Upper-intermediate

This collection brings together some of the best examples of late nineteenthand early twentieth-century short stories. Some are about ordinary people to whom something unexpected happens. Others are about unusual characters or events. Some of the stories are funny and others are more serious. All of them are highly enjoyable.

When her mother dies, Mary Yellan goes to live with her aunt and uncle at Jamaica Inn. Strange things happen there at night, and Mary slowly discovers that she and her aunt are in terrible danger. Can she save herself and her aunt before it is too late?

Jane and Elizabeth Bennet are the oldest of five sisters in need of husbands, but it isn’t easy to find the right man. Are Mr Bingley, Mr Darcy and Mr Wickham all that they seem? Will pride and prejudice ever be defeated in the search for true love?

Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead just outside his home, Baskerville Hall. Many of the Baskerville family have died mysteriously. People say that they were killed by a gigantic devil-like creature – the Hound of the Baskervilles! Can that be true? And can Sherlock Holmes save the new owner of Baskerville Hall from a terrible death?

During one hot summer on Long Island, Jay Gatsby throws an amazing party every weekend. He is an extremely wealthy man, although no one knows where he or his money have come from. But Gatsby has a purpose: he is following a dream of love. Will his dream come true?

Four Weddings and a Funeral – one of the most successful films from Britain.
It’s a Saturday morning, and Charles is still asleep. He should be on his way to Angus and Laura’s wedding! Charles is always late, and he is worried that he will never find the right woman to marry. Then he meets Carrie…

Mitch McDeere is young, intelligent and ambitious. When he gets a job with the law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke it seems to be the path to money and power. But soon Mitch finds that the firm is listening to all his phone calls, and the FBI want to speak to him. Money and power has a price – and it could be Mitch’s life.

Inman leaves the horrors of the American Civil War and begins a long, dangerous journey home to Ada, the woman he loves. Along the way, he witnesses great poverty, cruelty, and violence. Will he ever see Ada again? And if he does, will she recognize the man he has become?

During the Great Depression in the United States, and after the loss of their farm in Oklahoma, the Joad family is faced with a journey of more than one thousand miles to California in search of a better life. Can hope defeat poverty, illness, hunger, and even death as they follow their dream?

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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