Classic fiction

Four of Charles Dickens’s most enduring and popular works in one volume.Oliver Twist. Pip. The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. The characters of Charles Dickens live on in our imaginations long after we’ve read his renowned works of social...

“It doesn't matter if you're born in a duck yard, so long as you are hatched from a swan's egg!”—Hans Christian Andersen, “The Ugly Duckling.”Fairy tales are timeless treasures passed from generation to generation, and few are as beloved as those of...

An easily understood reference guide to the deities of Greek and Roman mythology.Stories of Gods and Heroes, originally published in 1855, is the first of three works that make up Bulfinch's Mythology, by Thomas Bulfinch. A useful and concise guide to...

Curl up with this collection of classic scary stories from the masters of the genre.With dozens of stories of the macabre, fantastic, and supernatural, Classic Horror Tales is sure to keep readers on the edges of their seats. This collection of works by...

A fine collection of classic novels, short stories, poems, and essays from distinguished women writers.Women writers have been making their voices heard for centuries, but their works were not always taken seriously. Over time, as women gained more...

Blast off into the unknown with this collection of ten classical works of science fiction and fantasy.Long before we ventured into outer space or explored the most remote regions of the planet, writers have spun stories of what might lie in those unknown...

Scurry down the rabbit hole and step through the looking glass with this luxurious compilation of works from Lewis Carroll.  Don’t be late--it’s a very important date!Witty, whimsical, and often nonsensical, the fiction of Lewis Carroll has been...

Let your imagination sink deep into more than a dozen classic tales of dark horror by H. P. Lovecraft.The stories of H. P. Lovecraft have been a source of fascination for readers since they were published in the early twentieth century, and legions of...

No library's complete without the classics! This new, enhanced leather-bound edition collects the greatest works of Robert Louis Stevenson, whose stories of excitement and adventure will never be forgotten.He wrote stories of chance and peril, pirates...

Dr James Earle and his wife live in comfortable seclusion near the Hog's Back, a ridge in the North Downs in the beautiful Surrey countryside. When Dr Earle disappears from his cottage, Inspector French is called in to investigate. At first he suspects a...

'Already it looked as if the police were up against a carefully planned and cleverly executed murder, and, what was more, a murder without a corpse!' Two brothers, John and William Rother, live together at Chalklands Farm in the beautiful Sussex Downs...

Quick Curtain is a witty detective story, originally published in 1934. It is one among many books that enjoyed brief popularity during the "Golden Age of murder" between the two world wars but subsequently fell out of sight. The author, Alan Melville,...

'There's more crime going on in Carey's Circus than in the whole underworld of London. Theft, immorality, blackmail - you'll find all the pretties here.'Seven Bengal tigers are the star attraction of Carey's Circus. Their trainer is the fearless Anton,...

'Mr Wills Crofts is deservedly a first favourite with all who want a real puzzle' - Times Literary Supplement 'He always manages to give us something that really keeps us guessing' - Daily Mirror George Surridge, director of the Birmington Zoo, is a man...

A masquerade ball in a secluded abbey; a vendetta settled in the wine cellars of an Italian palazzo; a gloomy castle in a desolated landscape; the beating of a heart beneath the floorboards: the plots and settings of Poe's dark, mysterious tales continue...

With its fascinating mix of people - rich and poor, British and foreign, worthy and suspicious - London is a city where anything can happen. The possibilities for criminals and for the crime writer are endless. London has been home to many of fiction's...

Holidays offer us the luxury of getting away from it all. So, in a different way, do detective stories. This collection of vintage mysteries combines both those pleasures. From a golf course at the English seaside to a pension in Paris, and from a Swiss...

Today, translated crime fiction is in vogue - but this was not always the case. A century before Scandi noir, writers across Europe and beyond were publishing detective stories of high quality. Often these did not appear in English and they have been...

A man is forbidden to uncover the secret of the tower in a fairy-tale castle by the Rhine. A headless corpse is found in a secret garden in Paris - belonging to the city's chief of police. And a drowned man is fished from the sea off the Italian Riviera,...