Sentimental Education begins with the hero - Frederic Moreau - leaving Paris and returning to the provinces and his mother. Part love story, part historical novel and satire it tells of how Moreau is driven by passion for an unattainable older woman. His 'sentimental education' turns out to be more of an anxious quest than a happy one, echoing Flaubert's own life experience of unrequited love. Packed with vivid detail and characterised by its historical authenticity, the book was described...

Like Froude's biography of Carlyle, Holroyd's Shaw, and Ellmann's Joyce, Robert Baldick's Life of J.-K. Huysmans has become not just a standard reference work, to be consulted as regularly as the writing of the author whose life it chronicles, but a work of literature in its own right. First published fifty years ago, Baldick's classic biography presents a compelling narrative of Huysmans' life and work in all its various phases - from the Naturalism of the 1870s to the Decadence of the 18...

Downstream, the shortest and most autobiographical of Huysmans’ novels, is the perfect example of what the French naturalists wanted a novel to be. This dark and mordantly comic masterpiece of everyday pessimism about a Parisian clerk seeking spiritual contentment is the perfect introduction to the pleasures of Joris Karl Huysmans (1848–1907), whose exquisite style is ironically the most perfect remedy for any reader’s taedium vitae.

Sentimental Education - An Autobiographical Novel (Complete Edition) follows Frédéric Moreau, a provincial youth in Paris, through frustrated love, social ambition, and the upheavals surrounding the Revolution of 1848. Flaubert transforms the bildungsroman into an anti-romance: desire is deferred, history is witnessed obliquely, and every ideal is compromised by vanity, money, or inertia. Its cool, exact prose, ironic detachment, and panoramic social observation place it among the foundati...

*NOW A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES—from producer and director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, and newcomer Aria Mia Loberti*Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, the beloved instant New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World ...

The Complete Works of Émile Zola is a comprehensive collection of the renowned French author's literary output, showcasing his naturalist style and thematic exploration of society, politics, and human nature. Zola's writing is known for its vivid realism and detailed depiction of the darker aspects of life, with a focus on class struggles and moral decay. This seminal collection includes his famous Rougon-Macquart series, which offers a panoramic view of 19th-century French society. Zola's...

'The best of Mary Stewart's books' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Utterly thrilling, utterly satisfying' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A compulsive read' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Linda Martin understands what is to be lonely: her parents died when she was young, and she was raised in an orphanage. When she is hired as a governess to the orphaned young Philippe, Comte de Valmy, Linda finds a kin...

The Ladies' Paradise is a compelling story of ambition and love set against the backdrop of the spectacular rise of the department store in 1860s Paris. Octave Mouret is a business genius who transforms a modest draper's shop into a hugely successful retail enterprise, masterfully exploiting the desires of his female customers and ruining small competitors along the way. Through the eyes of trainee salesgirl Denise we see the inner workings of the store and the relations and intrigues amon...

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA'She wrote exciting plots . . . a writer of fearless originality' GUARDIAN**'This French Revolution epic is an overlooked classic' MELISSA KATSOULIS, THE TIMES'No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification . . . ' MARGARET FORSTER'Perhaps we shall not see each other again. I will write to you, though, a...

An enthralling historical romance—the award-winning debut from one of Britain's most cherished crime writers, the author of the Miss Silver Mysteries.Before she created the iconic Miss Silver, Patricia Wentworth found acclaim as an author of page-turning romances. Set during the French Revolution, A Marriage Under the Terror is a gripping tale of love blossoming in the ashes of betrayal, and a fascinating first step from a master storyteller.Ninete...

A missing prince may provide the answers - can he be found?The Prince Lost to Time is Paul Doherty's second novel to feature Nicholas Segalla - a shadowy scholar travelling through time solving the past's greatest mysteries. Perfect for fans of Ellis Peters and C. J. Sansom.As the flames of revolution spread through France, they engulf the Royal Family, whose fairy-tale life in the magnificent palace of Versailles is shattered duri...

Enriched Classicsoffer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work.Les Miserables tells the story of ex-convict, Jean Valjean, and his valiant struggle to redeem his past. A potent social document of the poverty, ignorance, and bruta...