This witty and amusing collection of short pieces shows Dickens liberated from the more formal and sustained demands of the novel...

One of the greatest French novelists, Balzac was also an accomplished writer of shorter fiction. This volume includes twelve of...

Virginia Woolf tested the boundaries of fiction in these short stories, developing a new language of sensation, feeling and...

D.H. Lawrence was one of the great short story writers of the 20th century. This new collection of ten stories shows the variety...

Eighty stories that display O. Henry's comic eye and unique, ironic approach to life's realities. These stories about con men and...

Before publishing the sensuous and scandalous poems of Les Fleurs du Mal, Charles Baudelaire (1821-67) had already earned respect...

Jane Austen's subtle and witty novel of secrets and suppression, lies and seduction, brilliantly portrays a world where rigid...

Part love story, part historical novel, part satire, and an evocative tale youthful passion, Gustave Flaubert's A Sentimental...

Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore has introduced labour saving machinery to his Yorkshire mill, arousing a ferment of...

George Eliot's tale of a solitary miser gradually redeemed by the joy of fatherhood, Silas Marner is edited with an introduction...

'Sets out the London of the 1830s before you, streets, people, pleasures, low life, prisons' Claire Tomalin

Charles Dickens's...

Turgenev's first major prose work is a series of twenty-five Sketches: the observations and anecdotes of the author during his...

Sons and Lovers is a highly autobiographical and compelling portrayal of childhood, adolescence, and the price of family bonds....

The Strange Tales of Pu Songling (1640-1715) are exquisite and amusing miniatures that are regarded as the pinnacle of classical...

A story of forbidden sexual passion and thwarted dreams set against the backdrop of a lush summer in rural...

A tale of forbidden sexual passion and thwarted dreams played out against the lush, summer backdrop of the Massachusetts...

Young Chris Guthrie lives a brutal life in the harsh landscape of northern Scotland, torn between her passion for the land, duty...

Elizabeth Gaskell's only historical novel, Sylvia's Lovers, is set in 1790 in the seaside town of Monkshaven (Whitby) where...

This is the essential one-volume edition of Tales from 1,001 Nights, drawn from the acclaimed landmark translation published in 3...

As children, Charles and Mary Lamb took great delight in exploring their benefactor's extensive library; as adults they began...

'Have little thought of self and as few desires as possible'

Whether or not Lao Tzu was a historical figure is uncertain, but...

In this tender, impassioned fourth novel, James Baldwin created one of his most striking characters: a man struggling to become...

With its depiction of the wronged 'pure woman' Tess and its powerful criticism of Victorian hypocrisy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles...

Tevye is the compassionate, lovable, Bible-quoting dairyman from Anatevka, and Tevye the Dairyman is a heartwarming and poignant...

Mark Twain's witty, satirical tale of childhood rebellion against hypocritical adult authority, the Penguin Classics edition of...

A collection of the most famous cases faced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's peerless creation, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and...

A story of war in all its absurdity and horror, this incomparable novel describes the fortunes of a young boy travelling through...

The return of the beautiful Countess Olenska into the rigidly conventional society of New York sends reverberations throughout...

Written between 1143 and 1153 by the daughter of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, The Alexiad is one of the most popular and...

Henry James's third novel is an exploration of his most powerful, perennial theme - the clash between European and American...