"The Scarlet Letter" is the story of Hester Prynne a young attractive woman who has been convicted of the crime of adultery and has been sentenced to wear a scarlet letter "A" sewn to her dress. The novel, which is set in middle 17th century Boston, is a vivid picture of the archaic social beliefs and customs that were indicative of early colonial American life. It is a time in which adultery was not only considered immoral but was a crime, ...
First published in Scribner's Magazine in 1922, «The Beautiful and Damned» is F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel. It is the story of Anthony Patch, a socialite and heir to a fortune, and his relationship with his wife Gloria. The novel addresses a theme common to Fitzgerald's work, that being the moral decline and directionless lethargy that had consumed the American upper class. A brilliant and tragic character study that explore ...
Thomas Hardy's fourth novel, «Far From the Madding Crowd», is a classic portrayal of 19th-century rural English life. It is the story of Bathsheba Everdene, a vain young woman, who comes to live with her aunt and uncle. There she is courted by three gentleman: Gabriel Oak–a would be shepherd, William Boldwood–a farmer, and Sergeant Francis Troy. A tragic tale of love, «Far From the Madding Crowd» is one the greatest novels ever written, ric ...
"Main Street" is the 1920 novel by Sinclair Lewis that tells the story of Carol Milford, a liberal, free-spirited young woman from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Carol meets and marries Will Kennicott, a doctor who convinces her to move back to his small hometown of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. While there, Carol finds the smug conservatism of the town objectionable and sets out to try and make the town a little more progressive, with little effecti ...
This treatise on political theory, originally published anonymously in 1748, has become one of the most influential works of political science ever written. French philosopher Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu wrote this piece under the inspiration of such political theorists as Rene Descartes, Nicholas de Malebranche, and Niccolo Machiavelli. The ideas laid forth by Montesquieu in this work, especially that of balancing power amon ...
Jack London was born into abject poverty in the slums of San Francisco during the winter of 1876. His writing was to reflect the hard life he lived, perpetually chronicling men facing the wild as he did throughout his life. After his eighth grade year, poverty forced London to leave school. This did not stop him, as he furthered his literary knowledge and skill at the Oakland Public Library, borrowing books and educating himself. London faced gr ...
Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins (1863-1933) was training to become a lawyer and barrister when he wrote his sixth novel, «The Prisoner of Zenda», in 1894. It took one month to finish the first draft, and it quickly achieved such great success that Hope turned to full-time writing. The story is set in the fictional country of Ruritania, on the eve of the new king's coronation. When the king is suddenly abducted, an Englishman who bears a striking r ...
Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English biographer, memoirist, short story writer, and foremost, a novelist. Born to the father of an Archbishop of Canterbury, he was surrounded by brilliant and artistic brothers and sisters. Benson produced many novels and scholarly histories throughout his literary career, which most of which are sadly now out of print. He was a gifted writer, publishing his first book while still a student. Benson i ...
Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) was an English author and poet who wrote and collaborated on over 60 books of children's fiction, and is considered today to be one of the founders of modern children's literature. Many of Nesbit's works have been adapted for film and plays, and her popular fantasy stories set the standard for modern children's writers like J. K. Rowling and C. S. Lewis. This is the second book of Nesbit's three- ...
