Oxford Bookworms Library: Love or Money?: Level 1: 400-Word Vocabulary

by Rowena Akinyemi, Oscar Wilde

It is Molly Clarkson’s fiftieth birthday. She is having a party. She is rich, but she is having a small party – only four people. Four people, however, who all need the same thing: they need her money. She will not give them the money, so they are waiting for her to die. And there are other people who are also waiting for her to die.

But one person can’t wait. And so, on her fiftieth birthday, Molly Clarkson is going to die.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Crime, Fiction, Romance, Money, Family

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Rowena Akinyemi is British, and after many years in Africa, she now lives and works in Cambridge. She was worked in English Language Teaching for twenty years, in Africa and England, and has been writing ELT fiction for ten years. Love or money? Was her first story for the Oxford Bookworms Library, and she has now written several other stories for the series, including Remeber Miranda and The Witches of Pendle (both at Stage 1). She has also written books for children. One of her favourite pastimes is reading detective stories.

Reviews

[Reham Elkomy · Rating 2 out of 5]

7/7/2025

[Zeinabansari · Rating 1 out of 5]

فقط سرگرم کننده بود

[Demian]

FUE EL HIJO

[Arezoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

اولین کتابی که به زبان انگلیسی خوندم🙈

[إلهام مزيود]

http://www.4shared.com/office/mBm3eDi...

[Magalie Eid · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think this book is amazing! it tought me alot of things in life... it made me know how to compare between love and money and of course i chose love! a girl named jackie killed her mother hust because she wants her money and her mom was stingy and she wanted to marry a guy whos name is peter hobbs but because he was poor her mother didnt let her marry him so she put tablets in her cup of hot chocolate! molly the mother had another daughter named diane and a son named roger! molly also had a sister who was very ill but she didnt give her money to get a nurse just because she doesnt like her husband and at the end jackie and her mother both took their consequences! I LOVE THIS STORY!

[Misato Kuroiwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. ROWENA AKINYEMI
tragedy book level 1
2. about 80 minutes
3. love money family party die kill Molly's birthday
4. When is your birthday? My birthday is
May 21th.
5. I have not finished reading it because I thought this story was very tragedy. by reading it, I found that my family was very warm. My family love each other. I thought Molly was very poor. She was rich, but she was hated by her child. I thought money changed something: relationship among people, person's mind and so on. Of course, Money is important but I thought love is more important than money.

[Lea Corbani · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is an amazing story! it is about a mom who has many children and they all wanted her money so they were waiting for her to die. someone kills the mom and inspectors come to the house to find who killed her.at the end it turns out to be that her daugher killed her because she wanted her money

[Zahra joshaghani · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a funny book but....
You will deeply think that who killed that woman and you'll change your thoughts but finally there is a clue if you get that you'll know who the killer is and it ends sadly.

[Sabrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very predictable, reminds me of Agatha Cristie’s books

[Abrar Alarjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the first time,Which is read in English,I can see style Oxford It becomes better ,and my language becomes stronger.

thanks for Oxford :)

الحبكة هاهنا في هذه الجريمة تصير أقوى ،فتخطفني حتى النهاية ،شكرًا لأكسفورد على هذا القوة في الحبكة مع كل مستوى .

لمن يريد قراءتها القصة تقول بأن ،عائلة تشارلي كل منهم يريد مالا ، فدينا تريده لأجل السفر لأمريكا ،وروجر يريده لزيادة ثروته ،وألبيرت يريده لكي يجلب ممرضة لزوجته ،تقتل رئسية العائلة مولي ،فمن هو المجرم مالذي سوف يحصل ..

بالطبع لا يمكنني الحديث عن الأسلوب لأن غرض هذه القصة تعليمي ،فلا يمكننا الحديث عن هذا مادام الغرض تعليميا .

[Asma · Rating 4 out of 5]

“They’re All Rich Now . But Are They Going To Be Happy ?“

[Azhman P · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice story I liked it

[Romy Nehme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story!! I love this kind of story that has to do with finding out who is the criminal!! In this story the daughter kills her mother to tkae money for herself! I loved its ending where i was surprised to figure out taht the daughter was the killer!

[Javii]

LOVE OR MOENEY

[Luke · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a pretty weak example of a whodunnit. It was only 40 pages and aimed at people who have just learnt English and want to practice their skills but that is no excuse for the shoddy way in which the story is set up.

It's all about a rich woman who is tired of giving her money away to her parasitic relatives (there is honestly no likeable characters in this book) and she literally says "you will have to wait until I'm dead before you get anymore money" ... Then THAT NIGHT she dies!

I mean come on! The Sherlock Holmes short stories were written for working people in Victorian London and they managed to be short and use simple English while still packing a punch, so there is no excuse for the lazy plot line.

I did like the illustrations however and how the ending plays into the title. Unfortunately that was not enough to redeem this book.

[Muaz Smajlović · Rating 3 out of 5]

My third story of the first stage, but the first one that I didn't like.
Why? Because in comparison to two of Sherlock's stories of this stage, that is a crime story by book. If you read earlier a couple of crime stories, you will know the killer, because what he said or did, or what other characters said or did was very typical.
But the biggest difference is that a good crime story gives you in the end the reason why just a killer can do what he did, not any other character, which wasn't the case in this story.

[ElioWhite · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a long time I read it, but there are some details in my memory. The rich woman have two daughters, one of them is the key role of the story, and another one is a bitch, she want that money as well as she thought it is belong to her for a ridiculous reason: "I am your daughter." I forgot the ending and who murder is. In one word, This is the first whole English book I read. Give it four stars. hh.

[Amaor · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is my first English book, even though it is quite bored about the story, but still can remember she kill her mother no because the money but love.

[Ally Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I understand it was designed to be a short story but i was expecting more actions and intruguing things...It's good , just not developed.

[Puteri · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's amazing

[jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

mother was a bitch

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

No money no love? Jesus!

[Jose Luis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Predecible en muchos puntos

[Seyed Amin · Rating 4 out of 5]

very easy English.

[Trần Hải Đăng · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good story for everyone who want to begin reading English books. Moreover, It is also a lesson about greed and insensitivity.

[Zeynab-Ezzatpour · Rating 3 out of 5]

سرگرم کننده

[Eva ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

lo leí para clase de inglés

[Enrique Ortiz Vidal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy buen libro. Pequeño. Un historia de misterio de un asesinato. Lo usé para practicar inglés. Lo acompañé con el audio.

[Noic]

love is necessary for our life
money is not the most things that in our life
people should enjoy life in many ways