Helbling Blue Readers

The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James
Adapted by Jennifer Gascoigne
Recording in British English

When Miss Jessel accepts a position as governess to look after Flora and Miles little does she know that her job will be so

When poor orphan Pip falls in love with the rich and beautiful Estella he never imagines that he, too, one day will have money. After Mr Jaggers tells Pip he has great expectations and a secret rich benefactor, Pip moves to London

Emma is beautiful, clever, rich, happy and never wants to get married.
She enjoys match-making her friends in the village of Highbury but slowly seems to lose her touch as complications begin with Frank, Harriet, Jane and

Poor orphan Jane Eyre lives an unhappy childhood. She is hated by her guardian aunt and cousins and then sent to the strict and loveless Lowood School.
But life at school improves, and Jane stays on as a teacher, though she

“I’ll grow old and ugly. But this portrait will always stay young.”

Artist Basil Hallward sees Dorian Gray at a party and suddenly feels that something bad is going to happen. But then the young and handsome Dorian becomes his

Heathcliff, an orphan, is raised by Mr Earnshaw with his own children, Hindley and Catherine. Hindley hates him but his passionate sister Catherine becomes his close friend, and they fall deeply in love.
When Catherine decides

Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to see a local nobleman, Count Dracula. Jonathan realises that things are not what they seem at Castle Dracula and, before he knows it, his nightmare begins.

This is the story of Ichabod Crane, a superstitious schoolmaster who arrives in Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod falls in love with Katrina van Tassel, a wealthy farmer’s daughter, but he must compete with the strong, handsome Brom Bones fo

Buck leads a good life in California, but one day he is stolen to be a sledge dog and taken to the harsh and freezing cold Yukon. Here Buck must learn to fight for his survivial. Can he rise above his enemies and become the maste

In The Garden Party, Laura is excited about her mother’s annual garden party until she discovers that a man has died close to the family’s home.

In Sixpence, when Dicky, an active, exuberant young boy, accidentally breaks a

In America, during the French and Indian wars, two young women, Cora and Alice,
set off on a dangerous journey to be reunited with their father Colonel Munro.

Two very different sisters meet and fall in love with two very different men. Elinor is the elder sister and she represents sense. Marianne is the younger sister and she represents sensibility. Elinor falls in love with Edward, a

Mrs Bennet’s main purpose in life is to see her five daughters married. She is very happy when
a handsome rich gentleman, Mr Bingley, arrives in the neighbourhood, and falls in love with her eldest daughter Jane.

As a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with creating life. After searching desperately for material and isolating himself to complete his task, Frankenstein finally meets his own creation: only to be disgusted

Solomon Northup was kidnapped as a free man and sold into slavery. This is his story of his twelve years as a slave.
Solomon paints a clear picture of the life of a slave, the endless work and the cruel treatment,