Catalog Search Results
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
"Immortalized in popular culture through stage and film adaptations, Victor Hugo's sprawling 1862 novel chronicles the struggles of former convict Jean Valjean and his relentless pursuit by Inspector Javert. A thrilling tale of narrow escapes, romance in the midst of a revolution, and heroism at Waterloo, the story forms a parable of a morally empty state that values retribution rather than justice"--
3) Kim
Author
Series
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Classics - St. Charles Public Library
Historical Fiction Set in India
If you Like The Covenant of Water, try...
Historical Fiction Set in India
If you Like The Covenant of Water, try...
Formats
Description
Rudyard Kipling's epic rendition of the imperial experience in India is also his greatest long work. Born in India and growing into early manhood, Kim is the son of an Irish soldier born under British Imperial rule in 19th century India. Left in the care of a half-caste woman, Kim is free to explore the back allies and bazaars of Lahore. But when he meets with his father's old regiment he trades his native clothes for European suits and abandons his...
4) Agnes Grey
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
When her family becomes impoverished after a disastrous financial speculation, Agnes Grey determines to find work as a governess in order to contribute to their meagre income and assert her independence. But Agnes's enthusiasm is swiftly extinguished as she struggles first with the unmanageable Bloomfield children and then with the painful disdain of the haughty Murray family; the only kindness she receives comes from Mr Weston, the sober young curate....
Author
Series
Language
English
Appears on list
Formats
Description
"The work of a young novelist at the height of his powers, "Nicholas Nickleby" is one of the touchstones of the English comic novel. Around the central story of Nicholas Nickleby and the misfortunes of his family, Dickens created some of his most wonderful characters: the muddle-headed Mrs Nickleby, the gloriously theatrical Crummles, their protege Miss Petowker, the pretentious Mantalinis and the mindlessly cruel Squeers and his wife. "Nicholas Nickleby"'s...
7) Silas Marner
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
When Silas Marner is wrongly accused of crime and expelled from his community, he vows to turn his back upon the world. He moves to the village of Raveloe, where he remains an outsider and an object of suspicion until an extraordinary sequence of events, including the theft of his gold and the appearance of a tiny, golden-haired child in his cottage, transforms his life. Part beautifully realized rural portraiture and part fairy tale, the
...8) Oliver Twist
Author
Series
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Description
Born and raised in the appalling deprivation of a Victorian-era London workhouse, the orphan Oliver escapes the drudgery of apprenticeship only to fall into the hands of the notorious Fagin and his gang of child thieves. But Oliver is an innocent at heart and the attempts by Fagin and the impudently witty Artful Dodger to teach the boy the trick of the pick-pocket's trade lead only to his almost immediate capture. Oliver's rescue by the kindly Mr....
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
When the miller Mr. Tulliver becomes entangled in lawsuits, he sets off a chain of events that will profoundly affect the lives of his family and bring into conflict his passionate daughter Maggie with her inflexible but adored brother Tom. As she grows older, Maggie's discovery of romantic love draws her once more into a struggle to reconcile familial and moral claims with her own desires. Strong-willed, compassionate, and intensely loyal, Maggie...
Author
Series
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Description
"First published in 1886 as a 'shilling shocker, ' 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' takes the basic struggle between good and evil and adds to the mix bourgeois respectability, urban violence, and class conflict. The result is a tale that has taken on the force of myth in the popular imagination. This Broadview edition provides a selection of contextual material, including contemporary reviews of the novel, Stevenson's essay 'A Chapter on Dreams, ' and excerpts...
11) The warden
Author
Series
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
Reverend Septimus Harding is warden of the alms-house at Barchester providing charity for twelve of the town's neediest and an income for himself to the town's way of thinking. John Bold, even though he is in love with the Reverend's daughter, decides to look into this apparent misuse of church funds.
