Innocence and beauty ignite with evil and terror as a younggirl exhibits signs of a wild and horrifying force.
Featuring a stunning Introduction by popular author of The Ice Storm and Demonology Rick Moody, this special edition of The Mayor of Casterbridge is a tie-in to the AandE Television Network adaptation of Thomas Hardy's critically acclaimed novel. In a surprisingly personal essay, Moody names the saga "the first great novel about alcoholism," and delivers penetrating insight into the character of Michael Henchard and the crippling deficiencies that foretell his ruin. The Mayor of Casterbridge opens with an act of such heartlessness and cruelty that it still shocks readers today. Michael Henchard, an out-of-work hay-trusser, gets drunk at a fair and for five guineas sells his wife and child to a sailor. When the horror of his act sets in the following morning, the wretched Henchard swears he will not touch alcohol for twenty-one years. Through hard work and acumen, he becomes rich, respected, and eventually the mayor of Casterbridge. Eighteen years pass before Henchard's fateful oath comes back to claim its due
...that was the way Jack London saw life, and the more he lived it the more enamored of it he became. "All I saw," he once wrote, "was glamor of conquest, of scarlet adventure and yellow gold. ...The life was brave and wild, and I was living the adventure I had read so much about." Brilliant, poetic, swift with violence and action, his stories clearly illustrate the unique spirit of his unbridled genius. Critics admitted that the young firebrand -- "while frightfully primitive" -- was challenging Poe, Kipling and Melville as a one-in-a-million storyteller. The tales in this volume have been thrilling readers for nearly half a century.
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.
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
A Pulitzer Prize-winning classic follows Newland Archer, a young man who, despite his engagement to a beautiful socialite, is passionately drawn to the Countess Ellen Olenska, and includes biographical and historical data. Reprint. NYT.
The vampire novel that started it all, Bram Stoker's Dracula probes deeply into human identity, sanity, and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire. When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries about his client. Soon afterward, disturbing incidents unfold in England-an unmanned ship is wrecked at Whitby, strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck, and a lunatic asylum inmate raves about the imminent arrival of his "Master"-culminating in a battle of wits between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
The Mill on the Floss, based on George Eliot's own experiences of provincial life, is a masterpiece of ambiguity in which moral choice is subjected to the hypocrisy of the Victorian age. As the headstrong Maggie Tulliver grows intowomanhood, the deep love which she has for her brother Tom turns into conflict, because she cannot reconcile his bourgeois standards withher own lively intelligence. Maggie is unable to adapt to her community or break free from it, and the result, on more than one level is tragedy.
Mary Gaskell’s North and South examines the nature of social authority and obedience and provides an insightful de*ion of the role of middle class women in nineteenth century society。 Through the story of Margaret Hale， a southerner who moves to the northern industrial town of Milton， Gaskell skillfully explores issues of class and gender， as Margaret’s sympathy for the town mill workers conflicts with her growing attraction to the mill owner， John Thornton。 This new and revised expanded edition sets the novel in the context of Victorian social and medical debate。
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 true story of one of America's greatestphilanthropists This is Jane Addams's graphic account of her famed settlementhouse in Chicago's West Side slums. Covering the years 1889 to1909, a time when America was fired with fear of subversives andsuspicion of foreigners, this book stands as the immortal testamentof a woman who lived and worked among the immigrant settlers, thesweatshop toilers, the unwed mothers, the hungry, the aged, thesick, to show them the true concept of American Democracy. * Jane Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition ofher philanthropic work * This new edition features an afterword by Manhattan BoroughPresident Ruth Messinger which examines the current state ofsettlement houses in America
The House of Mirth tells the story of Lily Bart, aged 29, beautiful, impoverished and in need of a rich husband to safeguard her place in the social elite, and to support her expensive habits - her clothes, her charities and her gambling. Unwilling to marry without both love and money, Lily becomes vulnerable to the kind of gossip and slander which attach to a girl who has been on the marriage market for too long. Wharton charts the course of Lily’s life, providing, along the way, a wider picture of a society in transition, a rapidly changing New York where the old certainties of manners, morals and family have disappeared and the individual has become an expendable commodity. The House of Mirth was Published in October 1950 to widespread critical aclaim.it became an instant best-seller and is regarded today as one of Edith Wharton's most accomplished and compelling social satires.
Tom Jones is widely regarded as one of the first and most influential English novels.It is certainly the funniest. Tom Jones,the hero of the book,is introduced to the reader as the ward of a liberal Somerset squire.Tom is a generous but slightly wild and feckless country boy with a weakness for young women.Misfortune,followed by many spirited adventures as he travels to London to seek his fortune,teach him a sort of wisdom to go with his essential good-hearted-ness. This‘comic,epic poem in prose’will make the modern reader laugh as much as it did his forbears.Its biting satire finds an echo in today's society,for as Doris Lessing recently remarked 'This country becomes every day more like the eighteenth century,full of thieves and adventurers,rogues and a robust,unhypocritical savagery side-by-side with people lecturing others on morality.'
The classic nightmare tale in a thrilling new edition Spawned by a nightmare that Stevenson had, this classic tale ofthe dark, primordial night of the soul remains a masterpiece of theduality of good and evil within us all.
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
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.
Written two years before lane Eyre, The Professor was Charlotte Bronte's first novel and was based on her own experiences in Brussels, although it was not published until after her own death. The story is one of love and doubt, as the hero,William Crimsworth, seeks his fortune as a teacher in Brussels and finds his love for the good Anglo-Swiss girl, Frances Henri, severely tested by the sensuously beguiling and manipulative headmistress, Zoraide Reuter. The novel challenged many of the deeply held expectations of the time and is essential reading for all those seeking an understanding of the author and her work.
Living overseas but writing，always，about his native city， Joyce made Dublin unforgettable。The stories in Dubliners show us truants， seducers， gossips， rally-drivers， generous hostesses，corrupt politicians，failing priests， amateur theologians，struggling musicians，moony adolescents， victims of domestic brutishness，sentimental aunts and poets， patriots earnest or cynical， and people striving to get by。In every sense an international figure，Joyce was faithful to his own country by seeing it unflinchingly and challenging every precedent and piety in Irish literature。
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.
