Classics Library

Mary hears on the radio that the British warship her husband is on has sunk, leaving few survivors. Waiting for daybreak to bring news, Mary escapes into memories of her past. Sincere and engaging - a ‘hot-water bottle’ novel - Mariana by Monica Dickens is full of sharply remembered detail...

After a parrot makes fun of Sooki’s big ears, long nose, and wrinkled skin, the “saggy baggy” elephant isn’t too sure of himself. But once he meets some beautiful creatures who look just like him, Sooki celebrates with a joyful “one-two-three-kick.” For over 50 years, parents and...

Once there was a tawny scrawny lion who chased monkeys on Monday—kangaroos on Tuesday—zebras on Wednesday—bears on Thursday—camels on Friday—and on Saturday, elephants! So begins the funny, classic Golden story of a family of ten fat rabbits that teaches the hungry lion to eat carrot...

She was every man's dream - and one man's nightmare. Johnny Hayden and Doug Rance had a scheme to take real estate entrepreneur Wallace Gunderman for all he was worth. But they needed a girl on the inside to make it work. Enter Evelyn Stone: Gunderman's secretary, his lover - and his worst enemy. Gunderman had promised to marry her, but never came through. Now she's ready to make him pay...

From the award-winning, internationally best-selling Spanish writer, author of The Infatuations, comes a gripping new novel of intrigue and missed chances--at once a spy story and a profound examination of a marriage founded on secrets and lies. When Berta Isla was a schoolgirl, she decided she...

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is a landmark novel of the 20th century that captures the disillusionment and aimlessness of the post–World War I generation, often referred to as the "Lost Generation." The story follows Jake Barnes, an American journalist living in Paris, and his circle of expatriate friends—including the charismatic and troubled Lady Brett Ashley—as they travel from the cafés of Montparnasse to the bullfighting arenas of Pamplona.

Marghanita Laski’s novel Little Boy Lost is as enthralling as it is heart-wrenching. A man grapples with questions of emotional responsibility, fatherhood, and memory. Laski describes a much-changed France, struggling to rebuild its morale after the ruin caused by wartime bombing and...

Cruel slave traders have invaded the jungle domain of Tarzan of the Apes. Now they head toward a fabled empire of riches that no outsider has ever seen, intent on looting its great treasures. And toward the same legendary land stumbles the lost James Blake, an American whom Tarzan has vowed to rescue. Following them, the ape-man comes upon the lost Valley of the Sepulcher, where Knights Templar still fight to resume their holy crusade to free Jerusalem.

No man had ever penetrated the Great Thorn Forest until Tarzan of the Apes crashed his plane behind it on his solo flight. Within he finds a beautiful country. But in it lives the Alali, strange Stone Age giants whose women regard all men as less than slaves. And beyond the Alali lies the country of the Ant Men - little people only 18 inches tall. There, in Trohanadalmakus, Tarzan is an honored guest, until he is captured by the warriors of Veltopismakus in one of the Ant Men’s wars. But unknown to the ape-man, they have plans for him.

Billie Jo has a great deal to forgive: her father for causing the accident that killed her mother; her mother for leaving when Billie Jo needed her most; and herself for being the cause of her own sorrow. Daddy's too wrung out to help her, and there's no one else to care. So at fourteen, Billie...

In the year leading up to the First World War, four people’s lives intertwine, only to be pulled apart. A landmark of gay and pacifist literature, Rose Allatini’s story foregrounding conscientious objectors and queer love amidst wartime turmoil was banned months after its publication. At a...

The story of a moose who was too hospitable for his own good...

One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year THE TRUE BUT UNLIKELY STORIES OF LIVES DEVOTED―ABSURDLY! MELANCHOLICALLY! BEAUTIFULLY!―TO THE RUSSIAN CLASSICS No one who read Elif Batuman's first article (in the journal n+1) will ever forget it. "Babel in California" told the true story of...

The power of reading is beautifully captured in this 2006 Newbery Honor-winning book. Bernie keeps a barn full of animals the rest of the world has no use for–two retired trotters, a rooster, some banty hens, and a Muscovy duck with clipped wings who calls herself The Lady. When the cat called...

‘A delicious adventure’ – Daily Mail Murder on the Riviera Express Gerald Hennessey – silver screen star and much-loved heart-throb – never quite makes it to Temple Regis, the quaint Devonshire seaside town on the English Riviera. Murdered on the 4.30 from Paddington, the loss of this...

A master class in the art of writing by one of its most distinguished and innovative practitioners Delve into the labyrinth of Jorge Luis Borges’s thoughts on the theory and practice of literature, and learn from one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century not only what a...

In Jennifer L. Holm's New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor winning middle grade historical fiction novel, life isn't like the movies. But then again, 11-year-old Turtle is no Shirley Temple She's smart and tough and has seen enough of the world not to expect a Hollywood ending. After all...

She may be a miracle, but she’s no Proper Young Lady! It isn’t easy being a pioneer in the state of Washington in 1899, but it’s particularly hard when you are the only girl ever born in the new settlement. With seven older brothers and a love of adventure, May Amelia Jackson just can’t...

The Dr. Seuss classic that first introduced Horton the Elephant! Don’t miss the Netflix original series Dr. Seuss’s Horton! Beloved by generations for his kindness and loyalty, Horton the Elephant is one of the most iconic and honorable characters in children's literature—as well as the...

This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 16 tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form. The Golden Age of detective fiction had begun inauspiciously with the publication of E.C. Bentley’s schismatic Trent’s Last Case in 1913...