey family. She is going to look after the two young children, Tim and Susan. Cathy meets the children's father, and their grandmother, and their aunt. She meets Nick, the farmer who lives across the fields. But she doesn't meet Miranda, the children's mother, because Miranda is dead.
She died two years ago, and Cathy cannot learn anything about her. Everybody remembers Miranda, but nobody wants to talk about her . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Meaning of Gifts: Stories from Turkey Audio CD Pack
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - World Stories
'I'm afraid to look in the storeroom. All our food for the winter - where is it now? Inside those hungry guests! They never stop eating! And they never say thank you! And those children - my God, they eat more than their parents!'
Izzet Efendi and his family are afraid that their guests are never going to go home, but what can they do?
Bookworms World Stories collect stories from around the world. This volume has stories by Turkish writers Huseyin Rahmi Gurpinar, Ayse Kilimci, Sait Faik, and Yalvac Ural.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Cries from the Heart: Stories from Around the World
Retold by Jenifer Bassett
STAGE 2 - World Stories
From Botswana to New Zealand, from Jamaica to Nigeria, from Uganda to Malaysia, from India to South Africa, these moving stories show us that the human heart is the same in every place. Fear and pain, happiness and sadness belong to us all.
These eight stories were winning entries in the 2004 Commonwealth Short Story Competition. The writers are Sefi Atta, Adrienne M. Frater, Lauri Kubuitsile, Erica N. Robinson, Jackee Budesta Batanda, Janet Tay Hui Ching,
Anuradha
Muralidharan, and Tod Collins.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 The Accidental Tourist
Anne Tyler
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 5 - Human Interest
Everyday life in Baltimore, USA, is full of problems - getting the washing done, buying groceries and dog food, avoiding the neighbors . . . 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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Starter King Arthur
Janet Hardy-Gould
STARTER - Human Interest
It is the year 650 in England. There is war everywhere because the old king is dead and he has no son. Only when the new king comes can the fighting stop and the strange, magical story of King Arthur begin. But first, Merlin the ancient magician has to find a way of finding the next king . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Robin Hood
John Escott
STARTER - Human Interest
'You're a brave man, but I am afraid for you,' says Lady Marian to Robin of Locksley. She is afraid because Robin does not like Prince John's new taxes and wants to do something for the poor people of Nottingham. When Prince John hears this, Robin is suddenly in danger - great danger.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Survive!
Helen Brooke
STARTER - Human Interest
You are in a small plane, going across the Rocky Mountains. Suddenly, the engine starts to make strange noises . . .
Soon you are alone, in the snow, at the top of a mountain, and it is very, very cold. Can you find your way out of the mountain?
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Love Story Audio CD Pack
Erich Segal
Retold by Rosemary Border
STAGE 3 - Human interest
This is a love story you won't forget. Oliver Barrett meets Jenny Cavilleri. He plays sports, she plays music. He's rich, and she's poor. They argue, and they fight, and they fall in love.
So they get married, and make a home together. They work hard, they enjoy life, they make plans for the future. Then they learn that they don't have much time left.
Their story has made people laugh, and cry, all over the world.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Secret Garden Audio CD Pack
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 3 - Human Interest
Little Mary Lennox is a bad-tempered, disagreeable child. When her parents die in India, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle in a big, lonely, old house.
There is nothing to do all day except walk in the gardens - and watch the robin flying over the high walls of the secret garden . . . which has been locked for ten years. And no one has the key.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Little Women Audio CD Pack
Louisa May Alcott
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
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.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 A Tale of Two Cities Audio CD Pack
Charles Dickens
Retold by Ralph Mowat
STAGE 4 - Classics
'The Marquis lay there, like stone, with a knife pushed into his heart. On his chest lay a piece of paper, with the words: Drive him fast to the grave. This is from JACQUES.'
The French Revolution brings terror and death to many people. But even in these troubled times people can still love and be kind. They can be generous and true-hearted . . . and brave.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Christmas in Prague Audio CD Pack
Joyce Hannam
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
In a house in Oxford three people are having breakfast - Carol, her husband Jan, and his father Josef. They are talking about Prague, because Carol wants them all to go there for Christmas.
Josef was born in Prague, but he left his home city when he was a young man. He is an old man now, and he would like to see Prague again before he dies. But he is afraid. He still remembers another Christmas in Prague, many long years ago - a Christmas that changed his life for ever . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 One-Way Ticket - Short Stories
Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Tom Walsh had a lot to learn about life. He liked travelling, and he was in no hurry. He liked meeting people, anyone and everyone. He liked the two American girls on the train. They were nice and very friendly. They knew a lot of places. Tom thought they were fun. Tom certainly had a lot to learn about life.
