One of the major works of fiction written during the twentieth century, D. H. Lawrence's last novel is an erotic celebration of life. Described by the New York Times as "our time's most significant romance," the controversial book was banned, burned, and the subject of a landmark obscenity trial. Printed privately in Florence in 1928, it was not published in Great Britain until 1960, after having long scandalized society with its sexually explicit...

Oliver Goldsmith's 18th century novel "The Vicar of Wakefield" was so popular in Victorian times that it is mentioned in many classics of that era including George Eliot's "Middlemarch," Jane Austen's "Emma," Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", amongst others. It is the story of Dr. Charles Primrose, the titular Vicar, his wife Deborah and their six children who live an idyllic life in a country parish. The Vicar...

In early 1920s Canada, drastic circumstances give Valancy, a twenty-nine-year-old unmarried woman resigned to being an "old maid," the courage to defy her controlling family and escape to a life of her own choosing.

"Cussy Mary Carter is the last of her kind, her skin the color of a blue damselfly in these dusty hills. But that doesn't mean she's got nothing to offer. As a member of the Pack Horse Library Project, Cussy delivers books to the hill folk of Troublesome, hoping to spread learning in these desperate times. But not everyone is so keen on Cussy's family or the Library Project, and the hardscrabble Kentuckians are quick to blame a Blue for any trouble...

Castle Rackrent is a sharp critique of class dynamics, the moral ambiguities of loyalty, and the intricate nature of landlord-tenant relationships in Ireland. Edgeworth delves into the flaws and excesses of the Anglo-Irish gentry, depicting a society where privilege and neglect coexist, often to the detriment of the lower classes. Through the narrative of Thady Quirk, the novel exposes the economic and social consequences of mismanagement and exploitation,...

A taut and electrifying novel from celebrated bestselling author Lauren Groff, about one spirited girl alone in the wilderness, trying to survive A servant girl escapes from a colonial settlement in the wilderness. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds in this terra incognita is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief in everything that her...

Undine Spragg is a beautiful and ambitious, yet vain and socially dense young woman with dreams of marrying a rich man. Hoping for a life of prominence and luxury, Undine convinces her family to relocate to New York. The Spragg family, who have earned their modest wealth from shady practices, are happy to accommodate Undine's request. When Undine meets Ralph Marvell, an aspiring poet from a family of old New York high society, she is determined to...

The Great Gatsby is often called the great American novel. Emblematic of an entire era, F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic tale of illicit desire, grand illusions, and lost dreams is rendered in a lyrical prose that revives a vanished world of glittering parties and vibrant jazz, where money and deceit walk hand in hand. Rich in humor, sharply observant of status and class, the book tells the story of Jay Gatsby's efforts to keep his faith – in money,...

The White Company Arthur Conan Doyle - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's notoriety lies primarily in his Sherlock Holmes stories, which remain the quintessential crime and detective novels of the twentieth century. However, before his days of penning detective fiction for zealous audiences, Doyle found inspiration for his novel "The White Company" in an 1889 lecture on medieval times. He had read over a hundred volumes on the period of Edward III and the Hundred...

"After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There --after encountering a pair of pilots passing through town in a beat up Cessna-- Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fifteen, she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy rancher who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement...