The orphaned Jane Eyre suffers under cruel guardians, a harsh employer and a rigid social order. But her plain appearance belies her indomitable spirit, sharp wit and great courage. When she goes to T
To the Lighthouse, considered by many to be Virginia Woolf's finest novel, is a remarkably original work, showing the thoughts and actions of the members of a family and their guests on two separate o
In Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare uses the most notorious murder in classical history to tell a tragic tale of friendship, ambition and betrayal. As the greatest figures of the Roman Republic are
First staged in 1599, Shakespeare's history of Henry V's remarkable victory over the French at Agincourt and the subsequent peace between the two nations is also a study of war and kingship. From his
In this thrilling and hugely influential tragedy, ageing King Lear makes a capricious decision to divide his realm between his three daughters according to the love they express for him. When the youn
Frederic Henry is an American Lieutenant serving in the ambulance corps of the Italian army during the First World War. While stationed in northern Italy, he falls in love with Catherine Barkley, an E
Set in the South of France in the decade after the First World War, Tender is the Night explores the new world of moneyed leisure found by the first generation of idle-rich Americans to take refuge in
E. M. Delafield's largely autobiographical novel takes the form of a journal written by an upper-middle-class lady living in a Devonshire village. Written with humour, this charming novel is full of t
The Merchant of Venice is most associated not with its titular hero, Antonio, but with the complex, unforgettable figure of the money-lender, Shylock. It is Shylock who finances Antonio's friend Bassa
Dark and violent, Macbeth is also the most theatrically spectacular of Shakespeare's tragedies. Promised a golden future as ruler of Scotland by three sinister witches, Macbeth murders the king to ens
Les Miserables is a magnificent, sweeping story of revolution, love and the will to survive set amidst the poverty stricken streets of nineteeth-century Paris. Escaped convict Jean Valjean turns his b
The Beautiful and Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, tells the story of Anthony Patch, a 1920s socialite and presumptive heir to a tycoon's fortune. Anthony and his wife Gloria are young and gorgeous, rich and leisured, and dedicate their lives to the reckless pursuit of happiness.But this intimate story turns tragic, as their marriage disintegrates under the weight of their expectations, dissipation, jealousy and aimlessness. Fitzgerald skilfully portrays the east-coast elite as the Jazz Age begins its ascent, engulfing all classes into what will soon be known as Cafe Society. As with all of Fitzgerald's novels, it is a brilliant character study written in breathtaking prose.It is also a gripping account of the complexities of marriage, largely based on Fitzgerald's relationship with his wife, Zelda. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition features an afterword by Ned Halley. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful
In a vividly drawn India of the late 19th century, orphan Kimball O'Hara is on the cusp of manhood. Living as a beggar, it isn't until Kim befriends an aged Tibetan Lama that his life transforms: the
With subjects as broad as militarism, the British Empire, childhood and death, the Selected Verse of Rudyard Kipling is a treasure trove of the Nobel Prize winner's most striking and moving poetry, dr
Othello is an intense drama of love, deception, jealousy and destruction. Desdemona's love for her husband Othello, the Moor, transcends racial prejudice; but his trusted ensign, the envious Iago, con
Controversial and sexually charged, The Taming of the Shrew is possibly Shakespeare's first play, and certainly among the most performed. Is it an examination of brute male domination or a passionate
Broadly comedic and brilliantly postmodern in its lampooning of a genre, the Jane Austen classic Northanger Abbey tells the story of Catherine Morland, a naive young woman whose perceptions of the wor
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes contains Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's final twelve stories about his great fictional detective. Featuring crypts at midnight, strange bones in a furnace and a blood-suckin
After being chased from the home of an upper-class young girl called Ellie, chimney-sweep Tom falls asleep and tumbles into a river. There he is transformed into a 'water-baby' and his adventures trul
Richard, Duke of Gloucester - the bitter, deformed brother of the King - is secretly plotting to seize the throne of England. Charming and duplicitous, powerfully eloquent and viciously cruel, he is p