This is a collection of short stories about adventures on trains. Strange, wonderful, and frightening things can happen on trains - and all of them happen here.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 One-Way Ticket Audio CD Pack
Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Tom Walsh had a lot to learn about life. He liked travelling, and he was in no hurry. He liked meeting people, anyone and everyone. He liked the two American girls on the train. They were nice and very friendly. They knew a lot of places. Tom thought they were fun. Tom certainly had a lot to learn about life.
This is a collection of short stories about adventures on trains. Strange, wonderful, and frightening things can happen on trains - and all of them happen here.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Lottery Winner
Rosemary Border
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Everybody wants to win the lottery. A million pounds, perhaps five million, even ten million. How wonderful! Emma Carter buys a ticket for the lottery every week, and puts the ticket carefully in her bag. She is seventy-three years old and does not have much money. She would like to visit her son in Australia, but aeroplane tickets are very expensive.
Jason Williams buys lottery tickets every week too. But he is not a very nice young man. He steals things. He hits old ladies in the street, snatches their bags and runs away . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Lottery Winner Audio CD Pack
Rosemary Border
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Everybody wants to win the lottery. A million pounds, perhaps five million, even ten million. How wonderful! Emma Carter buys a ticket for the lottery every week, and puts the ticket carefully in her bag. She is seventy-three years old and does not have much money. She would like to visit her son in Australia, but aeroplane tickets are very expensive.
Jason Williams buys lottery tickets every week too. But he is not a very nice young man. He steals things. He hits old ladies in the street, snatches their bags and runs away . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 The Meaning of Gifts: Stories from Turkey
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - World Stories
'I'm afraid to look in the storeroom. All our food for the winter - where is it now? Inside those hungry guests! They never stop eating! And they never say thank you! And those children - my God, they eat more than their parents!'
Izzet Efendi and his family are afraid that their guests are never going to go home, but what can they do?
Bookworms World Stories collect stories from around the world. This volume has stories by Turkish writers Huseyin Rahmi Gurpinar, Ayse Kilimci, Sait Faik, and Yalvac Ural.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Anne of Green Gables Audio CD Pack
L.M. Montgomery
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew want to adopt an orphan, to help on the farm at Green Gables. They ask for a boy, but they get Anne, who has red hair and freckles, and who talks and talks and talks.
They didn't want a girl, but how can they send a child back, like an unwanted parcel? So Anne stays, and begins a new life in the sleepy, quiet village of Avonlea in Canada.
But it is not so quiet after Anne comes to live there . . .
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 New Yorkers - Short Stories Audio CD Pack (British English)
O. Henry
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
A housewife, a tramp, a lawyer, a waitress, an actress - ordinary people living ordinary lives in New York at the beginning of this century. The city has changed greatly since that time, but its people are much the same. Some are rich, some are poor, some are happy, some are sad, some have found love, some are looking for love.
O. Henry's famous short stories - sensitive, funny, sympathetic - give us vivid pictures of the everyday lives of these New Yorkers.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Piano Audio CD Pack
Rosemary Border
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
One day, a farmer tells a farm boy to take everything out of an old building and throw it away. 'It's all rubbish,' he says.
In the middle of all the rubbish, the boy finds a beautiful old piano. He has never played before, but now, when his fingers touch the piano, he begins to play. He closes his eyes and the music comes to him - and the music moves his fingers.
When he opens his eyes again, he knows that his life has changed forever...
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Black Beauty Audio CD Pack
Anna Sewell
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
When Black Beauty is trained to carry a rider on his back, or to pull a carriage behind him, he finds it hard at first. But he is lucky - his first home is a good one, where his owners are kind people, who would never be cruel to a horse.
But in the nineteenth century many people were cruel to their horses, whipping them and beating them, and using them like machines until they dropped dead. Black Beauty soon finds this out, and as he describes his life, he has many terrible stories to tell.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Silas Marner
George Eliot
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 4 - Classics
In a hole under the floorboards Silas Marner the linen-weaver keeps his gold. Every day he works hard at his weaving, and every night he takes the gold out and holds the bright coins lovingly, feeling them and counting them again and again. The villagers are afraid of him and he has no family, no friends. Only the gold is his friend, his delight, his reason for living.
