A sensitive and moving portrait of life and manners in an English country village during the 1830s, Cranford recounts the events and activities in the lives of a group of spinsters and widows who struggle in genteel poverty to maintain their standards of propriety, decency, and kindness. Unabridged republication of a standard edition.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy A ne'er-do-well exploits his gentle daughter's beauty for social advancement in this tragic masterpiece. Hardy's 1891 novel defied convention to focus on the rural lower class for a frank treatment of sexuality and religion.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontė Somber tale of consuming passions and vengeance — played out amid the lonely English moors — recounts the turbulent and tempestuous love story of Cathy and Heathcliff. Poignant and compelling.
The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett A classic of American fiction, memorializing the traditions, manners and dialect of Maine coast natives at the turn of the 20th century, and presenting a warm, humorous and compassionate vision of New England character.
Silas Marner by George Eliot Classic of English literature recounts the engrossing story of a lonely and embittered old man and the orphaned child who helps him find love and hope.
