A concise introduction that gives readers important background information A chronology of the author's life and work A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations Detailed explanatory notes Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

Past midnight, Chyna Shepherd, twenty- six, gazed out a moonlitwindow, unable to sleep on her first night in the Napa Valley homeof her best friend's family. Instinct proves reliable. A murderoussociopath, Edgler Forman Vess, has entered the house, intent onkilling everyone inside. A self-proclaimed "homicidal adventure,"Vess lives only to satisfy all appetites as they arise, to immensehimself in sensation, to live without fear, remorse or limits, tolive with intensity. Chyna is trapped in his deadly orbit. Chyna is a survivor, toughened by a lifelong struggle for safetyand self-respect. Now she will be tested as never before. At firsther sole aim is to get out alive-until, by chance, she learns theidentity of Vess's next intended victim, a faraway innocent onlyshe can save. Driven by a newly discovered thirst for meaningbeyond mere self-preservation, Chyna musters every inner resourceshe has to save an endangered girl—as moment by moment, theterrifying threat Edgler Foreman Vess intensifies.

Four spellbinding tales of evil. These arecan't-tear-your-eyes-away stories that burn your imagination. -- Playboy King is a master storyteller, and you will never forget thesestories. -- The Seattle Times

Let number-one New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts fly you into Lunacy, Alaska, and into a colorful, compelling new novel about two lonely souls who find love - and redemtion... Lunacy was Nate Burke's last chance. As a Baltimore cop, he'd watched his partner die on the street - and the guilt still haunts him. With nowhere else to go, he accepts the job as chief of police in this tiny, remote Alaskan town, where the peace provides a balm for his shattered soul - and an unexpected affair with pilot Meg Galloway warms his nights... But other things in Lunacy are heating up. Nate suspects the killer in an unsolved murder still walks the snowy streets. His investigation will unearth the secrets and suspicions that lurk beneath the placid surface, as well as bring out the big-city survival instincts that made him a cop in the first place. And his discovery will threaten the new life - and the new love - that he has finally found for herself.

"The Lonesome Gods" is Louis L'Amour's biggest and mostimportant historical novel to date, a sweeping adventure of theCalifornia frontier. Here is the fascinating story of JohannesVerne, a young man left to die by his vengeful grandfather, rescuedby outlaws and raised in part by the Indians of the desert.Strengthened by the love of two women--Miss Nesselrode, whosemysterious past fires her ambitions for the future and Meghan, awillful young beauty--Verne grows to become a rugged adventurer, aman strong enough to embrace the awesome power of the Palm Springsdesert, and bold enough to stake a claim in the bustling world ofopportunity that was early-day Los Angeles.

Des employés de ministère étriqués, une jeunesse bruyante quedistrait le canotage sur la Seine, des petits boutiquiers qui nerêvent que pêche à la ligne, des paysans ?pres au gain de laHaute-Normandie : c'est l'univers familier de Maupassant que nousretrouvons ici dans sa diversité. Et cependant, un thème unit cescontes : la destruction de l'individu. C'est en effet la mort quir?de dans ces quatre récits de la cruauté ordinaire que Maupassantfait para?tre de 1881 à 1883. Mais cette dureté n'empêche pas lagaieté, ni que la farce se mêle au tragique. Séduisante etgrin?ante tour à tour, la réalité que mettent en scène ceshistoires de la vie quotidienne n'est donc banale qu'en apparence.L'inquiétante étrangeté n'est jamais très loin et, dans ces contessi réalistes, Maupassant nous conduit aux frontières où s'effacentles explications les plus naturelles

Far from the Madding Crowd is perhaps the most pastoral of Hardy's Wessex novels. It tells the story of the young farmer Gabriel Oak and his love for and pursuit of the elusive Bathsheba Everdene, whose wayward nature leads her to both tragedy and true love. It tells of the dashing Sergeant Troy whose rakish philosophy of life was '...the past was yesterday; never, the day after'. And lastly, of the introverted and reclusive gentleman farmer, Mr Boldwood, whose love fills him with '...a fearful sense of exposure', when he first sets eyes on Bathsheba. The background of this tale is the Wessex countryside story is the majesty of the Wessex countryside in all its moods. contriving to make it one of the most English of great English novels.

这本畅销经典受到无数人的喜爱，它揭示出古老的“巴比伦寓言”的成功秘诀，被誉为关于节俭、理财和个人财富成功的励志书。 THE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLING CLASSIC Read by millions, this timeless book holds the key to success-in the secrets of the ancients. Based on the famous "Babylonian principles," it's been hailed as the greatest of all inspirational works on the subject of thrift and financial planning. ACHIEVE PERSONAL WEALTH... This celebrated bestseller offers an understanding of-and a solution to-personal money problems.This is the original classic that reveals the secrets to acquiring money, keeping money, and making money earn even more money. Simply put: the original money-management favorite is back!

