A novel of Regency England that centers upon a self-assured young lady who is determined to arrange her life and the lives of those around her into a pattern dictated by her romantic fancy.

A ne'er-do-well exploits his gentle daughter's beauty for social advancement in this masterpiece of tragic fiction. Hardy's 1891 novel defied convention to focus on the rural lower class for a frank treatment of sexuality and religion. Then and now, his sympathetic portrait of a victim of Victorian hypocrisy offers compelling reading.

In Edmond Rostand's beloved 1897 stage play "Cyrano De Bergerac", the titular soldier-poet is hopelessly in love with Roxane, the most beautiful woman in all of Paris. Believing he has no chance with her because of his extremely large nose, he agrees to write love letters on behalf of the slow-witted Christian, who also pines for Roxane. Rostand's work is a fictionalization of the real life novelist Cyrano De Bergerac, who in addition to being a novelist...

The Wealth of Nations is a powerhouse of knowledge that was first published in 1776. Adam Smith was an astute Scottish professor of moral philosophy, and he expounded the revolutionary doctrine of his time to economic liberalism. The importance of the book was almost immediately recognized by his peers who admired his thought and progressive ideas. The Wealth of Nations is comprised of five volumes/books in one. Perfect for class study or improving...

Thomas Hardy's first masterpiece, The Mayor of Casterbridge opens with a scene of such heartlessness and cruelty that it still shocks readers today. A poor workman named Michael Henchard, in a fit of drunken rage, sells his wife and baby daughter to a stranger at a country fair. Stricken with remorse, Henchard forswears alcohol and works hard to become a prosperous businessman and the respected mayor of Casterbridge. But he cannot erase his past....

When "Lord Jim" first appeared in 1900, many took Joseph Conrad to task for couching an entire novel in the form of an extended conversation - a ripping good yarn, if you like (one critic in The Academy complained that the narrator 'was telling that after-dinner story to his companions for eleven solid hours'). Conrad defended his method, insisting that people really do talk for that long, and listen as well. In fact his chatty masterwork requires...

Eugene Gant, born in 1900 to hard-drinking stone-cutter Oliver and entrepreneurial Eliza, grows up in small-town America. Both lonely outsider and passionate chronicler of American life, Eugene experiences upheaval and family tragedy before coming to realise that he must leave his home behind if he is to forge his own path in the world. This is the dazzlingly rich first novel from one of the most...

Immerse yourself in the world of Oscar Wilde with the collection: "The Plays of Oscar Wilde." Containing all of Wilde's plays, this collection is a must-have for every bookshelf. Oscar Wilde was born in mid-1800's Dublin to highly intellectual parents. He found a niche in the growing trend of aestheticism and was mentored by Walter Pater and John Ruskin. Although he dabbled in short stories and poems at the beginning of his career, Wilde was taken...