The Winters Tale

William Shakespeare

This play is not just a fairy tale by its name, everything in it is amazing and unbelievable, and it would be ridiculous to look for likelihood here! But, as you know, a fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, because among the wonderful fairy-tale accidents of the play we learn about what actually happens. That there are jealous husbands, rejected wives, abandoned children, as well as good nurses, loyal servants, honest counselors. That evil can take possession of the human soul, as it possessed Leont, who broke his own happiness and the happiness of those he loved. And that only time can put everything in its place.

The Wisdom of Father Brown

G.K. Chesterton

In Chestertons second Father Brown book, The Wisdom of Father Brown, we get a series of bizarre, sometimes dangerous mysteries that Father Brown must puzzle out. Some of the crimes are simple once Brown explains them, but others are devious, chilling things that are wrapped in Chestertons poetic prose. In the stories that follow, the priest investigates many other mysteries: a sinister voodoo cult, a nobleman with a deformed ear, a gang of Italian thieves, a lie-detector with one major problem (the operator), a girl who is blackmailed for a crime nobody knows she committed, a burning tower, a murder that may be suicide, and a man who is under a horrible death curse. Father Brown solves things by observation and thought, in some ways like Poirot, but in an unassuming and modest manner. The stories are each very different, but are very good reading.

The Wistaria Scarf

J.U. Giesy, Junius B Smith

Sheldon, who was sentenced many times to imprisonment, has long been free. There were no rumors about him. However, his daughter is married and is going to the honeymoon, which paid for her father. The detective gets a phone call saying Sheldon has taken up the old business. And the detective goes to Sheldons daughter, whom he was in love with. The pursuit of Sheldon will never stop. However, maybe this time he is still not guilty?

The Witch and Other Stories

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

A short story about an unhappy involuntary marriage. Family quarrels, like bad weather in the Russian wilderness: there is nothing worse than becoming an involuntary captive of a blizzard of someone elses spousal abuse. The main character of the story is an ordinary woman with an unfortunate fate. All its features consist only in youth and attractive appearance, and in the still alive soul, which writhes under the weight of the cargo that has landed on it and stubbornly does not want to die, does not want to give up, and everything continues to wait for someone or something. Her husband, a miserable man, considers his wife a witch.

The Witches of Pendle - With Audio Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Akinyemi, Rowena

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Written for Learners of English by Rowena Akinyemi. Witches are dangerous. They can kill you with a look, or a word. They can send their friend the Devil after you in the shape of a dog or a cat. They can make a clay picture of you, then break it . . . and a few weeks later you are dead. Today, of course, most people don't believe in witches. But in 1612 everybody was afraid of them. Young Jennet Device in Lancashire knew a lot about them because she lived with the Witches of Pendle. They were her family . . .

The Witches of Pendle Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Akinyemi, Rowena

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Rowena Akinyemi Witches are dangerous. They can kill you with a look, or a word. They can send their friend the Devil after you in the shape of a dog or a cat. They can make a clay picture of you, then break it . . . and a few weeks later you are dead. Today, of course, most people don't believe in witches. But in 1612 everybody was afraid of them. Young Jennet Device in Lancashire knew a lot about them because she lived with the Witches of Pendle. They were her family . . .

The Witchs Head

H. Rider Haggard

Another Victorian novel by Haggard. The story of the orphan Ernest Kershaw, who is in search of a better life. One of the mystical moments is a find in the cemetery of the head of a woman who looks like his girlfriend. After that, strange things start to happen. More precisely, it is the beginning of the adventures of our hero.

The Witchstone. Klątwa Drakefordów

Henry H. Neff

Absolutna perełka fantasy dla wszystkich, którzy pokochali takie seriale, jak Dobre miejsce i Lucyfer Laszlo Zebul to osiemsetletni demon i najmniej wydajny pracownik Działu Zarządzania Klątwami piekielnego korpo. Jest między innymi strażnikiem klątwy ciążącej na rodzie Drakefordów, ale woli opalać się na Ibizie, sączyć martini i naciągać frajerów na Manhattanie. Nowy szef daje mu sześć dni na poprawę, inaczej skończy marnie. Dziewiętnastoletnia Maggie Drakeford jest obciążona klątwą i skazana na życie w wiosce zabitej dechami. Dziewczyna cierpi, widząc, jak klątwa powoli zamienia jej ojca w potwora. Przyszłość jej rodziny rysuje się ponuro, ale wtedy pojawia się Laszlo z wieścią, że mają sześć dni na zdjęcie klątwy. Czy Maggie może zaufać przystojnemu Laszlowi? Jasne, że nie. Ale nie może też przepuścić okazji do uratowania rodziny, nawet jeśli jej przewodnikiem miałby być demon. Bohaterowie wyruszają w szaloną podróż przez Nowy Jork, Liechtenstein, Zurych i Rzym. Z pozoru lekka przygoda przekształca się w morderczy wyścig z czasem i poszukiwanie rozwiązania tajemnicy, która rozwścieczyć może nawet samego Lucyfera. Czarny humor, kapitalne dialogi i hollywoodzki rozmach The Witchstone to diabelnie dobra rozrywka!

