South of Heaven was Slayer's second album to enter the Billboard 200, and its last to be released by Def Jam Recordings, although the album became an American Recordings album after Rick Rubin ended his partnership with Russell Simmons. The release peaked at number 57 and in 1992 was awarded a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. In order to offset the pace of the group's previous album, Slayer deliberately slowed down the album's tempo. In contrast to their previous albums, the band utilised undistorted guitars and toned-down vocals. While some critics praised this musical change, others—more accustomed to the style of earlier releases—were disappointed. Despite this, the songs "Mandatory Suicide" and the title track became permanent features of the band's live setlist.

In 1932, two North Carolina teenagers from opposite sides of the tracks fall in love. Spending one idyllic summer together in the small town of New Bern, Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson do not meet again for 14 years. Noah has returned from WWII to restore the house of his dreams, having inherited a large sum of money. Allie, programmed by family and the "caste system of the South" to marry an ambitious, prosperous man, has become engaged to powerful attorney Lon Hammond.

The much-loved classic tales of Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad. When Mole goes boating with Ratty instead of doing his spring-cleaning, he discovers a whole new world. As well as adventures on the river and in the Wild Wood, there are high jinks on the open road with that reckless ruffian, Mr Toad of Toad Hall. Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad become the firmest of friends, but after Toad's latest escapade, can they join together and beat the wretched weasels once and for all? The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame is one of the twelve wonderful classic stories being relaunched in Puffin Classics in March 2008.

Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy manage to lead interesting lives despite Father's absence at war and the family's lack of money. Whether they're putting on a play or forming a secret society, their gaiety is infectious. Written from Louisa May Alcott's own experiences, this remarkable novel has been treasured for generations.

2000 recut version of the 1974 classic based on the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist marries three different scenarios into one extraordinary plot. A visiting actress in Washington, D.C., notices dramatic and dangerous changes in the behavior and physical make-up of her 12-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, a young priest at nearby Georgetown University begins to doubt his faith while dealing with his mother's terminal sickness. And, book-ending the story, a frail, elderly priest recognizes the necessity for a show-down with an old demonic enemy.

In this sequel to sly, clever novel "Chocolat", Yanne and her daughters, Rosette and Annie, seeking refuge and anonymity in the cobbled streets of Montmartre, live peacefully, if not happily, above their little chocolate shop. Nothing unusual marks them out, no red sachets hang by the door. The wind has stopped – at least for a while. Then into their lives blows Zozie de l’Alba, the lady with the lollipop shoes, and everything begins to change. But this new friendship is not what it seems.

Plath was an excellent poet but is known to many for this largely autobiographical novel. The Bell Jar tells the story of a gifted young woman's mental breakdown beginning during a summer internship as a junior editor at a magazine in New York City in the early 1950s. The real Plath committed suicide in 1963 and left behind this scathingly sad, honest and perfectly-written book, which remains one of the best-told tales of a woman's descent into insanity.

This unabridged audio version of Cold Mountain, read by author Charles Frazier, deserves at least as much acclaim as the bestselling print edition, which won the National Book Award. The tale chronicles a Confederate army deserter's search for home and love in the last days of the Civil War.

The Return of the Native may be Thomas Hardy’s finest writing. His descriptive and lyrical powers are at their height, his evocation of the wilds of Egdon Heath unmatched, his dissection of Eustacia and Clym’s marriage unimpeachable. Perhaps nowhere else is Hardy’s point that the universe is simply indifferent more compellingly made. Winner of the British Spoken Word Publishing Association’s “Talkie Award” for Best Unabridged Classic Recording, this performance was commended by the Financial Times as “right for this tragic story of passion and loss.”

A new store has opened in the town of Castle Rock, Maine. It has whatever your heart desires... if you're willing to pay the price. In this chilling novel by one of the most potent imaginations of our time, evil is on a shopping spree and out to scare you witless.

Stephen King, an evil car, and a teenage boy coming to terms with the fragility and randomness of life.... Wait, haven't we read this before? Diehard King fans, worry not. Aside from the titular car playing a main role in the story, From a Buick 8 could not be less like King's 1983 masterpiece, Christine. If anything, this story resembles King's serial novel The Green Mile, with reminiscing police characters flashing back on bizarre events that took place decades earlier.

On the screen and on Broadway, this classic tale of romance and horror has thrilled audiences the world over. No director in his right mind could refuse the gothic eeriness of Gaston Leroux's most famous novel. Now, experience the work that began it all, the story of an ingenious artist driven mad by injustice and love. Deep in the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera House, a masked monster lurks, dreaming of the day that he'll capture a beautiful singer and keep her in his own twilit world. But the road to realizing his fantasy is strewn with fear and murder. What evil will the phantom perpetrate when the curtain rises again? Once you hear the original tale, you'll discover why this century-old novel still stirs our imaginations today.

In this classic tale of pride and guilt, Hester Prynn, a young woman in Puritan Massachusetts, publicly bears the burden of her sin of adultery by wearing a scarlet A embroidered on her dress. Set in an early New England colony, the novel shows the consequences that a single act has on the lives of three members of the community: the independent and defiant Hester Prynn; her guilt-ravaged lover Reverend Dimmesdale; and the obsessed Chillingworth - Hester Prynn's husband who, once presumed dead, now returns to exact revenge.

Samuel Beckett, one of the great avant-garde Irish dramatists and writers of the second half of the twentieth century, was born on 13 April 1906. He died in 1989. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.

A Faustian tale of love, murder, thwarted revenge, and justice. A decadent young man sells his soul to the devil in exchange for eternal youth, only to be tormented by his moral decay reflected in his aging portrait. Wilde's only full-length novel combines intensity with sparkling wit and social satire.