Books published by publisher Csa Word Ltd

Cassandra Mortmain is 17. Her journal describes the weird and wonderful world in which she lives: housed in a crumbling castle, with her writer father (who is "blocked"), her beautiful older sister Rose, her brainy younger brother and her unconventional artist stepmother, Topaz. The sudden arrival of two handsome American strangers is the catalyst for this touching coming-of-age tale, which sees Cassandra taking her first forays in womanhood not without her fair share of grief and giggles.

Francois-Marie Arouet, known better as Voltaire, was hailed as a genius of the Enlightenment, a man dissatisfied with the religious and superstitious attitudes of his time, and a champion of sharp irony and logical reasoning. His most famous book follows Candide and his tutor, Pangloss, as they travel the Earth following the philosophy that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds." This adage, however, is disproved at many turns as the characters encounter many obstacles. The initially naïve Candide realizes some of the horrors the 18th-century world contains, but is there any light at the end of the tunnel for the travelers?

A comic story of youth, frustration, and escapism in 1950s Yorkshire on the eve of the swinging 1960s The story of compulsive liar Billy, who has an uninspiring dead end job as an undertaker's assistant and lives at home with his family in a sleepy Yorkshire town. His three fiancées fail to keep him adequately occupied and Billy leads a second life in his imagination. Billy's problems come when he is unable to separate fantasy from reality, and so embroils himself in a web of tangled lies, with painfully comic results. This edition also includes a bonus interview with Rodney Bewes, who acted in the 1963 film version. Unabridged.

In this hard-hitting novel, first published in 1924, the murky personal relationship between an Englishwoman and an Indian doctor mirrors the troubled politics of colonialism. Adela Quested and her fellow British travelers, eager to experience the "real" India, develop a friendship with the urbane Dr. Aziz. While on a group outing, Adela and Dr. Aziz visit the Marabar caves together. As they emerge, Adela accuses the doctor of assaulting her. While Adela never actually claims she was raped, the decisions she makes ostracize her from both her countrymen and the natives, setting off a complex chain of events that forever changes the lives of all involved. This intense and moving story asks the listener serious questions about preconceptions regarding race, sex, religion, and truth. A political and philosophical masterpiece, this engrossing novel is also exotic and descriptive, making it exceptionally well suited to audio.

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol made its first appearance in 1843, at a time when many social critics feared the old holiday traditions were dying out. This darkly comic tale tells the story of the penny-pinching banker, Ebenezer Scrooge, who believes Christmas to be little more than a handout for the poor. Over the course of Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, who remind him of what his life was like before bitterness set in and what it will surely become if he fails to mend his miserly ways. A joyous affirmation of goodwill and the value of the human spirit, it was an immediate success and has been an integral part of Christmas celebrations ever since. Following its success, Dickens wrote four Christmas stories, including "The Chimes," featured here, a hard-hitting but witty satire that deflates commonly held views about society's poorest members.

An absorbing, semi-philosphical tale of love and people driven to extremes. Our hero, a carpenter, loves Hetty Sorel, but she loves Arthur Donnington, a local squire. The story soon progresses onto powerful themes, such as: who has the right to determine who lives and who dies? A non-judgemental examination of human relationships and nature, Adam Bede has been highly praised for achieving something "beyond" realism.