The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas's most famous and enduring novel, completed its serial publication in the summer of 1844, and by the time of its book publication at the end of that year readers were already demanding a sequel. They got it starting in January, 1845, when the first chapters of Twenty Years After began to appear-but it wasn't quite what they were expecting. When Twenty Years After opens it is 1648: the Red Sphinx, Cardinal Richelieu,...

Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) is a novel by Charles Maturin. Written toward the end of Maturin's life, Melmoth the Wanderer was the author's fifth and most successful novel. Inspired by the story of the Wandering Jew and the Faustian legend, the novel is a powerful Gothic romance divided into nested stories, each one delving deeper into the mystery of Melmoth's life. Often interpreted for its criticisms of 19th century Britain and the Catholic Church,...

Knut Hamsun believed that modern literature should express the complexity of the human mind and nowhere is that philosophy more evident than in this stunning modern masterpiece, "Hunger." First published in 1890 in Norwegian and based on Hamsun's own experiences with poverty prior to his success as an author, "Hunger" tells the story of an unnamed vagrant who stumbles around the streets of Norway's capital city of Kristiania (now Oslo) looking for...

Nana, by Emile Zola, 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...

"Drawing on clinical research, stories from clients, and her own experience, an expert on religious trauma shows how readers can live as healing individuals after leaving a high-demand, high-control religious system"--

Jennie Gerhardt (1911) is a novel by Theodore Dreiser. Controversial for its honest depiction of work, desire, and urban life, Jennie Gerhardt has endured as a classic of naturalist fiction and remains a powerful example of social critique over a century after its publication. Originally titled The Transgressor, the novel was shelved by Dreiser following a nervous breakdown in 1903. Controversial upon publication, Jennie Gerhardt has been largely...

The Moon and Sixpence (1919) is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Inspired by the life of French painter Paul Gauguin, Maugham set out to capture, the disconnect between an artist's desire, to create and their obligations to their loved ones and society. Praised for its multifaceted portrayal of tortured genius and wasted talent, The Moon and Sixpence explores the distance between expectation and desire in a man whose decisions, however, hastily made,...

Uncovering a governmental conspiracy to frame a friend for murder puts David Balfour on the run and striving to protect the woman he's come to love. Released with the title David Balfour when originally released in the United States, Catriona is Robert Louis Stevenson's follow-up to Kidnapped. David Balfour, hero of both books, is made a target by his willingness to testify in favor of a friend falsely accused of murder. His stubborn sense of justice...

All's Well That Ends Well (1607) is a comedy by William Shakespeare. All's Well That Ends Well was likely inspired by the tale of Giletta di Narbona from Boccaccio's Decameron. Unpopular during Shakespeare's lifetime, the play remains one of his least staged works to this day. Despite this, scholars praise All's Well That Ends Well for its moral ambiguity. "The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together, our virtues would be proud...

When Paul Manning begins working as an engineer clerk for the railroad, he decides to move in with his mother's family on their farm. There, he is able to be closer to his job as the railroad paves the way for further industrialization of rural areas. While Paul is advancing in his career and settling in his new home, his attention is held by his cousin, Phillis. Paul and Phillis become quick friends and confidants. Worried for her, Paul keeps a close...