Showing titles in Classics & Allegories

This program is read by renowned English actor Ben Miles, best known for his narration of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy. “Ben Miles's English accent is perfect for the text of this recent, award-winning translation. He delivers narrative sections in a consistent tone, and his expression is...

Stephen Mitchell's marvelously clear and vivid rendering recreates the robust masculine music of the original. It both hews closely to the Old English and captures its wild energy and vitality, not just as a deep "work of literature" but also as a rousing entertainment that can still stir our feelings and rivet our attention today, after more than a thousand years. This new translation - spare, sinuous, vigorous in its narration, and translucent in its poetry - makes a masterpiece accessible to everyone.

From the author of the twenty-five-million-copy bestseller The Shack comes a captivating new novel destined to be one of the most talked-about books of the decade. Eve is a bold, unprecedented exploration of the Creation narrative, true to the original texts and centuries of scholarship—yet...

When he meets a strangely dressed man on the bus, he stops worrying about his grandmother, who’s in the hospital, and starts questioning his own mental health. Apparently no one else can see the strange guy. Which must mean he’s not really there. Except there he is always hanging around, all day long. And for days in a row.

Thomas Mann's last great novel, first published in 1947 and now newly rendered into English by acclaimed translator John E. Woods, is a modern reworking of the Faust legend, in which Germany sells its soul to the Devil. Mann's protagonist, the composer Adrian Leverkühn, is the flower of German culture, a brilliant, isolated, overreaching figure, his radical new music a breakneck game played by art at the very edge of impossibility. In return for twenty-four years of unparalleled musical accomplishment, he bargains away his soul—and the ability to love his fellow man.

Rediscover The Pilgrim's Progress, one of the greatest works of Christian literature, now brought to life in a vibrant, modern translation. This beloved allegory has been faithfully retold with engaging, easy-to-understand storytelling while preserving all the original content and spiritual depth.

"A ghostly little book", said Charles Dickens of his famous Christmas novella, which first appeared in 1843. It has become the most famous classic Christmas story of all, with the miserly figure of Scrooge, the epitome of the callous employer; sadly crippled Tiny Tim; and the three spectres: the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future. This audiobook continues the award-winning series of Dickens' works read by leading English classical actor Anton Lesser.

Plagued by spiritual anguish, devout everyman Christian fears his fate in the sinful City of Destruction. He’s told that only by embarking for the Celestial City can he achieve personal salvation. After his wife and children refuse to join him, he sets forth alone into the unknown. Mocked for his faith, tempted at every turn, and heartened by fellow pilgrims, Christian’s winding journey toward grace unfolds. But as he reaches Mount Zion, his family chooses to follow the same treacherous path, hoping to join Christian in the shining light.

Often disguised as something that would help him, evil accompanies Christian on his journey to the Celestial City. As you walk with him, you'll begin to identify today's many religious pitfalls. These are presented by men such as Pliable, who turns back at the Slough of Despond; and Ignorance, who believes he's a true follower of Christ when he's really only trusting in himself.

Brought to you by Penguin. During a vicious persecution of the clergy in Mexico, a worldly priest, the 'whisky priest', is on the run. With the police closing in, his routes of escape are being shut off, his chances getting fewer. But compassion and humanity force him along the road to his...

All Meredith Verran has ever wanted is to escape the holiday season without having to wear a Christmas jumper. Her new job at the cosy gift shop in a picturesque Cornish tourist spot is making it impossible for her to maintain her Scrooge-like manner. With their seasonal hampers on everyone’s wish list, Meredith must paste on a smile and fake some holiday cheer. Then she meets handsome new arrival, Finn, who wishes it could be Christmas every day and wants her to feel the same way, too. Can she embrace the holly and the ivy before the decorations are packed away for another year?

Brought to you by Penguin. Scobie, a police officer serving in a war-time West African state, is distrusted, being scrupulously honest and immune to bribery. But then he falls in love, and in doing so he is forced to betray everything he believes in, with drastic and tragic consequences...

Father Brown is an eccentric priest with his own particular ways of dealing with crime. David Timson, having completed the whole of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes canon, a remarkable achievement, turns his hand to the genial but certainly not innocent priest! This collection contains a group of stories from the Innocence of Father Brown, told unabridged.

A story of survival set in 600 AD Ireland; a parable of patriarchy, destruction and religion at sea, by Emma Donoghue, the bestselling author of Room. 'Everything a novel should be: compassionate, unpredictable, and questioning. Haven is Donoghue at her strange, unsettling best.' - Maggie...

An allegory of the nine spices mentioned in Song of Solomon compared with the nine fruits of the Spirit.

THE INSTANT NO.1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The stunning new novel from the bestselling author of global phenomenon Tuesdays with Morrie 'Mitch Albom sees the magical in the ordinary' Cecelia Ahern ____________ Adrift in a raft after a terrible shipwreck, ten strangers try to survive while they...

Brought to you by Penguin. The eighth, heartwarming instalment in the much-loved Railway Girls series! This will be a Christmas to remember for the railway girls. . . Little Max is growing day by day and Joan is adjusting to her new life. But in her heart of hearts, she is desperate to return to...

Beautifully brought to life by three-time Academy Award-winner Meryl Streep. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Colm Toibin’s The Testament of Mary is the moving story of one of the most famous mothers in history, the Virgin Mary. Years after her son’s crucifixion, Mary finds herself...

This adaptation of Dickens' much loved "Ghost Story of Christmas" is subtitled "Scrooge and the Three Spirits" and concentrates on the miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge's dealings with the spirits that visit him on Christmas Eve to bring about his redemption.

A masterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below". At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly-wise old Devil to his nephew, Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man.