When a bumbling holy man mistakenly baptizes a colony of penguins, God endows the animals with souls and their formerly peaceful community declines into a maelstrom of violence and sin. This witty allegory lampoons French history from ancient to modern times, taking satirical swipes at socialists, royalists, industrialists, militarists, and even the Dreyfus affair, and concluding with a remarkably prescient view of the future. Indeed, more than a...

Jennie Gerhardt (1911) is a novel by Theodore Dreiser. Controversial for its honest depiction of work, desire, and urban life, Jennie Gerhardt has endured as a classic of naturalist fiction and remains a powerful example of social critique over a century after its publication. Originally titled The Transgressor, the novel was shelved by Dreiser following a nervous breakdown in 1903. Controversial upon publication, Jennie Gerhardt has been largely...

First published in 1923, "A Lost Lady" by American author and Pulitzer-prize winner Willa Cather, is the story of the lovely and enigmatic Marian Forrester and her life in the Western American town of Sweet Water. The novel is told from the perspective of her young neighbor, Niel Herbert, and he begins by recalling the early days when Marian was a young, aristocratic bride newly arrived in the prairie town and adored by her pioneering husband, Captain...

From America's favorite storyteller: A rich selection of twenty-five tales by the author of "The Gift of the Magi." Writing under the pseudonym O. Henry, William Sydney Porter was an incredibly prolific and popular master of the short story in the early twentieth century. His stories are known for being witty, playful, full of plot twists, and marked by surprise endings. The author had a special fondness for New York City and a deep interest and appreciation...

First published in 1842, "Dead Souls" is the story of Chichikov, a young middle-class gentleman who comes to a small town in Russia with a dubious plan to improve his wealth and position in life. He begins by spending beyond his means on the premise that he can impress the local officials and gain standing and connections in the community. At the heart of his plan is the idea of acquiring "dead souls" or more explicitly serfs of landowners who have...

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner is a novel by the Scottish author James Hogg, published anonymously in 1824. Considered by turns part-gothic novel, part-psychological mystery, part-metafiction, part-satire, part-case study of totalitarian thought, it can also be thought of as an early example of modern crime fiction, in which the story is told, for the most part, from the point of view of its criminal anti-hero. The action...

Captain MacWhirr cannot fathom anything outside the facts of his own life. His first mate, Mr. Jukes, is the perfect contrast as an imaginative man prone to speaking in figurative language. Though they are opposites, MacWhirr and Jukes respect each other and run a tight ship, until the crew notices the barometer predicting a serve storm. Jukes and the crew suggest alternate paths to MacWhirr, but he is unconvinced. Since MacWhirr has not experienced...

An "adventurous ... intelligent ... ingenious" novel of crime and punishment in pre-World War II London (V. S. Pritchett). During a demonstration in Hyde Park, Communist bus driver Jim Drover acts on instinct to protect his wife by stabbing to death the policeman set to strike her down. Sentenced to hang -- whether as a martyr, tool, or murderer -- Drover accepts his lot, unaware that the ramifications for the crime, and the battle for his reprieve,...

Dodsworth depicts the unraveling marriage of a wealthy American industrialist and his spoiled wife as they travel through Europe, and explores the contrasts between European cultural tradition and American commercialism.

A dozen astonishing mysteries from the case files of scientific detective Craig Kennedy Whenever the New York City police department encounters a mystery so strange it seems impossible to solve, they head to Columbia University in search of Professor Craig Kennedy. When he's not lecturing students on the science of chemistry, Kennedy uses his superlative intellect and his facility with the latest technological advancements to capture the city's most...