Catalog Search Results
1) Stardust
Series
Summary
Tristan hopes to win the heart of his beautiful, but shallow love, Victoria. He promises to recover a star that fell somewhere beyond the stony wall that sets between the mundane England and the fantasy kingdom of Stormhold. So Tristan sets forth on his own journey in Stormhold. Meanwhile in that magical land, the dying king has set his four surviving sons on a quest for the crown. And the witch Lamia is seeking the heart of the star for an entirely...
Summary
Jonathan Harker is a young lawyer who is assigned to a gloomy village just outside of Transylvania. He is forced to stay at the castle of the undead vampire Dracula and imprisoned by his minons. Dracula travels to London after being inspired by a photograph of Harker's betrothed, Mina Murray. Once Dracula lands in England, his reign of seduction and terror begins. He drains the life from Mina's closest friend, Lucy Westenra. Lucy's friends, including...
4) Atonement
Summary
In 1935, thirteen-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony's vivid imagination. Robbie Turner, the educated son of the family's housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony's headstrong older sister Cecilia. He hopes that Cecilia has comparable feelings. All it will take...
5) Venus
Summary
Maurice, a still-working actor whiles away his dwindling days playing bit parts (corpses, mostly) or at the local pub with a pair of equally frail footlights friends, drama queen Ian and taciturn Donald. Ian announces that his niece has sent her wayward daughter to stay with him. Jessie is a borderline hooligan, surly, self-centered, willful, and a prodigious drinker. Maurice looks at Jessie with unapologetic longing, appreciating things she can't...
6) Cranford
Series
Masterpiece Theatre volume Masterpiece Classics
Summary
Cranford, in 1842, is a market town in northwest England. It is a place governed by etiquette, custom and above all, an intricate network of ladies. It seems that life has always been conducted according to their social rules. For spinsters Deborah Jenkyns, the arbiter of correctness, and Matty, her dumurring sister, the town is a hub of intrigue. Handsome new doctor Frank Harrison has arrived from London; a retired Captain and his daughters move...
7) Jane Eyre
Summary
Story of a misunderstood and mistreated orphan who grows up to be a strong willed woman. She takes the job of governess at an estate, comes to love and be loved by the master of the house and they nearly marry, but the existence of his insane wife stops the wedding. She leaves, finds family, his estate burns down, his wife dies and he is blinded. She returns to tend and love him.
Summary
Algernon is a gentleman from a wealthy family. Algernon's close friend Jack has a ward, Cecily. Both Algernon and Jack have created alter egos to make life more interesting. Algernon arrives for a weekend visit in the country posing as Earnest. Having heard of Earnest's misadventures, Cicely has developed an infatuation with the rogue, and Algernon's impersonation of him works famously on Cicely. Meanwhile, Algernon's cousin, Gwendolyn, arrives for...
Summary
After finally catching serial killer and occult 'sorcerer' Lord Blackwood, legendary sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson can close yet another successful case. After his execution, Blackwood mysteriously returns from the grave and resumes his killing spree, Holmes must take up the hunt once again. Contending with Watson's new fiancée and the dimwitted head of Scotland Yard, the determined detective must unravel the clues that will...
Summary
Three critically-acclaimed British romances featuring talented casts. In Becoming Jane, a dashing young man offends an emerging writer's sense and sensibility. In Brideshead Revisited, Charles Ryder is invited to a charming aristocrat's estate where he is seduced by the opulent lifestyle. In Jane Eyre, Jane finds herself in a passionate romance with a handsome, yet mysterious, gentleman.
11) Love actually
Summary
It's all about love and holiday cheer in London. The Prime Minister is smitten with his caterer; a widower's young son nurses the ultimate schoolboy crush; a writer falls for his Portuguese housekeeper; a devoted wife and mother copes with her potentially unfaithful husband; and a lovelorn American is desperately attracted to a colleague.
Summary
Sense and sensibility: Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve when she falls in love with the charming but unsuitable John Willoughby, ignoring her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behavior leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Elinor, sensitive to social convention, struggles to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Will the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find...
13) My fair lady
Series
Summary
Outside Covent Garden on a rainy evening in 1912, cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, meets linguistic expert Henry Higgins. Higgins, in turn, bets with his companion, Colonel Pickering, that, within six months, he could transform Eliza into a proper lady, simply by teaching her proper English. The next morning, face and hands freshly scrubbed, Eliza presents herself on Higgins' doorstep, ready and willing to be turned into a lady.
14) Closer
Summary
Dan, an aspiring novelist, cannot help but feel immensely attracted to Alice, a young American waitress and stripper who is in London after escaping from a failed relationship. The two meet after Alice is involved in a car accident. But nothing lasts forever, and after some time Dan meets Anna, a photographer, and he feels attracted to her. Nothing happens right away, but once it does, things go downhill for Alice and Dan. The two don't break up,...
15) Pygmalion
Author
Series
Summary
A Cinderella type of classic romance story told by George Bernard Shaw.
16) Being Julia
Summary
Julia is a true diva: beautiful, talented, wealthy and famous. She has a devoted husband who has masterminded her brilliant career - but after years of the spotlight she begins to suffer from a severe case of boredom and longs for something new and exciting to put the twinkle back in her eye. She finds what she is looking for in a handsome young American fan, who adds a few more sparks than Julia was hoping for.
Summary
Harvey, a divorced, down-on-his-luck music jingle composer, and Kate, a lonely British airline employee, are brought together by chance. Harvey comes to London for his daughter's wedding, planning only to attend the wedding ceremony. However, he ends up being let go from his job before going back to America and decides to stay for the reception, asking Kate to accompany him. Thus begins a growing connection between these two guarded strangers.
18) The holiday
Summary
Amanda lives in Los Angeles and is a movie trailer editor. Iris lives in Surrey, England and is a journalist. The two live five thousand miles apart and have never met, but both are dealing with the same problem: men. Amanda just broke up with her cheating boyfriend. Iris has pined for her ex. Amanda comes upon a website that advocates home exchange and the two decide to swap houses for two weeks at Christmas - both with a goal to forget their troubled...
Series
Summary
Poldark, the drama that has become a cultural phenomenon, continues for a second season on the stunning beaches of Cornwall. It's 1790 and there is riot and revolution in the air. Ross Poldark, the character redefined by the smoldering Aidan Turner, must fight for his freedom when George Warleggan tries to have him hanged as a revolutionary. While Francis and Elizabeth watch on in horror, can Demelza save Ross from himself?
Summary
It is a new century and with it comes the promise of a hopeful future, but the past casts a long shadow over Cornwall. Following the death of Elizabeth, Ross Poldark resolves to put Westminster behind him and spend more time with the people he loves. However, when an old friend emerges with a plea for help, Ross is compelled to challenge the establishment again.