"There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive. The domesticated life of a powerful St. Bernard-Shepherd mix named Buck is quickly turned on end when he is stolen away from his master and put to work as a sled dog in Alaska. His once life of luxury turns into a life of survival...

This amply annotated edition of Wharton's 1911 classic novella includes textual notes and documents, including Wharton's preface, letters, reviews, and early short story, "Mrs. Manstey's View." It is accompanied by the editor's comprehensive introduction and a wide array of readings on topics central to the novella: tragedy, health and fitness, sex and marriage, and turn-of-the-century New England poverty and isolation. Of her twenty-five novels and...

After being injured during war, young naval officer Nevil Beauchamp is ordered to recover in Venice. With high ideals and big dreams, Nevil quickly falls in love with an energetic and intelligent young French woman named Renee de Croisnel. Though, Nevil dreams of marrying Renee, eloping and living a happy life with each other, Renee reject his advances. Instead, she marries a rich, elderly man. Heartbroken, Nevil returns to the navy with a new perspective....

As a boy Amory Blaine never has to think much about his future. Born into wealth, he spends his childhood traveling the country with his beloved socialite mother, relying on his intelligence and good looks to open doors. As Amory drifts from a pleasant if aimless childhood to a pleasant if aimless adulthood, he begins to crave something more than idle intellectual pursuits and love affairs; but determining what this something is amidst the bright,...

In this classic by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Age of Innocence, a mother’s past complicates her daughter’s future in 1920s New York.

Trapped in an unhappy marriage with a controlling husband, Kate Clephane began an affair with a wealthy man, only to lose her daughter, Anne, and be exiled from New York society. Years later, after their entanglement has ended, Kate meets Chris Fenno in France. Although

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"The quintessential novel of the Lost Generation, The Sun Also Rises is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild...

"A Farewell to Arms is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, set during the Italian campaign of World War I. First published in 1929, it is a first-person account of an American, Frederic Henry, serving as a lieutenant ("tenente") in the ambulance corps of the Italian Army. The title is taken from a poem by the 16th-century English dramatist George Peele. The novel, set against the backdrop of World War I, describes a love affair between the...

The Last of the Mohicans is the second andmost popular of James Fenimore Cooper's five Leatherstocking Tales. Set in 1757 during the fierce French and Indian wars, Cooper's classic novel of adventure follows an adroit scout and his companion as they weave through the lush and spectacular wilderness of upstate New York, fighting to save the beautiful daughters of a fort commander from a treacherous Huron renegade. With its death-defying chases and...

Ernest Hemingway's first new book of fiction, since the publication of A Farewell to Arms in 1929, contains fourteen stories of varying length. Some of them have appeared in magazines but the majority have not been published before. The characters and backgrounds are widely varied. "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" is about an old Spanish Beggar. "Homage to Switzerland" concerns various conversations at a Swiss railway-station restaurant. "The Gambler,...

The dramatic, brutal story of Harry Morgan, an honest boat owner who is forced into running contraband between Cuba and Key West as a means of keeping his crumbling family financially afloat. His adventures lead him into the world of the wealthy and dissipated yachtsmen who swarm the region, and involve him in a strange and unlikely love affair.