The Sign of the Four

Two American travelers have been killed—one with poison, the other with a knife through the heart—and the only clues at the scene are a woman’s wedding ring and the German word for “vengeance” written in blood. The military surgeon Dr. John Watson is brought in to investigate, along with his clever, arrogant new roommate, Sherlock Holmes.

In this study guide we narrate and analyse all 15 poems in the the AQA Power and Conflict poetry anthology to prepare those who are studying for their English Literature GCSE. Written by Rebecca Kleanthous, an English teacher and an examiner who specialises in poetry, this series will enable you to understand the themes and ideas across the poems, analyses the techniques used by the poets, including language and structure and provides suitable comparisons with other poems within the cluster.

The Birling family are spending a happy evening celebrating the engagement of Sheila Birling to Gerald Croft - a marriage that will result in the merging of two successful local businesses. Yet, just when everything seems to be going so well, they receive a surprise visit from an Inspector Goole who is investigating the suicide of a young girl.

As a dense yellow fog swirls through the streets of London, a deep melancholy has descended on Sherlock Holmes, who sits in a cocaine-induced haze at 221B Baker Street. His mood is only lifted by a visit from a beautiful but distressed young woman---Mary Morstan, whose father vanished ten years before. Four years later she began to receive an exquisite gift every year: a large, lustrous pearl.

This is the story in which Conan Doyle first unleashed the most famous partnership in the history of criminal detection.

These delightful stories of the famous hawk-eyed detective are told by his friend and foil, Dr. Watson. Doyle draws us into 19th-century London - - hansom cabs, train rides, and foggy nights - - where he astutely solves the most complex and perplexing cases of the day. Among the short stories included in this collection is "The Gloria Scott", an account of Holmes's very first case.

The multi-award-winning SmartPass study guide with and without commentary options. Full-cast, unabridged performance with comprehensive commentary and analysis for any student to fully understand and appreciate the play.

"And nothing is, but what is not." Macbeth may be mystified by the Weird Sisters' words but this intense performance with incisive commentary cuts to the heart of Shakespeare's complex psychological tragedy.

The literary world was shocked when, in 1890, at the height of his career, Robert Louis Stevenson announced his intention to settle permanently in Samoa. His readers were equally shocked when he began to use the subject material offered by his new environment not to promote a romance of empire but to produce some of the most ironic and critical treatments of imperialism in 19th-century fiction.

Clive Merrison stars as Holmes, with Michael Williams as Watson, in these adventures, part of the unique, fully dramatised BBC canon of Conan Doyle's short stories and novels featuring the world-famous sleuth.

James Joyce revolutionized twentieth-century writing with his "stream of consciousness" technique. While ingeniously innovative and experimental, he was also a keenly precise chronicler of the people, places, and sounds of his native Dublin. In Dubliners, a cast of 15 internationally famous stage and screen actors perform stories that make up a brilliant journey over a human landscape that captures the bleakest of despair to the most blinding of epiphanies.

Infamously known as the cursed Scottish play, Macbeth is perhaps Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy. When General Macbeth is foretold by three witches that he will one day be King of Scotland, Lady Macbeth convinces him to get rid of anyone who could stand in his way – including committing regicide. As Macbeth ascends to the throne through bloody murder, he becomes a tyrant consumed by fear and paranoia.

An Inspector Calls has an enduring appeal and still resonates today. The Audiopi GCSE English Literature audio guide for JB Priestley’s play will give you invaluable insight for your coursework and help you prepare for your exams at the end of the school year. Each chapter looks in detail at different elements of the book, including analysing the genre, structure and plot; the context of the play; and how it was a voice for Priestley’s beliefs.

Combined for great value! The multi award-winning SmartPass study guide with and without commentary options. This is a full-cast, unabridged performance with comprehensive commentary and analysis for any student to fully understand and appreciate the play. Peel away the layers of Priestley's complex drama to appreciate this powerful warning, wrapped up in the genre of a gripping detective story, and truly understand that "We don't live alone. We are members of one body."

A coded warning of imminent danger sends Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson to the fortress-like country house of the reclusive Jack Douglas. When they arrive too late to prevent a tragic death, the great detective and his chronicler must follow a series of bewildering clues to find a murderer who has vanished into thin air. Only then will they solve the mystery of the dead man's desperate plea: 'Am I never going to get out of the valley of fear?'

Candide and his tutor Pangloss travel the globe trying to follow the philosophy "All is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds". However, they are stung and let down at every turn, being robbed, tortured, and ridiculed, amongst other trials. On hearing about their often disasterous travels, a listener feels unfortunately less than empathetic, and can't help themselves laughing out loud at this very funny account of the trail our optimistic travellers take.