There’s only one way for Professor George Edward Challenger to prove that dinosaurs still roam the earth. He invites skeptical journalist Edward Malone to accompany him and a group of adventurer
Featured title on PBS’s The Great American Read in 2018Having devoted his studies to optics and refraction, an impulsive scientist named Griffin has rendered himself invisible. Unable to reverse
Pragmatic gambler Phileas Fogg has made a gentlemanly wager to the members of his exclusive club: that he can circle the world in just eighty days, right down to the minute. Fetching his newly appoint
Beautiful New York socialite Lily Bart finds herself alone and nearly penniless as her thirtieth birthday approaches. To maintain her station in high society, Lily must wait for her miserly aunt to be
Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland excitedly accepts an offer to accompany family friends on a trip to Bath. There, Catherine makes new acquaintances who invite her to Northanger Abbey, and she enco
A sixteenth-century cryptogram spurs modern geologist Otto Liedenbrock to embark on the most remarkable human quest ever taken. With his nephew and guide, he leads the descent from a dormant Icelandic
Wronged by human and beast alike, White Fang has endured through brazen ferocity. An enemy of his kind, he is sold to a dogfighter who pits him against other canines to the death—until a Yukon g
In the dead gray cold of Starkfield, Massachusetts, farmer Ethan Frome is struggling to scrape out a living. His duties are to his wife, Zeena—an ungrateful, soul-sick hypochondriac as frigid as
As war rages between Venice and Turkey, Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army, is determined to lead his men to victory with his trusted ensign, Iago. But, after being passed up for a promot
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, to a middle-class glover and a landowner’s daughter. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and moved to London to
Swept away by a cyclone from the Kansas prairies to the Land of Oz, Dorothy and her dog, Toto, must find their way home. Traveling to the Emerald City with a new band of friends—the Scarecrow, t
Young lawyer Jonathan Harker journeys to Transylvania to meet with the mysterious Count Dracula only to discover that his nobleman client is a vampire who is thirsty for new blood. After imprisoning H
Dr. Henry Jekyll, fascinated by the dichotomy of good and evil, no longer wants to inhibit his dark side. He concocts a potion to create the alter ego of Mr. Edward Hyde. With the burden of evil place
Obsessed with the secret of creation, Swiss scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein cobbles together a body he’s determined to bring to life. And one fateful night, he does. When the creature opens hi
Seven years ago, Anne Elliot broke off her engagement to Captain Frederick Wentworth, convinced that marrying a man without money or status would be a grave mistake. Now, she is past her prime and sin
Swindled out of his inheritance, recently orphaned David Balfour finds himself kidnapped and aboard a slave ship bound for the Carolinas shortly after the Jacobite rising of 1745. A shipwreck leads to
Isolated from society in a tenement basement in St. Petersburg, a malicious former civil servant vents his resentments. In the rambling notes that follow, we are exposed to the inner turmoil of the Un
It’s the perfect match—gentleman lawyer Newland Archer will marry young socialite May Welland. The marriage should be a source of pride for Newland, accustomed as he is to meeting the expe
After her impoverished family sends her to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle at opulent Mansfield Park, Fanny Price finds her life forever changed by the aristocratic Bertrams and the city-dwelling
After Hank Morgan of Hartford, Connecticut, takes a blow to the head, he inexplicably awakens in sixth-century Camelot. At first lost and confused, the time traveler soon realizes that he can use mode
A metallic cylinder falls to earth, landing in the sands of Horsell Common, Surrey, generating curiosity and awe. But what’s inside soon induces only terror. The story that unfolds is a breathle
Stephen Dedalus is an Irish Catholic son in a pious Dublin family when he chooses to shed the constraints of religion, abandon his social and familial obligations, and escape the limits of his country
Orphaned at birth to labor in a workhouse, Oliver Twist is barely ten when he flees for London. There he befriends young Jack Dawkins, who educates the innocent Oliver in the ways of survival. When Ja
Filled with the power of love and the beauty of nature, Heidi is a lyrical tale about a little girl sent to live in the mountains of the Swiss Alps with her grandfather. A grumpy recluse, her grandfat
After his ships and money are lost at sea, Antonio, a prominent Venetian merchant, cannot repay a loan to Shylock, the Jewish moneylender and long-suffering target of his ridicule. Antonio must rely o
A celebration of individuality, diversity, and nonconformity, On Liberty still makes a persuasive argument for what John Stuart Mill believed to be humankind’s essential liberties: the freedoms
Charles Darnay is a French noble falsely accused of treason. Sydney Carton is a self-loathing junior barrister enlisted to defend him. Between them is a shared love for the daughter of a former Bastil
After the death of their father, sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood face financial ruin. At the mercy of their half brother, John, and his greedy wife, their only hope is to make a good match. But r
The vengeful King Schahriar agrees to stave off the execution of Queen Scheherazade until she finishes a particularly compelling story. Her plan? Bleed one tale into another. Through fanciful historie
Featured title in the 2018 PBS Great American ReadsAs a New England mother struggles to support her family in the wake of her husband’s service in the Civil War, her four daughters struggle, too
A scientist and gentleman inventor in industrialized Victorian England claims to have irrefutable proof that time is not simply a concept—it’s a whole other dimension. When he reveals the
Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus has invested every last hope in achieving a prosperous new start in a new country. But the only job open to him—in the appalling stockyards of Packingtown, Chi
Festivities are underway in Athens as Duke Theseus prepares to marry Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. But before the revelry can begin, four young lovers, a roving band of craftsmen, and the quarrelin
The orphaned Mary Lennox is sullen, ill tempered, and unloved when she’s sent to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven. A man consumed by grief over the death of his wife, Archibald has allowed
In Paradise, God’s favored new creations—Adam and Eve—live in bliss, untainted by sin. In another realm, Satan and his banished rebel angels collude to destroy God’s tranquil n
Featured title in the 2018 PBS Great American ReadsRaised in squalor in the marsh country of Kent, the orphan Pip is taken under the wing of the eccentric and reclusive Miss Havisham—only to bli
Featured title in the 2018 PBS Great American ReadsEleven-year-old orphan Anne Shirley has just arrived at Green Gables, and already her guardians want to send her back. First, she’s not the boy
At Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau reflected on simpler living in the natural world. By removing himself from the distractions of materialism, Thoreau hoped to not only improve his spiritual life but
On vacation in Grand Isle, Louisiana, a married woman falls in love with a charming, attentive young man. The relationship spurs Edna Pontellier to explore her longing for independence and creative fu
Direct and coldly pragmatic, Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince is the preeminent guide to winning and maintaining power at the highest levels, where deception and manipulation are necessary