In bestseller Robb's slick 26th not-so-near-future crimethriller to feature Lt. Eve Dallas (after 2007's Creation inDeath ), the New York City homicide cop investigates the murderof business tycoon Thomas Anders, whose strangled body isdiscovered tied to his bed, apparently the victim of a kinky sexencounter gone bad. Aided by her mysterious husband, Roarke, andlong-time sidekick Det. Delia Peabody, Eve doggedly questionsAnders's widow, Ava, and his nephew, Benedict Forrest, number twoat the victim's corporation, Anders Worldwide. Both Ava andBenedict have alibis that put them far from the crime scene at thetime of Anders's death. While the guilty party soon becomes obviousand the gimmick used by the culprit clear to anyone familiar with Strangers on a Train , Robb's strong, hard-nosed heroine onceagain generates the kind of heat that keeps fans turning the pages. (Feb.) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of ReedElsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A writer is held hostage by his number-one fan in the novel that"demand[s] that we take King seriously as a writer with a deeplyfelt understanding of human psychology" ( Publishers Weekly ).His deeply felt understanding of what terrifies us doesn't hurteither.

It's that time again time to indulge in a spot of jealousy, betrayal and late-night bar-hopping. Also, the moment of truth has finally arrived. Everyone's back from a week of apres-ski hot tub fun in Sun Valley, and cream-coloured envelopes from the Ivy League are beginning to drop all over Fifth Avenue doorsteps. The question is: are the envelopes thick or thin? Has Nate's devotion to his misbehaving heiress dimmed his chances of getting into Brown? Is Blair too busy daydreaming in Eric's old pinstriped Oxfords to remember her real mission in life - Yale? Hopefully Serena can snap her newest-and-oldest best friend out of it. That is, if Serena hasn't already become too much of a vapid, celery-eating supermodel to even care. But we know that Serena is made of sterner stuff don't we?

Set against the turbulent years of the Napoleonic era, Alexandre Dumas' thrilling adventure story is one of the most widely read novels of all time. In it the dashing young hero, Edmond Dantes, is betrayed by his enemies and thrown in a secret dungeon in the Chateau d'Lf -- doomed to spend his life in a dark prison cell. The story of his long, intolerable years in captivity, his miraculous escape, and his carefully wrought revenge creates a dramatic tale of mystery and intrigue, and paints a vision of France -- a dazzling, dueling, exuberant France -- that has become immortal. 作者简介 Alexandre Dumas was born in a small town in France in 1802.His father was a general and a companion of Napoleon.Later Dumas used Napoleon and his friends as characters in his novels.Dumas grew up to be a huge man like his father.He loved to eat,spend money,be with friend——and write. The most famous of all Dumas' books are The Three Musketeers,The Man in the Iron Mask,and The Count of Monte Cristo.The

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- 19

Oscar Wilde took London by storm with his first comedy，Lady Windermere's Fan。 The combination of dazzling wit，subtle social criticism，sumptuous settings and the theme of a guilty secret proved a winner，both here and in his next three plays，A Woman of No Importance，An Ideal Husband，and his undisputed masterpiece，The Importance of Being Earnest。 This volume includes all Wilde’s plays from his early tragedy Vera to the controversial Salome and the little known fragments，La Sainte Courtisane and A Florentine Tragedy。 The edition affords a rare chance to see Wilde's best known work in the context of his entire dramatic output，and to appreciate plays which have hitherto received scant critical attention。 Wilde's palys have never failde to delight andindces adn are a lasting testimony to their author's supreme wit and therrical genius。

Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a 'T'. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather-forecasts and tins of pineapple chunks - not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.'s small fox-terrier Montmorency. "Three Men in a Boat" was an instant success when it appeared in 1889, and, with its benign escapism, authorial discursions and wonderful evocation of the late-Victorian 'clerking classes', it hilariously captured the spirit of its age.

After one troubled college-age student disappears and two are found slashed to death, Lucas Davenport finds himself hunting what appears to be a modern-day Jack the Ripper. But Lucas keeps getting the sneaking suspicion that there is something else involved. Something very bad, very dark, and as elusive as a phantom.

