This two-part adult fairytale by the author of The Secret Garden combines a charming Cinderella tale with an ironic look at class structure and the Edwardian marriage market in turn-of-the-century London.Emily Fox-Seton is a simple but good-hearted woman struggling to make ends meet while maintaining the dignity of one distantly related to the aristocracy. The Marquis of Walderhurst is an awkward but eligible bachelor being comically pursued by a pageant of unmarried ladie...

Jane Austen’s earliest known serious work, Lady Susan is a short, epistolary novel that portrays a woman bent on the exercise of her own powerful mind and personality to the point of social self-destruction.Lady Susan, a clever and ruthless widow, determines that her daughter is going to marry a man whom both detest. She sets her own sights on her sister-in-law’s brother, all the while keeping an old affair simmering on the back burner.But people refuse to play the roles as...

David Wilson has earned the unfortunate nickname "Pudd'nhead" from his fellow townspeople, who fail to understand his combination of wisdom and eccentricity. However, he is eventually able to redeem himself by simultaneously solving a murder mystery and a case of transposed identities.Two children, a white boy and a mulatto, are born on the same day. Roxy, mother of the mulatto and a slave, is given charge of the children; in fear that her son will be sold, she switches the babies....

Nathaniel Hawthorne masterfully grabs the imagination of children with these timeless tales of adventure based on the incomparable Greek mythological heroes’ escapades. Children will enter a world of magic and intrigue as they face ferocious beasts, clever enchantresses, and tricky gods, alongside the greatest heroes of all time. Will Theseus escape from the maze that is guarded by the awful Minotaur? Can Jason steal the Golden Fleece from under the nose and claws of a vicious dragon? Can ...

This extraordinary “eye-witness” account of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey’s rise and fall from power was written between 1554 and 1558 by his gentleman-usher, George Cavendish, who was privy to so much of the Cardinal’s ambitious endeavors. However, Cavendish prudently waited a long time before chronicling his observations for fear of his life, as there were those who may have take his memoirs the wrong way.Cavendish describes in great detail the daily life of Wolsey, listing his huge hou...

**In the first novel of the New York Times bestselling Temeraire series, a rare bond is formed between a young man and a dragon, and together they must battle in the Napoleonic Wars.“A terrifically entertaining fantasy novel.”—Stephen King**Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain’s defense by taking to the skies . . . not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons.When HMS ...

Agatha Christie, the Queen of Mystery, introduces us for the first time to Hercule Poirot, as he solves the mysterious demise of Mrs. Alfred Inglethorpe at her country estate, Styles Court. Many suspects come under his scrutiny, so it is his genius to unravel all the intricacies of the case that allow him to ultimately solve the crime—and the ending may surprise many listeners.

Two delightful tales by one of America’s favorite storytellers.In “Elsie in New York,” Elsie is an innocent young woman who, upon the death of her father, must look for work to make a living. Her father expected her to trust to the goodheartedness of his previous employer, but Elsie prefers to make her own way in life. Although she visits an employment agency and applies for several positions, do-gooders interfere. Thinking they are saving her soul, in actuality they point her to h...

When a dragon is discovered up on the Downs, the Boy is not in the least surprised. He's always known that cave was a dragon cave—it seems only right for a dragon to be living in it.The Boy decides to pay a visit to the cave, and he thinks he knows just what to expect. But this particular dragon is not a bit like the ones in fairy tales.

Olenin is an aimless young nobleman who is disenchanted with city life. Taking a post as a Cadet in the army, he finds himself assigned to the remote Cossack outpost in the Caucasus. It is here, among the Tatars, the Chechens, and the Old Believers, that he will fall in love with a beautiful Cossack girl. The only problem is that she is promised to a Cossack warrior.In the setting of what is present-day Kazakhstan, Tolstoy examines two psychological problems. The first is the dilem...

This timeless collection charted a new stylistic path for modern fiction. Through twenty-two connected short stories, Sherwood Anderson looks into the lives of the inhabitants of a small town in the American heartland. These psychological portraits of the sensitive and imaginative of Winesburg's population are seen through the eyes of a young reporter-narrator, George Willard. Their stories are about loneliness and alienation, passion and virginity, wealth and poverty, thrift and profligac...

This book is an extraordinary day-to-day documentary of the Civil War's most infamous Confederate prison, Camp Sumter, better known as Andersonville. Here thirteen thousand wretched Union prisoners died within barely fourteen months, from starvation, scurvy, and other diseases that spread through the camp. There was little shelter but makeshift tents; little in the way of blankets, warm clothing, or even shoes; and a scarcity of food and fresh water. Often they were forced to sleep on the ...