Underground railroad (VO)

Résumé : Greece in the age of heroes. Awkward young prince Patroclus has been exiled to the court of King Peleus. Despite their differences, Peleus's golden boy Achilles befriends the shamed prince. As they grow into young men, their bond blossoms into something deeper ? despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother, the sea goddess Thetis. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfil his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him.

Gary Sinise's reading of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is nothing short of magnificent. Moving effortlessly from an eloquent, understated narrative voice to each character's quite particular presence, Sinise demonstrates a true command of the medium. At times, Sinise is so convincing that one is hard-pressed to believe that a single reader could be responsible for so many varied characterizations. Thanks to such a skilled reading, this audio edition captures every nuance of Steinbeck's austere prose and the full power of the novel's tragic denouement. Top to bottom, it's a masterful retelling of an American classic. R.W.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-Four is perhaps the most pervasively influential book of the twentieth century, making famous Big Brother, newspeak and Room 101.'Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past'Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), better known by his pen-name, George Orwell, was born in India, where his father worked for the Civil Service. An author and journalist, Orwell was one of the most prominent and influential figures in twentieth-century literature. His unique political allegory Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with the dystopia of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which brought him world-wide fame. All his novels and non-fiction, including Burmese Days (1934), Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), The Road to Wigan Pier (1937) and Homage to Catalonia (1938) are published in Penguin Modern Classics. If you enjoyed Nineteen Eighty-Four, you might like Orwell's Animal Farm, also available in Penguin Great Orwell.'His final masterpiece... enthralling and indispensible for understanding modern history'Timothy Garton-Ash, New York Review of Books'The book of the twentieth century... haunts us with an ever-darker relevance'Independent

In this Holocaust novel, Bruno leaves his wonderful Berlin home with his parents because of "the fury." Boyne's depiction of time and place becomes real with Michael Maloney's characterization of this displaced 9-year-old, who rapidly goes from excited confusion to indignant anger. Maloney's narrative bits are a calm counterpoint to the bewilderment of the protagonist, who finds himself at "Off With," where he is surrounded by people dressed in striped pajamas. Maloney continues to dramatize Bruno's moods as he makes friends with a young prisoner and observes the cruelty of a controlling soldier. Making Bruno real is crucial to our acceptance of his innocent horror, essential to filling in all the author doesn't say, and necessary to establishing the emotional balance we need to hear this disturbing story. S.W. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright - AudioFile, Portland, Maine