One of the great classics of Western literature，Les Miserables is a magisterial work which is rich in both character portrayal and meticulous historical de*ion. Characters such as the absurdly criminalised Valjean. the street urchin Gavroche.the rascal Thenardier. the implacable detective lavert， and the pitiful figure of the prostitute Fantine and her daughter Cosotte， have entered the pantheon of literary dramatis persoae. The reader is also treated to the unforgettable de*ions of the Battle of Waterloo and Valjean's flight through the Paris sewers.
Oliver Twist was Dickens's second novel and one of his darkest, dealing with burglary, kidnapping, child abuse, prostitution, and murder. Alongside this gallery of horrors are the corrupt and incompetent institutions of 19th-century England set up to address social problems and instead making them worse. The author's moral indignation drives the creation of some of his most memorably grotesque characters: squirming, vile Fagin; brutal Bill Sykes; the brooding, sickly Monks; and Bumble, the pompous and incorrigibly dense beadle. Clearly, a reading of this work must carry the author's passionate narrative voice while being flexible and broad enough to define the wide range of character voices suggested by the text. John Wells's capable but bland reading only suggests the rich possibilities of the material. Restraint and Dickens simply don't go together. The abridgment deftly and seamlessly manages to deliver all major characters and plot lines, but there are many superior audiobook versions of this material, bo
Since his first appearance in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes has been one of the most beloved fictional characters ever created. Now, in two paperback volumes, Bantam Classics presents all fifty-six short stories and four novels featuring Conan Doyle’s classic hero—a truly complete collection of Sherlock Holmes’s adventures in crime! Volume I includes the early novel A Study in Scarlet, which introduced the eccentric genius of Sherlock Holmes to the world. This baffling murder mystery, with the cryptic word Rache written in blood, first brought Holmes together with Dr. John Watson. Next, The Sign of Four presents Holmes’s famous “seven percent solution” and the strange puzzle of Mary Morstan in the quintessential locked-room mystery. Also included are Holmes’s feats of extraordinary deception in such famous cases as the chilling “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” the baffling riddle of “The Musgrave Ritual,” and the ingeniously plot
Sherlock Holmes was not the only writing Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) did but Holmes and Dr. Watson are his most remembered characters. Holmes titled himself a "Consulting Detective". His powers of observation, his understanding of crime, and his insights into the criminal mind were brilliant. His knowledge of things not related to crime were extemely limited, except in opera and the violin. Like many other authors famous for a single character, Arthur Conan Doyle attempted to "kill" Holmes. But the readers would not let this happen. Holmes eventually appeared in 56 short stories and 4 novels. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Long considered the first great modern novel of war by an American author, this classic work is set in the time of the Civil War and tells a powerful, psychological story of a young soldier's struggle with the horrors--both within and without the war. 作者简介： Stephen Crane was born in Newark, NJ in 1871, the son of a Methodist minister. Before he reached twenty-five, Crane had made his mark on the American literary scene by writing two major works: Maggie: a Girl of the Streets (1893) and The Red Badge of Courage (1895). He failed a theme-writing course in college at the same time he was writing articles for newspapers, among them the New York Herald Tribune. Maggie, drawn from firsthand observations in the slums of New York, was praised and condemned for its sordid realism. By contrast, The Red Badge of Courage, also praised for its realism, was drawn entirely from newspaper accounts and research, as Crane himself never went to war. Crane's adventurous spirit drove him to Cuba in 1896, pro
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a powerful and sometimes violentnovel of expectation，love，oppression，sin，religion and betrayal.It portrays the disintegration of the marriage of HelenHuntingdon，the mysterious 'tenant' of the title，and herdissolute，alcoholic husband. Defying convention，Helen leavesher husband to protect their young son from his father'sinfluence，and earns her own living as an artist. Whilst in hidingat Wildfell Hall，she encounters Gilbert Markham. who falls inlove with her. On its first publication in 1848，Anne Bront 's second novel was criticised for being 'coarse' and 'brutal'. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall challenges the social conventions of the early nineteenth century in a strong defence of women's rights in the face of psychological abuse from their husbands. Anne Bront 's style is bold，naturalistic and passionate，and this novel，which her sister Charlotte considered 'an entire，has earned her a position in English Literature in her own right，not just as
The Man in the Iron Mask is the final episode in the cycle of novels featuring Dumas’ celebrated foursome of D’Artagnan，Athos，Porthos and Aramis，who first appeared in The Three Musketeers。Some thirty-five years on，the bonds of comradeship are under strain as they end up on different sides in a power struggle that may undermine the young Louis XIV and change the face of the French monarchy。 In the fast-paced narrative style that was his trademark，Dumas pitches us straight into the action。What is the secret shared by Aramis and Madame de Chevreuse? Why does the Queen Mother fear its revelation? Who is the mysterious prisoner in the Bastille? And what is the nature of the threat he poses？ Dumas，the master storyteller，keeps us reading until the climactic scene in the grotto of Locmaria，a fitting conclusion to the epic saga of the musketeers。
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The House of the Seven Gables" is aclassic of American literature, written by one of America'sgreatest writers. First published in 1851, the book is set in amansion not unlike his cousin's many-gabled home in Salem,Massachusetts, which Hawthorne visited regularly. Hawthornebelieved "the wrong-doing of one generation lives into thesuccessive ones" and Hawthorne's story depicts the memorable livesof the residents of the house who were inextricably bound to thesins of their ancestors. Today, the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion ispopularly known as the House of the Seven Gables, is on TheNational Register of Historic Places, and is a museum open to thepublic.
