In Washington Square (1880), Henry James reminisces about the New York he had known thirty years before as he tells the story of Catherine Sloper and her fortune-seeking suitor Morris Townsend. This perceptively drawn human drama is James' most accessible work and an enduring literary triumph. The plot of Washington Square has the simplicity of old-fashioned melodrama: a plain-looking, good-hearted young woman, the only child of a rich widower, is...

"Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame was written in 1831, at a time when the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was falling into disrepair. This epic novel helped spark a preservationist movement that led to the cathedral being restored to its full glory. Set in 1482, the story tells of how four men-the hunchbacked bell-ringer, Quasimodo; the archdeacon of Notre Dame, Claude Frollo; the dashing soldier Phoebus de Chateaupers; and the poet Pierre...

To relieve the pressure on her impoverished, overburdened family, shy young Fanny Price is sent to live with Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, wealthy relatives who reside at Mansfield Park. Of the Bertrams' own four children, only the younger son, Edmund, shows her any real kindness, and over time Fanny falls in love with her cousin. With Sir Thomas away on overseas business, Mansfield's social circle gains two superficially attractive new members: handsome,...

As fledgling English lawyer Jonathan Harker treks into the Carpathian Mountains to complete a real estate transaction, frightened peasants warn him of horrible dangers that await him. Harker, terrified by eerie events along the way, finally meets his client, Count Dracula, a tall, gaunt old man with a surprisingly powerful handshake. Harker soon realises that he is a prisoner in Draculas sumptuously furnished castle a castle strangely devoid of mirrors....

"A new translation of Dostoevsky's epic masterpiece, Crime and Punishment (1866). The impoverished student Raskolnikov decides to free himself from debt by killing an old moneylender, an act he sees as elevating himself above conventional morality. Like Napoleon he will assert his will and his crime will be justified by its elimination of "vermin" for the sake of the greater good. But Raskolnikov is torn apart by fear, guilt, and a growing conscience...

John Harmon returns to England as his father's heir. Believed drowned under suspicious circumstances--a situation convenient to his wish for anonymity--John evaluates Bella Wilfer whom he must marry to secure his inheritance. The story is filled with colorful Victorian characters and incidents -- the faded aristocrats and parvenus gathered at the Veneering's dinner table, Betty Higden and her terror of the workhouse and the greedy plottings of Silas...

"A swashbuckling epic of chivalry, honor, and derring-do, it is set in France during the 1620s and richly populated with romantic heroes, unattainable heroines, kings, queens, cavaliers, and criminals in a whirl of adventure, espionage, conspiracy, murder, vengeance, love, scandal, and suspense. Dumas transforms major and minor historical figures into larger-than-life characters: the brave d'Artagnan, an impetuous young man in pursuit of glory; the...

Kimball O?Hara grows up an orphan in the walled city of Lahore, India. Deeply devoted to an old Tibetan lama but involved in a secret mission for the British, Kim struggles to weave the strands of his life into a single pattern. Kim and the holy man roam about India. Kim?s intimate knowledge of India makes him a valuable asset to the English Secret Service, in which he wins renown while still a boy. Charged with action and suspense, yet profoundly...

"Assembling at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, a group of pilgrims begin their journey to Canterbury Cathedral. To entertain themselves on the long road, their host suggests that they regale each other with stories, with the teller of the best tale set to earn a free supper. The pilgrims correspond to all sections of medieval society, from the crusading knight to the drunken cook, and their tales span a range of genres, including the comic ribaldry and...

Intelligent, beautiful and vivacious, Isabel Archer fascinates and intimidates the elite society of Albany, New York. Fiercely protective of her independence, she travels to England with her aunt to escape a persistent suitor but, upon inheriting a considerable fortune, falls into the sway of the devious Mrs Merle who whisks her off to Italy. There she is seduced by the narcissistic Gilbert Osmond, an art collector who will stop at nothing to possess...