The poverty-stricken Raskolnikov, a talented sutdent, devises a theory about extraordinary men being above the law, since in their brillance they think "new thoughts" and so contribute to society. He then sets out to prove his theory by murdering a vile, cynical old pawnbroker and her sister. The act brings him into contact with his own buried conscience and with two characters, the deeply religious Sonia, who has endured great suffering, and Porfiry,...

Transparently based on the lives of Fitzgerald and his beautiful wife, Zelda, this novel traces the meteoric rise and fall of glittering young socialites Anthony and Gloria Patch. Building their marriage on the shaky foundation of an expected inheritance, they devote their youth and happiness on hedonistic pursuits that plunge them into moral and financial bankruptcy.

Here, in one volume, are Poe's masterpieces of mystery, terror, humor, and adventure, and the finest lyric and narrative poetry of the ill-fated genius who was one of America's supreme writers.

Moll Flanders is dealt a desperately poor hand, born in Newgate Prison to a convicted felon mother about to be transported to America for her crimes. Cast adrift in a harsh world, seduced at an early age, the ever-resourceful Moll learns to play the survival game with astuteness and irrepressible cunning. Her path is strewn with husbands and lovers, and when all else fails and destitution beckons, she turns to a life of crime to keep the wolf from...

This Edwardian social comedy explores love and prim propriety among an eccentric cast of characters assembled in an Italian pensione and in a corner of Surrey, England. A charming young English woman, Lucy Honeychurch, faints into the arms of a fellow Britisher when she witnesses a murder in a Florentine piazza. Attracted to this man, George Emerson--who is entirely unsuitable and whose father just may be a Socialist--Lucy is soon at war with the...

Constance Chatterley feels trapped in her sexless marriage to the invalid Sir Clifford. Unable to fulfill his wife emotionally or physically, Clifford encourages her to have a liaison with a man of their own class. But Connie is attracted instead to Mellors, her husband's gamekeeper with whom she embarks on a passionate affair that brings new life to her stifled existence. Can she find true equality with Mellors, despite the vast gulf between their...

In these acrid and poignant stories, Hughes depicted Black people colliding--sometimes humorously, more often tragically--with Whites in the 1920s and '30s.

This historical satire, played out in two very different socioeconomic worlds of 16th-century England, centers around the lives of two boys born in London on the same day: Edward, Prince of Wales and Tom Canty, a street beggar. During a chance encounter, the two realize they are identical and, as a lark, decide to exchange clothes and roles -- a situation that briefly, but drastically, alters the lives of both youngsters. The Prince, dressed in rags,...

"Set in the mystical depths of the Indian jungle, where tigers roam the land and monkeys swing from trees, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book gets reimagined like never before in this stunning new unabridged edition. Originally published in 1894, the beloved collection of stories includes such favorites as the story of the man-cub Mowgli versus the ferocious tiger Shere Khan, the brave mongoose Rikki-tikki-Tavi, and more. Filled with all-new lush illustrations...

A New York lawyer remembers his boyhood in Nebraska and his friendship with a pioneer Bohemian girl. A novel set in Nebraska about pioneering Bohemian farmers & of the courageous heroine, Antonia. First published in 1918. In Willa Cather's own estimation, My Antonia, first published in 1918, was "the best thing I've ever done." An enduring paperback bestseller on Houghton Mifflin's literary list, this hauntingly eloquent classic now boasts a new foreword...