Books in the Svenska Ljud Classica series

Whatever happened in the lands of Oz after Dorothy left? In this sequel to the `The Wonderful Wizard of Oz‘, we meet a young boy named Tip, who, unlike Dorothy, has grown up in this magical place. He is under the care (though that is a relative term) of the witch Mombi, but escapes her evil clutches just in time before she turns him in to a statue. Traveling through Oz, Tip meets a bunch of whimsical creatures (some of whom we know already) who join him on an adventurous journey that will conclude in satisfying ways no one will see coming. Loved even more, by many, than its predecessor, `The Marvelous Land of Oz‘ (1904) has been adapted into a stage play and in comic book form by Marvel several times.L. Frank Baum (1956-1919) was an American author, actor, and filmmaker best known for his children‘s books, particularly `The Wonderful Wizard of Oz‘ (1900) and its thirteen sequels. He started writing young and created a journal with his brother, which they handed out for free.

"All history proves that no one can hug a secret to his breast and live (...) This is especially noticeable in persons who have committed criminal acts." When a trusted employee is suspected of stealing from the Adams Express Company in Alabama, the organization reaches out to the Pinkertons, the world‘s first private detective agency. Recounting true events, `The Expressman and the Detective‘ (1874) tells a fascinating and suspenseful story of an investigation in which all that can prove a person‘s guilt is a confession. Allan Pinkerton, the founder of the agency, assigned agents to shadow the suspect, others to gain his trust and he was among the first to hire a female detective. The London Times famously called him "a man at once deeply admirable and quite obnoxious."Allan J. Pinkerton(1819-1884) was a Scottish-American detective and founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. He recounted his first big investigation in `The Expressman and the Detective.‘ A dedicated abolitionist, he offered his Illinois home as a stop on the Underground railway for escaping slaves.

Gulliver’s Travels (1726, amended 1735), officially Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, is a novel by Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers’ tales" literary sub genre. It is widely considered Swift’s magnum opus and is his most celebrated work, as well as one of the indisputable classics of English literature.

When White Fang – part wolf, part dog – gets separated from his family, he must find a way to survive on his own. In a harsh Canadian environment that means kill or be killed. Tough surroundings and cruel masters make White Fang increasingly more aggressive and wild, but Weedon Scott, a kind gold hunter, sees the dog in him and attempts to tame him. Released in 1906, White Fang – companion novel to The Call of the Wild – was immediately successful, especially among younger readers. Ethan Hawke starred in the 1991 film adaptation as the wolfdog‘s friend, and in 2018, Netflix released a beautiful animated movie, introducing children to work of Jack London.Jack London (1876-1916) was an American writer and social activist. A worldwide celebrity, he was one of the highest paid authors of his time.

"Bring oxygen – Challenger." The gang from `The Lost World‘ is back together, but the reunion is much more dramatic than they had hoped. As Professor Challenger has predicted, the Earth is moving into a belt of poisonous ether and their only chance of survival is joining him in his house and watch the whole shebang go down together. Though very different from the first in the series, `The Poison Belt` (1913) is equally interesting and can be enjoyed in its own right. Like in his Sherlock Holmes series Conan Doyle displays, in the Challenger books, a knack for writing memorable characters and situations; his description of people going crazy from the ether will have you in hysterics.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a British writer, best known for his thrilling stories about the adventures of the detective Sherlock Holmes. He published four novels and more than 50 short stories starring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The stories are seen as important milestones in the history of crime fiction.

Three young girls wander into an enchanted forest at meet a fairy woman, who is bored with her perfect, immortal life. She convinces them to turn her into a human and decides to become a prince because boys have more fun. His/her new existence exploring the surrounding kingdoms is fast and adventurous from the get-go. What unfolds in an interesting story of problems solved by a woman‘s mind in the luxury of a man‘s body. `The Enchanted Island of Yew` (1903) was written by L. Frank Baum, the author of `The Wonderful Wizard of Oz‘, but is separate from the Oz series. This story clearly comes from the same imagination, however, with the added bonus of some interesting gender-bender elements. L. Frank Baum (1956-1919) was an American author, actor, and filmmaker best known for his children‘s books, particularly `The Wonderful Wizard of Oz‘ (1900) and its thirteen sequels. He started writing young and created a journal with his brother, which they handed out for free.

