The fourth work of Trollope's «Chronicles of Barsetshire» series, this novel primarily follows the young curate Mark Robarts, newly arrived in Framley thanks to the living provided for by Lady Lufton. The ambitious if naive Robarts looks to advance his career by mingling with the higher class society around him, which leads to a test of his traditionally Victorian values as a gentleman. While Robarts is being compromised and even being brou ...
"The Monk" is Matthew G. Lewis's 1796 novel which is the tale of a monk who is tempted by carnal desire and led down a ruinous path of ungodliness. Ambrosio, a pious, well-respected monk in Spain, is lustfully tempted by his pupil, Matilda, a woman who has disguised herself as a monk. Having satisfied himself with her, he is overcome with carnal desire for the innocent Antonia. With the help of Matilda, who is actually Satan in disguis ...
Written from 1852 to 1856, this autobiographical novel was Tolstoy's first publication. The early life of Nikolai, the son of wealthy landowner in Russia, is fully explored, slowly revealing this young boy's inner mind, relationships, and social standing. As he describes his tutor, angelic mother, aloof father, worldly brother, and later his moralistic friend, Nikolai displays a mind given to dreaming and a personality as complex as it ...
Hailed as the world's first novel, «Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded» by Samuel Richardson is a gripping tale about a beautiful young maidservant in mid-1700's England. After her employer dies, the employer's son begins making advances toward her. The virtuous girl tries to stave off his advances, but Mr. B's desperation eventually causes him to kidnap her in a misguided attempt to try and make her understand how much he loves her. ...
Widely acknowledged as one of Emile Zola's masterpieces, «L'Assommoir» is a novel immersed in the harsh poverty and relief-giving alcoholism of working-class Paris in the nineteenth century. At the heart of Zola's shockingly realistic descriptions is Gervaise, a mother abandoned by her lover who must learn to survive alone on what she can earn. When she marries the abstemious roof-worker Coupeau and manages to open her own laundry ...
First published in 1791, Ann Radcliffe's «The Romance of the Forest,» is a classic Gothic novel, a suspenseful mystery that examines the tension between hedonism and morality. An instant success for the author, this novel would establish Radcliffe's as the preeminent author of romances of her era. While Radcliffe's work was similar in many respects to her Gothic predecessors her work differed fundamentally in its breadth of develo ...
"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is Mark Twain's classic tale of Hank Morgan, a resident of 19th century Hartford Connecticut who is inexplicably transported to the early medieval England of King Arthur. A classic satire, «A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court» pokes fun at the romanticized notions of chivalry and the idealization of the middle ages. A delightful and enchanting tale, «A Connecticut Yankee i ...
First published in 1864, this fifth novel of the Chronicles of Barsetshire series primarily relates the story of Lily Dale, a young woman living in the dower house of the Allington estate with her mother and sister Bell. Although Lily is secretly loved by a junior clerk in a tax office, John Eames, she becomes enamored with Adolphus Crosbie, an ambitious and egocentric man from a more urban environment. When Crosbie's fickle behavior leaves ...
Written in 1912 and set in and around London, «The Reef» is a story of complex morality and its intricately woven place in society. This narrative primarily follows George Darrow and Anna Leath, a young gentleman and a widowed lady who plan to marry. Both of them experience doubts about their union, with surprising outcomes. Darrow has a brief liaison with the delicate, generous Sophy Viner, a kind woman of the working class. She later meets Ann ...
