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This “jewel at the heart of English comic literature” chronicles the daily fortunes and misfortunes of a middle-age, middle-class clerk (William Trevor, The Mail on Sunday). Since its original publication in 1892, The Diary of a Nobody has become a much-loved classic. It is a fictional man's dissection of the everyday drama of his life as an office worker in a London firm. With dry wit, the authors step into the character of Charles Pooter as he navigates work life with not-so-respectful young coworkers and family life with his charming wife, Carrie, and impetuous son, Lupin. From home repairs gone wrong (painting the tub red), to the comings and goings of his friends Cummings and Gowings, Pooter painstakingly shares intimate details of his existence, with the (not completely absurd) hope of maybe someday having his memoir published. An ongoing tally of the good jokes he makes shares space with descriptions of grievous insults to his person, party mishaps, the annoying behavior of everyone around him, and Lupin's on-again off-again employment and engagement status. The Diary of a Nobody gives everyone a reason to laugh—and recognize themselves in Pooter's droll prose. “The funniest book in the world.” —Evelyn Waugh, author of Brideshead Revisited “There's a universality about Pooter that touches everybody... [he] fits into the tradition of absurd humour that the British do well, which started with Jonathan Swift and runs through Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear to Monty Python.” —Jasper Fforde, Time Out “Pooter himself is as gentle as you could wish, a wonderful character, genuinely lovable. The book is beautifully constructed.” —Andrew Davies, The Herald

The semiautobiographical prison account of convict Aleksandr Petrovich Goryanchikov, from the author of Crime and Punishment. Originally published in 1862, The House of the Dead is based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's own four-year imprisonment in Siberia for his involvement in the Petrashevsky Circle. This masterpiece of Russian literature begins with a nameless narrator coming upon former convict Aleksandr Petrovich Goryanchikov in a remote Siberian town. Previously a nobleman and landowner, Goryanchikov had been given a ten-year sentence of hard labor for the murder of his wife, a crime of passion sparked by jealousy. After Goryanchikov's death, the narrator finds a handwritten record of his decade of penal servitude. From his first days in the barracks, friendless and broken in spirit, to the removal of his shackles and freedom, Goryanchikov portrays the experiences of a “lost tribe of men,” and the horrors and degradation they experienced. “Episodic, rambling, full of keen and deliberately stretched-out character sketches, the book is the drama of a person working out how to reproduce prison life in prose: its longueurs, its diversions, its pleasures, traumas, and inurements... If Dostoyevsky's captors had found the ribald, cacophonous commonplace book he assembled out of overheard insults and tossed-off sayings during his time in prison, they would have recognized that they were dealing with a spirit not easily suppressed.” —The Paris Review “I know no better book in all modern literature.” —Leo Tolstoy

Three novellas that brilliantly portray English country and clergy life at the turn of the nineteenth century from the author of Middlemarch. Initially appearing in Blackwood's Magazine, this trio of linked stories comprises George Eliot's first published work. Together they form a portrait of small-town life in Midlands, England, where changes are affecting both society at large and religious beliefs and institutions. In “The Sad Fortunes of Reverend Amos Barton,” the clergyman struggles to raise funds for church repairs and perform his parochial duties, while a target of gossip—both good and bad. Meanwhile, few in Shepperton can find fault with his shy and hardworking wife, who cares for their six children, stretching Barton's meager salary—and herself—to the limit. Set before the arrival of Amos Barton, “Mr. Gilfil's Love Story” features well-liked parish priest Maynard Gifil, who is known for smoking long pipes and preaching short sermons. Shockingly tumultuous events lead up to his marriage—including a love triangle, deception, and a murder plot. An argument over religious doctrine splits the market town of Milby into two factions in “Janet's Repentance.” With the arrival of Reverend Tryan, a rumor spreads that Evangelicalism has invaded the parish, angering local lawyer Robert Dempster. But his long-suffering wife finds in Tryan a kindred spirit, leading her to embark on a new life. “The exquisite truth and delicacy, both of the humour and the pathos of those stories, I have never seen the like of.” —Charles Dickens “A first-rate novel, and its author takes rank at once among the masters of the art.” —The Times

A man at one with nature finds himself enchanted by a vision in this classic Midwestern romance from the naturalist and author of The Keeper of the Bees. David Langston, the Harvester, allows his dog to decide his fate every year—to join the money-making scramble in the noise and grime of the city, or continue harvesting the goldenseal, mullein, and ginseng in the woods around their country home. Every year, his dog Bel chooses correctly—for they are both creatures of the woods. But this year, there is another matter to ponder. Should Langston remain alone—or should he go courting? There are pros and cons of course—mostly cons—that bang around in Langston's mind. That is, until he sees a ghostly vision near the lake, a slender dark-haired woman wrapped in robes of white, lovelier than any he has ever seen in his twenty-six years. And then one day he sees her crying in the woods. Ruth Jameson is a girl caught in a bad situation, and Langston finds himself willing to do anything to help her and make her every wish come true. Praise for the writing of Gene Stratton-Porter “As famous in the early 1900s as J.K. Rowling is now... Her natural settings, wholesome themes and strong lead characters fulfilled the public's desires to connect with nature and give children positive role models.” —Smithsonian Magazine “Her narrative is entertaining, her enthusiasm catching.” —The New York Times

A collection of short fiction from one of nineteenth-century Russia's greatest novelists, the author of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov. These short stories offer a dazzling glimpse of life in the Russian Empire and penetrating portraits of unforgettable characters. In the titular story, a lonely man has a chance meeting with a sad young woman. Learning that she is in love with another, the man vows to help them reunite, while secretly hoping she'll realize they are meant to be together. “Polzunkov” is a man who doesn't mind playing the buffoon, and when he tells the story of how one of his April Fools'jokes backfired—robbing him of the woman he hoped to marry—he gets the biggest laugh of all. In “A Christmas Tree and a Wedding,” a holiday party gives one guest the chance to compliment his host and hostess on their charming daughter, who just happens to be a future heiress. Five years later, his investment pays off. Fyodor Dostoyevsky's skill at depicting the madcap, desperate, and malicious motivations of his characters is on full display in this remarkable collection of stories.

