An orphaned outcast, an unforgiving world, and a rogue's perilous quest for fortune and revenge.Born to a wealthy family but immediately disinherited by a cruel, tyrannical grandfather, young Roderick Random is thrust into a world that wants nothing to do with him. Left penniless and vulnerable, he relies on his sharp wit, a fiery temper, and the occasional help of eccentric allies—like his fiercely loyal, cutlass-wielding sailor uncle, Tom Bowling. From surviving ...

Only the fierce survive when the warm days of civilization are ripped away, and the brutal law of club and fang reigns supreme.Buck is a king in his sun-kissed California valley, but when a treacherous betrayal leads to his kidnapping, he is plunged into the frozen, unforgiving nightmare of the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush. Sold to government couriers, Buck is forced to haul heavy sleds across endless miles of treacherous ice and snow alongside wolf-dogs who would rathe...

A terrifying encounter in a misty graveyard. A mysterious fortune from an unknown benefactor. A descent into a world of dark obsession and broken hearts.Young Pip is a humble blacksmith's apprentice, an orphan destined for a life of grueling poverty and endless drudgery under the heavy hand of his abusive sister. But on one fateful, freezing Christmas Eve out on the desolate marshes, his life violently shifts course when he crosses paths with a desperate escaped co...

In the murky, soot-stained heart of Victorian London, a single lawsuit is devouring the souls of all who cross its path.The infamous Court of Chancery is paralyzed by the eternal case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, a legal nightmare so complicated it has driven men mad, ruined aristocratic families, and birthed generations of tragic heirs. Enter the orphaned Esther Summerson, a brilliant and unassuming young woman drawn into the mysterious orbit of her reclusiv...

Step into a sun-drenched world of barefoot escapades, stolen kisses, and deadly secrets hidden beneath the Mississippi moonlight.In the quiet, seemingly innocent village of St. Petersburg, Missouri, young Tom Sawyer knows only two things: how to avoid work, and how to find trouble. Whether he's ingeniously tricking the neighborhood boys into whitewashing his Aunt Polly’s fence, playing pirate on a remote river island, or courting the lovely Becky Thatcher, Tom’s li...

Between the strict expectations of society and the longings of the human heart, two sisters must decide whether to be guided by intellect or passion.When Mr. Dashwood suddenly passes away, the lives of his wife and three daughters are irreparably shattered. Cast out of their grand estate at Norland Park and left with a meager inheritance, the Dashwood women must start anew in a modest cottage in Devonshire. Here, Elinor, the composed and rational sister of sense, a...

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest—yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!When young Jim Hawkins discovers a mysterious treasure map in the sea-chest of a deceased, rum-soaked pirate, his life is changed forever. Leaving behind the quiet Admiral Benbow Inn, Jim boards the Hispaniola to seek the legendary plunder of the infamous Captain Flint. But the crew isn't what it seems. Hiding among the seemingly honest sailors is the cunning, one-legged ship's cook, Long Jo...

A simple mix-up at the train station brings a freckled, wildly imaginative orphan to a quiet farmhouse, changing their lives forever.Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert of Green Gables needed a strong orphan boy to help with their daily farm chores. Instead, they get Anne Shirley—an eleven-year-old girl with fiery red hair, a tragic past, and an irrepressible, dramatic spirit. From the moment she steps off the train, Anne's vivid imagination and endless chatter disrupt th...

Welcome to a town where men are an afterthought, and the women rule with elegant economy and iron wills.In the quiet, provincial English town of Cranford, a formidable society of unmarried women and widows maintains the strict local social order. They are governed by rigid rules of propriety, observing everything with razor-sharp wit and masking their modest means behind a veil of aristocratic pride. But when the modern world begins to encroach—in the form of shock...

He traded his sanity for a rusty sword, a noble steed, and a dream of chivalry that the world had long forgotten.In this crowning achievement of world literature, Alonso Quijano, an aging gentleman utterly consumed by romantic books of chivalric knights, loses his grip on reality. Renaming himself Don Quixote de La Mancha, he dons a makeshift suit of armor and sets forth across the Spanish countryside to right wrongs, protect the innocent, and win the favor of his ...

A rollicking juvenile adventure tale, this historical fiction book received the Newbery Honor award in 1922. Set in England during the early 1200s, the scion of a Western Marches noble family relates the many encounters and battles that he faces with the Saxon yeoman who becomes his fast friend. This yeoman, great of cross-bow skill and strategy, often saves the day, and after earning knighthood, becomes instrumental in the making of the Magna Carta. - Summary by Lynette Caulkins

Interpreting Du Bois' thoughts on race and culture in a broadly philosophical sense, this volume assembles original essays by some of today's leading scholars in a critical dialogue on different important theoretical and practical issues that concerned him throughout his long career: the conundrum of race, the issue of gender equality, and the perplexities of pan-Africanism.