Fiction

Gibran's masterpiece has furnished individuals the world over with words of joy or consolation on occasions of birth, marriage, death and all of life's other milestones. The concise and deeply profound discourses cover a whole range of topics on life and the human condition, including love, children, work, delight and sorrow, reason and passion, self-knowledge, freedom, pleasure and beauty. Sta

A masterful mix of horror and absurdity which tells the story of travelling salesman Samsa, who wakes up one day to find out he has turned into a giant insect. Kafka's novella has been adapted for film and television a number of times, most recently for radio when BBC's Radio 4 broadcast the story, read by Benedict Cumberbatch, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its first publication. ABOUT

The festive traditions that sprang up in Victorian times are often attributed in part to the Christmas stories of Charles Dickens and their evocative depictions of nineteenth-century life. This collection brings together five of Dickens' best-known Christmas stories: the universally loved 'A Christmas Carol', as well as 'The Chimes', 'The Cricket on theHearth', 'The Battle of Life', and 'The Hau

Anton Chekhov's short stories were some of the most influential in modern literature. Relying on subtlety and clever characterisation rather than explicit action, his sketches of Russian life bring out comedy, tragedy and all aspects of human nature. This collection features some of Chekhov's most celebrated stories, including 'Vanka', 'The Lady with a Dog' and 'Sleepy'. ABOUT THE SERIES: The A

Including the story that inspired the classic movie starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine, these nine dramatic tales demonstrate Kiplingâ€s mastery of the short story and ability to create believable characters and settings, in Britain and the subcontinent.

Jim was first mate on the Patna, when the ship and passengers were abandoned by the crew in the Red Sea. Accused of cowardice, Jim immerses himself in work on a remote colonial trading post yet, despite the locals†high regard for him, the guilt of the Patna remains.

Set in Dublin in the 1900s, Joyce's autobiographical novel follows Stephen Daedalus from childhood, through adolescent crises and disillusionments to the realization of his vocation as a poet and the decision to leave Ireland.

The Yellow Wallpaper, first published in January 1892, is regarded as an important piece of American feminist literature, illustrating attitudes in the 19th century toward women's health, both physical and mental. It explores key issues imposed by the patriarchal society and paved the way for other leading feminist writers; Sylvia Plath and Alice Walker. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classics

Published in 1920, This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. It follows the story of protagonist Amory Blaine as he attends Princeton University and later serves in the army in World War 1, whilst exploring the themes of love corrupted by greed and status seeking. As a result of the success of this novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald successfully won over and consequently married h

The publication of this masterpiece of realism gave rise to an obscenity trial in 1857, which earned Flaubert an acquittal, and established Emma Bovary as one of literature's greatest characters. The eponymous Emma is a victim of the smug, self-deluding French bourgeoisie that Flaubert despised. Trapped in a marriage to a second-rate provincial doctor, she escapes the suffocating confines of her

When shy Fanny Price arrives at Mansfield Park to live with her cousins, she is overwhelmed and only put at ease by her cousin, Edmund Bertram, whom she soon comes to love. But Edmund's head is turned by the beautiful Mary Crawford and she and her brother Henry spark a series of romantic entanglements that lead the Bertram family to the brink of social disaster. It becomes apparent to Fanny that

Edith Wharton's novella Ethan Frome (1911) is a classic of American literature. A young girl, Mattie Silver is hired to keep house on the bleak New England farm belonging to Ethan Frome and his sickly wife Zeena, who is her cousin. Mattie completely captures Ethan's heart but the would-be lovers are kept apart by the spiteful Zeena, who then banishes the girl without warning. Before she leaves,

Vanity Fair follows the lives of Becky Sharp and Emmy Sedley amid their friends and families during and after the Napoleonic Wars. It was first published as a 19-volume monthly serial from 1847 to 1848 and is a satirisation of early 19th-century British society. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality paperback editions of classics works, presented with conte