Recovering from a miscarriage and a bad marriage, author Katherine Mansfield, barely 21, wrote these excellent short stories around the time she was staying in a spa town in Germany. With wry humour, she depicts a German upper middle class defined by their rude habits, but she also touches upon the hard life of servants and the oppression of women. The latter distinguishes her writing from that of Jane Austen, but the way in which Mansfield mocks the stiff-upper-lipped ladies and Barons of these stories and zeroes in on character quirks is particularly Jane Austen-like, and just as satisfying as in `Pride and Prejudice‘.Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) was short story writer and poet from New Zealand, who settled in England at the age of 19. Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence were among her literary friends and admirers. She died of tuberculosis at the age of 34.

Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, is an epic poem by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published in 1847. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians. The idea for the poem came from Longfellow's friend, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Longfellow used dactylic hexameter, imitated from Greek and Latin classics, though the choice was criticized. It was published in 1847 and became Longfellow's most famous work in his lifetime. It remains one of his most popular and enduring works. The poem had a powerful effect in defining both Acadian history and identity in the nineteenth and twentieth century. More recent scholarship has revealed the historical errors in the poem and the complexity of the Expulsion and those involved, which the poem ignores.

Before its 1902 publication, Heart of Darkness appeared as a three part series (1899) in Blackwood's Magazine. It was classified by the Modern Library website editors as one of the '100 best novels' and part of the Western canon. The story centres on Charles Marlow, who narrates most of the book. He is an Englishman who takes a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a river boat captain in Africa. Heart of Darkness exposes the dark side of European colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters: the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the Europeans' cruel treatment of the African natives, and the unfathomable darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil. Although Conrad does not give the name of the river, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. In the story, Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver. However, his more pressing assignment is to return Kurtz, another ivory trader, to civilization, in a cover up. Kurtz has a reputation throughout the region.

This novel begins with an odd inheritance at the end of a honeymoon, both parties being inexperienced. Then someone comes to visit, then another, until we've got a chaotic bedlam of New England's tragically off the wall odd ball relations. Our protagonists may not communicate efficiently at first but at least they've got a sense of humours. The humourous style keeps up as well as some moments of lustre and rich feeling about the printed word itself.

Herman Melville‘s picturesque account of the Galapagos Islands will make you want to abandon all responsibilities and travel there to see for yourself. Melville wrote this series of "sketches" – or short prose works – from his own experiences sailing around the islands, yet at the same time they are clearly a product of his extraordinary imagination. Originally appearing in Putnam‘s Magazine in 1854, the novella was later published alongside five other Melville short stories in the collection `The Piazza Tales‘, which was very well received.Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American writer, best known for his whaling novel, `Moby Dick‘, which was poorly received at the time but considered a classic today.

A millionaire is taken suddenly ill, and sensing his mortality, he asks his attorney to do him one last favor - to find and secretly watch over his missing niece, the daughter of his profligate deceased sister. This niece at the appropriate time would become heir to his millions. However, the millionaire is mysteriously murdered, stabbed to death in his sick bed. Oliva Cresswell, the unsuspecting niece, has been a cashier in a large West End store for five years when she meets a Mr. Beale, a self described wheat merchant, is attacked in her flat and rescued by this Mr. Beale, is offered a job as his confidential secretary, refuses him, is unexplainably sacked and finds herself in need of his offer. The mysteries multiply and deepen as the story proceeds.

