John Stuart Mill asks where society’s authority should end and individual freedom should begin. He argues that preventing harm to others, rather than enforcing conformity or...

Henry David Thoreau builds a small cabin near Walden Pond and experiments with a simpler way of living. His account follows the work of providing food and shelter, encounters...

Henry Fleming, a young Union soldier in the American Civil War, longs for glory but fears that he will run when battle begins. The confusion of his first fighting turns that...

Samuel Pickwick and three fellow members of his club set out to observe English life, only to become entangled in a succession of comic misunderstandings. Their travels...

Catherine Morland, a young admirer of Gothic novels, leaves her quiet home for the fashionable society of Bath. New friendships and her growing affection for Henry Tilney...

Sent as a child to live with wealthy relatives, Fanny Price grows up at Mansfield Park conscious of her dependence and uncertain place in the family. Her cousin Edmund offers...

The recently widowed Lady Susan Vernon visits her brother-in-law’s family while pursuing advantageous relationships for herself and her daughter Frederica. Her charm wins over...

Pip, an orphan raised in a blacksmith’s household, begins to despise his humble life after meeting the wealthy Miss Havisham and the proud Estella. When an unknown benefactor...

The interminable lawsuit of Jarndyce and Jarndyce entangles a circle of families, lawyers and dependants in its promises of an inheritance. Esther Summerson, a young woman...

One snowy day Alice climbs through the mirror into Looking-glass House, where everything goes the other way, and finds the country beyond marked out like a giant chessboard....

David Copperfield looks back on a childhood transformed by his mother’s marriage to the harsh Mr Murdstone. After school, loss and warehouse work, he seeks refuge with his aunt...

Margaret Hale leaves her rural home in southern England when her family moves to the industrial town of Milton. There she meets mill owner John Thornton and befriends workers...

After his father dies, Nicholas Nickleby must find a way to support his mother and sister, but his wealthy uncle Ralph offers help on harsh terms. A teaching job at Dotheboys...

Becky Sharp leaves school determined to rise in society, while her friend Amelia Sedley dreams of marrying George Osborne. Their fortunes become entangled with the Crawley...

Allan Quatermain joins Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good on a journey into southern Africa to find Curtis’s missing brother. An old map promises a route across the desert to...

In April 1625 the young Gascon D’Artagnan rides to Paris, hoping to join the King’s Musketeers under M. de Tréville. Soon after arriving he provokes duels with three...