Classics

Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert had planned to adopt a boy to help out around Green Gables farm. But waiting for Matthew at the train station is freckle-faced, redheaded Anne Shirley - a talkative eleven-year-old orphan with a heart …

For most children, reading the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm is an essential experience when growing up. Grimm's Fairy Tales collects more than fifty of the best-known fairy and folk tales set down by the Brothers Grimm. Paper…

Widely recognized as a grim masterpiece in gothic fiction, Frankenstein remains a time-honored classic that appeals to generations of readers. In a gripping tale of rejection, monstrosity, and revenge, Mary Shelly presents a profo…

Widely recognized as a dark masterpiece in gothic literature, Dracula presents a twisted take on immortality and romanticism in the late nineteenth century. In this page-turning thriller, Johnathon Harker, a young lawyer, travels …

Embark on a wildly imaginative journey with Alice as she tumbles down a rabbit hole and finds herself lost in Wonderland. A whimsical tale of curiosity and self-discovery, even adults can't resist its magic. With unforgettable cha…

Best known for her deeply engaging narrative, Charlotte Bronte continues to inspire readers in this timeless masterpiece about love, family, and independence. Orphaned as a young child, Jane displays great courage as she aims to p…

Jules Verne's cleverly captures readers' imaginations in a remarkable story of courage and perseverance. The story follows German professor, Otto Lidenbrock, on his descent down an extinct Icelandic volcano toward the Earth's core…

Follow the story of Emma Woodhouse, a beautiful, wealthy, and single twenty-year-old who is convinced she will never marry. Overly confident in her matchmaking abilities, Emma commits to finding an eligible suitor for her new frie…

Widely recognized as Verne's greatest literary work, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea presents one of the most alluring adventure tales of all time. The story follows French oceanographer Pierre Aronnax and his assistant, Con…

Herman Melville delivers some of his best literary work in this gripping tale of tragedy and vengeance. The story follows Captain Ahab on an obsessive quest to destroy the unruly White Whale that ravaged the Captain's ship on a pr…

Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the "roaring twenties", and a devastating expose of the Jazz Age. Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is tak…

Widely recognized as a philosophical masterpiece in Gothic literature, The Picture of Dorian Gray presents a twisted take on Victorian morality and controversial topics prevalent during this era. The story follows a charming young…

A brilliant novel describing two parallel love stories, Sense and Sensibility remains a time-honored classic in English literature. The story follows the Dashwood sisters unique experiences with love and heartbreak in their search…

A collection of Middle Eastern folk tales including familiar classics like Aladdin and Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves. Each individual story is told by a different person in a unique style, artfully tied together by the narrator…

Edited, introduced and annotated by Cedric Watts, M.A., Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of English, University of Sussex. The Wordsworth Classics' Shakespeare Series presents a newly-edited sequence of William Shakespeare's works. The t…

Introduction and Notes by Dr Ella Westland, University of Exeter. Illustrations by George Cruickshank. Dickens had already achieved renown with The Pickwick Papers. With Oliver Twist his reputation was enhanced and strengthened. T…

The Jungle Book introduces Mowgli, the human foundling adopted by a family of wolves. It tells of the enmity between him and the tiger Shere Khan, who killed Mowgli's parents, and of the friendship between the man-cub and Bagheera…

'Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!' Treasure Island is a tale of pirates and villains, maps, treasure and shipwreck, and is perhaps the best adventure story ever written. When young Jim Hawkins find…

Jody Tiflin is a ten-year-old boy, living on his father's ranch. One day his father brings home a small pony. He's Jody's, if the boy will learn to feed, clean, stable and care for him. But Jody learns, through the colt, and throu…

One of the BBC's '100 Novels that Shaped the World' Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Meet the gamblers, whores, drunks, bums and …

Reissued to mark the 80th anniversary of Native Son's publication - discover Richard Wright's brutal and gripping masterpiece this black history month. '[Native Son] possesses an artistry, penetration of thought, and sheer emotion…

Discover the most famous anti-war novel ever written One by one the boys begin to fall... In 1914 a room full of German schoolboys, fresh-faced and idealistic, are goaded by their schoolmaster to troop off to the 'glorious war'.…

'Doctor Watson, Mr Sherlock Holmes' - The most famous introduction in the history of crime fiction takes place in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, bringing together Sherlock Holmes, the master of science detection, and…

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the classic detective chiller. It features the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes, in his most challenging case. The Baskerville family is haunted by a phantom beast "with blazing eyes and…

'My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know'. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes first introduced Arthur Conan Doyle's brilliant detective to the readers of The Strand Magazine.The runaway su…

Adultery is not a typical Jane Austen theme, but when it disturbs the relatively peaceful household at Mansfield Park, it has quite unexpected results. The diffident and much put-upon heroine Fanny Price has to struggle to cope wi…

When Father goes away with two strangers one evening, the lives of Roberta, Peter and Phyllis are shattered. They and their mother have to move from their comfortable London home to go and live in a simple country cottage, where M…

Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the "roaring twenties", and a devastating expose of the 'Jazz Age'. Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is t…

When the adventurer Allan Quatermain is asked by Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good to help them find Sir Henry's missing brother, who was last seen trekking into the remote African interior in search of the fabled King Solomon's M…

Introduction and Notes by Michael Irwin, Professor of English Literature, University of Kent at Canterbury. Wessex Tales was the first collection of Hardy's short stories, and they reflect the experience of a novelist at the heigh…