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The Way of All Flesh
By Samuel Butler. 2012
With an essay by V. S. Pritchett.'The greater part of every family is always odious; if there are one or…
two good ones in a very large family, it is as much as can be expected'Written with great humour, irony and honesty, The Way of All Flesh exploded perceptions of the Victorian middle-class family in its radical depiction of Ernest Pontifex, a young man who casts off his background and discovers himself. The awkward but likeable son of a tyrannical clergyman and a priggish mother, and destined to follow his father into the church, Ernest gleefully rejects his parents' respectability, and chooses instead to find his own way in the world.The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.The Way of All Flesh
By Samuel Butler. 1966
'I am the enfant terrible of literature and science. If I cannot, and I know I cannot, get the literary…
and scientific big-wigs to give me a shilling, I can, and I know I can, heave bricks into the middle of them.' With The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler threw a subversive brick at the smug face of Victorian domesticity. Published in 1903, a year after Butler's death, the novel is a thinly disguised account of his own childhood and youth 'in the bosom of a Christian family'. With irony, wit and sometimes rancour, he savaged contemporary values and beliefs, turning inside-out the conventional novel of a family's life through several generations.Waverley
By Walter Scott. 2007
Set against the backdrop of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, Waverley depicts the story of Edward Waverley, an idealistic daydreamer…
whose loyalty to his regiment is threatened when they are sent to the Scottish Highlands. When he finds himself drawn to the charismatic chieftain Fergus Mac-Ivor and his beautiful sister Flora, their ardent loyalty to Prince Charles Edward Stuart appeals to Waverley's romantic nature and he allies himself with their cause - a move that proves highly dangerous for the young officer. Scott's first novel was a huge success when it was published in 1814 and marked the start of his extraordinary literary success. With its vivid depiction of the wild Highland landscapes and patriotic clansmen, Waverley is a brilliant evocation of the old Scotland - a world Scott believed was swiftly disappearing in the face of a new, modern era.Waverley
By Sir Walter Scott. 2014
Read the first historical novel - this tale of romance and adventure during the 1745 Jacobite rebellion will stir the…
blood and warm the heart. King George is on the throne, but there are those in Scotland who swear loyalty to the Stuart heir, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and are prepared to stake his claim in conflict and bloodshed. Young Edward Waverley is caught in the middle: son of a Hanoverian yet nephew and heir to a Jacobite, a captain in the King's army yet drawn to the brave Highlanders and their romantic history. Edward must choose where his loyalties lie, even as his heart is torn between gentle Rose Brawardine, and the passionate, principled Flora Mac-Ivor. ‘Waverley is the first great historical novel and should be ranked alongside Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma or Tolstoy's War and Peace’ IndependentWaterloo (Penguin Little Black Classics)
By Victor Hugo. 1976
'Brave Frenchmen, will you not surrender?' Cambronne answered, 'Merde!'A tense, dramatic account of the Battle of Waterloo - and how…
a rain shower changed history - from Victor Hugo's epic novel Les Misérables.One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.The Water Babies
By Charles Kingsley. 1995
When Tom, an ill-treated little chimney-sweep, jumps into a clear, cool stream to clean himself something magical happens; he is…
turned into a tiny water baby by the fairies. He enters a strange, magical underwater world, and travels beyond the world's end to the other end-of-nowhere, getting into all sorts of scrapes and encountering creatures beautiful and frightening along the way. He also learns many important lessons - it is a voyage of discovery that Tom will never forget.Washington Square (The Penguin English Library)
By Henry James. 2012
"Why, you must take me or leave me ... You can't please your father and me both; you must choose…
between us"When timid and plain Catherine Sloper acquires a dashing and determined suitor, her father, convinced that the young man is nothing more than a fortune-hunter, decides to put a stop to their romance. Torn between her desire to win her father's love and approval and her passion for the first man who has ever declared his love for her, Catherine faces an agonising dilemma, and becomes all too aware of the restrictions that others seek to place on her freedom. James's masterly novel deftly interweaves the public and private faces of nineteenth-century New York society; it is also a deeply moving study of innocence destroyed.The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.Washington Square
By Henry James. 2007
