When chance brings Edward Tudor and Tom Canty together, they decide for fun to switch clothes and places. Exchanging their roles as heir to the throne of England and as a pauper's son, they learn how the other half really lives.

Returning to Egdon Heath from Paris, Clym Yeobright intends to settle down and improve the lives of his townspeople. But the alluring and mysterious Eustacia Vye has other plans. She believes Clym can provide the cosmopolitan life she craves, if only they return to Paris. When their ideals prove incompatible, desperation breeds tragedy, and lives are changed in ways Clym and Eustacia never could have foretold.

For decades, William Dorrit has been confined to Marshalsea, a debtor&;s prison, which he cannot leave until he pays what he owes&;meanwhile preventing him from getting a job in order to do so. His daughter Amy, born in Marshalsea, is now old enough to provide some help by earning money as a seamstress, and is free to come and go from the prison as she pleases. It is during one of her journeys to the outside world that she meets Arthur Clennam. Amy...

Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited. "The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the "story" of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare's language intact. Specific stage directions...

Young orphan Mary Lennox is sent to live with her uncle on the gloomy English moors. There, with the help of a secret garden, she enters a world she could never have imagined. Includes an introduction by bestselling author Sophie Dahl, granddaughter of Roald Dahl.

When lawyer Gabriel John Utterson witnesses the odd behavior of a man named Edward Hyde, who uses cheques signed by Utterson's friend Dr. Henry Jekyll, he decides to investigate the strange and violent man. Utterson soon discovers the horrible and incredible truth in the form of a letter written by Dr. Jekyll and left near the body of the late Mr. Hyde. Author Robert Louis Stevenson is believed to have had a somewhat volatile relationship with...

"Widely recognized as one of literature's most gripping ghost stores, this classic tale of moral degradation conerns the sinister transformation of two innocent children into flagrant liars and hypocrites. The story begins when a governess arrives at an English country estate to look after Miles, aged ten, and Flora, eight. At first, everything appears normal but then events gradually begin to weave a spell of psychological terror. One night a ghost...

"Jude Fawley, an impoverished stonemason, aspires to the ministry and fails to fulfill the opposite expectations of the two women he loves in Victorian society." *** "Marriage, the Church of England, and the British university system all come under criticism in a story about two cousins who love each other and want to improve their lot in life." *** "In this haunting love story, a couple who have each fled a previous marriage find love and fulfillment...

The breathtaking love story of an illegitimate girl and the young noble who would choose her above all. Gender issues and economic hardships are dealt with deftly in Doctor Thorne, the third novel in the Chronicles of Barsetshire, and arguably the saga's finest love story. Set in rural England in the fictitious county of Barsetshire, this Victorian novel is one of Anthony Trollope's most optimistic and engaging works. When Henry Thorne seduces local...