A seminal work of Realism, and one of the most influential novels ever written.

"What is remarkable in Madame Bovary is that its mediocre beings, with their earthbound ambitions and pedestrian problems, impress us, by virtue of the structure and the writing that create them, as beings who are out of the ordinary within their ordinary manner of being." - Mario Vargas Llosa, in The Perpetual Orgy

The novel focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, as she spirals out of control trying to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life.

Who is going to marry Eugenie Grandet? Enter one cousin Charles, recently orphaned and penniless. Set in provincial France in the aftermath of the French Revolution, Eugenie Grandet is a tale of a father's financial cunning and miserliness pitched against a daughter's determination to rebel.

Literature's pre-eminent detective, Sherlock Holmes, shines again and again in these 12 thrilling adventures, set in England's Victorian era..

Publishers Weekly #1 Best Seller for 1909.

This story of a French Irish girl whose husband is killed in a duel was originally published anonymously.

Don Quixote's imagination has been captured by tales of chivalry, to the point where he becomes quite mad and believes that he is a knight errant. Together with his sidekick Sancho Panza, and filled with misguided chivalric impulses, he embarks on travel and adventure. Don Quixote is a humorous parody of chivalric romance literature. Its characters and language have become widely entrenched in western language and literature. Groundbreaking and influential, it is considered by many to be one of the greatest books of all time.

Young, beautiful, proud and independent, Bathsheba Everdene moves to rural England to live with her aunt and uncle. A young and loyal shepherd, an older gentleman farmer and a dashing Sergeant all vie for her affections. But changes in fortune and circumstances as much as her own pride and independence, thwart her efforts to find true love and happiness. Thomas Hardy is well known for both his sensational story telling and evocative descriptions of rural life and landscapes for good reason.