Harperperennial Classics: 218 books

Tom Kernan has fallen and injured himself in a pub after a large amount of drinking, which is not unusual for him. His friend, Mr. Power, finds him and helps him home to his wife. Once home, he is bedridden for a few days, and visited by his friends who make plans to take him on a Catholic retreat. Critically...

Peyton Farquhar, a confederate sympathizer, stands to be hanged for his role in a plot to demolish Owl Creek Bridge. As he awaits death, Farquhar considers the possibility of escape—the chances of slipping his bonds, swimming to safety, and returning to his family. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek...

Jimmy Doyle, a college student, is well-connected and has many wealthy friends. He enjoys the glamorous company, and his parents are proud. At dinner one evening, Jimmy and his friend entertain an English nobleman named Routh. After much drinking they decide to play a few hands and gamble, and although...

When the king of Denmark suddenly dies, his brother, Claudius, ascends the throne and marries the king’s widow, Gertrude, to solidify his reign. Prince Hamlet, sullen after his father’s passing and mother’s sudden remarriage, soon learns the treacherous truth about his father’s death, and...

Reflecting the ideals of the Lost Cause literary movement—which aimed to celebrate the culture of the American South following the American Civil War—Thomas Nelson Page’s short story, “Marse Chan: The Tale of Old Virginia” paints an idyllic vision of plantation life prior to the outbreak...

A wounded German officer, Count Psanek, shares his philosophies on life and love with a local acquaintance, Lady Daphne, while interned in London during the final months of the First World War. Lady Daphne finds herself alternately attracted and repulsed by the Count, and when her husband returns...

The Passionate Pilgrim is a collection of poems and sonnets that were attributed to William Shakespeare upon their publication, though it is unclear which of them were truly written by the bard. Three of the poems contained in The Passionate Pilgrim were originally written for Shakespeare’s play...

When an illegitimate shepherd is revealed as the only heir to a unnamed country, the truth of the young boy’s coronation regalia is revealed to him through three nightmares. With this in mind, the new king fashions a new coronation costume. Victorian author Oscar Wilde is known both as a...

A compilation of letters originally written to her mother over the course of two and a half years, Catharine Parr Traill’s The Backwoods of Canada is an intimate and telling look at pioneer life in Upper Canada. Originally published in 1836, Traill’s memoir details her journey with genuine...

Maria, a laundress, is an older, unmarried woman with plans to attend her former foster child’s Halloween celebration. On her way to the party, Maria is reminded of her “old maid” status, and during one of the party’s games further confirms her marital future when choosing a lump of clay over...

In San Francisco, three physicians discuss man’s hereditary, and superstitious, fear of the dead. Dr. Mancher wonders if it is, indeed, universal. Dr. Helberson says it is; it is all a matter of circumstance. And what would happen if a man were locked up with a corpse overnight? HarperPerennial...

A rich merchant, Simone, discovers that his wife, Bianca, is having an affair with a prince named Guido Bardi. Incensed by the indignity visited upon him by the prince, Simone challenges his rival to a duel. Although Oscar Wilde’s A Florentine Tragedy was left incomplete, the story about...

After attending a wedding, a man is reminded of a Christmas party that he had been invited to years before. At the party, the man found himself isolated from most of the conversation, so began watching the other guests and the children as he idled. Soon, he witnessed an event that will eventually...

On a warm afternoon in the fall of 1861 Carter Druse is on picket duty on top of a cliff overlooking a valley where five regiments of the Union army are resting. The enemy is near, and the Union force means to surprise them in the night unless “accident or vigilance” forewarns them. Druse...