Sojourner Truth had a tough childhood. She was born a slave, and many of the families she worked for treated her poorly. But when she was finally freed, Sojourner used her life to teach others about women's rights and the power of freedom.

The figure of the child and the imaginative and emotional capacities associated with children have always been sites of lively contestation for readers and critics of Dickens. In Dickens and the Imagined Child, leading scholars explore the function of the child and childhood within Dickens’s imagination and reflect on the cultural resonance of his engagement with this topic. Part I of the collection examines the Dickensian child as both characteristic type and particular example, proposing...

With an Introduction and Notes by Peter Merchant, Principal Lecturer in English, Canterbury Christ Church University College.Illustrations by Hablot K. Browne (Phiz).A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Dickens’ greatest historical novel, traces the private lives of a group of people caught up in the cataclysm of the French Revolution and the Terror. Dickens based his historical detail on Carlyle’s great work – The French Revolution

David Copperfield is the common name of the eighth novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a novel in 1850. Its full title is ***The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account)***.The story traces the life of David Copperfield from childhood to maturity.

"Nicholas Nickleby" (or, "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby") is the third novel by Charles Dickens (1812-1870). It was originally published as a serial from 1838 to 1839. Nicholas Nickleby, a young man in London, must support his mother and sister after his father dies. He is forced to make his own way in the world. Like many of Dickens' novels, "Nicholas Nickleby" is characterised by his outrage at cruelty and social injustice, but it is also a flamboyantly exuberant work, rev...

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is about a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde.The work is commonly associated with the rare mental condition often called "split personality", referred to in psychiatry as dissociative identity disorder, where within the same body there exists more than one distinct personality. In this case, there are two personalities within Dr...

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre DumasAlexandre Dumas, p?re, born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (July 24, 1802 – December 5, 1870) was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, and The Man in the Iron Mask were serialized, and he also wrote plays and magazine articles and wa...

Catherine, a seventeen year old girl, travels with her family to Bath and makes many new acquaintance, including two young men who pursue her. She is invited to visit the country estate of one, and makes the journey with high expectations of Gothic drama, her head being full of Mrs Radcliffe's The Mystery of Udolpho. This was the first novel completed by Austen, but was only published posthumously. It is a delightful, light-hearted comment by Austen on the reading and writing of novels.

In this classic Cinderella story, quiet and observant Fanny Price grows up as the poor relation in the home of her wealthy cousins. Franny's world is changed forever with the arrival of Henry and Mary Crawford, who stir up trouble at Mansfield Park and force Franny to come to terms with her feelings for her cousin Edmund. Full of scandal and intrigue, MANSFIELD PARK is a canonical romance of theatrical proportions.

Canterbury Classics gives a new look to this controversial classic!The Picture of Dorian Gray is a familiar story of greed, sin, and arrogance. A young man, infatuated with his own handsomeness and youth as depicted in a perfect portrait, makes a bargain he will come to regret. No one can save him from his appetite for pleasure and his awful fate--not the man who idolizes him, not the woman who loves him, and not even himself! Published in 1890, The Pi...

Les Miserables is one of Hugo's greatest masterpieces and one of the greatest French novels of all times. It is set during the student revolutions in France and follows lives of several different characters. At the opening the narrator tells a story of a Frenchman imprisoned for stealing bread. After fleeing a police officer he agrees to care for a factory worker's daughter and this changes their lives forever.

Jane Austen's final novel is her most mature and wickedly satirical. It follows the story of Anne Elliott, who as a teenager, was 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 fortunes are flounderi...