Upper-intermediate

When the young and beautiful Dorothea Brooke marries the aging scholar, Edward Casaubon, the people of Middlemarch believe that no good will come of it. Dorothea quickly grows unhappy and bored. Then she begins a sensitive friendship with Casaubon’s young cousin, Will Ladislaw. Meanwhile, the beautiful but spoilt Rosamond Vincey pursues the idealistic but poor Doctor Lydgate. Lydgate is determined not to get married, but Rosamond has other ideas… Recommended for older readers.

Dickens' sinister story of murder and intrigue set in London in the 1860s.

A story of mysticism and romance set in present-day California. Tilo owns a shop in Oakland, California, where she sells herbs and spices. But Tilo isn't just a shopkeeper, she is also The Mistress of Spices. With her knowledge of their secret powers this high priestess of wisdom and magic helps customers find answers to the questions of love, loss and loneliness. But when Tilo herself falls in love with a visitor to her shop, she has to choose between personal happiness and keeping her mystical gift.

Read the vivid story of the hardships endured by a young Zulu migrant worker. Xuma sees the brutality of the bosses of the mine and the squalor of the township where he lives. In the city, white people lead privileged lives. Xuma begins to question the racial injustices which surround him. Recommended for older readers.

Five short stories set in America in the 1920s and 1940s. The Cut-Glass Bowl,Bernice Bobs Her Hair,Gretchen's Forty Winks, Magnetism and  Three Hours Between Planes.Recommended for older readers.

Original work by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Maugham, the quintessential observer of human behaviour, tells the stories of: The Creative Impulse, The Round Dozen and Jane. Recommended for older readers

It is 1852 and three young people meet for the first time in the High Court of Chancery. They are the latest victims to be caught in the long-running court case of Jarndyce vs Jarndyce. A case which has caused the financial and moral breakdown of many previous claimants.

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?

Resting one night on a boat on the River Thames, Charlie Marlow tells his friends about his experiences as a stream-boat captain on the River Congo. There, in the heart of Africa, his search for the extraordinary Mr Kurtz caused him to question his own nature and values - and the nature and values of his society.