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.

The sensational bestselling story of Little Nell, the beautiful child thrown into a shadowy, terrifying world, seems to belong less to the history of the Victorian novel than to folklore, fairy tale, or myth. The sorrows of Nell and her grandfather are offset by Dickens's creation of a dazzling contemporary world inhabited by some of his most brilliantly drawn characters-the eloquent ne'er-do-well Dick Swiveller; the hungry maid known as the "Marchioness";...

Though Silas Maner started life as a religious man, a heartbreaking betrayal leaves him feeling abandoned by his friends, the woman he is to marry, and his God. He leaves everything behind and exiles himself to the small village of Raveloe. The suspicious and superstitious townspeople of Raveloe don't understand the reclusive weaver and soon come to the conclusion that Marner is too strange and perhaps even a bit evil. Marner's growing stack of gold...

"When Black Beauty was born one sweet spring day, he could not have imagined the life ahead of him. Following his mother's advice to do his work with a good will, he enjoys the adventures of country and city life, makes new friends, and suffers from the cruelty and greed of his human masters. Beauty faces each challenge with bravery and kindness -- and then a chance encounter with an old friend brings him the greatest joy of all. Anna Sewell's classic...

Set in the genteel New York of James’s early childhood, it is a tale of cruelty laced with comedy. Dr. Austin Sloper is a wealthy and domineering father who is disappointed in the unremarkable daughter he has produced; he dismisses her as both plain and simpleminded. The gentle and dutiful Catherine Sloper has always been in awe of her father, but when she falls in love with Morris Townsend, a penniless charmer whom Dr. Sloper accuses of being a...

"War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. It is regarded as one of Tolstoy's finest literary achievements and remains a classic of world literature. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. War and Peace broadly focuses on Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. In early nineteenth-century Russia, the threat of Napoleon's invasion looms, and the lives of millions are about to be changed forever....

Presents the three adventures of Mowgli, a young boy raised by the animals in an Indian jungle, as well as other animal stories and songs. Includes discussion questions and explanatory notes.

The Last of the Mohicans is the second and most popular of James Fenimore Cooper's five Leatherstocking Tales. Set in 1757 during the fierce French and Indian wars, Cooper's classic novel of adventure follows an adroit scout and his companion as they weave through the lush and spectacular wilderness of upstate New York, fighting to save the beautiful daughters of a fort commander from a treacherous Huron renegade. With its death-defying chases and...

With two sons of her own and twelve orphan boys filling the informal school at Plumfield, Jo March couldn't be happier. But boys have a habit of getting into scrapes, even when they are being cared for by the warm and affectionate March family.

Anthony Trollope was well aware that the seemingly parochial power struggles that determine the action of Barchester Towers -- struggles whose comic possibilities he exploits to hilarious effect -- actually went to the heart of mid-Victorian English society, and had, in other times and other guises, led to civil war and constitutional upheaval. This awareness heightens the comedy and intensifies the drama in this magnificent novel and it transforms...