Life in the English village of Mellstock is about to change when a mechanical organ is brought to the local church. Of course, there is also a need for an organist and that is where beautiful, highly-educated Fancy Day comes in. Replacing the church’s choir however is more difficult than it seems, especially when a member of the choir, Dick falls for Fancy at first sight.
Zarathustra is not the Persian founder of Zoroastrianism; he is just a means to Friedrich Nietzsche’s end. Through Zarathustra, Nietzsche tries to define his own philosophy attacking the Christian values of good and evil and predicting the rise of a new man, the superman, a self-mastered, self-cultivating, self-directed and self-overcoming individual.
Alleyne is all-grown up now and ready to leave the comfort of the abbey where he was raised. He wants to join the White Company - a group of mercenaries ready to fight for England in the Hundred Years’ War - but first he must visit his older brother. The meeting doesn’t go as planned, and Alleyne ends up saving Maude who turns out to be the daughter of Sir Nigel Luring, the commander of the White Company.
In Three Lives, Gertrude Stein tells the story of three common American women. The first one is Anna Federner, a German immigrant with green parrot that colors her apparently dull serving life. Melanctha, a black woman searching for a meaning in her mixed life, is the protagonist of the second part of the book while Lena, a passive and misunderstood of German descent, is the unsung hero of the third part.
After spending several years away from home to study, Grace Melbury returns to Little Hintock only to find Giles, her betrothed, still in love with her. Her father thinks Giles - a humble peasant - isn’t worthy of marrying his highly-educated daughter and persuades her to marry a young doctor by the name of Edgar Fitzpiers. Edgar is not quite the loyal type though.
The War Romance of the Salvation Army by Grace Livingston Hill is a romance novel, but one unlike her other books. Instead of focusing on the developing love between a man and a woman, this book features the "romance" between the U.S. Army and the Salvation Army. This book features a collection of stories about the women who traveled to the front lines during World War I.
Spy for the British Empire, W. Somerset Maugham traveled many times to the South Pacific and the Far East. There, he began creating a series of short stories about the life of the colonialists and how the remoteness and strangeness of such far-away lands can ultimately destroy the very soul of the civilized man.
Edgon Heath is a mystical place where life is not at all ordinary and simple. It is also the stage where the tragedy in The Return of the Native unfolds. And like any classical tragedy, the action revolves around a woman, goddess-like Eustacia Vye who searches for a way to escape the mundane. Will passion bring her relief?
Having fought in World War I, 35-year-old Chris Baldry finally returns home. Believing he’s 20 years old, he is shocked when he finds out the he actually has a wife and that his childhood sweetheart is already married with another man. He slowly realizes the passing of time but he can’t remember anything from his last 15 years. Is there a solution?
This classic Icelandic saga hails from the 13th century and provides a stunning look into a culture long past. Divided into three parts, this prose epic deals with friendship, tragedy and retribution and is a breathtaking look at Medieval Norse culture.
The Scarlet Letter is set in 1850s Puritan Boston and tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.
One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Thomas Paine sensed the need for someone to defend social uprisings like the French Revolution…this is how Rights of Man was born. The book was revolutionary at the time speaking of the right of the people to revolt if the government doesn’t meet their demands. As important, the book dismisses the political Adam and the notion of ruling by heredity.
An autobiographical tragic novel that follows the unhappiness of Werther after he falls desperately in love with Charlotte Buff, a young woman who is married to another.
Lady Chester lives in a semi-detached house (a duplex, in American terminology). Her husband, Arthur is sent away on a diplomatic mission. So she is also forced to live a ‘semi-detached’ life along with her neighbors, the Hopkinsons. How will she handle her new life?
The novel illustrates the development of a young man upon taking a captaincy in the Orient, with the shadow line of the title representing the threshold of this development.
Like many of Conrad’s writings, the action in The Secret Sharer is set on a boat at sea and revolves around a central character torn apart. He is the new ship captain and has to win the trust of his crew. To make things difficult however, he accepts to hide a man accused of murder in his cabin. The two characters strike up a strange bound.
A French lowborn, Julien Sorel, wants more for himself than what life gave him. So he starts to slowly climb the social ladder using his keen intelligence, from an acolyte of the Church and tutor of a wealthy family to a private secretary of a diplomat. However, his past mistakes will forever haunt him.
The Possessed or also called "Demons" is Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel about life in Russia at the end of the 19th century. In this highly political novel, Dostoevsky portrays the revolutionaries as demons or devils as they plot ruin and eventually turn on each other.
An enigmatic figure by the name of Gil-Martin convinces Robert that he is an Elect - a soul bound to go to heaven no matter the deeds in life. How will Robert choose to live the rest of his days? As a pious and modest man waiting for his heavenly reward or as an despotic, vile and sinful person?
The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only novel written by Oscar Wilde, and at the time of publication in 1891, it offended the moral sensibilities of the British. The novel tells the story of Dorian Gray, who sells his soul so that his beauty will never fade.
The adventures of Nell Trent and her grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London, that go on a journey with no destination. The novel focuses on the people they meet and connect on the way.
Charlotte Bronte's The Professor is the story of William Crimsworth, his maturation, his loves and his eventual career as a professor at an all-girls school.
After the death of her father, Isabel Archer, a young American lady with many hopes and dreams decides to visit her aunt in England. Isabel wants to be independent and rejects the marriage proposals of two wealthy men. Her cousin wants to help her so he convinces his father on his deathbed to leave much of the estate to Isabel. Can the Lady finally fulfill her dreams?
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan is one of the most significant works of English literature. Originally published in 1678, this allegory is the classic story of Christian (an everyman character) and his search for redemption. This edition has be edited by Dr. Jesse Lyman Hurlbut with simplified (yet still elegant and complicated) language for both children and adults.
