CLASSICS

In "Hard Times", Dickens illustrates the condition of England through his depiction of the fictional northern city of Coketown. Among its inhabitants are Thomas Gradgrind, the utilitarian headmaster who attempts...

At twenty-seven, Anne Elliot is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break off her engagement...

'Vanity, not love, has been my folly'When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively...

The Penguin English Library Edition of Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy'I cannot allow any man to - to criticise my private conduct!' she exclaimed. 'Nor will I...

'There's no writing against such power as this - one has no chance' William Makepeace ThackerayA compelling depiction of a man imprisoned by his own pride, Dombey and Son explores...

Mary Barton(1848),subtitled 'A Tale of Manchester Life',is the first novel by Mrs Gaskell(1810-65).The entirely working-class cast of characters in this novel was then an innovation.The background story is Manchester in...

In this story the author recreates her own childhood through the story of the gifted Maggie Tulliver and her spoilt, selfish brother. Though tragic in its outcome, this comic novel...

Having got rid of their human master, the animals of Manor Farm look forward to a life of freedom and plenty. But as a clever, ruthless elite among them takes...

'I want to give a really bad party. I mean it. I want to give a party where there's a brawl and seductions and people going home with their feelings...

In the only novel Conrad set in London, "The Secret Agent" communicates a profoundly ironic view of human affairs. The story is woven around an attack on the Greenwich Observatory...

Written before Jane Eyre, "The Professor" challenged contemporary expectations of the novel by its brevity, realism, and insistence on a working career both before and after marriage for its hero...

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Out of the dark we came, into the dark we go. Like a storm-driven bird at night we...

Charles Ryder, a lonely student at Oxford, is captivated by the outrageous and exquisitely beautiful Sebastian Flyte. Invited to Brideshead, Sebastian's magnificent family home, Charles welcomes the attentions of its...

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's...

'I am Heathcliff - he's always, always in my mind ...'Discovered on the streets of Liverpool, Heathcliff is rescued by Mr Earnshaw and taken to the remote Yorkshire farmhouse of...

The Penguin English Library Edition of The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe'... an agility astounding, a strength superhuman, a ferocity brutal, a butchery...

From Ernest Hemingway's Preface: 'There are many kinds of stories in this book. I hope you will find some that you like- In going where you have to go, and...

A fascinating look at the history and grandeur of bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon is also a deeper contemplation on the nature of cowardice and bravery, sport and tragedy, and...

Oscar Wilde is best known for his extravagantly witty plays and epigrams, but he was also a serious writer about literature and social principles. In "The Soul of Man" he...

In 1940 Steinbeck sailed in a sardine boat with his great friend the marine biologist, Ed Ricketts, to collect marine invertebrates from the beaches of the Gulf of California. The...

The volume collects together, for the first time ever, Orwell's writings on his experience of the Spanish Civil War - the chaos at the Front, the futile young deaths for...

The audio CD with this edition of Macbeth contains a series of unique recordings to illustrate how different actors place their own interpretation on the play. Hear Orson Welles in...

The full comprehension of the plays is gained from the line-by-line modern English translation given on facing pages. Understanding of the plays is increased as pupils take part in the...