The legendary science fiction writer's controversial, groundbreaking novel—one gay man's raw and wild ride through the 1960s and'70s. From an adolescent being bullied to the muddy wetlands of Vietnam to an Arizona desert commune, a man known only as Chase traces his quest for identity, meaning, and love in prose both beautiful and brutal. Thirteen fourteen fifteen o'clockis a coming-of-age and then coming-to-terms novel of a life lived looking for answers from gurus and whores, dopers and soldiers, men and women. Returning from Vietnam missing a leg and saddled with fear, rage, and grief, Chase takes to his Harley never able to outrun the trauma that resurfaces every time he is threatened because of his sexuality. Yet, though scarred and battered—inside and out—he constantly seeks those fleeting moments of connection with another soul, an awareness of a universe where he is not alone in his hurt and hunger. A searingly powerful story of survival, thirteen fourteen fifteen o'clock is what happens when life stares you down, daring you to blink first, and you meet its gaze—with eyes wide open. Praise for The Man Who Folded Himself “Most impressive.” —The Times Literary Supplement “Wildly imaginative and mindbending.” —Publishers Weekly

“Charters interweaves many important topics—immigration, civil rights, women's rights—into her exciting novel... An evocative portrait of South Boston.” —Kirkus Reviews After the deaths of her mother and infant sister during Ireland's Great Famine, thirteen-year-old Mary Boland makes her way to the Queenstown harbor and onto a coffin ship bound for America. But what happens during her transatlantic passage is enough to quash the strongest of dreams. After being assaulted by crewmembers, Mary thinks of ending her life—until a young Black slave named Kamua comes to her rescue... Forming a bond as strong as siblings, Mary and Kam reach Boston, determined to forge their own paths. No longer an innocent soul, Mary trusts no one, putting her faith in her own instincts. It is on the teeming streets of South Boston that she'll find a new home and a new purpose as a midwife, helping poverty-stricken women survive their pregnancies. And it is in this city, full of possibility, where Mary's heart will heal, and find the strength to survive the harsh choices she is forced to make, and grow into a woman true to herself... “The story of a young Irish girl's struggles told with an authentic, historically accurate voice.” —Sallie Bissell, author of the Mary Crow series “To read Shanty Gold is to immerse oneself in a wild ride of discovery, romance, and the search for a new way of life.... A tale that will grab your heart and senses, with twists and turns along the way.” —Susan Blexrud, author of the Fang series

The daughter of Irish immigrants and the son of an African slave forge their own destiny in Boston, in this compelling sequel to Shanty Gold.Boston, 1870. Nellie's mom and Neo's father met on a coffin ship sailing from Ireland to America, a journey they barely survived. Having heard this tale since childhood, the two teenagers now crave an adventure of their own. When an unfounded rumor gets Nellie suspended from school and puts her future in jeopardy, the lifelong friends flee to New York City to join a circus. And though their escapade is short-lived, it teaches both of them about courage, kindness, and acceptance. Rising above her scandalous background, Nellie inches toward her dream of becoming a teacher, while Neo battles against prejudice and hatred to marry the woman he loves. As they struggle with the hopes and expectations laid upon them by their parents, they'll navigate through tragedy and betrayal on a journey towards their hearts'true desires.Praise for Shanty Gold “Charters interweaves many important topics—immigration, civil rights, women's rights—into her exciting novel... Gripping.” —Kirkus Reviews “The story of a young Irish girl's struggles told with an authentic, historically accurate voice.” —Sallie Bissell, author of the Mary Crow series “To read Shanty Gold is to immerse oneself in a wild ride of discovery, romance, and the search for a new way of life.... A tale that will grab your heart and senses, with twists and turns along the way.” —Susan Blexrud, author of the Fang series

Short stories from the acclaimed British novelist who “writes unflinchingly about family life, divorce, children, and the ups and downs of relationships” (The Independent). Witty, insightful, and keenly observant, the stories in Fool for Love revel in the complexities of modern relationships. From the joys and trials of marriage to the thrill of escaping into an illicit affair to mothers managing recalcitrant teens—or worse, adult children who unexpectedly return to the nest at mid-life—each revelatory tale is told in the wise and darkly humorous voice that is Deborah Moggach's trademark. Containing stories previously unpublished in book form, this collection confirms Moggach's place as one of our finest observers of human life. “Quirky, sassy, well-crafted... Moggach at her best.” —Times Literary Supplement “What informs Moggach's excellent stories is not just the exactness of her observation, but the quality of warmth and affection.” —Sunday Times

Three generations of Irish American women seek better lives in Boston, in this historical saga of hope, hardship, and love by the author of Lace Curtain. Mary Boland suffered aboard a coffin ship to escape famine and make her way to America. Her daughter, Nellie, was born in South Boston—a beautiful girl, smart enough to graduate from college when few women, let alone women of her background, could. But her glowing future as a teacher is ruined when she becomes pregnant—and she is forced to cope on her own as the baby's father disappears after returning to Ireland to fight for his nation's liberation. Her subsequent rushed marriage to an ambitious politician will throw Nellie's life far off course—and reverberate in her mother's and daughter's lives as well. Nothing will ever be the same in this gripping conclusion to the Daughters of Ireland saga—a tale of poverty and wealth, opportunity and danger, and family and forbidden love set against the tumultuous backdrop of the late nineteenth-century Gilded Age.Praise for Shanty Gold, the first in the Daughters of Ireland trilogy “Charters interweaves many important topics—immigration, civil rights, women's rights—into her exciting novel... An evocative portrait of South Boston... Gripping.” —Kirkus Reviews “The story of a young Irish girl's struggles told with an authentic, historically accurate voice.” —Sallie Bissell, author of the Mary Crow series “A wild ride of discovery, romance, and the search for a new way of life... with twists and turns along the way.” —Susan Blexrud, author of the Fang series

A rich man's obsessive search for an heir blinds him to his own child in this classic Victorian novel of greed, pride, and family ties. For shipping magnate Paul Dombey, business is the essence of life. He runs his firm and his family with the same calculating efficiency. Showering attention on his sickly son, who is destined to take over the family business, Mr. Dombey diligently ignores his daughter, Florence. In his unloving eyes, she is nothing more than a “base coin that couldn't be invested.” In time, despite her father's neglect, Florence grows into a capable and strong-willed woman. Dombey's callousness, meanwhile, sets in motion his own eventual downfall. In this classic tale of ambition, pride, and redemption, Charles Dickens presents a rich and sprawling portrait of a man, his dysfunctional family, and the complex times in which they lived.

