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 ... Classics

A romantic thriller set against the background of the French Revolution.

Charles Dickens often thrilled audiences by reading aloud these tales of the supernatural.

'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. Classics

Sherlock Holmes battles against a criminal organisation in Conan Doyle’s ‘The Five Orange Pips’; in Charles Dickens’ ‘Hunted Down’ a ruthless murderer is brought to justice; in ‘The Stir Outside the Café Royal’ by Clarence Rook an American woman tracks down her fiancé’s killer; and in G. K. Chesterton’s ‘The Oracle of the Dog’ Father Brown solves a difficult murder case. *Wide range of activities on the four skills *PET-style activities *Trinity-style activities (grade 6) Dossier provodong a historical introduction to the genre *Internet Project *Exit test with answer key *Recording of three of the stories

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"—it was the tumultuous era of the French Revolution. Rich in drama and romance, this deftly plotted tale of adventure and courage by the most popular of English novelists bristles with suspense, culminating in a daring prison escape in the shadow of the guillotine.

Considered by many to be Dickens' finest novel, Great Expectations traces the growth of the book's narrator, Philip Pirrip (Pip), from a boy of shallow dreams to a man with depth of character. From its famous dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story abounds with some of Dickens' most memorable characters. Among them are the kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery, the mysterious convict Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Haversham and her beautiful ward Estella, Pip's good-hearted room-mate Herbert Pocket and the pompous Pumblechook. As Pip unravels the truth behind his own 'great expectations' in his quest to become a gentleman, the mysteries of the past and the convolutions of fate through a series of thrilling adventures serve to steer him towards maturity and his most importan