Martin Eden (1909) is a novel by American writer Jack London. The book follows the tradition of the Künstlerroman, a narrative that traces the life and development of an artist, to tell the story of a young man not unlike London himself. Part fiction, part autobiography, Martin Eden examines the consequences of dreams and achievements, successes and failures, for a young artist struggling with fame. The novel is heavily influenced by London's socialist...

The character David Foster Wallace is introduced to the banal world of the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, Illinois, and the host of strange people who work there, in a novel that was unfinished at the time of the author's death.

When Esther Greenwood wins an internship, she is elated, believing she will finally realise her dream to become a writer. But in between the cocktail parties and piles of manuscripts, her life begins to slide out of control. She finds herself spiralling into depression and eventually a suicide attempt, as she grapples with difficult relationships and a society which refuses to take women's aspirations seriously.

What would you do if, when you were ten, you were left to fend for yourself, and, in order to survive, you had to undertake a harrowing journey all the way from Afghanistan to Italy? In early 2002, Enaiatollah Akbari's village fell prey to the Taliban. His mother, fearing for his life, led him across the border. So began Enaiat's remarkable and often publishing five-year ordeal-trekking across bitterly cold mountains, riding the suffocating false...

D.H. Lawrence's third novel and one of his most beloved, Sons and Lovers is considered the author's most autobiographical book, following the life of Paul Morel. Paul is an emerging young artist born to a mother who married for passion and came to regret it. Both Paul and his brother William are in their mother's thrall to the point where they find it difficult to detach and pursue romance for themselves. The depictions of their liaisons resulted...

Drawing on the rich experience of his own life, best-selling author Paulo Coelho takes us back in time to re-live the dreams of a generation that longed for peace and dared to challenge the established social order. In Hippie, he tells the story of a young Brazilian man, Paulo, and Karla, a Dutch woman in her twenties, who share a journey of self-discovery aboard the Magic Bus, as it travels from Amsterdam to Kathmandu in 1970. In his most autobiographical...

Just as Norman Maclean writes at the end of "A River Runs through It" that he is "haunted by waters," so have readers been haunted by his novella. A retired English professor who began writing fiction at the age of 70, Maclean produced what is now recognized as one of the classic American stories of the twentieth century. Originally published in 1976, A River Runs through It and Other Stories now celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary, marked by...

"Sad Tiger is built on the facts of a series of devastating events. Neige Sinno was seven years old when her stepfather started sexually abusing her. At 19, she decided to break the silence that is so common in all cultures around sexual violence. This led to a public trial and prison for her stepfather and Sinno started a new life in Mexico. Through the construction of a fragmented narrative, Sinno explores the different facets of memory - her own,...

"Louisa May Alcott's beloved children's novel Little Women is one of the classics of American literature. The novel follows the lives of the March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, and details their passage from childhood to womanhood during the years of the American Civil War. The story was loosely based on Alcott and her sisters' own experiences of growing up in Concord, Massachusetts. The book became an immediate roaring success when it was published...