When timid and plain Catherine Sloper acquires a dashing and determined suitor, her father, convinced that the young man is…
nothing more than a fortune-hunter, decides to put a stop to their romance. Torn between her desire to win her father’s love and approval and her passion for the first man who has ever declared his love for her, Catherine faces an agonising dilemma, and becomes all too aware of the restrictions that others seek to place on her freedom. James’s masterly novel deftly interweaves the public and private faces of nineteenth-century New York society; it is also a deeply moving study of innocence destroyed.The Warden (The Penguin English Library)
By Anthony Trollope. 2012
With an essay by Robin Gilmour.'It was so hard that the pleasant waters of his little stream should be disturbed…
and muddied ... that his quiet paths should be made a battlefield: that the unobtrusive corner of the world which been allotted to him ... made miserable and unsound'Trollope's witty, satirical story of a quiet cathedral town shaken by scandal - as the traditional values of Septimus Harding are attacked by zealous reformers and ruthless newspapers - is a drama of conscience that pits individual integrity against worldly ambition. In The Warden Anthony Trollope brought the fictional county of Barsetshire to life, peopled by a cast of brilliantly realised characters that have made him among the supreme chroniclers of the minutiae of Victorian England.The first book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire.The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.The Warden
By Anthony Trollope. 2012
The first book in Anthony Trollope's Barchester Chronicles is a moving, insightful exploration of moral dilemmas fought in public and…
private. Mr Harding is a good man, the warden to an alms house which provides a peaceful home to twelve old men. The young and zealous John Bold is also a good man, but he believes he sees in Harding's comfortable existence an injustice which must be exposed. The law, the church and the self-righteous national press all have their say in the scandal that ensues, causing a crisis in the hearts and minds of many in the quiet country town of Barchester.‘An affecting and delicate short novel’ GuardianWard No. 6 and Other Stories, 1892-1895
By Anton Chekhov. 2002
These stories from the middle period of Chekhov's career show him exploring complex, ambiguous and often extreme emotions. Influenced by…
his own experiences as a doctor, 'Ward No. 6', set in a mental hospital, is a savage indictment of the medical profession. 'The Black Monk', portraying an academic who has strange hallucinations, explores ideas of genius and insanity; in 'Murder', religious fervour leads to violence; while in 'The Student', Chekhov's favourite story, a young man recounts a tale from the gospels and undergoes a spiritual epiphany. In all the stories collected here, Chekhov's characters face madness, alienation and frustration before they experience brief, ephemeral moments of insight, often earned at great cost, where they confront the reality of their existence.The War of the Worlds (The Penguin English Library)
By H. G. Wells. 1982
With an essay by John Huntington.'Death!' I shouted. 'Death is coming! Death!'In this pioneering, shocking and nightmarish tale, naïve suburban…
Londoners investigate a strange cylinder from space, but are instantly incinerated by an all-destroying heat-ray. Soon, gigantic killing machines that chase and feed on human prey are threatening the whole of humanity. A pioneering work of alien invasion fiction, The War of the World's journalistic style contrasts disturbingly with its horrifying visions of the human race under siege.The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.The War of the Worlds
By H. G. Wells. 2017
Read this stunning Vintage Classics edition of the original story of alien invasion from the father of science fiction, H.G.…
Wells.No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.Then, late one night, in the middle of the English countryside, they landed.The War in the Air
By H. G. Wells. 2005
Following the development of massive airships, naïve Londoner Bert Smallways becomes accidentally involved in a German plot to invade America…
by air and reduce New York to rubble. But although bombers devastate the city, they cannot overwhelm the country, and their attack leads not to victory but to the beginning of a new and horrific age for humanity. And so dawns the era of Total War, in which brutal aerial bombardments reduce the great cultures of the twentieth century to nothing. As civilization collapses around the Englishman, now stranded in a ruined America, he clings to only one hope - that he might return to London, and marry the woman he loves.War And Peace
By Leo Tolstoy. 1881
'A book that you don't just read, you live' Simon Schama Tolstoy's magnificent epic novel of love, conflict, fate and…
