First published serially in 1897, Henry James’s novel “What Maisie Knew” is the story of Beale and Ida Farange and their young daughter, Maisie. When Maisie is very young, Beale and Ida divorce and the court orders that the custody of Maisie be split between the two. Spending six months with each, Maisie finds herself in an unstable position as her immoral and frivolous parents use Maisie to intensify their animosity for each other. The novel follows Maisie from her earliest years through her...
“Where Angels Fear to Tread” is the impassioned novel by E. M. Forster, the acclaimed English novelist and essayist. Published in 1905, the title was inspired by a quote from Alexander Pope: “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. This affecting and thought-provoking novel is the story of Lilia Herriton, an English widow, who while traveling with her friend Caroline Abbott in Italy, falls in love with Gino, a much younger Italian man. This puts Lilia at odds with her dead husband’s...
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.‘Fear urged him to go back, but growth drove him on…‘Set in the frozen forests of the Yukon Territory, Canada, during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s, ‘White Fang’ tells the story of a young wolf-dog’s journey from the wild into human territory. As White Fang learns that civilisation is every bit as vicious and violent as nature – and that survival is only awarded to the fittest – we too see how instinct,...
Renowned English novelist, poet, playwright, and literary critic, Dorothy L. Sayers’s “Whose Body?” was first published in 1923. In this novel we are introduced to her most famous character, the aristocratic amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey. Lord Wimsey has developed an interest in solving crimes and joins in to help his friend Inspector Charles Parker and the official investigation into the disappearance of a famous financier. A naked body is discovered in the bathtub of a nearby flat and it...
Sherwood Anderson’s most famous work, “Winesburg, Ohio” is a cycle of short stories set in the fictional town of Winesburg, loosely based on the author’s own home town of Clyde, Ohio. A picture of small town America during the first part of the 20th century, the series of short stories revolves around the life George Willard, from youth, through his yearning for independence, to his eventually departure from the town. Each story tells the tale of a distinct member of the town as related to...
Introduced by Christopher Harvie. Set against the religious struggles of seventeenth-century Scotland, with Montrose for the king against a convenanted kirk, John Buchan’s Witch Wood is a gripping atmospheric tale in the spirit of Stevenson and Neil Munro. As a moderate Presbyterian minister, young David Sempill disputes with the extremists of his faith. All around, the defeated remnants of Montrose’s men are being harried and slaughtered by the faithful, and Sempill’s plea for compassion,...
First published in 1919, “Within a Budding Grove” is the second novel in the “In Search of Lost Time” series by famed French author Marcel Proust. Originally intended to be published in 1914, but delayed by the onset of World War I, “Within a Budding Grove” was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1919 and instantly catapulted Proust to international fame. The novel follows the narrator from the first volume, “Swann’s Way”, from childhood to adolescence. He grows bored with Swann’s daughter, Gilberte,...
Widely believed to be her masterpiece, Elizabeth Gaskell’s “Wives and Daughters” was originally published serially in “Cornhill Magazine” between August 1864 and January 1866. The work, which was nearly finished at the time of Gaskell’s death in 1865, was completed by Frederick Greenwood. The novel’s heroine is Molly Gibson, the only daughter of a widowed country doctor in a small town in England. Molly, lonely and motherless, is befriended by the Hamley family, who are landed gentry and...
First published in 1920, D. H. Lawrence’s “Women in Love” is the sequel to his 1915 novel “The Rainbow” and is widely considered one of his best works and one of the most important English novels of the twentieth century. “Women in Love” continues to follow the Brangwen family, focusing on the lives and loves of sisters Gudrun and Ursula Brangwen. Living in the Midlands of England during the 1910’s, Ursula is a teacher and Gudrun is an artist. The sisters meet two men who live nearby, Rupert...
A level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Clare West. The wind is strong on the Yorkshire moors. There are few trees, and fewer houses, to block its path. There is one house, however, that does not hide from the wind. It stands out from the hill and challenges the wind to do its worst. The house is called Wuthering Heights. When Mr Earnshaw brings a strange, small, dark child back home to Wuthering heights, it seems he has opened his doors to...