English Literature Great

Thoroughly revised and expanded for a new generation of readers, this classic guide to enjoying literature to its fullest—a lively, enlightening, and entertaining introduction to a diverse range of writing and literary devices that enrich these works, including symbols, themes, and...

From the author of The Last Testament comes the true love of Bonnie Prince Charlie, her adventures in America, and her lasting legacy. In the popular genre trail-blazed by Antonia Fraser and Phillippa Gregory, The Pretender's Lady, Alan Gold's meticulously researched novel, accurately opens history's pages on a peerless woman who helped change the course of history and whose legend lives on in Scotland today - Flora MacDonald.

Tig Costello has arrived in Darren, Kentucky, commissioned to paint a portrait honoring her grandfather Benjamin. His contributions to the rural Appalachian town and his unimpeachable war service have made him a local hero. But to Tig, he’s a relative stranger. To find out more about him, Tig wants to talk to the person who knew her grandfather best: Eloise Price, the woman who murdered him fifty years ago.

Poppy Wilkinson is thrilled to be chosen as a contestant on The Great British Baking Contest. As an American with English roots, winning the crown as Britain’s Best Baker would open doors she’s dreamed of. In more ways than one. Appearing on the reality show is her chance to get into Broomewode Hall and uncover the secrets of her past. But strange things are happening on the show’s set: Accusations of sabotage, a black cat that shadows Poppy, suspiciously unsociable residents at Broomewode Hall - and the judges can be real witches.

Step into the glittering world of the Roaring Twenties with The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless masterpiece of love, ambition, and illusion. Set in the opulent mansions and jazz-fueled parties of Long Island, this novel follows the enigmatic millionaire Jay Gatsby and his obsessive pursuit of the elusive Daisy Buchanan. Through the eyes of narrator Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald weaves a haunting tale of wealth, desire, and the shattered American Dream. Both dazzling and tragic, The Great Gatsby captures the spirit of an era—and the cost of chasing dreams that may never come true.

Morgan and his friends won the right to be a part of an expedition to the Tower of Power. Part of a raid group that was led by two Great Guilds, and had the intention of conquering the Tower. But, no one who had ventured beyond the third floor had ever returned. Adventuring might be a dangerous profession, and ascended might encounter death at every turn, but there is a reason why most do not attempt to climb the Tower. For most ascended going into the Tower is a risk not worth taking, in opinions of some, it was equal to suicide.

Long ago, a mysterious event known as The Great Forget ravaged Earth. Magic was born. Millennia later, a baby with red eyes is abandoned at the gates of a small kingdom whose sole mandate is to guard the Pass of Death. The young orphan, Chip, is condemned by a spiteful king to a life of misery in the castle kitchens, looked upon with disdain and treated as an outcast. In an unexpected turn, Chip catches the eye of the wise wizard Xander, who sees something special in him.

Promoted to the elite Praetorian Guard in the thick of battle, a young legionary is thrust into a seedy world of imperial politics and corruption. Tasked with uncovering a plot against the newly crowned Emperor Commodus, his mission takes him from the cold Danubian border all the way to the heart of Rome, the villa of the Emperor’s scheming sister, and the great Colosseum. What seems a straightforward, if terrifying, assignment soon descends into Machiavellian treachery and peril as everything in which young Rufinus trusts and believes is called into question....

For six years, Reginald Brooks - slick Disney marketing VP - has pulled off the perfect scam. He has juggled two families without the other one finding out. He stays two weeks in Miami with his wife and two young adult daughters, and the next two weeks in Orlando with his trophy mistress and their young daughter. But when the charade unravels, it’s clear there’s been a lot more pretending than anyone realized. Soon wide-ranging consequences begin to take their toll.

Frank and Joe Hardy drive to see the new Bayport Airport. Before even getting there the boys are almost run over by an airplane flown by the airmail pilot Giles Ducroy. As a result of the event, Ducroy loses his job, blames the boys, and then frames them for a mail robbery. Although the boys don’t have an alibi they are bailed out of jail by Mr. Applegate (from The Tower Treasure) and Mr. Jefferson (from The Mystery of Cabin Island). The Hardy boys overhear Ducroy and two other criminals planning a major robbery.

Ever wish you could swim with a great white shark? Step into Finnlee's life, as she transforms into the giant predator. Dive in and learn all about a great white shark's habitat, body, superpowers, and more—all from a great white shark's perspective.

An anthology of over 40 classic nature poems, read by some of our finest actors. The majesty of nature has always inspired poets, and this collection contains a selection of the very best verses praising the natural world.

This wonderful collection of 18 short stories includes work by some of literature's most treasured names, including Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Oscar Wilde, and many more. This superlative treasury includes "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe; "A Piece of String" by Guy Le Maupassant; "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin; "The Mark on the Wall" by Virginia Woolf; "Nuns at Lunch" by Aldous Huxley, and many more!

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A historic presidential campaign changes the trajectory of a young Black man’s life in this “coming of age story that captures the soul of America” (The Washington Post), the debut novel from The New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer Prize finalist Vinson Cunningham...

Great Expectations follows Pip's life from a plucky but poor and put-upon child in the Kent marshes, to a young man with "great expectations" in London and the choices he must make as a result of his winding journey. In A Tale of Two Cities Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat, flees to England to escape the violence of his noble family’s past, only to be drawn back into the chaos of his homeland.

When Makeda ascends the throne of Sheba, she inherits more than a crown—she inherits the weight of judgment, justice, and a people hungry for her guidance. Rumors soon reach her court of Solomon, king of Israel, whose wisdom is said to rival the ancients and whose riches dazzle the world. Determined to see if the tales are true—and to strengthen her own reign—Makeda embarks on a daring journey across the desert.

Undoubtedly the best-known detective in literature, Sherlock Holmes was the creation of British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), who endowed his super sleuth with an extraordinary facility for solving crimes. Drawing on his remarkable powers of observation and deduction, coupled with an encyclopedic knowledge of crimes and criminals, Holmes seeks out his prey in the London underworld, where no evildoer is safe from his keen wits and tenacious pursuit.

John Keats was largely unappreciated during his lifetime and died in Rome at the age of 26. Most of his 150 poems were written in just nine extraordinary months in 1819. This selection contains some of his finest works, including the principal "Odes", "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", "Old Meg", and "Much Have I Travelled".

Alone in a frontier town in the nineteenth-century Pacific Northwest, Gentle Montgomery is grieving his best friend. Liam was an alchemist, killed when he tried to capture a creature that shouldn’t exist: a giant salamander that drives men mad. When Gentle’s nephew, Kitt, arrives at his doorstep, the two set out together to track the monster down so they can use its blood in an alchemical formula that will bring Liam back to life.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in collaboration with his friend, William Wordsworth, revolutionized English poetry. In 1798 they produced their Lyrical Ballads, poems of imagination and reflection using "the language of men" - pointing the way forward for a generation of Romantic poets.