With a hungry, timid request of 'Please, sir. I want some more', orphan Oliver Twist takes his first step on a terrifying journey.

'Bah, humbug! Fools wishing me a Merry Christmas should be forced to sit on cushions stuffed with holly leaves or boiled with their own Christmas puddings.'

'You are the last man in the world I would marry.'

'Today is Wednesday 2nd October. If I am back in this very room in the Reform Club on Saturday 21st December by eight forty-five in the evening, I win.

Nick Carraway's mysterious neighbour Gatsby gazes across the dark bay at a distant green light.

An escaped convict threatens to eat young Pip's heart for breakfast. The ghostly Miss Havisham invites Pip to her eerie home. A mysterious benefactor makes him suddenly wealthy. Pip's life will never be the same again.

'You must hear my tale. You must hear my terrible, terrible tale.'

No one would have believed that planet Earth was being watched by creatures more intelligent than humankind.