Anton Lesser

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness ..." The most famous and possibly the most popular of Dickens's novels, A Tale of Two Cities shows a master of dramatic narrative extracting gold from the ore of history. If the bloody tableau of the French Revolution were...

Drawing on Charles Dickens's own, often difficult childhood, to create a compelling story of personal success, David Copperfield is edited with an introduction and notes by Jeremy Tambling in Penguin Classics. David Copperfield is the story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are...

Contains the complete script to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and includes a running synopsis of the action, explanations of unfamiliar words, and activities designed to help students better understand the play.

Shakespeare's tragedy of a royal father and his daughters is presented scene by scene in comic book format. As flies are to wanton boys, so are we to th' gods: they kill us for their sports, howls King Lear. In artist Ian Pollock's surreal interpretation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy, the abstract wail of "the unaccomodated man" is dramatized in subtle shadings of the old king's anguish. Every line of dialogue is preserved, and every scene is illustrated...

The sensational bestselling story of Little Nell, the beautiful child thrown into a shadowy, terrifying world, seems to belong less to the history of the Victorian novel than to folklore, fairy tale, or myth. The sorrows of Nell and her grandfather are offset by Dickens's creation of a dazzling contemporary world inhabited by some of his most brilliantly drawn characters-the eloquent ne'er-do-well Dick Swiveller; the hungry maid known as the "Marchioness";...

Cat O'Nine Tales' is Archer's fifth collection of short stories, some of which were plotted out during his two years in prison. It includes the story of a company chairman who tries to poison his wife while on a trip, with unexpected consequences. It also includes: 'The Red King; The Commissioner; The Alibi, ' and 'Charity Begins at Home,' each of which include richly drawn characters and Archer's trademark unexpected conclusions.

"Little Dorrit", originally serialized between 1855 and 1857, satirizes the shortcomings of the government and society of the period. This popular novel introduces a rich and memorable array of characters trying to navigate an often hostile capital symbolised by the Marshalsea gaol, where Dickens' own father had been imprisoned. This is a scathing social and political satire within a heart-warming story of love and devotion...Based on the world-famous...

Relates the various activities and adventures of the members of the Pickwick Club.

This production is part of a famous series produced by BBC of all of William Shakespeare's plays. The resulting films, renowned for their loyalty to the text, utilized the best theatrical and television directors and brought highly praised performances from leading contemporary actors. The bitter Trojan War drags on - the Greeks blame Achilles' apathy for low morale, while Troy's hero Hector challenges one of the enemy to a personal duel. And after...

The true story of a British businessman unwittingly recruited into one of the greatest international conflicts in history. Forming an unlikely partnership with a Soviet officer hoping to prevent a nuclear confrontation, the two men work together to provide the crucial intelligence used to defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis.