Set in 1482, Victor Hugo's powerful novel of 'imagination,caprice and fantasy' is a meditation on love, fate, architecture and politics, as well as a compelling recreation of the medieval world at the dawn of the modern age. In a brilliant reworking of the tale of Beauty and the Beast, Hugo creates a host of unforgettable characters - amongst them,Quasimodo, the hunchback of the title, hopelessly in love with the gypsy girl Esmeralda, the satanic priest Claude Frollo, Clopin Trouillefou, king of the beggars, and Louis XI, King of France.Over the entire novel, both literally and symbolically, broods the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Vivid characters and memorable set-piece action scenes combine to bring the past to life in this story of love, lust,betraval, doom and redemption.
In 1915, Lawrence's frank representation of sexuality inThe Rainbow caused a furore and the novel was seized by thepolice and banned almost as soon as it was published. Todayit is recognised as one of the classic English novels of thetwentieth century. The Rainbow is about three generations of the Brangwen familyof Nottinghamshire from the 1840s to the early years of thetwentieth century. Within this historical framework Lawrence'sessential concern is with the passional lives of his charactersand he explores the pressures that determine their lives, usinga religious symbolism in which the 'rainbow' of the title ishis unifying motif. His primary focus is on the individual'sstruggle to growth and fulfilment within marriage and changingsocial circumstances, a process shown to grow more difficultthrough the generations. Young Ursula Brangwen, whose storyis continued in Women in Love, is ,finally the central figure inLawrence's anatomy of the confining structures of Englishsocial life and the impact of indust
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
The science fiction stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stand alongside those of Jules Verne and H。G。Wells。The protagonist， the cave-man in a lounge suit， is the maddening， irascible and fascinating Professor George Edward Challenger。 The stories range from The Lost World，a sort of Jurassic Park，high above the Amazon rain-forest，to the ecologically significant When the World Screamed。Other fine examples of Doyle's imagination at its best are The Land of Mist and The Disintegration Machine。 This collection is a must for all readers who love science fiction and for those who are interested in the early development of the genre。
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.
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.
Dickens's first historical novel is set against the infamous ‘No Popery' riots that were instigated by lord George Gordon in 1780, and terrorised London for days. Prejudice, intolerance, misplaced religious and nationalistic fervour, together with the villains who would exploit these for political ends, are Dickens's targets. His vivid account of the riots at the heart of the novel is interwoven with the mysterious tale of a long unsolved murder, and a romance that combines forbidden love, passion, treachery and heroism. A typically rich cast of comic characters from the snivelling Miss Miggs and the posturing Simon Tappertit to the half-witted Barnaby Rudge of the title ensures high entertainment.
Lady Chatterley's Lover is both one of the most beautiful andmost notorious love stories in modern fiction. The sunmmtion of D.H.Lawrence's artistic achievement, it sharply illustrates hisbelief that materialism robs life of its vitaliw and purpose...thattenderness and passion are the only weapons capable of saving manfrom self-destruction.This Signet Classic edition of LadyChatterley's Lover is D. H.Lawrence's masterpiece just as he wroteit. It is the complete unexpurgated text of the original Orioliedition first published in Italy in 1928, the last approved byLawrence himself.
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
Edited, introduced and annotated by Cedric Watts, Professor of English Literature, University of Sussex Henry V is the most famous and influential of Shakespeare's history plays. Its powerful patriotic rhetoric has resounded down the ages, gaining eloquent expression in Laurence Olivier's renowned film. Henry himself, astute and charismatic, who led his 'band of brothers' to victory in the Battle of Agincourt, could indeed seem to be 'this star of England'. In recent decades the play has attracted increasing critical attention and is now highly controversial. Kenneth Branagh's film-production reflected the changing valuation. Does this play have a sceptical sub-text which subverts its patriotism? Is Henry's achievement beset by irony? Has current scepticism distorted a predominantly and proudly nationalistic drama?
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'.
A Pair of Blue Eyes is celebrated for its central scene which shocked and stimulated Victorian readers. Forever after it caused Hardy to be embroiled in arguments concerning the sexual morality of his novels in which he strove to show the stifling effects of social conventions on the human spirit. Rich with biographical echoes, this novel reveals the full emergence of the schematic ironies which characterize Hardy's later great works, and gives a suggestion of the tragic philosophy that came to dominate all he wrote. The loving nature of the heroine, Elfride Swancourt, pervades this novel, which has a singular unpolished charm.
It was long ago and far away that a French governess told her little pupils a wonderful story called Beauty and the Beast, about a beauti-ful girl's love for a gentle but physically repulsive creature. That charming 18th-century tale of the transforming power of love has enchanted generations of readers and listeners down to the present day. The story's fame has spread around the world in recent years via a classic animated film and a popular Broadway musical. Now, this new edition of Beauty and the Beast will continue to captivate young audiences with its timeless appeal. In addition to the title tale, this volume includes five stories by Charles Perrault, the noted French author and compiler of fairy tales.These include Blue Beard, the gripping legend of a curious bride and her ladykiller husband; Puss in Boots, in which a destitute miller's son trusts in his clever cat and receives a royal reward; and Little Tom Thumb, the adventures of a fellow who's small of stature but ample in wit. A pair of Perrau
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.
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.
The incomparable Miriam Margolyes applies her story-telling and histrionic gifts to this classic satire of two young English women,one bad but clever and the other good but stupid,who come to no good during the Napoleonic Wars.The abridgers have cut a bit too much at the expense of the characterizations.Although sounding somewhat forced,Margolyes,as always,gives an excellent performance.Y.R. AudioFile 2001,Portland,Maine——Copyright AudioFile,Portland,Maine ——This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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.
Jane Evre ranks as one of the greatest and most perennially popular works of English fiction. Althoughthe poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance, she possesses an indornitable spirit, a sharp wit and great courage. She is forced to battleagainst the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order. All of which circumscribe her life and position when she becomes governess to the daughter of the mysterious sardonic and attractive Mr Rochester. However there is great kindness and warmth in this epic love story, which is set against the magnificent backdrop of the Yorkshire moors. Ultimately the grand passion of lane and Rochester is called upon to survivecruel revelation, loss and reunion, only to be confrontedwith tragedy.
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。
A novel which deals with a decadent New England family and Holgrave, who rents a room in their seven-gabled house.
King Solomon's Mines tells of the search by Sir Henry Curtis, Captain John Good and the narrator,Allan Quatermain, for Sir Henry's younger brother George. He has been lost in the interior of Africa for two years in the quest for King Solomon's Mines,the legendary source of the biblical king's enormous riches. The three companions encounter fearful hardships, fierce warriors, mortal danger and the sinister and deadly witch Gagool. In one of the finest adventure stories of its age, Quatermain, with touches of humour and great excitement, tells the tale of their struggle through unmapped Africa in pursuit of unimaginable wealth.
Grade 9 Up-The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes II is narrated by British theatre, film, and television actor David Timson. His Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are near perfect. The only place where Timson's narration is less than perfect is his female and German characters. All in all, this is a fine production, with piano and string music by Paganini and others sprinkled throughout. All of the stories take place after Dr. Watson has married and moved from Baker Street. "The Scandal in Bohemia" is a good story with which to begin, because in it Watson describes both Holmes' singular lifestyle of old books, the violin and cocaine, and his extraordinary powers of deduction and disguise. This information may help to reel in students who are unfamiliar with the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. The four cases are interconnected in that, although Holmes solves each case, in each he has to admit a failure, which adds a humanizing quality to the otherwise invincible Holmes. In "The Scandal in Bohemia," Watson and Holme
Northanger Abbey tells the story of a young girl, Catherine Morland who leaves her sheltered, rural home to enter the busy, sophisticated world of Bath in the late 1790s. Austen observes with insight and humour the interaction between Catherine and the various characters whom she meets there, and tracks her growing understanding of the world about her. In this, her first full-length novel, Austen also fixes her sharp, ironic gaze on other kinds of contemporary novel, especially the Gothic school made famous by Ann Radcliffe. Catherine's reading becomes intertwined with her social and romantic adventures, adding to the uncertainties and embarrassments she must undergo before finding happiness.
In this, his final adventure, Buchan's hero Richard Hannay becomes embroiled in one of the most hazardous escapades of his life. Two men are honour bound to help the tormented Valdemar Haraldsen, and a third decides to mastermind the whole affair out o-f sheer love of adventure and a dislike of villains. In the final event, the fate of Haraldsen and his three redoubtable defenders rests on the undaunted bravery of two children. Buchan is one of the best-loved story-tellers of histime, and this thriller reflects a fundamental faith in the magnanimity of human nature that is both inspiring and refreshing.
