Fiction

Jules Verne's classic work, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, has been adapted at least three times as a film and also for television. The story of Professor Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel and their guide Hans venturing into the Icelandic volcano if Snaefellsjökull and encountering a weird underground world that is full of prehistoric animals and other phenomena before reaching the earth's surfac

Jane Austen's classic tale of love overcoming preconceptions centres on the two eldest daughters of the Bennet family: Jane and Elizabeth. Elizabeth has to fend off an unwelcome offer of marriage from the Rev. Collins, while mistakenly falling for the charms of the dashing Mr Wickham, before realising that appearances are deceptive and that her prejudice against Mr Darcy has blinded her to his r

Written in an epistolary format, Dracula recalls the experiences of a young lawyer called Jonathan Harker, who pays a visit to Count Dracula on the border of Transylvania to deal with the purchase of some property. After Harker leaves Dracula's castle, having nearly been the victim of vampires, a Russian ship runs aground off Whitby and the captain's log details the gradual disappearance of the

Oliver Twist sent out shock waves when it appeared in 1838. With a half-starved orphan for a hero, it was Dickens' first attempt to rouse the public conscience over the social evils of the day. The adventures of the innocent Oliver - from workhouse to London's underworld, and how he was rescued - is one of Dickens' most popular stories.

Heart of Darkness tells the story of Charlie Marlowe, who takes a steamboat on a voyage into the heart of Africa. His mission is to relieve an ivory agent named Kurtz, who has been taken ill at a remote trading station. Marlowe's eyes are opened wide as he witnesses acts of cruelty on his journey and when he meets Kurtz, he is forced to examine his own values and views of humanity. In addition t

Frankenstein is considered to be one of the earliest examples of science fiction. Written by Mary Shelley it tells the story of scientist Victor Frankenstein and the catastrophic consequences of his attempts to create a perfect new being by activating a group of body parts with an electrical charge. The hideous monster that is born of Frankenstein's experiment wreaks havoc when it realises that

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in a friend's copy of Tender Is the Night, "If you liked The Great Gatsby, for God's sake read this. Gatsby was a tour de force but this is a confession of faith.

Jane Eyre recounts the story of a governess who, having suffered during childhood both at her aunt's house and then at school, finds herself falling for her new employer, Mr Rochester. But Mr Rochester and his home are not all they seem and when secrets come to light, Jane is forced to abandon all her hopes and dreams. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality

Albeit that she is not yet 21, Emma Woodhouse foresees a future as a spinster dabbling in matchmaking. Charming and infuriating, she almost ruins the marriage prospects of Harriet Smith, her protégée, after misguidedly attempting to match Harriet with the local rector, who is in fact in search of a wealthy wife. Reprimanded by her friend, George Knightly, and misled by Frank Crawford, whom she s

Northanger Abbey is the light-hearted account of a young girl's first excursion into fashionable society. While in Bath, Catherine Morland is invited by Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor to visit their home, Northanger Abbey. A devotee of Gothic novels, Catherine hopes that the Abbey will live up to her vision of haunted ruins. This delightful novel pokes fun at the popular fiction of its day

Rodion Raskolnikov is a radical, impoverished former student, who decides to see if he can commit the perfect crime and sets out to murder an unscrupulous pawnbroker and ends up murdering her sister as well. Filled with remorse (at which he is somewhat surprised), Raskolnikov is also plagued by the appearance of the detective looking to solve the crime, Porfiry, as well as the visit to St Peters

One of the most popular characters of Victorian fiction, Sherlock Holmes returns here to take on his arch-enemy, Moriarty, in a collection of stories first published in The Strand Magazine between 1903 and 1904. This volume contains 13 classic detective stories featuring the iconic detective. ABOUT THE SERIES: Arcturus Essential Sherlock Holmes presents Arthur Conan Doyle's best-loved Holmes s

Once upon a time the brothers Grimm published a scholarly collection of folk tales, but only when they rewrote them for children did the Fairy Tales become popular. In addition to accusations of violence that led to more sanitized versions of the Tales than this 1884 translation