The Withered Arm - With Audio Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Hardy, Thomas

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. A woman and a man . . . words of love whispered on a summer night. Later, there is a child, but no wedding-ring. And then the man leaves the first woman, finds a younger woman, marries her . . . It's an old story. Yes, it's an old, old story. It happens all the time -- today, tomorrow, a hundred years ago. People don't change. But this story, set among the green hills of southern England, has something different about it. Perhaps it is only a dream, or perhaps it is magic -- a kind of strange dark magic that begins in the world of dreams and phantoms . . .

The Withered Arm Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Hardy, Thomas

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett A woman and a man . . . words of love whispered on a summer night. Later, there is a child, but no wedding-ring. And then the man leaves the first woman, finds a younger woman, marries her . . . It's an old story. Yes, it's an old, old story. It happens all the time -- today, tomorrow, a hundred years ago. People don't change. But this story, set among the green hills of southern England, has something different about it. Perhaps it is only a dream, or perhaps it is magic - a kind of strange dark magic that begins in the world of dreams and phantoms . . .

The Wizard of Oz - With Audio Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Baum, L. Frank

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Rosemary Border. Dorothy lives in Kansas, USA, but one day a cyclone blows her and her house to a strange country called Oz. There, Dorothy makes friends with the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. But she wants to go home to Kansas. Only one person can help her, and that is the country's famous Wizard. So Dorothy and her friends take the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, to find the Wizard of Oz . . .

The Wizard of Oz Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library

Baum, L. Frank

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Rosemary Border Dorothy lives in Kansas, USA, but one day a cyclone blows her and her house to a strange country called Oz. There, Dorothy makes friends with the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. But she wants to go home to Kansas. Only one person can help her, and that is the country's famous Wizard. So Dorothy and her friends take the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, to find the Wizard of Oz . . .

The Wolf-Leader

Alexandre Dumas

During the absolutism in France, the young clog-maker Thibaudt has a deep desire to belong to the aristocracy. One day he saves the life of a wolf, who fled from the baron Jean de Vez and his hunting party. A while later Thibaudt imagine his amazement: the wolf transformed himself into a human and offers him a pact. The wolf promises to grant Thibaults wishes in exchange for a hair on his head. As Thibault wishes harm upon more and more people, the hairs on his head become red and wiry. Thibaults life only gets worse, however; he is able to take revenge on his enemies, but the villagers suspect him to be a werewolf. The Wolf-Leader, a novel by Alexandre Dumas, was originally published in 1857. In the lengthy but entertaining introduction, Dumas explains that the novel is based on folktales he grew up hearing in his hometown of Villers-Cotterts. This particular tale was told to him by a gamekeeper who often took him hunting as a young man. The novel contains elements of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, yet it times is also quite comic.

The Woman Artist: Essays in memory of Dorota Filipczak

Tomasz Dobrogoszcz, Tomasz Fisiak, Agata Handley, Krzysztof Majer

The volume, honoring Professor Dorota Filipczak, whose energetic and fruitful academic career was cut short in 2021, offers a contribution to literary criticism and culture studies, the areas on which her own scholarly endeavors centered. The theme of "the woman artist" was of particular significance both for Filipczak's inquiry into the work of writers such as Alice Munro, Jane Urquhart, Michele Roberts or Margaret Laurence, and for her own poetic practice. Rather than focus on her achievements in various fields (as scholar, writer, teacher, poet, and translator), the texts collected in this volume go beyond remembrance and the honoring of an established scholar's remarkable feats. Despite their undeniable commemorative role, the chapters are an attempt to carry Dorota Filipczak's academic endeavors forward, into the future, with her own texts serving as prologue and inspiration. The contributors to the volume - representing various fields of the academia - are her friends, colleagues and collaborators, and the essays eloquently testify to her intellectual influence. From more personal reflections and ruminations inspired by Filipczak's life and work to articles exploring the work of a range of women artists, the volume offers an investigation of various approaches to autobiography, tensions between public personas and private selves, subversive performative personas, transcending religious frameworks of bodily discipline, as well as "toggling" between the human and the nonhuman.

The Woman Ayisha

Talbot Mundy

First lets look at the situation for a moment. We were twenty people: seventeen Arabs, Narayan Singh, I and Thunder. We were in Petra over Jordan, which was a civilian land until Ali Higg, the impostor of Leo Peter, a friend of the Prophet Islam, Lord of Limit Deserts, and Lord Vaters became established there as a thorn on the flank of Palestine. Inaccessible and inaccessible, except for airplanes, once the valley of Moses, leading to it through a twelve-meter gorge, was blocked.

