"Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas’ epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment,...

Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local "powhitetrash." At eight years old and back at her mother's side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age, and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns about love for herself, and the kindness...

From the Publisher: When David Copperfield's widowed mother remarries, David suffers from his stepfather's abuse. At age 8, David is sent away to a harsh school where the principal routinely beats the students. David's circumstances become even worse when he is removed from school and, at age 10, forced to labor from morning to night in a London warehouse. David then decides to take desperate action. He will run away to his great-aunt, who lives in...

Filled with adventure and humor, Mark Twain's classic novel vividly recreates the world he knew and loved from his years as a Mississippi riverboat captain. Young Huckleberry Finn is one of Twain's greatest creations and one of the most enduring characters in all American literature. He has no mother, and his father is usually drunk, often violent, and almost always vagrant. Huck must live by his wiles, his wits and at times, by petty thievery. But...

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession for the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan. Considered to be Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence,...

From the Publisher: The year is 1640. Hester Prynne is a young widow living in the Puritan settlement of Boston. Two years after her arrival in the New World, she has a child. Who is the father of Hester's strange, elf-like child? Was Hester's husband really lost at sea? Is the minister really a miracle of holiness? Is the misshapen old doctor really an agent of evil? As the line between the real and the imaginary blurs, Hawthorne's dark tale of hidden...

Tells a story about the strange relationship of two migrant workers, who are able to realize their dreams of an easy life until one of them succumbs to his weakness for soft, helpless creatures and strangles the farmer's wife. Tragic tale of a retarded man and the friend who loves and tries to protect him. With illustrations from the movie starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise.

Newland Archer, a young lawyer in upper-crust 1870's New York, becomes a victim of social expectations and restrictions when he becomes infatuated with his docile fiancee's nonconformist cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska.

Persuasion is the story of Anne and Captain Wentworth and their long awaited union. Anne Elliot is a young woman of perfect breeding and unwavering integrity. Austen wrote of her, "She is almost too good for me." The world of country gentry in Regency England serves as a setting while portraying the many aspects of proper society - its failings and humor.

Joining the elite Bletchley Park codebreaking team during World War II, three women from very different walks of life uncover a spy's dangerous agenda years later against the backdrop of the royal wedding of Elizabeth and Philip. 1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Osla puts her fluent German to use as a translator...