Book De*ion "Moves like a roller coaster without brakes...Koontz is America'sNo.1 author of thrillers. One of his finest novels." -------Denver Pos We have your wife. You can get her back for two millioncash. On an ordinary afternoon, an ordinary man, a gardener of modestmeans, gets a phone call out of his worst nightmare. the caller isdead serious. He doesn't care that Mitch can't raise that kind ofmoney. He's confident that Mitch will find a way, If he loves hiswife enough... Mitch does love her enough. He loves her more than life itself.He's got sixty hours to prove it. He has to find the two million bythen. But he'll pay a lot more. He'll pay anything. From its tense opening to its shattering climax, The Husband is athriller that will hold you in its relentless grip for every twist,every shock, every revelation. This is a Dean Koontz novel, afterall. And there's no other experience quite like it. Book Dimension length: (cm)17.4 width:(cm)10.6

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Nora Roberts writing asJ.D. Robb headlines a hot new anthology of paranormalromance. FEATURING A NEW EVE DALLAS NOVELLA. J.D. Robb plunges Lieutenant Eve Dallas into the violentaftermath of a ritualistic murder. Mary Blayney, investigates a deception that has kept two loversapart for years. Ruth Ryan Langan brings a lost man out of a storm to face abreathtaking twist of fate. And Mary Kay McComas follows a mother, her son, and a wizard lostthrough the threads of time.

Book De*ion Dean Koontz’s uniquetalent for writing terrifying thrillers with a heart and soul isnowhere more evident than in this latest suspense masterpiece thatpits one man against the ultimate deadline. If there were speedlimits for the sheer pulse-racing excitement allowed in one novel,Velocity would break them all. Get ready for the ride of yourlife. From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. A diabolic killer plays a harrowing game of catand mouse with a reclusive bartender in Koontz's latest grippingsuspense thriller. Billy Wiles, a 30-something bartender and formerwriter, is content with his solitary Napa County existencelistening to "beer-based psychoanalysis" from tavern regulars;visiting his hospitalized, comatose fiancée, Barbara; and carvingwood sculptures. But the simple life gets mighty complicated whenhe finds a note with a deadly, time-sensitive ultimatum: he mustchoose between the death of a young schoolteacher or an elderlyhumanitarian in six hours. Reluctant local s

When Rosalind is banished by her uncle, who has usurped her father's throne, she flees to the forest of Arden where her exiled father holds court. There, dressed as a boy to avoid discovery, she encounters the man she loves - now a fellow exile - and resolves to remain in disguise to test his feelings for her. A gloriously sunny comedy, "As You Like It" is an exuberant combination of concealed identities and verbal jousting, reconciliations and multiple weddings.

Mining crimes of the past and politics, Truman ( Murder at thePentagon ) scants the basic plotting requirements of her 11thCapital Crimes case, which is marred by superfluous unsolvedmurders and an unconvincing conclusion. When the body of PaulineJuris, personal secretary of wealthy developer Wendell Tierney, isfound in the Potomac River, Tierney calls former attorney, now lawprofessor, Mackenzie Smith for advice. Mac, whose beloved wifeAnnabel wants him to stop dabbling in detection, agrees to seeWendell, but he refuses to ferret out the police line on the case,even though a former student of his heads the investigation team.Tierney, becoming chief suspect when love letters, purportedly fromhim, are found in the dead woman's apartment, again begs for Mac'shelp. Both Mac and Annabel are drawn into the case, which takes onanother twist when the suspect's adopted son, Sun Ben Cheong, isarrested for money laundering. Truman plumps up Mac's low-keysleuthing with the goings on of the fictitious Scarlet Sin

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson return to the vivid universeof Frank Herbert's Dune, bringing a vast array of rich and complexcharacters into conflict to shape the destiny of worlds....DUNEHOUSE HARKONNENAs Shaddam sits at last on the Golden Lion Throne,Baron Vladimir Harkonnen plots against the new Emperor and HouseAtreides -- and against the mysterious Sisterhood of the BeneGesserit. For Leto Atreides, grown complacent and comfortable asruler of his House, it is a time of momentous choice: betweenfriendship and duty, safety and destiny. But for the survival ofHouse Atreides, there is just one choice -- strive for greatness orbe crushed.

Robust tales of perilous adventure and animal cunning Includes"Diable: A Dog, An Odyssey of the North, To the Man on the Trail,To Build a Fire, " and "Love of Life" Out of the white wilderness,out of the Far North, Jack London, one of America's most popularauthors, drew the inspiration for the novel and five short storiesincluded here. Swiftly paced and vividly written, they capture themain theme of London's work: man's instinctive reversion toprimitive behavior when pitted against the brute force ofnature.

Book De*ion The Wordsworth Classics covers a huge list of beloved works ofliterature in English and translations. This growing series isrigorously updated, with scholarly introductions and notes added tonew titles. This novel is a summary of the "roaring twenties", and adevastating expose of the "Jazz Age". Through the narration of NickCarraway, it explores the superficially glittering world ofmansions on the Long Island shore, and his encounter with JayGatsby and the mystery that surrounds him. Synopsis: "He talked a lot about the past and I gathered that he wanted torecover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone intoloving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then,but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go overit all slowly, he could find out what that thing was . . ." The Great Gatsby (1925), F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece,stands among the greatest of all American fiction. Jay Gatsby'slavish lifestyle in a mansion on Long Island's gold coastencap