A teenager follows along as her mother moves from town to town—and man to man—in this coming-of-age novel: “Both hilarious and tragic... a radiant debut.” —The New York Times Book Review The inspiration for the cult-classic film starring Winona Ryder, Christina Ricci, and Cher, this novel is narrated by Charlotte Flax, a fourteen-year-old helplessly dragged by her mother from place to place, brief affair to brief affair. When they settle into a quiet New England town in 1963, the teenager yearns to stay put for once. With a convent just steps away from their home, this could be Charlotte's chance to fulfill her dream of becoming a martyred Catholic saint—despite the fact that she's Jewish. At the same time, the young caretaker at the convent is inspiring some unsaintly thoughts... “Patty Dann gives us a magnificent voice in the young Charlotte... Compelling and tender, touching and alive in her search to find some order in the chaos of her life.” —The New York Times Book Review “This is a really funny book about people trying to find something to hang onto in a world that keeps shifting under their feet. Patty Dann guides us through the guerilla war between mother and daughter, through the minefields that lie between being a child and being an adult, in a voice not like any we've heard before.” —John Sayles, director and novelist “Moments of pure gold... An energetic talent.” —Kirkus Reviews “Both of [the sisters'] characters are sharply etched and recognizable.” —Publishers Weekly “Poignant... a quirky charm.” —Booklist

The author of Mermaids reunites the unforgettable women of the Flax family decades later: “Its plot twists will make you laugh—after you wipe away tears.” —Sally Koslow, author of The Real Mrs. Tobias Now in her early forties with a grown son and two grandchildren, Charlotte Flax has never forgotten the year she spent as a teenager in Grove, Massachusetts, with her mother and little sister. When she finds out that their old house there, one of the many the family occupied over the years, is available for rent, Charlotte moves in and plans a birthday party for her flighty-as-ever mother. Some things have changed—the nearby convent has given way to real estate interests. Some things have not—Charlotte still has feelings about Joe, her first love. This upcoming reunion will stir up a lot of memories—and some trouble—and test the ability of relationships to survive over time... “Patty Dann, through Charlotte's unique voice, propels us back into the careening lives of the Flax women. Funny, sad, chaotic, mysterious, moving, searching, they are above all a family.” —Richard Benjamin, director of MermaidsPraise for Mermaids and the novels of Patty Dann “Dann gives us a magnificent voice in the young Charlotte... Both hilarious and tragic... a radiant debut.” —The New York Times Book Review “A marvel... brilliant.” —Elinor Lipman, author of Good Riddance “Poignant.” —Sheila Kohler, author of Once We Were Sisters and Cracks “Both of [the sisters'] characters are sharply etched and recognizable.” —Publishers Weekly

This iconic work of experimental modernism “comes nearer to being the perfect revelation of a personality than any book in existence” (The New York Times). Taking place on June 16, 1904, Ulysses follows the itinerant journeys of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus as they make their way through an ordinary day in Dublin. With stream-of-conscious narration, Joyce weaves a sprawling yet incisive portrait of his characters, the nature of desire, and Dublin itself. First published in Paris in 1922, Joyce's masterwork was once banned for obscenity in the United States and Britain. Hailed as a work of genius by Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, and many others, Ulysses remains one of the most significant works in English literature.

The celebrated author of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas explores the lives of three working-class women in this collection of stories.In Three Lives, Gertrude Stein creates portraits of three women in a fictional mid-Atlantic town. There's Anna, who flees hardship in Germany to become a housekeeper in America. Then there is Melanctha, a street-smart black girl on a quest for knowledge and power. And finally, there is Lena, a German immigrant whose life is shaped around her passive nature. Published in 1909, Three Lives was Gertrude Stein's first critically acclaimed work. It was influenced by the paintings of Cézanne, Picasso, and Matisse. In these pages, Stein experiments with language and literary form to tell the stories of three unforgettable women.

This pioneering novel explores a young man's journey from boyhood to the warfront by the author of Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse.Jacob Flanders is a young man typical of his generation—like so many who would go on to face death in the battlefields of the Great War. In this probing, elegiac book, his life is recounted through the private memories and sentiments of those who knew him. We meet Jacob as the boy who preoccupies his mother's thoughts; the young man at Cambridge as he was known to his schoolmates; and the bachelor about London as seen through the eyes of those he loved. From boyhood to college, from London to the Continent, and from peacetime to war, Jacob's is a life composed of impressions. First published in 1922, Jacob's Room represents a stylistic departure from Virginia Woolf's previous novels and a watershed in the development of modernist literature.

As WWI ends, trauma and tragedy give way to a chance for new life and rekindled love in the third novel of the acclaimed Parade's End tetralogy. Armistice Day, 1918. As fireworks proclaim the end of the Great War, Valentine Wannop learns that the man she loves, Christopher Tietjens, is back in London. He has survived the frontlines, but it has affected him profoundly. He is willing to give up everything to be with Valentine, but they are not yet free of the past. Arranging to meet at Gray's Inn, Christopher and Valentine are thwarted by Valentine's mother, who will stop at nothing to keep them apart. As other men from Christopher's unit return, Valentine learns of his terrifying wartime experience... and her thoughts return again to his wife he has yet to leave, the beautiful and manipulative Sylvia.

