"When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited, while he struggles to remain indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever"--Book cover p. [4].

Uncle Tom, Topsy, Sambo, Simon Legree, little Eva: their names are American bywords, and all of them are characters in Harriet Beecher Stowe's remarkable novel of the pre-Civil War South. Uncle Tom's Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment of slavery and for its presentation of Tom, "a man of humanity," as the first black hero in American fiction. Labeled racist and condescending by some contemporary critics, it remains a shocking,...

This beloved historical satire, played out in two very different socio-economic worlds of 16th-century England, centers around the lives of two boys born in London on the same day: Edward, Prince of Wales, and Tom Canty, a street beggar. During a chance encounter, they realize they are identical and, as a lark, decide to exchange garments and roles -- a situation that briefly, but drastically, alters the lives of both youngsters. Brimming with gentle...

Blessed with enormous talents and the energy and ambition to go with them, Franklin was a statesman, author, inventor, printer, and scientist. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence and later was involved in negotiating the peace treaty with Britain that ended the Revolutionary War. He also invented bifocals, a stove that is still manufactured, a water-harmonica, and the lightning rod. Franklin's extraordinary range of interests and accomplishments...

A governess arrives at an isolated English mansion to care for two seemingly angelic but rather strange young children, and the appearance of two evil phantoms leads her to question her sanity.

In this book, the author depicts the glittering salons of Gilded Age New York with precision and wit, even as she movingly portrays the obstacles that impeded women's choices at the turn of the century. The beautiful, much-desired Lily Bart has been raised to be one of the perfect wives of the upper class, but her spark of character and independent drive prevent her from becoming one of the many women who succeed in those circumstances. Though her...

"Published by E.M. Forster in 1908, A Room with a View follows the story of Lucy Honeychurch, a well-to-do young woman living in the restrained culture of Edwardian era England. While on vacation in Italy, she finds her somewhat neatly ordered existence thrown off balance, when she meets and falls for the passionate, but conventionally unsuitable, George Emerson. With a cast of flamboyant and memorable characters, including romantic novelist Eleanor...

Professor Challenger leads an expedition to explore an isolated plateau rising above the Amazon jungles where they discover dinosaurs, primitive ape-men, and prehistoric monsters. The Lost World, first published in 1912, tells the story of Professor Challenger, Professor Summerlee, adventurer Lord John Roxton, and reporter Ed Malone as they travel to a remote plateau in South America inhabited by dinosaurs, ape men, and prehistoric humans. In trying...