Anton Lesser

Aesop's fables embody truths so powerful, and are popular with both adults and children. This collection includes the individual fables of the fox and the grapes, the dog in the manger, the wolf in sheep's clothing and many others.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a heartless old miser who doesn't enjoy Christmas and doesn't think anyone else should, either. But, one Christmas Eve, some ghostly visitors take Scrooge on a journey that changes his mind for ever.

For all of her 22 years, Amy Dorrit has lived in Marshalsea prison, trapped with her family because of her father's debts. Her only escape is to work as a seamstress for the kind Mrs Clennam. But when it is unexpectedly discovered that her father is heir to a fortune, some shocking truths emerge and Amy's life changes for ever.

The Trojan War is over and Odysseus, the cunning King of Ithaca, sets out for home, his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. It proves a long, 10-year journey, fraught with dangers, from Polyphemus, the one-eyed Cyclops, and the seductive Sirens, to the love of Calypso on her all-too-comfortable isle.

Little Nell and her feckless grandfather are forced to leave their magical shop of curiosities in London. They are pursued across the English countryside by the grotesquely evil dwarf Quilp. They escape – but at what cost?

Satan again is on the prowl. Having successfully tempted Adam and Eve and forced their departure from the Garden of Eden, here he tries his hand at trickery once again, this time in the temptation of Christ as recounted in the gospels. The magisterial poetry of Milton enriches the encounter and provides drama and depth to the story of Jesus' forty day fast in the Judean desert.

This, the first ‘spy story’ ever written, is set among the islands of the North Sea, where two amateur investigators discover suspicious German naval activity. They must attempt to fight their way back to England in their small but trusty boat to raise the alarm.

Rumi's Spiritual Verses, is the greatest mystical poem in Islamic culture. Rumi tells of our human separation from reality, from love and from truth. He shows how love - neither erotic nor sentimental but divine, by which the universe is held together - enlightens ignorance and dissolves suffering.

Sally Lockheart’s friend, Jim Taylor, solves a mystery when he finds Adelaide, a missing girl who is about to become the Crown Princess of Razkavia. The Princess is in danger from unknown enemies and Jim is employed as her bodyguard.

An ingeniously structured novel (about writing a novel) that fascinates like a verbal game of chess. Tristram Shandy is both a joyful celebration of the infinite possibilities of the art of fiction and a wry demonstration of its limitations.

No poet is more closely identified with the First World War than Wilfred Owen. This anthology collects 49 of Owen’s iconic poems and serves not only as a perfect introduction to his verse but also as a commemoration of the sacrifice that was made by an entire generation of young men.