But what if a thief should come in the night and take his gold away? What will Silas do then? What could possibly comfort him for the loss of his only friend?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Silas Marner Audio CD Pack
George Eliot
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 4 - Classics
In a hole under the floorboards Silas Marner the linen-weaver keeps his gold. Every day he works hard at his weaving, and every night he takes the gold out and holds the bright coins lovingly, feeling them and counting them again and again. The villagers are afraid of him and he has no family, no friends. Only the gold is his friend, his delight, his reason for living.
But what if a thief should come in the night and take his gold away? What will Silas do then? What could possibly comfort him for the loss of his only friend?
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 6 - Classics
Jane Eyre is alone in the world. Disliked by her aunt's family, she is sent away to school. Here she learns that a young girl, with neither money nor family to support her, can expect little from the world. She survives, but she wants more from life than simply to survive: she wants respect, and love. When she goes to work for Mr Rochester, she hopes she has found both at once. But the sound of strange laughter, late at night, behind a locked door, warns her that her troubles are only beginning.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens
Retold by Richard Rogers
STAGE 6 - Classics
London in the 1830s was no place to be if you were a hungry ten-year-old boy, an orphan without friends or family, with no home to go to, and only a penny in your pocket to buy a piece of bread.
But Oliver Twist finds some friends - Fagin, the Artful Dodger, and Charley Bates. They give him food and shelter, and play games with him, but it is not until some days later that Oliver finds out what kind of friends they are and what kind of 'games' they play . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Give us the Money
Maeve Clarke
STARTER - Crime & Mystery
'Every day is the same. Nothing exciting ever happens to me,' thinks Adam one boring Monday morning.
But today is not the same. When he helps a beautiful young woman because some men want to take her bag, life gets exciting and very, very dangerous.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Star Reporter
John Escott
STARTER - Human Interest
'There's a new girl in town,' says Joe, and soon Steve is out looking for her.
Marietta is easy to find in a small town, but every time he sees her something goes wrong . . . and his day goes from bad to worse.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Sally's Phone
Christine Lindop
STARTER - Human Interest
Sally is always running - and she has her phone with her all the time: at home, on the train, at work, at lunchtime, and at the shops.
But then one afternoon suddenly she has a different phone . . . and it changes her life.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 A Little Princess Audio CD Pack
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Sara Crewe is a very rich little girl. She first comes to England when she is seven, and her father takes her to Miss Minchin's school in London. Then he goes back to his work in India. Sara is very sad at first, but she soon makes friends at school.
But on her eleventh birthday, something terrible happens, and now Sara has no family, no home, and not a penny in the world . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Bestseller Pack
Pack contains one copy of each of the following ten titles:
Anne of Green Gables
The Canterville Ghost
The Death of Karen Silkwood
Dracula
Henry VIII and his Six Wives
Huckleberry Finn
New Yorkers
The Piano
Robinson Crusoe
Sherlock Holmes Short Stories
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Christmas in Prague
Joyce Hannam
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
In a house in Oxford three people are having breakfast - Carol, her husband Jan, and his father Josef. They are talking about Prague, because Carol wants them all to go there for Christmas.
Josef was born in Prague, but he left his home city when he was a young man. He is an old man now, and he would like to see Prague again before he dies. But he is afraid. He still remembers another Christmas in Prague, many long years ago - a Christmas that changed his life for ever . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 5 - Classics
The wind is strong on the Yorkshire moors. There are few trees, and fewer houses, to block its path. There is one house, however, that does not hide from the wind. It stands out from the hill and challenges the wind to do its worst. The house is called Wuthering Heights.
When Mr Earnshaw brings a strange, small, dark child back home to Wuthering Heights, it seems he has opened his doors to trouble. He has invited in something that, like the wind, is safer kept out of the house.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Anne of Green Gables
L.M. Montgomery
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew want to adopt an orphan, to help on the farm at Green Gables. They ask for a boy, but they get Anne, who has red hair and freckles, and who talks and talks and talks.
They didn't want a girl, but how can they send a child back, like an unwanted parcel? So Anne stays, and begins a new life in the sleepy, quiet village of Avonlea in Canada.
But it is not so quiet after Anne comes to live there . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Piano
Rosemary Border
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
One day, a farmer tells a farm boy to take everything out of an old building and throw it away. 'It's all rubbish,' he says.
In the middle of all the rubbish, the boy finds a beautiful old piano. He has never played before, but now, when his fingers touch the piano, he begins to play. He closes his eyes and the music comes to him - and the music moves his fingers.
When he opens his eyes again, he knows that his life is changed for ever...
