Harperperennial Classics: 218 books

While visiting Rome with their daughters, two middle-aged women reminisce about their romantic rivalry for the dashing Delphin Slade. Although Mrs. Slade admits to falsifying the letter that led to her eventual marriage to Slade, Mrs. Ansley holds her own secret regarding the gentleman. Written...

Roughing it in the Bush is the compelling true story of pioneer Susanna Moodie’s experience immigrating to Canada with her sister, Catharine Parr Traill, in the 1830s. Moodie’s narrative is a frank, sometimes humorous, portrayal of life in the Canadian wild, capturing the physical demands of homesteading...

Resonant with themes of love, loneliness, and death, the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe continues to appeal to modern readers more than 150 years after his death. This edition of The Raven and Other Poems is the work of a master, and includes “The Raven,” “Lenore,” “Annabel Lee.” One of the...

The lives of Henry Johnson, an African-American coachman, and Jimmie Trescott, the son of Henry’s employer, are irretrievably and tragically altered by a fire at the Trescott home. Although Henry saves Jimmie, Henry becomes disfigured in mind and body by an explosion in the doctor’s lab. In...

The Loss of the S.S. Titantic is Lawrence Beesley’s compelling first-person account of the tragic sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic on its maiden voyage in April 1912. Published amid the continued media frenzy a scant nine weeks following the tragedy, The Loss of the S.S. Titanic draws on Beesley’s...

After fighting in the trenches during the First World War, Captain Chris Baldry returns home a different man. Shell-shocked and finding it difficult to cope, Captain Baldry’s mental trauma takes a toll on both himself and the family who anxiously awaited his safe return. The Return of the...

Throughout the turbulent period of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, the fortunes and futures of the prominent Bolkonsky, Rostov, Bezukhov, Kuragin, and Drubetskoy families are affected by their allegiances and alliances. Intertwining a historical account of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia with...

With a kiss, a sleeping princess is awakened from her cursed sleep. Charles Perrault’s “The Sleeping Beauty” and the Brothers Grimm’s “Little Briar Rose” tell the tale of a beautiful princess and a peaceful kingdom that fall under the spell of a jealous fairy bent on revenge. The...

Beginning with her original incarnation as Snowdrop, the character of Snow White has enchanted readers young and old for countless generations. Snow White and Other Classic Princess Stories brings together “Snowdrop” (the original version of “Snow White”) by the Brothers Grimm with other classic...

Beginning with their first stories published in 1812, fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm have delighted, terrified, and inspired generations of readers. Grimm's Fairy Tales brings together many of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s best-known and loved works, including “Rapunzel,” “Hansel and Gretel,”...

Mr. Duffy is a bank cashier and recluse living in Dublin, who purposely avoids contact with other people—until he meets Mrs. Sinico at a concert. While Mr. Sinico believes their relationship to be purely platonic, Mrs. Sinico indicates otherwise. Critically acclaimed author James Joyce’s...

A boy who has become close to a priest, Father Flynn, is told of the priest’s death at dinner by his family. After dinner, the boy’s anguish over the priest’s death leads to a night of terrible dreams. Critically acclaimed author James Joyce’s Dubliners is a collection of short stories...

Oscar Wilde’s adaptation of the biblical story delves into Salome’s character and motivations when she requests the head of John the Baptist as a reward after dancing the dance of the seven veils. To her mother, Herodias’s delight, Salomé’s father, Herod, finds he must grant her this request. Originally...

A nightingale selflessly sacrifices herself to help a young student win the love of his professor’s daughter, but both the professor’s daughter and the young student prove unworthy of her sacrifice. Victorian author Oscar Wilde is known both as a playwright and prose author. Among his most...