Few children's classics can match the charm and originality of Frances Hodgson Burnett's THE SECRET GARDEN, the unforgettable story of sullen, sulky Mary Lennox, "the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen." When a cholera epidemic leaves her an orphan,Mary is sent to England to live with her reclusive uncle, Archibald Craven, at Misselthwaite Manor.Unloved and unloving, Mary wanders the desolate moors until one day she chances upon the door of a secret garden. What follows is one of the most beautiful tales of trans for mation in children's literature, as Mary,her sickly and tyrannical cousin Colin, and a peasant boy named Dickon secretly strive to make the garden bloom once more.A unique blend of realism and magic,THE SECRET GARDEN remains a moving expression of every child's need to nurture and be nurtured--a story that has captured for all time the rare andenchanted world of childhood.
‘I am writing to a rhythm and not to a plot’，Virginia Woolf stated of her eighth novel，The Waves。 Widely regarded as one of her greatest and most original works，it conveys the rhythms of life in synchrony with the cycle of nature and the passage of time。 Six children-Bernard，Susan，Rhoda，Neville，Jinny and Louis-meet in a garden close to the sea，their voices sounding over the constant echo of the waves that roll back and forth from the shore。 The subsequent continuity of these six main characters，as they develop from childhood to maturity and follow different passions and ambitions，is interspersed with interludes from the timeless and unifying chorus of nature。 In pure stream-of-consciousness style，Woolf presents a cross-section of multiple yet parallel lives，each marked by the disintegrating force of a mutual tragedy。 The Waves is her searching exploration of individual and collective identity，and the observations and emotions of life，from the simplicity and surgin
When Father goes away with two strangers one evening, the lives of Roberta, Peter and Phyllis are shattered. They and Mother have to move from their comfortable London home to go and live in a simple country cottage, where Mother writes books to make ends meet. However, they soon come to love the railway that runs near their cottage, and they make a habit of waving every day to the Old Gentleman who rides on it. They befriend the porter, Perks, and through him learn railway lore and much else. They have many adventures, and when they save a train from disaster, they are helped by the Old Gentleman to solve the mystery of Father's disappearance, and the family is happily reunited.
Epic historical novel by Leo Tolstoy, originally published as Voyna i mir in 1865-69. This panoramic study of early 19th-century Russian society, noted for its mastery of realistic detail and variety of psychological analysis, is generally regarded as one of the world's greatest novels. War and Peace is primarily concerned with the histories of five aristocratic families--particularly the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, and the Rostovs--the members of which are portrayed against a vivid background of Russian social life during the war against Napoleon (1805-14). The theme of war, however, is subordinate to the story of family existence, which involves Tolstoy's optimistic belief in the life-asserting pattern of human existence. The heroine, Natasha Rostova, for example, reaches her greatest fulfillment through her marriage to Pierre Bezukhov and her motherhood. The novel also sets forth a theory of history, concluding that there is a minimum of free choice; all is ruled by an inexorable historical determinism. --
Sherlock Holmes was not the only writing Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) did but Holmes and Dr. Watson are his most remembered characters. Holmes titled himself a "Consulting Detective". His powers of observation, his understanding of crime, and his insights into the criminal mind were brilliant. His knowledge of things not related to crime were extemely limited, except in opera and the violin. Like many other authors famous for a single character, Arthur Conan Doyle attempted to "kill" Holmes. But the readers would not let this happen. Holmes eventually appeared in 56 short stories and 4 novels. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The flaxen-haired beauty of the childlike Lady Audley would suggest that She has no secrets. But M.E. graddon's classic novel of sensation uncovers the truth about its heroine in a plot involving bigamy, arson and murder. It challenges assumptions about the nature of femininity and investigates the narrow divide between sanity and insanity, using as its focus one of the most fascinating of all Victorian heroines. Combining elements of the detective novel, the psychological thriller and the romance of upper class life, Lady Audley's Secret was one of the most popular and successful novels of the nineteenth century and still exerts a powerful hold on readers.