The novel that inspired the Broadway classic—a saga of romance, revenge, and a riverboat theater troupe: “First-rate storytelling... irresistible.” —The New York Times Book ReviewSpanning four decades and three generations, and journeying from the post–Civil War South to Chicago to New York, Show Boat has been adapted for radio, stage, and screen, becoming a landmark of American culture. The bestseller by Pulitzer Prize winner Edna Ferber follows a cast of characters who live and work aboard a riverboat, traveling in order to perform for audiences along the banks of the Mississippi. It is a story of adventure, drama, destructive passions, racial conflict, and romantic entanglements, set amid the changing times of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

A World War I veteran journeys from Paris to Pamplona during an era of decadence and despair in this “gripping” classic novel of the Lost Generation (The New York Times). Physically and emotionally damaged by his service in the Great War, Jake Barnes lives in 1920s France, where he passes time in nightclubs and cafés, yearning for a fellow expatriate, the beautiful English divorcée Lady Brett Ashley. She is a lively and daring woman, desired by many other men. As the pair and their social companions travel to Spain, engage in affairs and fistfights, and wrestle with the aftereffects of a senseless worldwide catastrophe, Jake must struggle mightily to hold on to his soul. From the Nobel Prize winner and icon of twentieth-century American literature, this novel is “the ideal companion for troubled times: equal parts Continental escape and serious grappling with the question of what it means to be, and feel, lost” (The Wall Street Journal). “A truly gripping story... magnificent writing.” —The New York Times

A burned-out New York lawyer's vacation in the Canadian wilderness takes a troubled detour in this novel by the Nobel Prize–winning author of Main Street.Lawyer Frank Prescott is exhausted. The forty-year-old bachelor works late into the night, poring over documents. When he sleeps, he wakes up in a panic. Not even a round of golf at his country club or a Broadway show helps calm him down. He just wants to escape the city and feel as though he can breathe again. So, when his fellow club member, E. Wesson Woodbury, invites him along on a canoeing and fishing trip in Saskatchewan, Prescott gladly accepts. However, nothing about the excursion is relaxing. As the journey begins, tensions mount and tempers flare between Prescott and Woodbury. When they meet the rugged Joe Easter, a Canadian trading company owner, the man welcomes Prescott to fish at his home in Mantrap Landing. Prescott is happy to join him. But between Easter's lonely wife, unrest among the area's indigenous Cree tribes, and a dangerous race down the rapids, getting back home safely will be the only thing that can calm Frank Prescott's nerves...

A forthright woman disrupts the social order of upper crust New England in this Pulitzer Prize–winning family saga.Tracing their lineage back to its colonial founders, the Pentland family of Durham, Massachusetts, is committed to preserving the “old ways.” But time has its own way of moving restlessly forward. Patriarch John Pentland never understood why his niece Sabine married a man so beneath them. Now, after escaping to Europe twenty years ago, the black sheep has returned. And she's determined to present her eighteen-year-old daughter to society. Sabine Callendar is not the humble, broken creature the Pentlands expected. In fact, she has no trouble holding them accountable, skewering the hypocrisies of a society that once tormented her. As long-held secrets come to light the Pentlands, and the legacy of their name, will be changed forever

“The story of a woman who rejects the life that society has fixed for her in favor of freedom and the most unexpected of alliances.” —The New York Times Book Review In her acclaimed debut novel, the twentieth-century English writer “moves with somber confidence into the realm of the supernatural, and her prose, in its simple, abrupt evocations, has something preternatural about it. This is the witty, eerie, tender but firm life history of a middle-class Englishwoman who politely declines to make the expected connection with the opposite sex and becomes a witch instead” (John Updike). When Laura Willowes's beloved father dies, she is absorbed in the household of her brother and his family. There, she leaves behind “Laura” and enters into the state of “Aunt Lolly,” a genteel spinster indispensable to the upbringing of her nieces. For twenty years, Lolly is neither indulgent nor impulsive, until one day when she decides to move to a village in the Chilterns, much to her family's chagrin. But it's in the countryside, among nature, where Lolly has her first taste of freedom. Duty-bound to no one except herself, she revels in the solitary life. When her nephew moves there, and Lolly feels once again thrust into her old familial role, she reaches out to the otherworldly, to the darkness, to the unheeded power within the hearts of women to feel at peace once more... “A great shout of life and individuality.” —The Guardian

A young American in Rome encounters a mysterious cohort of aristocrats in the Pulitzer Prize–winning author's debut novel.In love with all things classical, the narrator of Thornton Wilder's The Cabala is entranced by the timeless city of Rome. With the Great War finally over, he's spending a year among Rome's salons and cafes. But he only comes to understand the grand and crumbling metropolis when a friend introduces him to a secret society of intellectuals known as the Cabala.Charmed by the young American, the elegant and idiosyncratic members of the Cabala give him the nickname Samuele. He soon becomes their confidant and go-between, privy to their intimate dramas, scandals, and insecurities. As living embodiments of ancient gods, these peculiar characters impress upon Samuele that nothing in life is truly eternal.The Cabala is a semiautobiographical novel based on Thornton Wilder's time at the American Academy in Rome during the 1920s. First published in 1926, it launched his reputation as one of his generation's finest storytellers.

The New Yorker's legendary Paris correspondent explores life and love in the Jazz Age in this novel inspired by her days in Greenwich Village.From the 1920s to the 1970s, Janet Flanner kept Americans abreast of the goings-on in Paris with a biweekly New Yorker column written under the name Genêt. But before she became one of the country's most famous expats, she lived among the artists and writers of the Algonquin Round Table. Flanner shares a vivid depiction of the New York she knew in this tale of a young woman's self-discovery.Having left Ohio in search of liberation, Delia Poole struggles to find her place in the big city. After getting work as a costume designer for musical revues, she and her dear friend Nancy are finally finding happiness on their own terms. But nothing is simple. From her adoring suitor, Paul, to her widowed mother's decision to move to New York, Delia must grapple with expectations, responsibilities, and her own uncertainty.The Cubical City is Janet Flanner's only published novel. Though homosexuality is never overtly expressed, it is considered by literary scholars to be one of the first examples of modernist lesbian literature.

