After rescuing her father from prison in Paris, Lucie Manette brings him back home to London. There, she is wooed by two similar-looking men: Charles Darney is a Frenchman recently acquitted… Read More →

Emma Woodhouse is sure she'll never marry, and she's proud of it. However, that doesn't stop her from considering herself the village matchmaker. Though her friend, Harriet Smith, is already… Read More →

Pip is a young orphan who wants nothing more than to become a gentleman and be worthy of the beautiful but snobby Estella. So when he receives a large fortune from an unknown benefactor to… Read More →

Mr. Gradgrind, views himself as the most practical man in Coketown. He has raised his children, Tom and Louisa, to be no-nonsense, unimaginative, and unsentimental. His friend—obnoxious,… Read More →

It is the late nineteenth century, and colonial powers have claimed various parts of the African continent. Marlow, a riverboat captain for a Belgian ivory trading firm, is traveling up the… Read More →

Twelfth-century England is in turmoil. The Third Crusade failed; King Richard is imprisoned in Austria; Prince John—the king's evil brother—controls the throne; and country's ruling class,… Read More →

The wizard Merlin foretells that King Arthur's bastard son Mordred will one day bring about the ruin of Camelot. At Merlin's urging, Arthur tries to have the boy killed. Arthur then marries… Read More →

Too poor to care for all their children, the Price family sends ten-year-old Fanny to live with wealthy relatives at their estate, Mansfield Park. Fanny is painfully shy and spends her… Read More →

Middlemarch's society is a complex web, and those who do not learn to navigate the intricate threads soon find themselves hopelessly entangled. In 1830s England, social status is no longer… Read More →

Anne Elliot was once engaged to Captain Frederick Wentworth, but she broke off the engagement when a family friend persuaded her that it was an imprudent match. Several years later, Captain… Read More →

Elizabeth Bennet and her four sisters need husbands, according to their mother. When Mr. Bingley, a handsome, wealthy bachelor, moves in nearby and his equally suitable friends come for… Read More →

Mrs. Dashwood's husband has died, leaving her and her three daughters—Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret—homeless and poor. They move in with distant relatives, the Middletons. Elinor is ruled by Read More →

A poor peddler, John Durbeyfield learns he is related to an ancient noble family: the d'Urbervilles. To gain part of the fortune, he sends his eldest daughter, Tess, to the d'Urberville… Read More →

A strange and reclusive scientist takes a room at a village inn. Griffin keeps his face wrapped in bandages and exhibits peculiar behaviors, such as turning his room into a laboratory,… Read More →

When Edward Prendick is shipwrecked on a mysterious island in the South Pacific, he meets the infamous Dr. Moreau, a physiologist who was forced to leave England because of his repulsive… Read More →

The only survivor of a shipwreck during a slaving expedition, plantation-owner Robinson Crusoe is forced to fight for survival on a deserted Caribbean island. At first he curses his fate, but Read More →

In order to win the wealthy Portia's hand in marriage, Bassanio thinks he needs money to impress her. He goes to his friend Antonio for help, but Antonio's money is tied up in ships. Antonio… Read More →

Is the price of eternal youth worth a man's soul? The exceptionally handsome Dorian Gray is a model—and the muse—for a young artist, Basil Hallward. Through Basil, Dorian meets Lord Henry… Read More →