human life in all its imperfection and grandeurWar and Peace begins at a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805, where conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon's army marches on Russia, and the lives of three young people are changed forever. The stories of quixotic Pierre, cynical Andrey and impetuous Natasha interweave with a huge cast, from aristocrats and peasants to soldiers and Napoleon himself.Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Anthony Briggs with an Afterword by Orlando FigesWar and Peace
By Leo Tolstoy. 2015
This is the official tie-in edition to the BBC adaptation of War and Peace with an exclusive introduction written by…
Andrew Davies.Tolstoy’s beguiling masterpiece entwines love, death and determinism with Russia’s war with Napoleon and its effects on those swept up by the terror it brings. The lives of Pierre, Prince Andrei and Natasha are changed forever as conflict rages throughout the early nineteenth century. Following the rise and fall of some of society’s most influential families, this truthful and poignant epic is as relevant today as ever.This six part adaptation has been written by Bafta-winning author Andrew Davies and will be directed by Tom Harper (Peaky Blinders, The Scouting Book for Boys, Woman in Black: Angel of Death). Accompanied by a stellar cast including Paul Dano (12 Years a Slave, Prisoners, There Will Be Blood) as the idealistic Pierre, James Norton (Happy Valley, Belle, Grantchester) as the ambitious Prince Andrei and Lily James (Cinderella, Downton Abbey) as the impulsive beauty Natasha. It also features the legendary Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge, Harry Potter, Longford), Gillian Anderson (The Fall, The X-Files), Greta Scacchi (White Mischief, Presumed Innocent) and many more.The Wall: The pulse-pounding epic about the end times of an empire
By Douglas Jackson. 2022
AD 400. Rome and its Empire are failing . . .Veteran cavalry commander Marcus Flavius Victor sets out with his…
regiment to make what may be his final tour of the forts along Hadrian's Wall.Through a combination of military prowess, brutality and bribery, Marcus has spent twenty years keeping the savage Picts at bay. Feared by his enemies and hated by his superiors, his strength of will is the only thing that has held the disgruntled, poorly paid garrisons of the Wall in place as the failing Roman Empire's grip on Britannia weakened.Yet as this tour of the wall progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that this is more than a routine inspection. Why is Marcus stripping the defences of cavalry to strengthen his own force? Is he negotiating with the Picts - or conspiring with them? And who is the mysterious figure who follows Marcus' every move and yet hides in the shadows?Segeduno, Cilurno, Brocolitia, Vindolanda: each fort holds memories and friendships, hides rivals, or conceals enemies. But what exactly is Marcus Flavius Victor's ultimate objective? It would appear he is willing to risk bloody civil war in a bid to seize Britannia for himself? Or is he raising an army to save the province from the darkness that waits on the other side of the Wall?Hailed as one of our very best historical novelists, Douglas Jackson returns to the world of ancient Rome with this epic novel of a failing empire and a world on the brink . . .The Voyages of Sindbad
By N. J. Dawood. 1973
Seven voyages. Seven missions. Only one man has survived them.A poor man meets a great sailor and asks to hear…
his tale. He is amazed to be told of seven journeys to foreign lands, every one ending in shipwreck.As he listens, the traveller describes a flight on a giant bird, battles with foes including giant serpents, brutal cannibals and the murderous Old Man of the Sea, and the discovery of diamonds. Sindbad the Sailor has grown rich from his travels - but his path to fortune has been anything but easy...A Voyage to Arcturus (Penguin Science Fiction)
By David Lindsay. 2021
'Extraordinary' Philip PullmanFollowing one man's journey from earth to an alien landscape of ethereal beauty and existential terror, A Voyage…
to Arcturus is a profound questioning of the nature of evil. Dreamlike and philosophical, this landmark cult novel has influenced generations of writers.'That shattering, intolerable and irresistible work' C. S. Lewis'A Nietzschean Pilgrim's Progress ... Lindsay's engrossing book, a mixture of metaphysics and surreal dream-quest, stands as one of the great originals' GuardianThe Voyage Out
By Virginia Woolf. 1992
'A strange, tragic, inspired book ... It is absolutely unafraid' E. M. ForsterA party of English people are aboard the…
Euphrosyne, bound for South America. Among them is a young girl, Rachel Vinrace, innocent and wholly ignorant of the world of politics and society, books, sex, love and marriage. She is a free spirit half-caught, momentarily and passionately, by Terence Hewet, an aspiring writer, but her greatest discovery will be her own self. Virginia Woolf's first novel, published in 1915, is a haunting exploration of a young woman's mind, signalling the beginning of her fascination with capturing the mysteries and complexities of the inner life.Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Jane Wheare