Great Classics

Elegant, enigmatic Jay Gatsby yearns for his old love, the beautiful Daisy. But she is married to the insensitive if hugely successful Tom Buchanan, who won’t let her go despite having a mistress himself. In their wealthy haven, these beguiling lives are brought together by the innocent and entranced narrator, Nick – until their decadent deceits spill into violence and tragedy. Part morality tale, part fairy tale, The Great Gatsby is the consummate novel of the Jazz Age. Its tenderness and poetry make it one of the great works of the 20th century.

"The Great Divorce" by C. S. Lewis is a thought-provoking and imaginative exploration of the afterlife. The novel follows a group of souls who are given the opportunity to leave their miserable existence in Hell and travel to Heaven. Along the way, they encounter a variety of characters and obstacles that test their understanding of morality, redemption, and the nature of God.

Thomas Watson was one of the most famous Puritan preachers in history, and his 17th-century writings are still read across the world today. A highly influential example of Puritan writing, The Great Gain of Godliness is Watson's study of Malachi 3:16-18. British Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon bemoaned the fact that he couldn't find a copy of The Great Gain of Godliness.

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession with reuniting with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. The novel was inspired by a romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922.

John Clare was the forgotten Romantic poet, until the late 20th century. Known by his contemporaries as the Peasant Poet, he recorded in his poems the natural landscape of rural England before the Industrial Revolution. His poems rival Wordsworth’s for their sensitivity to nature and pantheism: ‘I feel a beautiful providence ever about me,’ Clare wrote. But his life was a long struggle against poverty and mental collapse. Some of his finest poems were written in the local asylum

From the strange case of 'The Red-Headed League' to the extraordinary tale of 'The Engineer's Thumb', Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr Watson grapple with treachery, murder and ingenious crimes of all kinds. But no case is too challenging for the immortal detective's unique power of deduction.

In a gloomy, neglected house Miss Havisham sits, as she has sat year after year, in a wedding dress and veil that were once white, and are now faded and yellow with age. Her face is like a death’s head; her dark eyes burn with bitterness and hate. By her side sits a proud and beautiful girl, and in front of her, trembling with fear in his thick country boots, stands young Pip.

In this, perhaps Dickens' most profound and personal novel, we are invited to share in the sentimental education of Pip, the poor boy from the village forge who risks losing himself in snobbery and selfishness when he mysteriously inherits a fortune. The story moves from the bleak Kentish marshes of Pip's childhood to a thrilling climax that mingles tragedy and triumph.

Kendall Taylor examines the dalliance between the southern belle and the French pilot from a fresh perspective. Drawing on conversations and correspondence with Jozan's daughter, as well as materials from the Jozan family archives, Taylor sheds new light on this romantic triangle. More than just a casual fling, Zelda's tryst with Edouard affected Scott as much as it did his wife - and ultimately influenced the author's most famous creation, Jay Gatsby. Were it not for Zelda's affair with the pilot, Scott's novel might be less about betrayal and more about lost illusions.

The story is told from the point of view of Pip, an orphan of humble origins who dreams of being a gentleman. From a chilling encounter with a convict when he was seven, through his coming of age and early adulthood, he tells of his "memorable days" and the "great changes" they wrought in him. Pip is apprenticed to kind-hearted Joe Gargery, the blacksmith, husband to his ill-tempered sister. On meeting the eccentric and reclusive Miss Havisham and her proud and haughty ward, the beautiful Estella, Pip becomes ashamed of his origins and hopes to one day better himself.

A rich and varied anthology of inventive classic tales by some of the world's top storytellers. 'A Deal in Ostriches' by H. G. Wells, 'The Scarecrow' by G. Ranger Wormser, 'Only a Dream' by H. Rider Haggard, 'The Magic Shop' by H. G. Wells, 'The Business of Madame Jahn' by Vincent O'Sullivan, 'The Old Portrait' by Hume Nisbet, 'The Yellow Globe' by Alexander W. Drake, 'The Last Trump' by Hugh Walpole, 'The White Cat' by W. W. Jacobs.

A superb anthology of 40 great classic humorous stories.

A wonderful anthology of 15 of the great classic Novellas. 1. Immensee by Theodor Storm 2. The Jew's Beech Tree by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff 3. The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad 4. The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy 5. Mad Monkton by Wilkie Collins 6. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 7. The Lifted Veil by George Eliot 8. England my England by D. H. Lawrence

A terrifying collection of classic werewolf stories, ranging from ancient legends to Victorian and Edwardian adaptations on the theme. •Gabriel-Ernest by Saki •The Wolf by Guy de Maupassant •The Werewolf by Eugene Field •The Other Side by Count Eric Stanislaus Stenbock •The Werewolves by Henry Beaugrand •Jean Grenier the French Werewolf by Sabine Baring-Gould •The Man-Wolf by Leitch Ritchie •The She-Wolf by Saki •The Mark of the Beast by Rudyard Kipling

In the greatest novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald, listeners can be transported back to that world to experience both the highs and lows of the time. These novels incorporated Fitzgerald’s own life experiences to give listeners a firsthand view of what life truly was like for his generation.

The focus of the book is on Shakespeare's London, how it influenced his drama, and how he represents it on stage. Taking listeners on an imaginative journey through the city, the book moves both chronologically, from beginning to end of Shakespeare's dramatic career, and geographically, traversing London from west to east.

A wonderful collection of classic stories on the theme of love. A must-listen for the incurable romantic.

Ignoring the opportunity to own a comprehensive guide to one of the world's most creative literary minds would be an Elizabethan tragedy of modern proportions. Elevating your intellect to become a Shakespeare connoisseur has never been easier or this much fun with The Great American Bathroom Book Shakespeare edition!

Bel Ami: La traducción del título en inglés es bastante elocuente: Historia de un sinvergüenza. George Duroy está dispuesto, caiga quien caiga y le cueste lo que le cueste, a ser alguien importante. En su concepto de moralidad, cualquier medio es aceptable para conseguir el fin propuesto. Las convenciones sociales no están hechas para él. Acaba de llegar a París, sin un céntimo, pero sabe que gusta a las mujeres y está decidido a utilizarlas de la forma que haga falta en su camino al éxito.

A treasure chest of the most popular classic crime stories from the 19th century. •The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe •A Terribly Strange Bed by Wilkie Collins •Murder under the Microscope by William Russell •The Three Strangers by Thomas Hardy •The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe •The Mystery of Marie Roget by Edgar Allan Poe •Mr. Higginbotham’s Catastrophe by Nathaniel Hawthorne