In Dorian Gray, Wilde's full-length novel, a fashionable youngman sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Also included inthe volume are three of the Irish master storyteller's shortworks.
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'.
The Shadows of Sherlock Holmes is a fascinating collection of stories featuring detectives, criminal agents and debonair crooks from the golden age of crime fiction: a time when Sherlock Holmes was esconsced in his rooms at 221B Baker Street and London was permanently wreathed in a sinister fog. These gripping tales of mystery, suspense and clever puzzles are wonderfully entertaining and in them you will meet The Crime Doctor, Professor Augustus S.F.X.Van Dusen - The Thinking Machine, Max Carrados - the incredible blind detective, the repulsive but brilliant Skin o' My Teeth, and the natty, ingenious French sleuth Eugene Valmont. On the other side of the law, there are gentleman crooks Raffles and Simon Carn - the Prince of Swindlers. The stories include: The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe, The Stolen Cigar Case by Bret Harte, The Swedish Match by Anton Chekhov, Nine Points of the Law by E.W. Hornung, The Ghost at Massingham Mansions by Ernest Bramah and The Great Pearl Mystery by Baroness Orczy.
Generally regarded as the pre-eminent work of Conrads shorter fiction. Heart of Darkness is a chilling tale of horror which, as the author intended. is capable of many interpretations. Set in the Congo during the period of rapid colonial expansion in the nineteenth century, the story deals with the highly disturbing effects of economic.social and political exploitation on European and African societies and the cataclysrnic behaviour this induced in some individuals. The other two stories in this book-Youth and The End of the Tether - concern the sea and those who sail upon it, a genre in which Conrad reigns supreme.
When Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert send to anorphanage for a boy to help them at GreenGables，their farm in Canada，they are astonishedwhen a talkative little girl steps off the train。 Anne，red-headed，pugnacious andincurably romantic，causes chaos at GreenGables and in the village。 But her wit and goodnature make her a firm favourite not only in thefictional community on Prince Edward Island,but also with generations of readers on eitherside of the Atlantic。
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
This specially commissioned selection of Conrads matchless short stories includes such favourites as Youth. a modern epic of the sea; The Secret Sharer. a thrilling psychological drama: An Outpost of Progress.a blackly comic prelude to Heart of Darkness; Amy Foster. a moving story of a shipwrecked, alienated Pole: and The Lagoon and Karain. two exotic, exciting Malay tales. II Conde and The Tale are subtle portrayals of bewildered outrage: An Anarchist and The Infomer are sardonic depictions of revolutionaries:and Prince Roman is a tale of magnificent, doomed heroisrn set in Conrads native Poland during the Uprising of 1831. Both those new to Conrads work and those familiar with his novels will delight in this wide-ranging collection.
Our Mutual Friend, Dickens' last complete novel, gives one of his most comprehensive and penetrating accounts of Victorian society. Its vision of a culture stifled by materialistic values emerges not just through its central narratives, but through its apparently incidental characters and scenes. The chief of its several plots centres on John Harmon who returns to England as his father's heir. He is believed drowned under suspicious circumstances - a situation convenient to his wish for anonymity until he can evaluate Bella Wilfer whom he must marry to secure his inheritance. The story is filled with colourful characters and incidents - the faded aristocrats and parvenus gathered at the Veneering's dinner table, Betty Higden and her terror of the workhouse and the greedy plottings of Silas Wegg.
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?"' So begins the tale of Alice, following a curious White Rabbit down a rabbit-hole and falling into Wonderland. A fantastical place, where nothing is quite as it seems: animals talk, nonsensical characters confuse, Mad Hatter's throw tea parties and the Queen plays croquet. Alice's attempts to find her way home become increasingly bizarre, infuriating and amazing in turn. A beloved classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has continued to delight readers, young and old for over a century.
Of mixed race and cultures, Barack Obama struggled for years with his identity and place in society. Having found his niche in public service, he has made history as the fifth African American U.S. senator ever to be elected. Now “the skinny kid” continues his political journey and strives to become the nation’s first black president. From Hawaii to Chicago to Washington, D.C., Senator Obama’s life has been interesting and inspiring.
Father Brown, one of the most quirkily genial and lovable characters to emerge from English detective fiction, first made his appearance in The Innocence of Father Brown in 1911. That first collection of stories established G.K. Chesterton's kindly cleric in the front rank of eccentric sleuths. This complete collection contains all the favourite Father Brown stories, showing a quiet wit and compassion that has endeared him to many, whilst solving his mysteries by a mixture of imagination and a sympathetic worldliness in a totally believable manner.
