Jonathan Oliver

"The Cossacks" is believed to be somewhat autobiographical, partially based on Tolstoy's experiences in the Caucasus during the last stages of the Caucasian War. Disenchanted with his privileged life in Russian society, nobleman Dmitri Olenin joins the army as a cadet, in the hopes of escaping the superficiality of his daily life. On a quest to find "completeness," he naively hopes to find serenity among the "simple" people of the Caucasus. In an...

Rene Descartes is one of the formative figures in Western philosophy, logic and mathematics. His famous statement, 'I think, therefore I am,' has become perhaps the most famous phrase in all of philosophy. Descartes' ground-breaking writings attempted to establish unshakeable foundations of knowledge, and set a trend for subsequent Western philosophy, which has endlessly critiqued and expanded upon his ideas.

When a creature assembled from the bodies of dead convicts and the brain of a brilliant scientist realizes he is rejected by society, he goes on a rampage seeking revenge on the doctor who gave him life but refuses to give him a companion to share it. Horrified by the monster he has created, Frankenstein is consumed by the need to hunt down and destroy his creation.

Millions of pounds in gold bullion are being pirated in the Irish Sea. Investigations by the British Secret Service, and a sixth sense, bring Philip Calvert to a bleak, lonely bay in the Western Highlands. But the sleepy atmosphere of Torbay is deceptive, and the focal point of many mysterious disappearances. Even the unimaginative Highland Police Sergeant seems to be acting a part. But why?

As Singapore falls to the Japanes, a small grop of men and women set sail on desperate journey. One of them carries a cargo without price, the complete plans for the Japanese invasion of Australia. In order to get at there is nothing the Japanese will not do. They will stop at nothing.

From the acclaimed master of action and suspense. The all-time classic. An airliner crashes in the polar ice-cap. In temperatures 40 degrees below zero, six men and four women survive. But for the members of a remote scientific research station who rescue them, there are some sinister questions to answer – the first one being, who shot the pilot before the crash.

A classic novel of ruthless revenge set in the steel jungle of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico – and on the sea bed below it. Now reissued in a new cover style. A sunken DC-3 lying on the Caribbean floor. Its cargo: ten million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in gold ingots, emeralds and uncut diamonds guarded by the remains of two men, one woman and a very small boy. The fortune was there for the taking, and ready to grab it were a blue-blooded...

One of Sir Walter Scott's most popular and influential works, "Ivanhoe" is the story of one of the last remaining Saxon noble families. At the beginning of the novel we find its titular character, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who has been disinherited by his father for his allegiance to the Norman king, Richard the Lionheart, and for falling in love with the Lady Rowena, returning from the Third Crusade. Wilfred's father, Cedric, had planned to marry Lady...

The surviving commandos are sent on a perilous journey through the Pyrenees to disable the greatest threat to the impending D-Day landings: the 'Werwolf' U-boats. But their Basque guides declare it mission impossible - D-Day is less than six days away.