Catalog Search Results
2) Villette
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With neither friends nor family, Lucy Snowe sets sail from England to find employment in a girls' boarding school in the small town of Villette. There she struggles to retain her self-possession in the face of unruly pupils, an initially suspicious headmaster, and her own complex feelings, first for the school's English doctor and then for the dictatorial professor, Paul Emmanuel. Charlotte Brontë's last and most autobiographical novel is a powerfully...
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"The book relates the tale of Hank Morgan, an engineer from 19th century Hartford Connecticut, who is inexplicably transported to the early medieval England of King Arthur. While there he uses his knowledge of modern technology to appear as though he is a magician. Despite his best intentions, Hank?s attempts to modernize the past bring about a tragic end. A bittersweet depiction of the Arthurian legend through the eyes of a 19th century American..."...
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"...tells the story of the shipwrecked Edward Prendick, who finds himself rescued by the mysterious character of the title. On the island, he discovers that his saviour is a mad scientist, intent on creating human-animal hybrids and testing where the boundaries of morality lies."--Page 8.
5) The Odyssey
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"A landmark new translation of Homer's most popular epic by distinguished author and classicist Daniel Mendelsohn. In 1961, the University of Chicago Press published Richmond Lattimore's translation of Homer's The Iliad. For more than sixty years, it has served to introduce readers to the ancient Greek world of gods and heroes and has been one of the most popular and respected versions of the work. Yet through all those decades, Chicago never published...
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"Highly observant, socially inept, and an expert detective, these are the ways one could describe Sherlock Holmes. Told from the perspective of his sidekick, Dr. Watson, this book features twelve iconic short stories that introduce the reader to the legendary crime-solving duo in, The adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."--back cover.
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"Moby Dick by Herman Melville is the story of Captain Ahab's quest to avenge the whale that 'reaped' his leg. The quest is an obsession and the novel is a diabolical study of how a man becomes a fanatic. But it is also a hymn to democracy. Bent as the crew is on Ahab's appalling crusade, it is equally the image of a co-operative community at work: all hands dependent on all hands, each individual responsible for the security of each. Among the crew...
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The classic travelogue of one of America's most famous authors, Mark Twain, "Following the Equator" was written when having fallen upon hard times financially, Twain found himself compelled to take a tour of the British Empire in 1895 and write about it. This is that account, published in 1897; it is a classic example of Twain's ever vigilant observational wit. He addresses such important and still ever timely topics as racism, imperialism and religion....
9) Moby Dick
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?Call me Ishmael? is the iconic opening line of Herman Melville?s classic American novel, Moby-Dick. Ishmael is a seaman aboard the whaling vessel, Pequod, under the vengeful captain, Ahab. Maniacally seeking retribution from the great white sperm whale called Moby-Dick--the whale responsible for the captain?s missing leg--Ahab leads the crew on a quest to kill the infamous beast.
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This is the story of the savage, tormented foundling Heathcliff, who falls wildly in love with Catherine Earnshaw, the daughter of his benefactor, and the violence and misery that result from their thwarted longing for each other. A book of great power and strength, it is filled with the raw beauty of the moors and an uncanny understanding of the terrible truths about men and women. It is an understanding made even more extraordinary by the fact that...
11) Jane Eyre
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In early nineteenth-century England, an orphaned young woman accepts employment as a governess and soon finds herself in love with her employer who has a terrible secret. Charlotte Bronte's novel about the passionate love between Jane Eyre, a young girl alone in the world, and the rich, brilliant, domineering Rochester has enthralled every kind of reader, from the most critical and cultivated to the youngest and most unabashedly romantic, ever since...
12) Finnegans wake
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This early work by James Joyce was originally published in 1939 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'Finnegans Wake' is a an experimental novel of comic fiction. James Joyce was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1882. He excelled as a student at the Jesuit schools Clongowes and Belvedere, and then at University College Dublin, where he studied English, French, and Italian. Joyce produced several prominent works, including: 'Ulysses',...
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Great Expectations is among the most masterful of Charles Dickens's novels. Displaying extraordinary tragicomic range, Dickens blends an atmosphere of brooding violence and guilt with sharp and often disturbing humor to create a drama charged with the thrilling intensity of a detective story and the poignancy of a spiritual autobiography. Much of the novel's power comes from Dickens's unequaled skill at making even the most wildly eccentric of characters...
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Summary: The extraordinary story of a boy called Wart - ignored by everyone except his tutor, Merlyn - who goes on to become King Arthur. Collins Modern Classics are re-launched with gorgeous new covers bringing these timeless story to a new generation. "Come, sword," said the Wart. He took hold of the handles with both hands, and strained against the stone . . . but nothing moved. . . When the wizard Merlyn comes to tutor Sir Ector's sons, Kay and...
15) Shirley
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Following the dramatic romance of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte intended Shirley to be a 'salutary' change. Set in Yorkshire during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, the novel articulates the social realities of economic hardship, the Luddite riots, dissatisfaction with the government and an inadequate Church. In the foreground of these concerns, a mill-owner, Robert Moore, in pursuit of financial security, ignores the suffering of his workers to such...
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This is the author's retelling of the saga of King Arthur, a fantasy classic as legendary as Excalibur and Camelot, and a poignant story of adventure, romance and magic that has enchanted readers for generations. The complete saga is made up of five books: The Sword in the Stone, The Witch in the Wood, The Ill-Made Knight, The Candle in the Wind, and The Book of Merlyn. In the first book, Merlyn instructs Arthur and his brother Sir Kay in the ways...
17) Persuasion
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"Jane Austen's final novel is her most mature and wickedly satirical. It follows the story of Anne Elliott, a teenager engaged to a seemingly ideal man, Frederick Wentworth. But after being persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that he is too poor to be a suitable match, Anne ends their engagement. When they are reacquainted eight years later, their circumstances are transformed: Frederick is returning triumphantly from the Napoleonic War, while Anne's...
18) The good soldier
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The Good Soldier is a compelling exploration of deception, moral ambiguity, and the fragility of human relationships. Ford Madox Ford intricately dissects the complexities of love, betrayal, and the illusions people construct to maintain a semblance of stability. Set against the backdrop of aristocratic European society in the early 20th century, the novel follows the intertwined lives of two seemingly respectable couples, revealing the hidden tensions...
19) Agnes Grey
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Originally quite scandalous and based on the author's own troubled life, this biting social commentary reveals the hardships of a governess's life.