Rose Campbell is having a hard time adjusting to her new life. Recently orphaned, she has been swept away from a strict girls‘ boarding school and placed in the care of her six aunts and seven rowdy male cousins. When her guardian, Uncle Alec, returns from abroad, things are about to change once more. To her aunts‘ alarm Alec has different ideas of what it means to raise a girl than most, but his unconventional approach might just be what gets Rose out of her shell. Just as author Louisa May Alcott‘s widely-read novel Little Women (1868), Eight Cousins (1875) is unusually forward-thinking and feminist for its time.Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was an American writer and feminist. She grew up poor, but among intellectualists, and started writing at an early age. Her most famous novel, Little Women (1868), was inspired by her upbringing.

Oscar Wilde supposedly said that these fables were "intended neither for the British child nor the British public". A follow-up to his first popular fairy-tale collection (`The Happy Prince and Other Tales‘), `A House of Pomegranates‘ (1891) is indeed decidedly darker and more adult. The collection includes "The Young King", "The Birthday of the Infanta, "The Fisherman of his Soul", and "The Star Child". While similar, in some ways, to the fairy-tales of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm these have a certain interesting Wilde flair to them that is hard to pinpoint. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet, famous for `The Picture of Dorian Gray‘ and `The Importance of Being Earnest‘ to name a couple. He was believed to be a homosexual and met a lot of resistance in his life on that account. He died in Paris at the age of 46.

Who could have known that when Rudyard Kipling wrote these Jungle Book stories in 1893-94, they would eventually inspire the Oscar nominated song "The Bare Necessities" – one of the most recognizable tunes of all time? The adventures of the young boy, Mowgli, raised by wolves in an Indian jungle, have been praised since their publication and adapted numerous times. Most people know the 1967 animated movie with Phil Harris as the charismatic bear Baloo. 2016 saw Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, and Lupita Nyong‘o in a live-action Disney movie. And even Marvel Comics has had their hands on this classic coming-of-age tale of the importance of family and belonging.Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was a British journalist and author, most famous for his collection of stories, The Jungle Book (1894). He spent a good part of his childhood and youth in India where the stories are set. In 1907, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature as the youngest recipient ever.

First published in 1766, the loveable and innocent Dr Primrose and his family have given pleasure to all that have read it. The story opens with the vicar losing his fortune and moving to another parish. What follows is a tale of love, deceit, betrayal, humour and a hidden hero... It was one of Charles Dickens favourite books and a source of inspiration to him. No further recommendation is needed. Enjoy.

Charlotte Löwensköld är sedan många år tillbaka förlovad med den djupt religiösa Karl-Arthur. Både Charlotte och Karl-Arthur lever mycket fattigt, Charlotte är föräldralös och Karl-Arthur tror bestämt att han kan komma närmare Gud genom att leva så spartanskt som möjligt. Förlovningen drar ut på tiden och Charlotte är inte helt nöjd med situationen, så när den rike brukspatronen Schagerström friar till henne vet hon inte vad hon ska göra. Samtidigt får Karl-Arthur en uppenbarelse och organistfrun Thea Sundler, som är olyckligt förälskad i Karl-Arthur, gör allt i sin makt för att driva isär de två älskande … "Charlotte Löwensköld" är den andra boken i Selma Lagerlöfs klassiska trilogi om den Löwensköldska ringen. En mörk och kuslig ödessaga om mänskliga begär, kärlek och konsekvenserna av våra handlingar.Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940) var en svensk författare och lärare. Hon debuterade med romanen ”Gösta Berlings saga” 1891 och tilldelades Nobelpriset i litteratur 1909. Selma Lagerlöf är en av Sveriges mest uppskattade och älskade författare genom tiderna och blev också den första kvinnan att väljas in i Svenska Akademien.

