Bill Homewood

The tale of Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral, and his struggles to save the beautiful gypsy dancer Esmeralda from being unjustly executed.

An elephant hunter's chronicle of his safari into the interior of South Africa to search for a fabled diamond mine and to rescue the brother of the English gentleman who accompanies him across the deserts and mountains.

Father Goriot is a novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac. Set in Paris in 1819, it follows the interwoven lives of three characters: the senior and loving Goriot, a shadowy criminal-in-hiding called Vautrin and a gullible law student called Eugène de Rastignac. Excerpt: "The house might have been built on purpose for its present uses. Access is given by a French window to the first room on the ground floor, a sitting-room which...

The Mark of Zorro (1924) is a novel by Johnston McCulley. Originally published as, The Curse of Capistrano (1919), McCulley's novel was, rereleased to capitalize on the success of the 1920 silent film of the same name starring Douglas Fairbanks. Beloved by generations of readers and moviegoers alike, Zorro is, recognized as a symbol of justice and rebellion throughout the world. "Outside the wind shrieked and the rain dashed against the ground in...

HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. 'From that hour we had no further occasion for the exercise of reason, or judgment, or skill, or contrivance. We were henceforth to be hurled along, the playthings of the fierce elements of the deep.' In Verne's science-fiction classic, Professor Lidenbrock chances upon an ancient manuscript and pledges to solve the mysterious coded message that lies within it. Eventually...

Idylls of the King (1859-1885) is a cycle of narrative poems by British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Written while Tennyson was serving as Poet Laureate, Idylls of the King reworks the medieval Arthurian legend in blank verse and with an elegiac tone. Based on Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and the early British Mabinogion manuscripts, Tennyson's work connects an ancient tradition to the reign and ideals of Queen Victoria. "The Coming of Arthur"...

Once again, the intrepid Zorro fights for justice! In the fourth of Naxos AudioBooks' Zorro titles, our hero's assistance is sought when the devious Pedro Morelos threatens the fortune of a wealthy heir, Vicente Canchola. Morelos hatches a plot to kidnap the Governor of California and extort profitable trade concessions from him. Zorro overhears this, but will he be able to foil their evil scheme, and stop the Canchola estate from falling into the...

In 'The Just Men of Cordova', written in 1917, the Four move into the treacherous, aristocratic world of gambling, horse-racing and high finance. It seems that police services, even governments, have no power to control this world, where blackmail, poison and murder are commonplace. The Four, working outside the law, take it upon themselves to clean things up in their own way.

In Baroness Emma Orczy's 1905 novel "The Scarlet Pimpernel", the year is 1792 and the French Revolution is complete. People die by the guillotine every day, often unjustly. Stepping in to right these wrongs and rescue the innocent is the elusive "Scarlet Pimpernel", a mysterious agent named for the red flower that is his signature. Meanwhile, foppish Sir Percy Blakeney and his French actress wife Marguerite are having marital difficulties when Marguerite...

Bored with inactivity following the end of the Civil War, members of the American Gun Club look for a project that will fulfil their passion for firearms. After much frustration, club President Barbicane proposes an exciting new endeavour – one that will cement their names in history: they will build the largest projectile ever known to man and shoot it at the moon. The bullet will be hollowed to fit the club's president and two companions, along...