Anna Karenina moves in the esteemed circles of St. Petersburg society. She appears to have all the trappings of wealth, a high-ranking husband and a lovely son. Yet, this is not enough for Anna. An affair with Count Vronsky brings excitement for Anna but in its wake follows scandal, jealousy, bitterness and destruction. "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Anna Karenina has been listed the "Greatest Book of all Time" in Time Magazine, January 2007.

Raskolnikov is a desperately impoverished young student and intellectual who robs and murders a moneylender to ease his own financial problems and, he rationalises, to better the world by expelling it of her evil doings. However, after he falls ill, he is eventually burdened by his past actions and seeks salvation. Was it justifiable homicide? Captivating and often disturbing, this novel explores this and other profound life concepts. Crime and Punishment is considered to be the one of the most influential Russian novels ever written. Read it and see why.

Shakespeare's best known play and the most quoted work of the English language.

Hamlet's father is dead and he struggles with the desire for revenge. The play uses this backdrop to explore intrigue, incest, desire, and what is important in life.

Regularly included in lists of the greatest works of all time.

Witty. Charming. Very, very amusing. The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy of manners, wickedly satirising the Victorian English Upper Classes. Algernon often uses a visit to an invented friend, Ernest, in the country as an excuse to escape obligations in the city. Meanwhile, his actual best friend who does live in the country enjoys visits to London from time to time to break up life in the country. Confusion and comedy ensues as love and courtship is pursued and the name "Earnest" is assumed by more than one character. Oscar Wilde dazzles with his humour.

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.

A comedy revolving around politics, corruption, and public and private honour.