First published in Weird Tales, August 1928, alternatively titled 'Solomon Kane'. This was the first Solomon Kane story ever published. In France, Kane finds a girl attacked by a gang of brigands led by a villain known as Le Loup. As she dies in his arms, Kane determines to avenge her death, and the trail leads from France to Africa, ending with Kane's first meeting with N'Longa.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich, first published in 1886, is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, one of the masterpieces of his late fiction, written shortly after his religious conversion of the late 1870s. The novel tells the story of the death, at age 45, of a high court judge in 19th century Russia. Living what seems to be a good life, his dreadful relationship with his wife notwithstanding, Ivan Ilyich Golovin bangs his side while putting up curtains in a new apartment intended to reflect his family's superior status in society. Within weeks, he has developed a strange taste in his mouth and a pain that will not go away. Several expensive doctors are consulted, but beyond muttering about blind gut and floating kidneys, they can neither explain nor treat his condition, and it soon becomes clear that Ivan Ilyich is dying...

"Please, sir, I want some more," Oliver says, holding out his bowl for more gruel, a Dickens scene recognisable to most. A young orphan, Oliver Twist has only ever seen the tough side of life and having to suddenly live on the streets does not make surviving any easier. But being the sweet and innocent boy he is, Oliver eventually manages to attract the compassion of others, and time will reveal secrets about his past that could radically change his bleak future. Originally published in instalments, Oliver Twist (1839) is Charles Dickens‘ second – and hugely successful – novel. It introduced the concept of the child protagonist in the Victorian novel, and while doing so, plainly criticised the social injustices in England.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English author, social critic, and philanthropist. Much of his writing first appeared in small instalments in magazines and was widely popular. Among his most famous novels are Oliver Twist (1839), David Copperfield (1850), and Great Expectations (1861).

The Pioneers: The Sources of the Susquehanna; a Descriptive Tale is a historical novel, the first published of the Leatherstocking Tales, a series of five novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper. While The Pioneers was published in 1823, before any of the other Leatherstocking Tales, the period it covers makes it the fourth chronologically.

Jane Eyre accepts a position as governess at Thornfield Hall and meets Mr. Rochester, the moody and cynical master of the manor. Growing up an unwanted orphan, Jane has known very little love in her life, but in spite of this, she has always been thoughtful and kind. Jane‘s and Rochester‘s apparent differences attract them to each other, but little does Jane know that something far more damaging than social statuses will keep them apart. Like the work of Janes Austen, `Jane Eyre‘ (1847) is a love story that holds up over time, and it is no wonder that it has been adapted so many times. Ruth Wilson from `The Affair‘ (2014) starred as Jane in 2003, and before he was James Bond, Timothy Dalton took on the role as the complicated Mr. Rochester. 2011 saw the most beautiful adaptation yet with Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender in the leading roles.Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) was an English novelist and poet, most known for her classic novel `Jane Eyre‘ (1847) about a governess who falls in love with the master of the mansion. She was the older sister to novelists Emily and Anne Brontë, whose work is also widely read today.

The Gods of Mars is the second of the famous Barsoom series. It was first published in All Story as a five part serial in the issues for January May 1913. It was later published as a complete novel by A. C. McClurg in September, 1918. At the end of the first book, A Princess of Mars, John Carter is unwillingly transported back to Earth. The Gods of Mars begins with his arrival back on Barsoom (Mars) after a ten year separation from his wife Dejah Thoris, his unborn child, and the Red Martian people of the nation of Helium, whom he has adopted as his own. Unfortunately, Carter materializes in the one place on Barsoom from which nobody is allowed to depart: the Valley Dor, which is the Barsoomian afterlife.

This book follows the adventures of Bunny Brown, a 6 year old lively little boy, and his Sister Sue, a happy 5 year old little girl. You will enjoy learning of their adorable antics and delightful chatter. The Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue series were published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate from 1916 1930.

