Gemma Barder

Do you know your Siamese from your Shorthair? This guide to everything cat and kitten is packed with essential information from different cat breeds to how to look after a cat to facts about famous and record-breaking cats.

Do you know your corn snakes from your crested geckos? This guide to everything reptile is packed with essential information from different kinds of reptiles to how to look after a reptile to other fascinating facts.

Do you know your Shires from your Shetlands? This guide to everything horse and pony is packed with essential information from different breeds to how to look after a pony to facts about famous and record-breaking horses.

Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov (1812-1891) was a Russian novelist who achieved literary fame later in life, after a career in the civil-service which spanned more than thirty years. His first novel, "A Common Story", was a definitive success and his notoriety was cemented with the publication of his second novel, "Oblomov", in 1850. Based on a short story written a year prior, "Oblomov" is about a cultured, intelligent, upper middle class man experiencing...

Twelve Years a Slave (1853) is considered to be one of the most riveting and important documents recounting slavery in the United States. It is the heart-rending memoir of a free black man who is taken hostage and sold into slavery in a Louisiana plantation, his twelve years of bondage, and his remarkable escape to freedom. Since its publication, this classic has become a historical reference for its salient of depiction of life as a slave in the...

Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. Tolstoy clashed with editor Mikhail Katkov over political issues that arose in the final installment (Tolstoy's negative views of Russian volunteers going to fight in Serbia), therefore, the novel's first complete appearance was in book form in 1878. Widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction,...

Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" is a gripping psychological masterpiece that delves deep into the tormented mind of its protagonist, Raskolnikov, and explores themes of morality, guilt, and redemption. Set in 19th-century St. Petersburg, Russia, the novel follows the impoverished and intellectually gifted former student, Raskolnikov, who becomes consumed by a radical idea. He believes that by committing a morally justifiable murder of...

"Handsome, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse delights in interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protégée, Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected."--Publishers description.

In "Northanger Abbey," Jane Austen invites readers into a world of romance, satire, and coming-of-age transformation. This novel, written with Austen's trademark wit and insight, explores the journey of Catherine Morland, a young woman whose uneventful life in a rural village turns into an exciting adventure full of love, friendship, and self-discovery, set against the backdrop of the charming yet superficial high society of 19th-century England. Catherine,...

Buck, part St. Bernard, part Scotch shepherd, is stolen from his family and forcibly taken to the Klondike gold fields. He quickly learns the harsh law of survival and eventually becomes the leader of a wolf pack.