The classic story of kindness, love, honor and poverty is not as depressing as some of Hugo's other works. Its historical sweep, during the brewing of the French Revolution, is large, and its emotional sweep even larger. British actor Michael York throws his considerable histrionic skills into the task--each character is carefully articulated, both by tone and pacing. Having played classic French characters before--notably D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers and its sequel--York knows how to manipulate scene and feeling in this type of ambiance, and he performs effortlessly and superbly. D.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The original vampire Since its publication in 1897, Dracula continues to terrify readerswith its depiction of a vampire with an insatiable thirst for bloodand the group of hunters determined to end his existence before hedestroys a young woman's soul.
Virginia Woolf's Orlando 'The longest and most charming love letter in literature', playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf's close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. Spanning three centuries, the novel opens as Orlando, a young nobleman in Elizabeth's England, awaits a visit from the Queen and traces his experience with first love as England under James I lies locked in the embrace of the Great Frost. At the midpoint of the novel, Orlando, now an ambassador in Costantinople, awakes to find that he is a woman, and the novel indulges in farce and irony to consider the roles of women in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the novel ends in 1928, a year consonant with full suffrage for women. Orlando, now a wife and mother, stands poised at the brink of a future that holds new hope and promise for women.
The novel follows the life of its eponymous heroine ,Moll Flanders,through its many vicissitudes which include her early seduction, careers in crime and prostitution, conviction for theft and transportation to the plantations of Virginia, and her ultimate redemption and prosperity in the New World. Moll Flanders was one of the first social novels to be published in English and draws heavily on Defoe's experience of the topography and social conditions prevailing in the London of the late 17th centurv.
In the wake of World War I, a community of expatriate American writers established itself in the salons and cafes of 1920s Paris. They congregated at Gertrude Stein's select soirees, drank too much, married none too wisely, and wrote volumes--about the war, about the Jazz Age, and often about each other. F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, were part of this gang of literary Young Turks, and it was while living in France that Fitzgerald began writing Tender Is the Night. Begun in 1925, the novel was not actually published until 1934. By then, Fitzgerald was back in the States and his marriage was on the rocks, destroyed by Zelda's mental illness and alcoholism. Despite the modernist mandate to keep authors and their creations strictly segregated, it's difficult not to look for parallels between Fitzgerald's private life and the lives of his characters, psychiatrist Dick Diver and his former patient turned wife, Nicole. Certainly the hospital in Switzerland where Zelda was committed in 1929 provided the in
When a huge cyclone transports the orphan Dorothy and her little dog Toto from Kansas to the Land of Oz,she fears that she will never see Aunt Em and Uncle Henry ever again. But she meets the Munchkins, and they tell her to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City where the Wonderful Wizard of Oz will grant any wish.On the way, she meets the brainless Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion. The four friends set off to seek their hearts' desires, and in a series of action-packed adventures they encounter a deadly poppy field, fierce animals, flying monkeys, a wicked witch, a good witch, and the Mighty Oz himself.
When Richard Hannay returns from a long stay in Africa, he becomes caught up in a sensational plot to precipitate a pan-European war. After a corpse is found in his flat, Hannay flees the attentions of both the conspirators and the forces of law,and the pursuit turns into a thrilling manhunt. Set against the hot summer which precedes the outbreak of the First World War,The Thirty-nine Steps is one of the finest and most highly admired thrillers ever written.
The little known, brilliant original text by Gaston Lerouxhas been immortalized by screen and stage adaptations.One of the greatest horror stories of all time, The Phantomof the Opera makes compulsive reading. It abounds with wonderful de*ions, extraordinary events, tragedy,horror, pathos, tremendous humour and a gallery of charming minor characters. Leroux’ s portrait of the hideous musician, crazed by his own extreme ugliness,shows compassionate insight into a criminally insanemind. Music infuses the story, enriching the many dimensions of the novel which is steeped in the glamourof life at the Paris Opera. The author’ s knowledge of the building itself and the extra ordinary history of itsconstruction create a basis of realism in the story.Incredible, seemingly supernatural elements are art fully fused with real facts, with references to real peop]e,places and events, so that the novel becomes a dazzling blend of illusion and reality. It is hard to distinguish between them, and the result is that
In the "Graphic Classics " version of this pioneering,nineteenth-century science fiction novel, the brilliant but strangeCaptain Nemo has designed a gigantic submarine, which he nowcaptains. With his crew, he uses his submarine, the "Nautilus, " asa weapon of vengeance against the civilization that has rejectedand exiled him. " Graphic Classics " are graphic novel versions ofimmortal novels and plays, presented in a way to help make greatliterary works accessible to students, and encourage boys and girlsto discover the joy of reading the masterworks in their originalform. Titles in this series tell absorbing, fast-paced storiesdramatized with high-quality color illustrations. Each "GraphicClassics " title includes a thumbnail biography of the author, alist of his or her important works, a timeline of historic eventsthat helped inspire the story, general notes, and an index. "Graphic Classics " titles are available in both paperback andhardcover editions.
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.
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.
