A collection of six novellas, written in the 1880s and 1890s, about the true nature of nineteenth century marriage and its inherent restrictions.
Love and Friendship and Other Early Works is a collection of short epistolary stories initially meant to amuse Jane Austen’s family. Austen wrote these stories at the age of 14 and 15 and read them aloud to her family. All the epistolary stories are satirical mocking the 18th-century English society from the mushy love novels to the former kings and queens of England.
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.
This novel, a sequel to “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, told using the first-person voice of Huck Finn follows the adventures of Tom Sawyer while trying to solve a mysterious murder.
A beautiful collection of stories for children in which Tolstoy retells the wonderful fables from Aesop, old Hindu tales and Russian shorts as well as legends that transcend borders and continents.
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.
A family struggles to survive on a strange tropical island after their ship is destroyed at sea. This timeless tale was inspired by Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and is a moral and heartwarming tale of a family on the brink. Much more than the classic film, this novel is a delight for children and adults.
The Three Musketeers is a classic adventure novel. This is the tale of d'Artagnan, a young man who leaves Paris to become a Musketeer and meets three friends who live by the motto "all for one, one for all."
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.
Alice from Alice in Wonderland is back this time trying to get a sense of a whole new different imaginary world. He goes through the looking-glass and ends up being part of a chess match. She is a mere pawn and in order to be crowned queen she must move all the way to the eighth rank. Can she do it?
Three monkey brothers have to fulfill their mother’s dying wish of finding their father who left for the Valleys of Tishnar. So they embark on a special journey full of wonderful adventures through dense forests, massive wastelands and great mountains. Will they find their father well and unharmed?
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.
Amory Blaine is a young upper-class boy confident he can make a living out of writing literature. He attends Princeton University, serves in World War I and returns to the United States where he ends up poor, without any close confidantes and with a broken heart.
Using interviews with people who knew the great Abraham Lincoln, Wayne Whipple tries to build a character that's as great as the 16th President of the United States. Follow his journey from a motherless boy living in a humble hut to his great challenges that ultimately built his magnificent personality and prepared him for his final battle, the battle that would change America forever.
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.
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.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a collection of fantastic stories told by the Baron himself. Witness the wonders of far-away places and know the story behind his nickname: The Baron of Lies. Did he really go to the moon? Did he really meet goddess Venus? What about dancing in the belly of a whale?
The final voyage of a British sailing ship, the Chancellor, told from the perspective of one of its passengers.
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is considered one of the first detective novels. A case of forbidden love, identity theft and unjust imprisonment, The Woman in White has been called one greatest 100 novels of all time.
H.G. Wells popularized the idea of time travel in his 1895 novel, The Time Machine. This classic book tells the story of a Victorian scientist who travels far into the future in a mechanical device he has built.
A collection of three different stories, Gothic and grotesque, but with enduring charm: The Signal Man; The Haunted House; and The Trial for Murder. The novels are the author’s brief but successful foray into the mystery and detective genres.
Sherlock Holmes and Professor Watson are warned that someone named John Douglas is in grave danger and could be murdered at any time. The unfortunate event happens before Holmes can stop it and now he has to solve yet another daunting crime. He arrives at the crime scene - an old manor with a moat and a drawbridge - but very few pieces fall into place. For example, how did the murderer get inside?
In the thick of the French Revolution, only one man stands as a savior to the aristocracy of Paris. The Scarlet Pimpernel is on a mission to whisk endangered nobles across the English channel while maintaining his alter-identity as a well-dressed English dandy. This fun tale of romance, adventure and intrigue was initially written by Baroness Orczy as a play and has been adapted for stage and screen.