The Woman from Outside

Hulbert Footner, Hulbert Footner

A woman goes on a secret errand into the far Northwest. Before it is accomplished the usual characters come into the story Indians, mounted police, and the villain. Written by Hulbert Footner who was an Edmonton journalist and travelled the northwest before it was settled. Published in 1921, it is a fascinating eye-witness view of the times and attitudes of northern trappers and traders, including the colonial view of Native Peoples.

The Woman from the East and Other Stories

Edgar Wallace

Novelist, playwright and journalist, Edgar Wallace, is best known for his popular detective and suspense stories which, in his lifetime, earned him the title, King of the Modern Thriller. This early work by Edgar Wallace was originally published in 1934. The Woman From the East and Other Stories is an enjoyable collection of short stories that include The Chopham Affair, The Hopper, The Silver Charm, and many more. As the stories are rather short and quite fast-paced with a lot of scenery-changes and adventures, this nice. Its all great fun and Wallace keeps the action moving along swiftly, as he always did. If you havent discovered the joys of Wallaces thrillers there is a good place to start. Highly recommended.

The Woman in the Alcove

Anna Katharine Green

The Woman in the Alcove is the third book in the Caleb Sweetwater series. The spinster-detective in the novel is Miss Van Arsdale, a member of the high society in New York and a woman who is short and plain in appearance. Against all odds, Rita Van Ardsdale has landed the man of her dreams and is blissfully in love. But her shot at happily ever after seems to be fading when her fiancé is accused of murder. It falls to Rita to crack the case and clear her beloveds name. Is she up to the task? It is one of the real masterpieces by Anna Katharine Green and a true gem of the genre of detective fiction, a well-written and refreshing story full of action, but without any violence being involved (apart from the murder it revolves around, of course).

The Woman in White

Wilkie Collins

Often considered one of the first mystery novels, The Woman In White follows protagonist Walter Hartright, an art teacher, as he has a mysterious late night encounter on a London street with a lost woman, dressed all in white, who he later finds out had escaped from an asylum. The figure of this woman and the words they exchanged during their meeting come to haunt Walter, even as he accepts a job at Limmeridge House outside of London to instruct heiress Laura Farlie in art. Walter soon recognizes the astonishing resemblance between Laura and The Woman In White, and finds out that the mystery woman also used to live near Limmeridge and has connections to the Farlie family. A tragic, haunting tale about mistaken identities, unbelievable selfishness and cruelty, bust also true love and persevering friendship. A true classic.

The Woman in White - With Audio Level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library

Collins, Wilkie

A level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Richard G. Lewis. The woman in white first appears at night on a lonely heath near London and is next seen at a grave-side in Cumberland. Who is she? Where has she come from, and what is her history? She seems alone and friendless, frightened and confused. And it seems she knows a secret - a secret that could bring ruin and shame to a man who will do anything to keep her silent. This famous mystery thriller by Wilkie Collins has excitement, suspense, romance, and a plot that twists and turns on every page.

The Woman in White Level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library

Collins, Wilkie

A level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Richard G. Lewis The woman in white first appears at night on a lonely heath near London and is next seen at a grave-side in Cumberland. Who is she? Where has she come from, and what is her history? She seems alone and friendless, frightened and confused. And it seems she knows a secret - a secret that could bring ruin and shame to a man who will do anything to keep her silent. This famous mystery thriller by Wilkie Collins has excitement, suspense, romance, and a plot that twists and turns on every page.

The Woman of Mystery

Maurice Leblanc

A chance encounter irrevocably alters the course of one mans life, and the tensions between France and Germany boil over... In The Woman of Mystery, Leblanc paints a wonderful tale of WWI in France, twined together with the mystery surrounding the murder of main character Pauls father. Maurice Leblanc became famous for the creation of Arsene Lupin, a gentleman thief and master of disguise. Leblanc was born to a wealthy family, studied law, worked as a police reporter for a time, then found his career as a fiction writer. While LeBlanc wrote much other fiction, it was the Lupin series which made him internationally famous, the French equivalent of Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Woman Who Did

Grant Allen

In 1895, this scandalous book titled The Woman Who Did by Grant Allen promulgating certain startling views on marriage and kindred questions, became a bestseller. The book told the story of an independent, young, self-assured middle-class woman who has a child out of wedlock. Herminia Barton, Cambridge-educated daughter of the Dean of Dunwich, is more determined than most to arrange her own life. She accordingly enters into a relationship outside marriage with one of her own free and advanced kind, the lawyer Alan Merrick. The consequences of that decision test her resolve to the very limit. The author was sympathetic to the feminist cause and saw his novel as a means to propagate womens rights. However, the novel was controversial right from the start, with conservative readers as well as feminists criticizing Allen for the heroine he had invented.

The Wonder Book of Soldiers

Edgar Wallace

When Ferdie van Wyk was arrested for being found in the barracks of the Larkshire Regiment under suspicious circumstances, he very naturally objected to being marched through the one little street of Simons Town by a military escort.