This autobiographical novel by the writer of Winesburg, Ohio recounts a young boy's childhood in the latenineteenth-century rural Midwest.Sherwood Anderson established his reputation as a great American writer with his sensitive portrayals of Midwestern life at the turn of the twentieth century. First published in 1926, Tar: A Midwest Childhood, is Anderson's reflection on the Ohio small town of his youth and the experiences that informed and inspired his most beloved works. In a series of revealing episodes, Anderson describes the developing consciousness of Edgar Moorehead from earliest childhood to adolescence. When his father arrived in Ohio from North Carolina, neighbors derisively called him a Tar-heel. Inheriting this nickname, Tar grows up as one of many children to his stoic, hard-working mother and his gregarious but unreliable father.

This short story collection by the author of Brave New World features a novella that “stands among Huxley's most ingenious inventions” (Los Angeles Review of Books).In “Two or Three Graces,” the title novella of this collection, Aldous Huxley offers a virtuoso performance of narrative structure and character development. Beginning in Paris, music critic Dick Wilkes meets a succession of terribly entertaining bores as he travels to England. But after helplessly accepting one man's invitation to dinner, Dick meets the truly fascinating Grace. A bourgeois housewife in the presence of her husband, Grace seems to take on other personalities depending on her company. Through Dick, the reader will follow these multiple Graces as she encounters multiple lovers. First published in 1926, this volume also includes the short stories “Half Holiday,” “The Monocle,” and “Fairy Godmother.”

Experience life and hardships in turn-of-the-century Russia with this collection of provocative stories by one of the greatest writers of all time. Anton Chekhov captures life in late-nineteenth-century Russia with these evocative tales. For example, in “The Schoolmistress,” a hard-working, underpaid schoolteacher contemplates dating a man she knows is terrible for her. In “A Nervous Breakdown,” an idealistic young law student cannot handle what he witnesses after a night in Moscow's red light district. The author of such plays as The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov was also a prolific writer of short stories. His style, as present in this collection, will remind readers of other great nineteenth-century authors such as Guy de Maupassant.

The author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel pens “the happiest, saddest, funniest, most perceptive truth about growing up since The Catcher in the Rye” (Over 21). Laura and Claire Jenkins were born just a few years apart, but they're as different as night and day. Sensible, level-headed Claire has settled into her teaching job in London, sharing an apartment with two other girls, while free-spirited Laura starts her first year at university, where she sets about to find herself—no matter where that may lead... Soon Claire falls for a man who may not set the world on fire, but offers her the stability she craves. Laura, always the rebel, moves out of the dorms and into a relationship with a frustrated artist-turned–bus conductor. But as Claire begins to question her motives and Laura's bohemian life begins to lose its charm, the sisters start to realize that they may be more alike than they thought. And that's not such a bad thing when it comes to family, sisterhood, and growing up. “Assured and successful.... Altogether a most satisfying and intelligent first novel.” —Financial Times “Sensitive and humorous.” —Daily Express “A delightful story of young love.” —The Times (London) “It is thrilling to find a writer who could capture our world, and our emotions, so accurately.” —Wellington Evening Post “Warm and witty... family life most achingly bared.” —New Statesman

A “funny, affectionate and unpretentious” novel about what goes on behind the closed doors of a marriage, from the author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (New Statesman). Brinsley Street is your normal bustling city thoroughfare with four-story houses abutting the sidewalk. But their rather unremarkable exteriors hide surprisingly rural gardens—and family dramas. In number twenty-three live the Coopers. Married for six years, Kate is a stay-at-home mother of two young sons. Her husband travels frequently for work, leaving Kate alone to care for the kids, the house, and herself... if there's time. Their marriage hasn't quite turned out the way she thought it would; Kate and her husband seem to live in different worlds, moving further and further apart. It's no wonder that she sometimes relishes his absence... Next door are the Greens. Samuel has left the corporate world to work on his novel. His very competent wife, a psychiatrist, is the sole breadwinner. Their union works like a well-oiled machine, including their relationship with their sixteen-year-old daughter, who struggles to find ways to rebel against such perfectly understanding parents. But in the midst of a blistering hot summer, the neighbors, who share a wall, will find their lives entwined. Seeing and hearing Kate throughout the day, Samuel becomes obsessed with her. Kate, lonely and feeling unappreciated, finds herself unmoored, ultimately discovering that danger doesn't come from outside their safe and comfortable world, but from within...

From the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: “Tainted love, jealousy and, brilliant revenge—this book has got the lot” (New Woman). Thirty-eight-year-old Jules Sampson is barely getting by as a working actor in London—until she gets a job as a stand-in for American movie star Lila Dune. Being the same age and in the same business, the two hit it off, but their careers couldn't be more different. Jules may not be as beautiful and successful as Lila, but she's a far better actor. Her impersonation of Lila is spot-on, and the two even slip into each other's lives. It's all just fun and games. But Jules has made a dreadful miscalculation—one that takes her already simmering resentment of Lila to the boiling point. Consumed by jealousy, Jules is ready for her close-up—and no one is better prepared than her for her next big role... Taking readers on a whirlwind of madness and obsession from London to New York to Los Angeles, “Moggach's examination of the unbalanced mind is spellbinding, and the characters horribly believable.... This is [her] best novel yet” (Options). “Compulsively readable... a triumph.” —Sunday Express “Intelligent, persuasive, sensuous, perceptive... what an accomplishment!” —Fay Weldon, author of The Life and Loves of a She Devil “An exciting, deftly executed thriller with considerable psychological intrigue.” — Publishers Weekly “With a marvelous snap of a windup, an absorbing, inventive chiller, complete with undertones of a sour, wry humor.” —Kirkus Reviews

The bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel delves into what it means to be a sister, a husband, a wife, and—most importantly of all—a family. Though sisters, Ann and Viv couldn't be more different. Ann is reserved, sensible, and—some would say—boring. Viv, always their father's favorite, is messy and impulsive, and a mother to two gorgeous daughters. Meanwhile, Ann has struggled to have children, her last attempt ending in a hysterectomy, which has devasted her and her husband, Ken. Pained to see her sister left so sad and wanting, Viv offers to have a baby—and give it to Ann. Viv's husband, Ollie, is not on board with the idea, especially when it becomes clear that Viv will be carrying Ken's child, not his. But with the mechanics figured out, the men are pushed to the sidelines as the sisters roll full-steam ahead. What were once strong relationships are strained to the brink as fault lines in both marriages are exposed—leaving them all to realize that starting a new life just might end the ones they already have... “A very good novel indeed.” —The Times (London)

The bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel “marries comedy and canniness into a novel that's warm, tolerant, shrewd and exuberant” (The Sunday Times). The demise of Russell Buffery's latest marriage has put the sixty-one-year-old actor in a reflective mood. After all, his three ex-wives—the journalist, the new-age housewife, the antique dealer—have easily found their way without “Buffy”, and his connections to his children are tenuous at best. Spurned and alone, he still wonders where it all went wrong. Until he meets Celeste... Only twenty-three and new to London, the fresh-faced young woman has given Buffy, the hopeless romantic, a new lease on life. But, unknown to Buffy, Celeste has her own agenda. She begins to delve into his past, but discovering each ex-wife leads to another one—not to mention the women on the side. And though Celeste may be in over her head, what is revealed to her will transform her life—and give both her and Buffy a chance to get it right this time around.Praise for Deborah Moggach “Deborah Moggach is brilliant at capturing just the right voice for her characters.” —Cosmopolitan “You'll be hooked from the first page of this original, funny book... Just delicious.” —New Woman “Wonderfully funny.” —Daily Mail “Cracking good dialogue, excellent jokes and laser sharp.” —The Daily Telegraph

“Disturbing and witty... A deftly-described odyssey that places the battle of the sexes in a new arena” from the author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (The Sunday Times). Meet Desmond Fletcher. At forty-two years old, his marriage has ended and he finds himself all alone in an apartment above an electrical repair shop lent to him by his soon-to-be-ex-wife's brother. With not much else to do besides his job driving coaches, Desmond has a lot of time to think. Mostly about where his life has gone wrong, the women he has failed, and the child he has never known. More than a decade ago, a woman Desmond was seeing became pregnant but wanted nothing to do with marrying him—or any man for that matter. Now, with his life in limbo, Desmond becomes obsessed with finding his son. Hijacking a coach, he travels across England, unearthing clues and following in his son's footsteps—from London to the mountains to the fens. It's a quest that will take Desmond deep into his own heart, where he just might discover what he's really looking for... “Poignant and funny... Deborah Moggach is brilliant at capturing just the right voice for her characters.” —Cosmopolitan “Moggach, for the purposes of this book, has turned herself into a bloke. His monologue throughout strikes me as totally authentic, but not only does Moggach get his lingo right, she thinks through his head, dramatizing his confusion, decency, wit, pain, and determination. This is not just ventriloquism, but empathy so complete as to be phenomenal.” —The Irish Times “Acutely funny and sad.” —The Mail on Sunday

“A nicely balanced account of marital breakdown in peculiarly difficult circumstances” from the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (The Sunday Times). As flirtatious as she is rebellious, Marianne has always wanted out of her hometown of Ashford. And at eighteen, she's found the perfect man to take her away. Pakistani Salim Siddiqi is ridiculously handsome and stunningly smart. While Marianne waltzes through town in suede miniskirts and knee-high boots (it is the sixties after all), Salim reads Wordsworth and Keats. After their wedding, the honeymoon seems to last forever. But having two children and buying a house reveal differences that become impossible to ignore. Marianne refuses to just stay at home, taking a job at her friend's catering company, while Salim becomes increasingly jealous and possessive of her time. And when Marianne turns to another man, her life explodes around her. Salim bolts, taking their daughter and son with him back to Pakistan. Legally, there's little Marianne can do. For years, she desperately fights to regain custody. Adjusting to her new normal isn't an option as long as her children are caught between two warring parents, two cultures, and two continents... “Captures brilliantly the basic incompatibilities and misunderstandings that arise when two people have little knowledge of each other's culture... both funny and moving.” —Sunday Express “A likeable protagonist... The themes are those of an ambitious, dynamic novel... Absorbing... dramatic and disturbing.” —The Guardian

The bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel “illuminates with great compassion how love can so easily go off the rails” (Daily Mail). In the shadow of Heathrow airport, a girl grows up in a family of four with her unaffectionate, absent mother, her precocious younger brother, and her father. Once a traveling fairground worker, her father's been forced to settle down. Now he sits at home, dreaming up schemes to make money, drinking with his friends, raising pigs... It's those pigs that give Heather her nickname. The mean girls at school call her “Porky,” as much as for her animals as for her weight and pink complexion. They don't live in a decrepit bungalow like she does, surrounded by airport traffic and muck. And they don't have a father like she does, one who steals her innocence and makes her grow up too fast. This is Heather's story. It's easier for her to tell a stranger reading a book than her best friend, a counselor, the man who now loves her. Maybe you will understand her attempts to work, to live, to survive, to fly away as far as possible—as if her wings weren't already clipped... “Deborah Moggach conveys with chilling skill the process by which a fundamentally bright, decent child becomes infested by corruption.” —The Spectator “At once eerily exuberant and bleak, this is a compassionate, tough book.” —The Observer “[An] extraordinarily skilful account of a childhood blasted by what is now acknowledged to be a more widespread offence than was previously recognised: incest.” —London Review of Books “Sustain[s] a first-person register so level in its tone of quiet desperation, so careful to avoid blatant shock, as to hold back the tidal wave of revulsion and pity which threatens, but never quite engulfs the reader.” —The Times(London)

