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One of a series of retellings of classic world literature from publisher Real Reads. True to the original plot, characters and theme, Real Reads also reflect the original author's style. A brilliant introduction to this early work of science fiction.When Dr Jekyll dares to explore the delicate balance between good and evil, he little suspects the destructive powers he will unleash.

Alone in a strange country where it isn't safe to be a single girl, Viola disguises herself as a boy called Cesario and finds work as a servant. But dressing in boy's clothes doesn’t stop Viola falling in love with a man - who is in love with someone else. Will she ever manage to win his love for herself? And who is this other young man that appears, looking so like Cesario? What confusion will result from his arrival? Perhaps Viola's brother didn't drown after all.

When Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to sell a house, he little expects the horrors that await. As the guest and prisoner of the sinister Count Dracula, Jonathan is plunged into a terrifying world of ancient evil and unbearable fear. Back in England Jonathan’s wife, Mina, is concerned about her friend, Lucy, who is mysteriously ill and growing weaker by the day. Can Lucy’s friends save her from the worst horror of all, or are they all doomed to a similar fate?

Great Expectations is one of a series of retellings of classic literature by publisher Real Reads. True to the original plot, characters and themes, Real Reads also imitate the the original author's style. An intelligent, lively and enjoyable introduction to this classic tale.An escaped convict threatens to eat young Pip's heart for breakfast. The ghostly Miss Havisham invites Pip to her eerie home.

Henry Fleming leaves his widowed mother behind and marches off to join a war that is tearing his country apart. His regiment has yet to be tested in the fire of battle. Together the soldiers wait while distant guns rumble and the lights of enemy campfires flicker on the hills beyond a darkened river. The young man recalls his childhood dreams of valiant combat. Will he pass the test and return home to tell others of his triumphs on the battlefield? Or will he flee at the first sign of real danger?

A guard had stepped back into the path of a train and been crushed beneath the wheels. He had been killed instantly. When Anna Karenina arrives at the scene of the horrible accident, it is the beginning of a new and troubling time in her life. Will she ever find happiness with the man she loves? Anna's sister-in-law, Darya Oblonsky, is threatening to leave her selfish husband. Is Anna able to save their marriage?

At five o'clock on the evening of November 21st, after the ice had drawn back like pall bearers at a funeral, Endurance slipped lower in the water, her stern pointing skywards. We stood in silence while she said her last farewell. A cacophony of cracking timber and rushing water signalled her end and then she was silent, slipping into the watery grave. The bravest ship, she had struggled to the bitter end and now she was gone. Endurance - well named.

A great roaring came from the mouth of the cave, and to our horror we saw an enormous giant striding towards us. His skin was a sickly green, and his eyes burned red like fiery coals. Sindbad makes an enormous fortune from his voyages, but he cannot resist joining further dangerous expeditions to far off lands. Will anything persuade him to remain at home in Baghdad? When Sindbad finds himself in the valley of huge serpents, there seems no way out. What clever plan does he use to escape?

As soon as Aladdin started cleaning the lamp there was a sound like a clap of thunder. A swirling cloud of smoke filled the room, changing until it formed the outline of a huge green figure. Aladdin and his mother live a poor and humble life. Then one day Aladdin meets his long-lost uncle and his life is changed for ever. Can his new friend be trusted? When Aladdin persuades the sultan to let him marry the beautiful Princess Badroulbadour, he thinks his happiness is complete.

The world's greatest classics retold for children. Mahatma Gandhi is best known as the father of the Indian nation and a charismatic leader in the fight for justice for all. But who was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and what made him the phenomenon he became? Born into a middle-class family, Gandhi's thirst for truth was evident from an early age, and his insistence on speaking and living his truth often got him into trouble.

A horrific apparition interrupts the Christmas festivities at King Arthur's Camelot. A green giant throws down a deadly challenge: one of the gathering must cut off his head, after which he will return the favour in a year's time! King Arthur must accept this challenge or appear a coward, but it's left to young Sir Gawain to act. Gawain chops off the giant's head and, horror of horrors, the giant strides over to pick up his head, which then begins to speak. He holds Sir Gawain to his promise and rides off into the wintry night.

A word of warning - if you are expecting to listen to a story about model children, you'd better listen to something else. Not one of the seven children in this story is truly good - Australian children never are. The Woolcot children enjoy a life of fun and adventure in their rambling riverside home, despite frequent reprimands from their strict father, Captain Woolcot.

Young, rich and handsome, Dorian Gray seems to have it all. So why do people who were once his friends leave the room when he enters? Can there really be any truth in the dark tales that are told about him? And why does he keep his portrait locked away in an attic room? Two men hold the answer to Dorian's secret. One is the artist Basil Hallward, who paints Dorian's portrait. The other is Lord Henry Wotton, who convinces the impressionable Dorian that youth and pleasure are the only things worth living for.

William Legrand has found a new type of bug, a golden bug, unusually heavy. His servant, Jupiter, is worried. Why is Legrand behaving so oddly? Has the bug's bite made him mad? When Legrand shows his friend a drawing of the gold-bug, it looks more like a skull. What can this mean? The arrival of the gold-bug leads the three men on an exciting adventure towards skeletons, a skull and a hunt for buried treasure.

The blackness of eternal night encompassed me. The intense darkness oppressed and stifled me so that I struggled for breath. Having been condemned to death by the Spanish Inquisition, the narrator descends into a kind of hell. Dizzy with weakness and fainting with fear, he experiences such torments that death itself would be welcome. What troubles him most is the eternal question: how will he die? Toledo Prison is notorious for the torture of the condemned. What minds have dreamed up the terror of the pit in the centre of the cell?

What price will Edna Pontellier pay to be free? She seems to have everything she needs - her loving husband, Léonce, two beautiful children and a wonderful home in turn-of-the-century New Orleans. But deep inside her burns a creative fire that longs to be unleashed. One summer changes everything. When Edna meets Robert, she starts to question all that she was taught to believe. Is her comfortable marriage nothing more than a cage?

Buck recognised the wild brother. He was whining softly, and they touched noses. A second wolf, old and battle-scarred, came forward and sniffed noses with him; he sat down, pointed his nose at the moon and broke out in a long wolf howl. Buck, too, sat down and howled. Buck, a big, powerful dog, is kidnapped from his California home and sold as a sled dog in the Arctic.

Hester Prynne stands defiantly on a scaffold before hostile Puritans in 17th century Boston, Massachusetts. The baby in her arms and the bright scarlet letter A on her gown are evidence and punishment for the shame she has brought on her religious neighbours. Will Hester continue to conceal the name of the husband who sent her away from Europe years before as well as that of the father of her baby? Will the husband get his revenge on the man who has shamed him? Will that man admit his past and join Hester and her daughter, Pearl?

Nick Carraway's mysterious neighbour Gatsby gazes across the dark bay at a distant green light. As the summer unfolds, Nick is drawn into Gatsby's world of luxury cars, speedboats and extravagant parties. But the more he hears about Gatsby - even from what Gatsby himself tells him - the less he is sure of the truth. Did Gatsby really go to Oxford University? Was he a hero in the war? Did he once kill a man? Nick recalls how he came to know Gatsby.

A strange figure stood in front of him, dressed from head to foot in white clothing. The moonlight showed her pale, youthful face. When Walter Hartright meets the woman in white, it is the start of an exciting and dangerous adventure. Who is she and what does she want? At first Walter is happy at Limmeridge House, teaching painting and drawing to Laura Fairlie and Marian Halcombe, but a wicked plot soon threatens to destroy the woman he loves.