No one is better equipped in the struggle for wealth and worldly success than the alluring and ruthless Becky Sharp, who defies her impoverished background to clamber up the class ladder. Her sentimental companion Amelia, however, longs only for caddish soldier George. As the two heroines make their way through the tawdry glamour of Regency society, battles—military and domestic—are fought, fortunes made and lost. The one steadfast and honourable...

Brought up at Dorlcote Mill, Maggie Tulliver worships her brother Tom and is desperate to win the approval of her parents, but her passionate, wayward nature and her fierce intelligence bring her into constant conflict with her family. As she reaches adulthood, the clash between their expectations and her desires is painfully played out as she finds herself torn between her relationships with three very different men: her proud and stubborn brother,...

Presented as a miraculous cure-all, Tono-Bungay is in fact nothing other than a pleasant-tasting liquid with no positive effects. Nonetheless, when the young George Ponderevo is employed by his uncle Edward to help market this ineffective medicine, he finds his life overwhelmed by its sudden success. Soon the worthless substance is turned into a formidable fortune as society becomes convinced of the merits of Tono-Bungay through a combination of skilled...

George Babbit is a middle class American living in an average Midwestern city, in this satire of middle class life.

Carpenter Adam Bede is in love with the beautiful Hetty Sorrel, but unknown to him, he has a rival, in the local squire's son Arthur Donnithorne. Hetty is soon attracted by Arthur's seductive charm and they begin to meet in secret. The relationship is to have tragic consequences that reach far beyond the couple themselves, touching not just Adam Bede, but many others, not least, pious Methodist Preacher Dinah Morris. A tale of seduction, betrayal,...

A wave of cattle rustling hits the country around Bridger's Wells, Nevada. Then a rancher is reported murdered. Something must be done, but what? A posse of the town's angry citizens rides out to catch up with the suspected rustlers before they get away. In the cold winter night, each rider sorts through a private swirl of conscience and passion. And as the group approaches its suspects, the conflict between respect for the law and the desire for...

When a bumbling holy man mistakenly baptizes a colony of penguins, God endows the animals with souls and their formerly peaceful community declines into a maelstrom of violence and sin. This witty allegory lampoons French history from ancient to modern times, taking satirical swipes at socialists, royalists, industrialists, militarists, and even the Dreyfus affair, and concluding with a remarkably prescient view of the future. Indeed, more than a...

Contains the title story in which the life of a peaceful public official is permanently changed by a mysterious illness, and includes "Family Happiness," "The Kreutzer Sonata," and "Master and Man," also by the ninteenth-century Russian author.

Jane Addams, the co-founder of Hull House, the famous settlement home, writes about her experiences and insights in her autobiography, Twenty Years at Hull House. As a child growing up in Illinois, Addams suffered from Pott's Disease, which was a rare infection in her spine. This disease caused her to contract many other illnesses, then because of these aliments, Addams was self-conscious of her appearance. She explains that she could not play with...

The great Elizabethan tragedy based on the classic German legend of worldly ambition, black magic, and surrender to the devil. Christopher Marlowe's dramatic interpretation of the Faust legend remains one of the most famous plays of the English Renaissance. It tells the tragic tale of Dr. John Faustus, a brilliant but dissatisfied scholar who conjures the demon Mephistopheles in pursuit of limitless knowledge and power. Through this satanic messenger,...