"The greatest writer of his time."-Edmund Wilson "One of the great poets of the novel, a genius of his art"-Edgar Johnson "His characters are marvelous, his insights wonderful…you don't expect reality but you get something bigger and better."-Ruth Rendell The Old Curiosity Shop was initially published in a weekly serial, "Master Humphrey's Clock", between 1840 and 1841. Charles Dickens' story of the frail and innocent orphan had become such...

The first installment of the French author's multivolume autobiographical novel, originally published in 1913, in which he recalls his childhood and first infatuation.

The Red and the Black, by Stendhal, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: • New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars • Biographies of the authors • Chronologies of contemporary...

Following the dramatic romance of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte intended Shirley to be a 'salutary' change. Set in Yorkshire during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, the novel articulates the social realities of economic hardship, the Luddite riots, dissatisfaction with the government and an inadequate Church. In the foreground of these concerns, a mill-owner, Robert Moore, in pursuit of financial security, ignores the suffering of his workers to such...

Set against the serene backdrop of the Russian countryside, Fathers and Sons is the story of Arcady Kirsanov, a young man who returns from college to his father's country manor with his radical friend Bazarov in tow. Behind Bazarov's chilling intellect hides a heart of compassion and kindness -- a heart that will unwittingly change the Kirsanovs' lives forever.

Written when women-and workers generally-had few rights in England, Agnes Grey exposes the brutal inequities of the rigid class system in mid-nineteenth century Britain. Agnes comes from a respectable middle-class family, but their financial reverses have forced her to seek work as a governess. Pampered and protected at home, she is unprepared for the harsh reality of a governess's life. At the Bloomfields and later the Murrays, she suffers under...

"A ... full-color guide to Midwestern culture from comedian and journalist Charlie Berens, creator of the viral comedic series 'The Manitowoc Minute'"--

His final and greatest work, Dostoyevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published serially in The Russian Messenger from January 1879 to November 1880. Set against a modernizing 19th-century Russia, the characters experience moral struggles of faith, judgment, and reason amid a patricidal murder which forms the center of the plot. The novel is full of ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. Dostoyevsky...

Describes how the culture of Egypt is reflected in its many festivals, including Eid, Moulid el-Nabi, and Sham el-Nessim.

"Life on the Mississippi is no ordinary guided tour, for every page is expressive of the structure, style and high humor that is the very essence of Twain. Spiced with Twain's pungent observations and commentaries on the culture and society of the great river valley, this book is a wonderful collection of lively anecdotes, tall-tales, and character sketches; historical facts and information; and reminiscences of the author's boyhood and his adventures...