Showing titles in Classics

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." So begins this classic, one of the most beloved novels of all time. Charles Dickens brings the French Revolution to life through such vivid characters as Charles Darnay, the Old Doctor, Sydney Carton and Lucy Manette. The action peaks with the storming of the Bastille, the dreaded symbol of government authority. And the blade of La Guillotine falls again...

His name was Biron Farrill and he was a student at the University of Earth. A native of one of the helpless Nebular Kingdoms, he saw his home world conquered and controlled by the planet Tyrann - a ruthless, barbaric Empire that was building a dynasty of cruelty and domination among the stars. Farrill’s own father had been executed for trying to resist the Tyrann dictatorship and now someone was trying to kill Biron. But why? His only hope for survival lay in fleeing Earth and joining the rebellion that was rumored to be forming somewhere in the Kingdoms.

Infamously known as the cursed Scottish play, Macbeth is perhaps Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy. When General Macbeth is foretold by three witches that he will one day be King of Scotland, Lady Macbeth convinces him to get rid of anyone who could stand in his way – including committing regicide. As Macbeth ascends to the throne through bloody murder, he becomes a tyrant consumed by fear and paranoia.

London is Lydia Crow’s city so when a man is found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge, she takes it personally. Even when it seems as if the Silver Family might be involved, Lydia refuses to back down. The Silver Family, who run the finest law firm in London, have a gift for persuasion. In the 'Bad Old Days' it was said they could make a man jump off a roof by convincing him he could fly. But that's all in the past...isn’t it?

Few novels have affected readers (especially young people) like J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. With this new guide, you will have an even greater understanding of the book. Included in this guide: a biography of author J.D. Salinger, a look at the book's context, its literary elements, detailed chapter summaries, analysis, and suggestions for essays. This is the definitive guide to The Catcher in the Rye, concise, easy to understand, and guaranteed to add to your enjoyment of this classic story.

In 1861, young Mark Twain found himself adrift as a tenderfoot in the Wild West. Roughing It is a hilarious record of his travels over a six-year period that comes to life with his inimitable mixture of reporting, social satire, and rollicking tall tales. Twain reflects on his scuffling years mining silver in Nevada, working at a Virginia City newspaper, being downandout in San Francisco, reporting for a newspaper from Hawaii, and more.

Winston Smith works in the Ministry of Truth—or Minitrue as it is called in Newspeak—where he alters newspapers and reports to follow the arbitrary dictates of Big Brother’s propaganda. Beneath his outward conformity, however, Winston dreams of sharing his treasonable thoughts and breaking through the loneliness in which he lives. Thus he takes his first dangerous steps, writing a diary of his doubts and then falling in love with a woman of the Party, the beautiful and brave Julia.

Published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Henri, Mack and his boys, and the other characters in this world where only the fittest survive, to create a novel that is at once one of his most humorous and most poignant works.

The Five Little Peppers are an adorable family of children growing up in a small town and cared for by their widowed mother. She is so poor that the pittance she earns as the town seamstress fails to support or even sustain the family.

It's the end of the 19th century in San Francisco's Chinatown, and ghost hunters from the Maoshan traditions of Daoism keep malevolent spiritual forces at bay. Li-lin, the daughter of a renowned Daoshi exorcist, is a young widow burdened with yin eyes - the unique ability to see the spirit world. Her spiritual visions and the death of her husband bring shame to Li-lin and her father - and shame is not something this immigrant family can afford.

When Madeleine Maxwell is recruited by the St Mary's Institute of Historical Research, she discovers the historians there don't just study the past - they revisit it. But one wrong move and History will fight back - to the death. And she soon discovers it's not just History she's fighting....

Plantaganet Palliser, Prime Minister of England - a man of power and prestige, with all the breeding and inherited wealth that goes with it - is appalled at the inexorable rise of Ferdinand Lopez. An exotic impostor, seemingly from nowhere, Lopez has society at his feet, while well-connected ladies vie with each other to exert influence on his behalf - even Palliser’s own wife, Lady Glencora.

Mr Fortune Explains is HC Bailey's sixth collection of eight golden-age mysteries for the eclectic surgeon-detective Mr Reginald Fortune. Including a child kidnapped from a picnic; a milliner's assistant vanishing from home without a word to her friends; a strange visit, followed by a violent attack on Mr Fortune himself; a raid on a jeweler's shop, and the theft of a photograph; an ill-situated rock garden, and a haunted man; a rigidly saintly clergyman suspected of a trivial theft; a dead policeman and a broken bicycle lamp; and a curiously disturbing picture in the Paris salon.

Se Buck fosse una persona avrebbe l'aspetto di Jason Momoa ai tempi del Trono di Spade. Ma Buck è un semplice cane da guardia in una pacifica tenuta nella California di fine ‘800 e, purtroppo per lui, ha tutte le caratteristiche che il mercato nero cerca nei cani da slitta da rubare e spedire in Alaska.

“Wuthering Heights” is a dark tale of passion, revenge, and love that transcends all boundaries. Set against the bleak backdrop of northern England’s expansive moors, the tragic story of Catherine and Heathcliff unfolds. Their souls are intertwined, yet their paths diverge, leading to madness. Can love destroy as fiercely as it builds? The answer lies within the Wuthering Heights.

In the dark corners of Edinburgh, two medical students lead double lives. Fettes, educated but morally conflicted, and his manipulative colleague, Macfarlane, procure bodies for the anatomy professor’s dissection. Their task is to acquire dead bodies, but when Fettes recognizes one as a woman he knew, he becomes entangled in a sinister intrigue. Secrets, betrayal, and moral dilemmas push them to the edge, where the line between science and crime blurs. Will Fettes uncover the truth before becoming the next victim of their dark profession?

"Death Comes for the Archbishop" is a masterful work of historical fiction by Willa Cather. Set in the American Southwest in the mid-19th century, the novel tells the story of a young French priest who is sent to establish a Catholic diocese in a rugged and unfamiliar land. Through his encounters with the indigenous people and his fellow settlers, the priest comes to understand the complexities and beauty of the human spirit.

A doctor who treats a person afflicted with leprosy using macabre methods is an unstable physician. Although Rimel admitted that he wrote the story himself and Lovecraft only made stylistic corrections, the work is characterized by the very distinct style of the latter. Even though the writer from Providence congratulated his junior colleague on the text and claimed to have made only minor corrections, it could have been a typical courtesy on his part. A supporter of the hypothesis of Lovecraft's authorship is that Rimel did not create anything else in a similar style.

“The Scarlet Citadel” is a dark tale of a king in chains, sorcerers, and betrayal. Set in the Hyborian Age, a world teeming with magic and danger, Conan the Cimmerian ascends to the throne. His army marches to aid an ally, but it’s a trap. Conan is captured and imprisoned in the dungeons by the powerful sorcerer Tsotha.

When your ears are itching to hear a great detective story, this boxed set, by some of the cleverest authors in history, can satisfy that itch. This boxed set includes all the stories from Volumes 1,2 and 3 of Classic Detective Stories.