The wealthy businessman Horatio Leavenworth is found dead in his private library with a bullet in his head. Nothing in the house is broken. Nothing is stolen. All signs point to an inside job. But who did it? With the help of the young lawyer, Everett Raymond, Investigator Ebenezer Gryce examines the clues. And there are many. And they are contradictory. A maid has mysteriously disappeared, and one of the two young cousins living with Leavenworth, who, unlike the other, is set to inherit nothing, looks particularly suspicious. But why will she not defend herself? Raymond, falling more and more in love with her, is at a lost. With `The Leavenworth Case‘(1878) author Anna Katharine Green introduced the first American series detective, popularizing the concept almost a decade before Arthur Conan Doyle published his stories of Sherlock Holmes. Anna Katharine Green (1846-1935) was an American poet and novelist. She is best known for her novel `The Leavenworth Case‘ (1878) with which she became one of the first American writers of detective fiction. Agatha Christie cited Green as an influence on her own writing.

Edith Wharton became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with this 1920 novel about Old New York society. Newland Archer is wealthy, well bred, and engaged to the beautiful May Welland. But he finds himself drawn to May's cousin Ellen Olenska, who has been living in Europe and who has returned following a scandalous separation from her husband.

Old Rose and Silver is a novel by Myrtle Reed first published in 1909. The novel follows the lives of Rose and her widowed Aunt, Madame Francesca Bernard, along with young visitor and cousin Isabel, whose lives are changed by the return of an old friend and neighbour Colonel Kent, and his grown son, Allison. Other characters that help shape their lives in significant ways are the Crosby twins, unconventional and uninhibited youths that set society at naught, and an unconventional doctor who specializes in the impossible. Through the limited 'wide scope' descriptions the reader is not sure of the historical setting or even in which decade it's set, but it helps to understand the focus of the story; after all it's about their own little world, and how their own hearts and lives fit together in the tight confines of their town, their garden, their friendships and lives.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.` So opens Jane Austens second novel Pride and Prejudice, which was first published in 1813. It follows the story of Mr and Mrs Bennet and their five single daughters. The whole town is set aflutter by the arrival of prosperous Mr Bingley and his friend Mr Darcy, and as the prejudice of the latter hurts the pride of headstrong Elizabeth Bennet, friendship, love, and strife enfold. Perhaps the most beloved of all of Austens work, Pride and Prejudice has been adapted numerous times, including in the 1995 BBC mini-series featuring Colin Firth as Mr Darcy, and the 2005 movie adaption by Joe Wright with Keira Knightley in the role of Elizabeth Bennet.Jane Austen (1775-1817) is one of the most beloved British writers of all time. During her short life she published six novels: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, that are all considered as literary classics today. Her writing is full of sharp observations on the society in which she evolved, as well as ripe with timeless irony, and a solid dose of humour. She has created immortal characters that have inspired countless authors, novels, and movies such as Bridget Jones and Clueless.

Sarah Orne Jewett is best known for her clean and clear descriptive powers that at once elevate common place daily events to something remarkable, and lend dignity and grace to the most humble and homely human character. In Deephaven, go with her on vacation to an unforgettable seaside village where time runs slower and small pleasures are intensified. Much space is given to outdoor rambles and sights and events of daily living that draw you into another era. Jewett's loving and gentle descriptions of the people and life of Deephaven will make you sorry when the book is over, and long to be able to find that village for yourself.

The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Some early editions are titled A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur. In it, a Yankee engineer from Connecticut is accidentally transported back in time to the court of King Arthur, where he fools the inhabitants of that time into thinking he is a magician and soon uses his knowledge of modern technology to become a 'magician' in earnest, stunning the English of the Early Middle Ages with such feats as demolitions, fireworks and the shoring up of a holy well. He attempts to modernize the past, but in the end he is unable to prevent the death of Arthur and an interdict against him by the Catholic Church of the time, which grows fearful of his power. Twain wrote the book as a burlesque of Romantic notions of chivalry after being inspired by a dream in which he was a knight himself, and severely inconvenienced by the weight and cumbersome nature of his armor...