He was Sam Clemens, steamboat pilot, before he was Mark Twain, famous author. His better-known name originated with the lingo of navigation, and much of his writing was informed by his shipboard adventures on one of the world's great rivers. In this classic of American literature, Twain offers lively recollections ranging from his salad days as a novice pilot to views from the passenger deck in the twilight of the river culture's heyday. Under the...

The Sacred Fount is a novel by Henry James, first published in 1901. This strange, often baffling book concerns an unnamed narrator who attempts to discover the truth about the love lives of his fellow guests at a weekend party in the English countryside. He spurns the "detective and keyhole" methods as ignoble, and instead tries to decipher these relationships purely from the behavior and appearance of each guest. He expends huge resources of energy...

"Presents Alexandre Dumas's 1848 novel, in which Marguerite Gautier, a courtesan living in Paris, falls in love with a young man and tries to escape her past."--

"This portrait of life in a quiet English country town in the mid-nineteenth century follows the adventures of Miss Matty and Miss Deborah, two middle-aged spinster sisters living in reduced circumstances." --

While serving as a juror at the trial of a prostitute, Prince Nekhlyudov recognizes the defendant as a young servant girl he once loved and abandoned and tries to rectify the situation.

Claudio and Hero are engaged, but the jealous Don John tries to thwart the wedding by denouncing Hero as unchaste. Meanwhile, Beatrice and Benedick, who scorn each other, become betrothed as a result of the schemes of their friends.

The horrifying conditions of the Chicago stockyards are revealed through this narrative of a young immigrant's struggles in America.

Set during the Napoleonic wars at a time of national economic struggles, Shirley is an unsentimental yet passionate depiction of conflict among classes, sexes, and generations. Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore considers marriage to the wealthy and independent Shirley Keeldar, yet his heart lies with his cousin Caroline. Shirley, meanwhile, is in love with Robert's brother, an impoverished tutor. As industrial unrest builds to a potentially fatal...