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Black Beauty
Anna Sewell
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
When Black Beauty is trained to carry a rider on his back, or to pull a carriage behind him, he finds it hard at first. But he is lucky - his first home is a good one, where his owners are kind people, who would never be cruel to a horse.
But in the nineteenth century many people were cruel to their horses, whipping them and beating them, and using them like machines until they dropped dead. Black Beauty soon finds this out, and as he describes his life, he has many terrible stories to tell.
Useful and free
Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
Retold by John Escott
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
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.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Three Men in a Boat
Jerome K. Jerome
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 4 - Human Interest
'I like work. I find it interesting . . . I can sit and look at it for hours.'
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 to 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.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 New Yorkers - Short Stories
O. Henry
Retold by Diane Mowat
STAGE 2 - Human Interest
A housewife, a tramp, a lawyer, a waitress, an actress - ordinary people living ordinary lives in New York at the beginning of this century. The city has changed greatly since that time, but its people are much the same. Some are rich, some are poor, some are happy, some are sad, some have found love, some are looking for love.
O. Henry's famous short stories - sensitive, funny, sympathetic - give us vivid pictures of the everyday lives of these New Yorkers.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Love Story
Erich Segal
Retold by Rosemary Border
STAGE 3 - Human Interest
This is a love story you won't forget. Oliver Barrett meets Jenny Cavilleri. He plays sports, she plays music. He's rich, and she's poor. They argue, and they fight, and they fall in love.
So they get married, and make a home together. They work hard, they enjoy life, they make plans for the future. Then they learn that they don't have much time left.
Their story has made people laugh, and cry, all over the world.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Retold by Clare West
STAGE 3 - Human Interest
Little Mary Lennox is a bad-tempered, disagreeable child. When her parents die in India, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle in a big, lonely, old house.
There is nothing to do all day except walk in the gardens - and watch the robin flying over the high walls of the secret garden . . . which has been locked for ten years. And no one has the key.
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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 A Little Princess
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
STAGE 1 - Human Interest
Sara Crewe is a very rich little girl. She first comes to England when she is seven, and her father takes her to Miss Minchin's school in London. Then he goes back to his work in India. Sara is very sad at first, but she soon makes friends at school.
But on her eleventh birthday, something terrible happens, and now Sara has no family, no home, and not a penny in the world . . .
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Oxford Bookworms Collection A Tangled Web
Edited by Christine Lindop and Alison Sykes-McNulty
Deception is usually frowned on as morally unacceptable, but is it always wrong? Can hiding or distorting the truth sometimes have good effects, adding to the sum of human happiness? These ten stories are full of secrets and lies, from a light-hearted bit of fun to dark and desperate deceit; but whether harmless or evil, deception can sometimes lead to quite unexpected complications.
This collection contains stories by Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, Maeve Binchy, V.S. Naipaul, Somerset Maugham, Frederick Forsyth, Clare Boylan, Paul Theroux, Oscar Wilde, and Joanna Trollope.
Oxford Bookworms Collection And All for Love...
Edited by Diane Mowat and Jennifer Bassett
What sad, appalling, and surprising things people do in the name of love and for the sake of love. These short stories give us love won and love lost, love revenged, love thrown away, love in triumph, love in despair. It might be love between men and women, children and parents, even humans and cats; but whichever it is, love is a force to be reckoned with.
This collection contains stories by Maeve Binchy, Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, H.E. Bates, Graham Greene, Fay Weldon, Patricia Highsmith, John Morrison, and Somerset Maugham.
Oxford Bookworms Collection The Eye of Childhood
Edited by John Escott and Jennifer Bassett
What does it feel like to be a child? Learning how to negotiate with the unpredictable adult world, learning how to pick a path through life's traps and hazards, learning when the time has come to put away childish things. The writers of these short stories show us the world as seen from the far side of the child-adult divide, a gap that is sometimes small, and sometimes an unbridgeable chasm.
This collection contains stories by John Updike, Graham Greene, William Boyd, Susan Hill, D. H. Lawrence, Saki, Penelope Lively, Bernard MacLaverty, Frank Tuohy, and Morley Callaghan.
Oxford Bookworms Collection From the Cradle to the Grave
Edited by Clare West
These stories explore the trials of life from youth to old age: the idealism of young people, the stresses of marriage, the anxieties of parenthood, and the loneliness and fears of older people. The wide variety of writing styles includes black humour, satire, and compassionate and realistic observation of the follies and foibles of humankind.
This collection contains stories by Evelyn Waugh, Roald Dahl, Somerset Maugham, Saki, Frank Sargeson, Raymond Carver, H.E. Bates, and Susan Hill.
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