Classics: 3204 books

Stumbling upon some luggage that has been left behind in the hotel where he works, a waiter searches through it to identify its owner. He fails to discover this, but he does find, secreted away in different parts of the luggage, quite a number of stories. Impressed by their quality, he succeeds in...

Maugham spent the winter months of 1919-20 travelling 1500 miles up the Yangtze River. Always more interested in people than places, he gave full rein to a sensitive and philosophical nature. On a Chinese Screen is the refined accumulation of the countless scraps of paper on which he had taken notes....

If we were asked to name the most interesting country in the world, I suppose that most people would say Palestine—not because there is anything so very wonderful in the land itself, but because of all the great things that have happened there, and above all because of its having been the home of...

Paul Grayson walked the city street slowly. He was sauntering towards the spaceport, but he was in no hurry. He had allowed himself plenty of time to breathe the fresh spring air, to listen to the myriad of sounds made by his fellow men, and to revel in the grand freedom that being out in the open...

THE Pacific is inconstant and uncertain like the soul of man. Sometimes it is grey like the English Channel off Beachy Head, with a heavy swell, and sometimes it is rough, capped with white crests, and boisterous. It is not so often that it is calm and blue. Then, indeed, the blue is arrogant. The...

One of the most popular writers of Interwar Britain, W. Somerset Maugham earned vast sums as a playwright, novelist and master of the short story. His work is characterised by a clear unadorned style, cosmopolitan settings and a perceptive understanding of human nature. The novel ‘Of Human Bondage’...

With a single kiss, a young maid saves her beloved from the Snow Queen’s icy imprisonment. When splinters from an evil troll’s magic mirror get into the heart and eye of Kai, he is tricked into accompanying the Snow Queen to her palace, and only the innocence and kindness of Gerda’s heart can...

Classic tales of fairies and princesses, ducklings and dancing shoes from the master storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. All the best-loved fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, including “The Ugly Duckling,” “Thumbelina,” “The Red Shoes,” “The Princess on the Pea,” and “The...

Cherished by generations of readers, these classic fairy tales will hold a special place on your bookshelf. Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales are known for appealing characters who overcome adversity, making the stories accessible to readers of all ages. From "Thumbelina" and "The Princess...

Mary Shelley's "Matilda" - suppressed for over a century - tells the story of a woman alienated from society by the incestuous passion of her father.

When an eclectic group of pilgrims take turns telling tales while on the road to Canterbury Cathedral, the Clerk of Oxford, a learned man, sets out to tell a moral and educational story for his fellow pilgrims. He tells the tale of Griselda, a beautiful young peasant girl chosen by the marquis to...

Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work in fantasy published under the name Lord Dunsany. More than eighty books of his work were published, and his oeuvre includes hundreds of short stories, as well as successful plays,...

BOOK 2 IN THE INSPECTOR HANAUD SERIES, in which we again join Ricardo and Hanaud, this time in an ambiguous situation. A young, wealthy vagabond English man, Calladine, whom Ricardo knew before, hastily comes to Ricardo's London home in the morning, while Hanaud happens to be visiting. Calladine,...

Sir Thomas More was an English lawyer, philosopher, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He famously served as the Chancellor of England, being sentenced and beheaded for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. Today More is recognised as a saint by the Roman Catholic...