“Wincingly funny... An ambitious book showing Asia through British and American eyes” from the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Daily Mail). In 1975, an English couple arrives in Karachi, Pakistan. Donald Manley, of Cameron Chemicals, has taken a job as the local sales manager. In Karachi, he hopes to follow in the footsteps of his beloved grandfather, who served there during the war. Donald's wife, Christine, is banking on a change of scenery to help restart their marriage—and their ability to conceive. At the airport, their paths cross with American Duke Hanson, who is seeing his wife off. She's returning to Kansas, while he's staying on to oversee the development of a hotel project. In the stifling heat and dusty, teeming streets, each one of these visitors will face their own crises: Donald, a devastating family secret; Christine, lead astray by her well-intentioned efforts to embrace the culture and start a family; Duke, both professional and personal temptations to his no-nonsense, uncorruptible image of himself. During a season of sweltering days and sultry nights, deals will be made, bonds will be broken, and the spirit of a city with one foot in the past and one in the future will take everyone by surprise. “Original, perceptive and very entertaining.” —Alison Lurie, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Foreign Affairs “Entertaining, subtle and intelligent.” —The Sunday Telegraph “No neater entertainment has emerged from the debris of our past on the sub-continent.” —The Guardian “A piece of technical wizardry.” —The Daily Telegraph

For one 1970s teenager, winning at poker and winning on Wall Street go hand-in-hand: “A coming-of-age story for the ages.” —Peter Lattman, vice chairman, The Atlantic In the wake of his mother's death, Rogers Stout has no choice but to grow up fast. By high school, he already has the gambler's gifts: a titanic brain, an uncanny ability to read people, and a risk-taker's daring. All he lacks is direction... Everything changes the summer before his senior year when Rogers is invited into the boisterous environment of an investment bank's trading room—and to a gambling hall dive where he immediately wins big at poker, capturing the attention of his coworkers with his card-playing skills. Intrigued by trading markets, Rogers's intellectual curiosity takes him to Wharton and then Wall Street, where he faces challenges as an outsider who thinks and acts differently from the white-shoe establishment. Riding professional and personal highs and lows—like the stock market crash of 1974—he'll have to learn to rebound, if he's to survive... An intriguing look at human aspiration and the interplay of honor, greed, fear, and individuality, this novel reveals a time when a new generation upended the status quo on Wall Street and forever changed investing.“A rip-roaring yarn of baseball, poker, and Wall Street told with humor and humanity, and a loving rendering of Wharton in the seventies.” —Geoffrey Garrett, dean, The Wharton School“[An] absorbing story of an aspiring Wall Street trader.” —Kirkus Reviews

On one terrifying night in France, a mother searches for her daughter—and meets a woman with a story of her own to tell: “A gripping tale.” —Sunday Post After her teenage daughter, Lizzie, disappeared four years ago, Kurtiz Ross's life—and marriage—fell apart. After all this time, it's difficult to be optimistic. But an unexpected sighting has brought Kurtiz to Paris, where she waits anxiously for her ex-husband to arrive with Lizzie in tow—until the city erupts in chaos. Terrorists have struck a theater, a stadium, and other spots crowded with Friday night revelers. In the midst of the emergency, an older woman reaches out to Kurtiz, keeping her distracted with a story from her own troubled past in postwar Provence. As her heart veers wildly between hope and horror, Kurtiz learns that some things—like the necessity of courage—are the same in any era... “A story to savour, complete with wonderful settings stretching from Paris... to the glorious countryside of southern France.” —Dinah Jefferies, bestselling author of The Tea Planter's Wife “A great and compassionate writer.” —The Guardian “Mesmerising, haunting and extraordinarily relevant.” —Lovereading

A woman's peaceful life in a clifftop French villa is threatened by the past: “Threaded with mystery and menace... the story kept me gripped.” —Dinah Jefferies, bestselling author As an adventurous teenager, Grace came to France amid the student protests and upheavals of 1968—and became involved in relationships with two men, one tempestuous, the other gentle and supportive. But the romantic triangle came to an end when one of the men died by drowning. Decades later, Grace remains in her adopted country, living happily with her husband, Peter, in a beautiful, secluded home in Provence. Her sole focus is keeping Peter's stress to a minimum while he awaits his upcoming heart surgery. But after all these years, Grace is confronted by a visitor she never expected to see—and must keep her escalating fear hidden from her ailing husband, in this epic, time-spanning story of love and betrayal from the bestselling author. “A beautifully woven and compelling tale of passion, love and intrigue.” —Rowan Coleman, author of We Are All Made of Stars “Carol Drinkwater's writing is like taking an amazing holiday in book form.” —Jenny Colgan, New York Times–bestselling author “Given extra resonance by the beautifully drawn French landscape. Emotional and tenderly written.” —Elizabeth Buchan, author of Consider the Lily

“Secrets, tragedy, hidden pasts and family secrets all set in glorious Provence—I loved this.” —Santa Montefiore, bestselling author of The French Gardener Clarisse Cambon is devastated when the family vineyard's annual harvest is ruined by an accident—and furious at her daughter-in-law, Jane, who she's sure is responsible. Jane's longtime feud with her mother-in-law is rooted in a secret they both keep from Luc—Jane's husband and Clarisse's son. When tragedy strikes, Jane takes over management of the vineyard and, beset by doubts and questions, begins to look into Luc's past to understand what he may have kept hidden from her—and what Clarisse may know... An atmospheric tale of forbidden fruit, family secrets, and enduring through heartbreak from the author of An Act of Love and the beloved Olive Farm series, The Forgotten Summer will “whisk you straight to the South of France” (Marie Claire). “A lovely book... plenty of page-turning drama but also mouthwatering descriptions of Paris and Provence.” —Daily Mail

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Age of Innocence explores the supernatural and other unknowns in six short stories.The acclaimed Gilded Age author travels around the world and into the unknown with these six tales.After recovering from a bad fever in a Swiss sanitorium, an American pays a social call to a friend's lonely sister on the coast of Brittany, but his journey takes a terrifying turn in “Miss Mary Pask.”A wealthy resident of a small Massachusetts town hides a sinister secret inside his home and it's piqued the interest of his neighbors in “The Young Gentlemen.”A Massachusetts farmer's wife calls in help when her husband is visited by his dead ex-lover in “Bewitched.”Death, doubt, and distrust blossom in the deserts of Morocco at an American Baptist mission in “The Seed of Faith.”An American author working on his next book heads to Paris to speak with his subject's late wife in “The Temperate Zone.”Recovering from serious illness, an American professor heads to the south of France, searching for quiet and seclusion in “Velvet Ear-Pads.” Inspired by the author's own global travels, Here and Beyond is a mix of ghost stories, character studies, and social drama. It was originally published in 1926.