12) Hard times
Author
Series
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"Hard Times is perhaps the archetypal Dickens novel, full as it is with family difficulties, estrangement, rotten values and unhappiness. It was published in 1854 and it is the story of the family of Thomas Gradgrind, and occurs in the imaginary Coketown, an industrial city inspired by Preston. Gradgrind is a man obsessed with misguided 'Utilitarian' values that make him trust facts, statistics and practicality more than emotion and is based upon...
13) Bleak House
Author
Series
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Description
Bleak House, Dickens's most daring experiment in the narration of a complex plot, challenges the reader to make connections - between the fashionable and the outcast, the beautiful and the ugly, the powerful and the victims. Nowhere in Dickens's later novels is his attack on an uncaring society more imaginatively embodied, but nowhere either is the mixture of comedy and angry satire more deftly managed. Bleak House defies a single description. It...
14) Jude the obscure
Author
Series
Language
English
Formats
Description
Thomas Hardy's deterministic art achieves fanatic intensity and raw perfection in the characterization of Jude Fawley, an impoverished stone mason who aspires to the ministry. Throughout his agonized existence, the cloistered halls and facades of Christminister--where Jude wishes to study--tempt and mock him to rid himself of ignorance. His failure to fulfill the expectations of either of the two women he loves, and the violent deaths of his children...
15) Cranford
Author
Language
English
Description
Cranford, in 1842, is a market town in northwest England. It is a place governed by etiquette, custom and above all, an intricate network of ladies. It seems that life has always been conducted according to their social rules. For spinsters Deborah Jenkyns, the arbiter of correctness, and Matty, her demurring sister, the town is a hub of intrigue. Handsome new doctor Frank Harrison has arrived from London; a retired Captain and his daughters move...
Author
Series
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Description
It's Christmastime in London, and overworked Bob Cratchit and his family, including poorly Tiny Tim, find joy and cheer even in poverty. Meanwhile Bob's boss, the selfish, miserly old Ebenezer Scrooge, is deeply bitter about the festive season. However, when Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, the error of his ways is revealed with haunting clarity. Dickens's timeless classic, which has popularised phrases...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
A writer travels to a fishing village to complete her book and becomes close friends with many residents including her popular housemate, Mrs. Almira Todd. Throughout her stay, the writer is, inundated with personal stories from her colorful neighbors. In The Country of the Pointed Firs, a Boston native travels to a small Maine town called Dunnet Landing. She finds room and board with an older woman named Almira Todd, a widow and local herbalist....
Author
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Coming-of-age
OBD Audiobook Classics - Adult
OBD Christmas Chapter/ Nonfiction Books - Youth
OBD Oprah's Book Club - Adult
OBD Audiobook Classics - Adult
OBD Christmas Chapter/ Nonfiction Books - Youth
OBD Oprah's Book Club - Adult
Description
"Great Expectations is among the most masterful of Charles Dickens's novels. Displaying extraordinary tragicomic range, Dickens blends an atmosphere of brooding violence and guilt with sharp and often disturbing humor to create a drama charged with the thrilling intensity of a detective story and the poignancy of a spiritual autobiography. Much of the novel's power comes from Dickens's unequaled skill at making even the most wildly eccentric of characters...
Author
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Description
"Wilde's 'trivial play for serious people', a sparkling comedy of manners, is the epitome of wit and style. This brilliantly constructed satire with its celebrated characters and much-quoted dialogue turns accepted ideas inside out and is generally regarded as Wilde's masterpiece. This Methuen Drama Student Edition of the play includes commentary and notes by Lucie Sutherland, Assistant Professor in Drama at the University of Nottingham, UK, which...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
"Michael Henchard is an out-of-work hay-trusser who gets drunk at a local fair and impulsively sells his wife Susan and baby daughter. Eighteen years later Susan and her daughter seek him out, only to discover that he has become the most prominent man in Casterbridge. Henchard attempts to make amends for his youthful misdeeds but his unchanged impulsiveness clouds his relationships in love as well as his fortunes in business. Although Henchard is...
Didn't find it?
Can't find what you are looking for? Suggest a purchase. Submit Request