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Delve into the whimsical world of "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman," a groundbreaking novel that revolutionized the literary landscape. Sterne's work, inspired by the likes of Cervantes and John Locke, challenges traditional narrative forms through its playful digressions, innovative typography, and satirical tone. The novel humorously narrates the life of Tristram Shandy, making it a pioneering precursor to stream of consciousness...

When the starving French masses rise in hate to overthrow a corrupt and decadent government, both the guilty and innocent become victims of their frenzied anger. Soon nothing stands in the way of the chilling figure they enlist for their cause--La Guillotine--the new invention for efficiently chopping off heads. Charles Dickens' compelling portrait of the results of terror and treason, love and supreme sacrifice continues to captivate readers around...

Gaskell's powerfully moving novel, "Sylvia's Lovers," is set in the 1790's in an English seaside town where a young woman is caught between the attractions of two very different men. With England at war with France, press-gangs wreak havoc by seizing young men for service. One of their victims, Charley Kinraid, whose charm and cheerfulness has captured the heart of Sylvia Robson. But Sylvia's devoted cousin, Philip Hepburn, hopes to marry her himself,...

When the eminent naturalist Charles Darwin returned from South America on board the HMS Beagle in 1836, he brought with him the notes and evidence that would form the basis of a world-changing theory the evolution of species by a process of natural selection. This theory, published as On the Origin of Species in 1859, is the basis of modern biology and the concept of biodiversity. Its publication sparked a fierce scientific, religious and philosophical...

The American portrays courtship with the virtuosity and soulfulness that characterizes a seduction. With Paris as its artistic backdrop, the novel reveals the insecurities a powerful American feels when pursuing an elusive woman. The novel is simultaneously a gothic romance, a quest narrative, an unsolved murder mystery, a revenge drama, and James' ticket of admission to the higher echelon of American writers. - Publisher.

This is the story of a common field laborer, Michael Henshard, who becomes a leader in a small market town and then through his own failure sinks back miserably to his humble beginnings.

First published in 1888, "Looking Backward: 2000-1887" is the highly influential work of utopian science fiction by American journalist Edward Bellamy. In the years following the American Civil War a growth in inequality led to an increase in social and economic turmoil. The rise of ever larger and less competitive firms was causing wages to stagnate and created an appetite amongst the populace for solutions to help mitigate the negative effects of...

This early work by Wilkie Collins was originally published in 1875. Born in Marylebone, London in 1824, Collins' family enrolled him at the Maida Hill Academy in 1835, but then took him to France and Italy with them between 1836 and 1838. Returning to England, Collins attended Cole's boarding school, and completed his education in 1841, after which he was apprenticed to the tea merchants Antrobus & Co. in the Strand. In 1846, Collins became a law...

The Story of an African Farm (1883) is a novel by South African political activist and writer Olive Schreiner. Her first published novel, The Story of an African Farm was a bestseller upon its release despite being criticized for its portrayal of controversial social, religious, and political themes. Part Bildungsroman, part philosophical fiction, the novel is recognized as a groundbreaking work for its exploration of feminism, atheism, and the influence...

"Frances Burney's first and most enduringly popular novel is a vivid, satirical, and seductive account of the pleasures and dangers of fashionable life in late eighteenth-century London. As she describes her heroine's entry into society, womanhood and, inevitably, love, Burney exposes the vulnerability of female innocence in an image-conscious and often cruel world where social snobbery and sexual aggression are played out in the public arenas of...