Widely regarded as one of Wharton's greatest achievements it is a satirical and sometimes dark and disturbing comedy of manners which explores the 'eternal triangle' of love against the backdrop of upper-class New York society during the 1870s. The author's combination of powerful prose with a thoroughly researched and meticulous evocation of the manners and style of the period has delighted readers since the novel's first publication in 1920. It...

"In a single, engaging volume, The Great Gatsby presents a helpful literary guide to one of America's most prized classic novels. First published in 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby captured the spirit of the Jazz Age and examined the American obsession with love, wealth, material objects, and class. Considered one of the great novels of the 20th century, Fitzgerald s famous work remains relevant for its observations on the pursuit of...

For over a century, no four young ladies have delighted more people, touched more hearts, or won more lifelong friends than the vivacious March sisters of boston - beautiful Meg, independent Jo, angelic Beth, and artistic Amy -- whose common family bonds and separate personal destinies make up the irrestible story of Little Women.

The author describes her life after she falls in love with and marries a Mexican man in the 1930s and moves from the United States to Mexico.

The McKenzie women, empowered with a formidable history rooted in the foothills of Appalachia, have passed down their folk-healing wisdom through generations. Rosalee, the last living headstrong daughter in Granny McKenzie's line, soaked up everything she could about the secrets of the forest before a series of tragedies left her alone, without the protection of the women who came before her. The close-knit ties of Rosalee's childhood are long gone....

Pieces of the Frame is a gathering of memorable writings by one of the greatest journalists and storytellers of our time. They take the reader from the backwoods roads of Georgia, to the high altitude of Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico from the social decay of Atlantic City, to Scotland, where a pilgrimage for art's sake leads to a surprising encounter with history on a hilltop with a view of a fifth of the entire country. McPhee's writing is more than...

"In 1920s New York, the price of a woman's independence can be exorbitant--even fatal. In 1924 Manhattan, women's suffrage is old news. For sophisticated booklover Julia Kydd, life's too short for politics. With her cropped hair and penchant for independent living, Julia wants only to publish books under her own imprint. But as a woman, Julia must fight for what's hers--including the inheritance her estranged half brother, Philip, has challenged,...

"Esmond and Ilia follows Marina Warner's beautiful, penniless young mother Ilia as she leaves southern Italy in 1945 to travel alone to London. Her husband, an English colonel, is still away in the war in the East as she begins to learn how to be Mrs. Esmond Warner, an Englishwoman. With diamond rings on her fingers and brogues on her feet, Ilia steps fearlessly into the world of cricket and riding. But, without prospect of work in a bleak, war-ravaged...

"Centers on Abel and Vera Paisley, a working-class Jamaican couple striving to build a better life for their children. Abel travels to London in the early 1960s in search of fortune. Instead, he sees an opportunity to escape the drudgery of his life by faking his death and assuming a new identity. Vera, now a widow, is racked with guilt over her husband's "death" and takes out her grief on her children, Irene and Vincent. The effects of Abel's decision...

"Contains a total of sixty stories, thirteen of them gathered from works of non-fiction. They cover the entire span of Twain's writing life, [published] from 1865 to 1916, six years after his death ... The stories are arranged chronologically according to the years of first publication, and alphabetically within a given year." A note on the text.