Black Cat (B2.1)

Three friends, George, Harris and J need a change in their lives and they decide to go on a bicycle trip through the beautiful Black Forest in Germany, where they meet with all kinds of hilarious adventures as they get into and out of trouble…

Dossiers:
The Golden Age of Bicycles The Black Forest

Adaptation by Gina D. B. Clemen
Activities by Monica Marszewska

Human interest

The seventeenth-century house of the seven gables shelters an old curse and a terrible secret. The lives of the Pyncheon family are ruined by greed, hatred and cowardice. Hepzibah and Clifford Pyncheon are tormented by the memories and ghosts of the past, until the love of two young people changes the course of destiny...

Dossiers:
Whitchcraft, The British Colonies in America
The History of Photography
Series: Reading & Training | Level: Step 4 | Exam: fce trinity

Adapted by Nancy Timmins
Activities by Kenneth Brodey

Mystery & horror

Catherine Morland is going on her first visit to the city of Bath. She is seventeen and comes from a small, quiet town in the English countryside. She likes Gothic novels. When she makes friends with the handsome young Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, she will find herself in the middle of a family tragedy. Henry's home, Northanger Abbey, is the scene of a crime. Or is it all just a product of Catherine's imagination?

Dossiers:
King George III and Regency England, British female novelists
Series: Reading & Training | Level: Step 4 | Exam: fce trinity

A power-hungry Richard III, a remorseful Macbeth, a revengeful Prince Hamlet, a powerful Julius Caesar, and a ruthless and ambitious King Henry V: various aspects of power and ambition feature in these five stories based on plays by William Shakespeare.

Dossier:
William Shakespeare 1564-1616
Ghosts, Witches and Revenge
The Influence on Shakespeare’s Plays

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the first masters of modern short stories and modernist poetry. But he is best remembered for his strange style of horror, with characters who cannot be forgotten. In this title he will terrify you with these five strange tales of mystery - starting with a man who fights to escape the tortures of the Inquisition, and ending with just a heart, a horrible beating heart.

Adapted by Nancy Timmins
Activities by Eleanor Donaldson

Crime

The great detective Sherlock Holmes is needed to solve a murder in Sussex, England. A card with the initials VV 341 has been left by the body, and discovering the facts of the case gets ever more difficult. The answers to this mystery lie far away from the scene of the crime and across the Atlantic, in a place known as ‘The Valley of Fear'.

Dossiers:
Hiding Places
Secret Societies
Series: Reading & Training | Level: Step 4 | Exam: fce trinity

Adapted by Nancy Timmins
Activities by Eleanor Donaldson

Crime

Sherlock Holmes is bored. But a fascinating new case is just around the corner. The attractive Mary Morstan arrives at 221B Baker Street with a strange story to tell. Her father vanished ten years ago: four years later she receives six beautiful pearls, one each year. She has been invited to meet the sender of these pearls and asks Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson for their help.
The case involves a mysterious map, hidden treasure and a wooden-legged man, enough to intrigue even Sherlock Holmes. But it's more than just a mystery for loyal Doctor Watson: will he find love with the lovely Miss Morstan?

Dossiers:
The Andaman Islands
The British In India

Exit test<

In Venice, Bassanio needs money to court a rich heiress. His merchant friend Antonio borrows the money from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. Shylock demands that the money is repaid in three months or he will take a pound of Antonio’s flesh. The merchant confidently agrees, but ultimately it will take the intelligence of two women to save him… *Wide range of activities on the four skills *FCE-style exercises *Trinity-style exercises (grade 7) *Internet project *Dossiers on The Origins of the Pound of Flesh Story and The Treatment of Jews in Shakespeare´s Time *Playscript *Exit test with answer key *Text recorded in full