Two classic stories-one indispensable volume. Timeless tales of wolves, dogs, men, and the wild, The Call ofthe Wild and White Fang are two of the world's greatest adventurestories.
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Introduction and Notes by Keith Wren, University of Kent at Canterbury A historical romance, The Three Musketeers tells the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon gentleman, D'Artagnan and his three friends from the regiment of the King's Musketeers - Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Under the watchful eye of their patron M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards of Cardinal Richelieu, and the honour of the queen against the machinations of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of seventeenth century France are vividly played out in the background. But their most dangerous encounter is with the Cardinal's spy, Milady, one of literature's most memorable female villains, and Dumas employs all his fast-paced narrative skills to bring this enthralling novel to a breathtakingly gripping and dramatic conclusion
Tom Sawyer, a shrewd and adventurous boy, is as much at home in the respectable world of his Aunt Polly as in the self-reliant and parentless world of his friend Huck Finn. The two enjoy a series of adventures, accidentally witnessing a murder, establishing the innocence of the man wrongly accused, as well as being hunted by Injun Joe, the true murderer, eventually escaping and finding the treasure that Joe had buried. Huckleberry Finn recounts the further adventures of Huck, who runs away from a drunken and brutal father, and meets up with the escaped slave Jim. They float down the Mississippi on a raft, participating in the lives of the characters they meet, witnessing corruption, moral decay and intellectual impoverishment. Sharing so much in background and character, these two stories, the best of Twain, indisputably belong together in one volume. Though originally written as adventure stories for young people, the vivid writing provides a profound commentary on provincial American life in the mid-ninetee
Middlemarch is a complex tale of idealism, disillusion,profligacy, loyalty and frustrated love. This penetratinganalysis of the life of an English provincial town is setduring the time of social unrest prior to the first ReformBill of 1832. It is told through the lives of DorotheaBrooke and Dr Tertius Lydgate and includes a host ofother paradigm characters who illurninate the conditionof English life in the mid-nineteenth century. Henrylames described Middlemarch as a 'treasure-house ofdetail' while Virginia Woolf famously endorsed GeorgeEliot's masterpiece as 'one of the few English novelswritten for grown-up people'.
Fanny Price is a poor relation living with the Bertrams, acutely conscious of her status and yet daring to love their son Edmund— from afar. But with five marriageable young people on the premises, any peace at Mansfield cannot last...
Tom,a poor orphan,is employed by the villainous chimney-sweep,Grimes,to climb up inside flues to clear away the soot.While engaged in this dreadful task,he loses his way and emerges in the bedroom of Ellie,the young daughter of the house who mistakes him for a thief.He runs away,and,hot and bothered,he slips into a cooling stream,falls asleep,and becomes a Water Baby. In his new life,he meets all sorts of aquatic creatures,including an engaging old lobster,other water babies,and at last reaches St Branden's lsle where he encounters the fierce Mrs Bedonbyasyoudid and the motherly Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby.After a long and arduous quest to the Othe-end-of-Nowhere young Tom achieves his heart's desire.
In this novel, symptomatic of Lawrence's later work, Kate Leslie, an Irish widow visiting Mexico, finds herself equally repelled and fascinated by what she sees as the primitive cruelty of the country. As she becomes involved with Don Ramon and General Cipriano, her perceptions change. Caught up in the plans of these two men to revive the old Aztec religion and political order, she submits to the 'blood-consciousness' and phallic power that they represent.
Wuthering Heights is a wild，passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff，a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death，Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and， wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated，leaves Wuthering Heights，only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure，the evocative de*ions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature.
