Disappointed in friendship and love, and embittered by a false accusation, weaver Silas Marner retreats from the world with his loom, but soon finds his monastic existence forever changed by the arrival of an orphaned girl, whom he takes in and raises as his own daughter.

"John Milton's Paradise Lost, an epic poem on the clash between God and his fallen angel, Satan, is a profound meditation on fate, free will, and divinity, and one of the most, beautiful works in world literature. Extracted from the Modern Library's highly acclaimed The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton, this edition reflects up-to-date scholarship and includes a substantial introduction, fresh commentary, and other features - annotations...

Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four is the second novel in the Sherlock Holmes series, following the enormously successful novel A Study In Scarlet. With the mysterious disappearance of a British Indian army officer, a one-legged hooligan, a stolen treasure, and a nefarious pact between four con-men, this novel of revenge and love is an exquisite classic of crime fiction. In the infamous opening of the novel, Dr. Watson finds Sherlock Holmes in...

Brought up on a Normandy farm, convent-educated and an avid reader of sentimental novels, Emma Bovary longs for a life of luxury and high romance. She is married to a well-meaning but mediocre country doctor, but she is far from fulfilled. She seeks to escape her boredom through extravagant spending sprees and, eventually, adultery.

Dissatisfied with life in her rural Wisconsin life, 18-year-old Caroline "Sister Carrie" Meeber moves to Chicago to live with her sister and work in a shoe factory. It doesn't take long for her to realize that factory work is hard and dirty. After becoming ill and losing her job, Carrie is taken in by a rich, handsome man who pays for her apartment and finds her work as an actress. But Carrie soon finds another man to take care of her, who happens...

Harry Houdini (1874–1926), whose real name was Erik Weisz, was one of the most famous magicians and escapologists of all time. He was highly sceptical of the many claims made concerning psychic and paranormal phenomena, which were very popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He attended hundreds of séances for the purposes of his study, and never experienced one he believed genuine. In this book, published in 1924, he described...

Twelve-year-old Viviani Fedeler, proud resident of the New York Public Library, has her sights set on becoming a star reporter. She's thrilled when Miss Hutch announces a story contest where the winner gets their essay printed in the New York Times! But then Viviani gets her first-ever case of writer's block. As she struggles to find inspiration, the library is hit with a strange mystery involving overdue books, secret messages, and perhaps a spy...

"In honor of the bicentennial of Henry David Thoreau's birth, this edition of Walden features an introduction and annotations by renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben. 'We need to understand that when Thoreau sat in the dooryard of his cabin 'from sunrise till noon, rapt in a revery, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the birds sang around or flitted noiseless through the house,' he was offering counsel and example exactly suited for our...