| OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIST B: summaries Cranford Life in the small English town of Cranford seems very quiet and peaceful. The ladies of Cranford lead tidy, regular lives. They make their visits between the hours of twelve and three, give little evening parties, and worry about their maid-servants. But life is not always smooth – there are little arguments and jealousies, sudden deaths and unexpected marriages … Mrs Gaskell’s timeless picture of small-town life in the first half of the nineteenth century has delighted readers for nearly 150 years. Treasure island “Suddenly, there was a high voice screaming in the darkness : Pieces of eight ! Pieces of eight ! Pieces of eight! It was Long John Silver’s parrot, Captain Flint! I turned to run …” But young Jim Hawkins does not escape from the pirates this time. Will he and his friends find the treasure before the pirates do ? Will they escape from the island, and sail back to England with a ship full of gold ? Jane Eyre Jane Eyre is alone in the world. Disliked by her aunt’s family, she is sent away to school. Here she learns that a young girl, with neither money nor family to support her, can expect little from the world. She survives, but she wants more from life than simply to survive : she wants respect, and love. When she goes to work for Mr Rochester, she hopes she has found both at once. But the sound of strange laughter, late at night, behind a locked door, warns her that her troubles are only the beginning. The eagle of the ninth In the second century AD, when the Ninth Roman Legion marched into the mists of northern Britain, not one man came back. Four thousand men disappeared, and the Eagle, symbol of the Legion’s honour, was lost. Years later there is a story that the Eagle has been seen again. So Marcus Aquila, whose father disappeared with the Ninth, travels north, to find the Eagle and bring it back, and to learn how his father died. But the tribes of the north are wild and dangerous, and they hate the Romans … Lorna Doone One winter’s day in 1673 young John Ridd is riding home from school, across the wild lonely hills of Exmoor. He has to pass Doone valley – a dangerous place, as the Doones are famous robbers and murderers. All Exmoor lives in fear of the Doones. At home there is sad news waiting for young John, and he learns that he has good reason to hate the Doones. But in the years to come he meets Lorna Doone, with her lovely smile and big dark eyes. And soon he is deeply, hopelessly in love … Reflex People who ride racehorses love the speed, the excitement, the danger – and winning the race. Philip Nore has been riding for many years and he always wants to win – but sometimes he is told to lose. Why ? And what is the mystery about the photographer, George Millace, who has just died in a car crash ? Philip Nore knows the answer to the first question and he wants to find out the answer to the second. But as he begins to learn George Millace’s secrets, he realizes that his own life is in danger. The silver sword Jan opened his wooden box and took out the silver sword. “This will bring me luck,” he said to Mr Balicki. “And it will bring you luck because you gave it to me.” The silver sword is only a paper knife, but it gives Jan and his friends hope. Hungry, cold and afraid, the four children try to stay alive among the ruins of bombed cities in war-torn Europe. Soon they will begin the long and dangerous journey south, from Poland to Switzerland, where they hope to find their parents again. Gulliver’s travels “Soon I felt something alive moving along my leg and up my body to my face, and when I looked down, I saw a very small human being, only fifteen centimetres tall … I was so surprised that I gave a great shout.” But that is only the first of many surprises which Gulliver has on his travels. He visits a land of giants and a flying island, meets ghosts from the past and horses which talk. |