When Sir Thomas Bertram decides to bring up his poor niece Fanny with his own children, he introduces into Mansfield Park a strong character of good sense. Fanny is acutely aware of her inferior status, yet she dares to love Edmund Bertram from afar. But with five marriageable young people on the premises, the peace at Mansfield cannot last. Courtships, parties, and intrigues throw the place into turmoil, and Fanny finds herself unwillingly competing...

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...

The novel recounts the story of self-absorbed Sir Willoughby Patterne and his attempts at marriage; jilted by his first bride-to-be, he vacillates between the sentimental Laetitia Dale and the strong-willed Clara Middleton. More importantly, the novel follows Clara's attempts to escape from her engagement to Sir Willoughby, who desires women to serve as a mirror for him and consequently cannot understand why she would not want to marry him. Thus,...

The final novel by Charles Dickens, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", was unfinished at the time of his death in 1870. The novel revolves around John Jasper, choirmaster and opium addict, who is the guardian of his orphaned nephew Edwin Drood. Before the death of his parents, Edwin was promised to marry Rosa Bud, another orphan, but their affections have cooled upon reaching adulthood. Rosa has also attracted the affections of Jasper, her teacher, as...

The latest in a new series of classic detective stories from the vaults of HarperCollins is a reissue of one of literature's most audacious and thought-provoking novels of murder and intrigue, in hardback with its 1929 cover design and a brand new introduction. "The Detective Story Club", launched by Collins in 1929, was a clearinghouse for the best and most ingenious crime stories of the age, chosen by a select committee of experts. Now, almost 90...

This is one classic literature novel that is a must-read book before you die, and is perfect for any Thomas Hardy lover's classic book collection. Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a censored and serialized version, published by the British illustrated newspaper The Graphic in 1891, then in book form in three volumes in 1891, and as a single volume in 1892. Though now...

Disappointed in friendship and love, and embittered by a false accusation, weaver Silas Marner retreats from the world with his loom, but soon finds his monastic existence forever changed by the arrival of an orphaned girl, whom he takes in and raises as his own daughter.

Penguin Classics presents Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, adapted for audio and now available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by the actor Kerry Shale. 'I'm unfavorable to killin' a man as long as you can git around it; it ain't good sense, it ain't good morals. Ain't I right?' The original Great American Novel, an incomparable adventure story and a classic of anarchic humour, Twain's masterpiece...

Penguin Classics presents Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, adapted for audio and available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by the actor Bob Sessions. 'Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, - stern and wild ones, - and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss' Fiercely romantic and hugely influential, The Scarlet Letter is the tale of Hester Prynne, imprisoned, publicly...