Douglas Hodge

"Charlie Bucket loves chocolate. And Mr. Willy Wonka, the most wondrous inventor in the world is opening the gates of his amazing chocolate factory for five lucky children. It's the prize of a lifetime! Gobstoppers, wriggle sweets and a river of melted chocolate delight await- Charlie needs just one Golden Ticket and these delicious treats could all be his."--Back cover.

Great Expectations, Charles Dickens' most acclaimed and popular novel, tells the story of Pip, a young orphan, who narrates the tale. Pip grows up in the marshlands of Kent, where he lives with his disagreeable sister and her sweet-natured husband, the blacksmith Joe Gargery.While visiting his family members' graves in the churchyard, the young Pip encounters Abel Magwitch, an escaped convict. Pip brings him food and a file, but the fugitive and Compeyson-his...

A disillusioned 60-year-old historian is determined to make peace with his past after an archaeological dig as a young student led to an affair with his best friend's fiancee.

A satirical, comedic drama, based on the occasional historical fact, about the rise of Catherine the Great. An idealistic romantic young girl, she arrives from Prussia for an arranged marriage to the mercurial Emperor Peter hoping for love and sunshine and finds instead a dangerous, depraved, backward world that she resolves to change. All she has to do is kill her husband, beat the church, baffle the military, and get the court on her side.

This satire of Victorian society shows the trials and tribulations of young love, the pettiness of upper class life, the raw energy and excitement of the most powerful city the world had ever seen, and the greed and corruption that lay just below its glittering surface.

Follow the exploits of Paul Pennyfeather, whose unfair expulsion from Oxford kick-starts a disastrous series of events, wherein he is by turn a naive teacher, a celebrity bridegroom, a wanted fugitive, and an international white slave-trader.

Based on George Elliot's novel, Middlemarch is set in early nineteenth century England and charts the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the town as it divides its population into two opposing factions: the conservatives and the liberals.

When Ava is forced into early retirement her husband and daughter encourage her to learn gourmet cooking and prepare to be a grandmother. Instead she signs up for a drama class where she is cast as Juliet - and falls in love with her Romeo.

When Paul Pennyfeather is unfairly expelled from Oxford, he goes to teach at a boarding school. All too quickly it becomes apparent that Paul is not fit for the job, but things start to look up when Paul meets Margot Beste-Chetwynde, a wealthy widow and mother to one of the students.

Paul jumps at the opportunity to spend a whole summer at the Beste-Chetwynde household acting as Peter's tutor while trying to win Margot's affection. But Paul is not prepared for Margot's world, filled with the glamorous upper class of society.