The Nobel Prize–winning author delivers “full-blooded comedy, with a sting of satire at the expense of certain literary affectations,” in this early work (The New York Times). Rumored to have been written in ten days to break a contract with his publisher, Ernest Hemingway's The Torrents of Spring sets out to mock the reigning literary conventions of the time, including the novels of Hemingway's own mentor, Sherwood Anderson. With appearances by F. Scott Fitzgerald and asides by Hemingway himself, it takes readers on a comedic journey featuring a pair of coworkers at a pump factory in Michigan. Scripps O'Neil likes to drink with his wife, but he loses both her and his daughter. His goal is to make it to Chicago, where he can find happiness and success, but he never gets that far. Yogi Johnson is a veteran of the First World War who once spent two glorious weeks in Paris with a mysterious woman. Now, he is unable to muster up any interest in such things as romance. As Scripps falls in and out of love and Yogi searches for anything to cure his ambivalence, The Torrents of Spring offers a window into the acerbic mind of one of America's greatest writers.

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of O Pioneers! presents a moving study of an ambitious woman and her troubled marriage in this 1926 novella.When young Myra Driscoll is forced to choose between a large inheritance from her great-uncle and marrying the man she loves, she follows her heart. She and Oswald Henshawe leave their small Illinois town to pursue a future together in New York City.Years later, fifteen-year-old Nellie Birdseye meets Myra Henshawe and her husband. She thinks of Myra as a legend at first. But the more Nellie gets to know the bold, seemingly sophisticated Myra, the more she sees the reality beneath the fantasy—and her romantic notions begin to slip away... Known for novels like O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark, Willa Cather wrote predominately about pioneers and the American West. In 1923, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel One of Ours.

A hit-and-run puts two women on a collision course with fate, in this mind-blowing psychological thriller from the author of Exile. It only takes one second to change a life. Loretta Davidson learns this the hard way when, on a rainy afternoon, her car crashes into another vehicle at an intersection. Loretta survives with only a few stitches. Her four-year-old son is not so lucky. Falling into a coma, he soon succumbs to his injuries, leaving Loretta and her husband devastated. Emma Elliot's four-wheel drive glanced off the car she hit, and she left the scene of the accident convinced no one was hurt. She could not be late running errands for her partner—or there would be hell to pay. He had hit her before, and he would do it again. In the months following the accident, Loretta struggles to survive her grief as her marriage crumbles. Emma gets engaged—and then pregnant. But the twists and turns life throws at the two women have a way of balancing things out, sending them straight into one another's paths one more time. “The novel does what fiction does best: exploring the small moments that can change lives for good.” —The Bookbag

“A darkly funny novel about betrayal, loneliness and the surprising pleasure of being single again” from the author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Good Housekeeping). At sixty-nine years old, Pru has found herself alone for the first time in her life. Her grown children are out of the house, and her husband, Greg, has filed for divorce. She attributes Greg's betrayal to a cancer scare and a more-than-midlife crisis, but that doesn't make her feel any better—or less lonely. It seems that nothing—not even her eccentric, free-spirited best friend, Azra—can pull her out of her depression. Until Pru sees a black dress in a thrift store window... Its sleek silhouette calls to mind long-gone days of cocktail parties and sophisticated conversation. And it gives Pru a brilliant idea: where better to wear a black dress—and find age-appropriate single men—than at a funeral? As Pru combs through the obituaries and attends masses and wakes, she finds comfort among the bereaved. After all, they're all grieving someone they have lost. But Pru's about to discover that though her new dating plan may get her out of the house and back on the market, the life she's so desperately trying to leave behind isn't done with her yet... “With dry wit and observation, Moggach tackles the perils of ageing with brutal honesty.” —Daily Express “This page-turner is like the best wakes, it will make you feel hungry and alive.” —The Times (London) “As ever with Moggach, the joy is in her witty observations of middle-class life and bracingly tart portrayal of family relationships.” —Daily Mail

The author of The House of Mirth explores the nature of romance as the love affairs of four Americans dramatically intertwine in early twentieth-century France. This novel explores the complicated nature of love, its limitations and its possibilities, through the intertwining love stories of four Americans. George Darrow is a diplomat in London when he runs into an old flame at a dinner party. Anna Leath left George to marry another man, but she is now a widow living with her family in France. After Anna mysteriously cancels a rendezvous with George, he meets the beautiful Sophy Viner, an aspiring young actress in search of a fresh start in Paris. Finally, there is Owen Leath, Anna's stepson, whose fiancée is certain to make things more difficult for everyone... Originally published in 1912, The Reef is possibly Edith Wharton's most autobiographical novel. Wharton, of course, went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1921 for her novel The Age of Innocence.

In the second volume of the acclaimed novel, the narrator recalls his adolescent discoveries of art and women in Belle Époque France.Following the events of Swann's Way, the nameless narrator shifts his attention to memories of his teenage years. His relationship with the Swann family is altered as his love for Gilberte fizzles out. Two years later, he accompanies his grandmother to the resort town of Balbec on the Normandy coast. There, he encounters figures who will change his life: Robert de Saint-Loup, who becomes his friend; the magnificent painter Elstir; and the new object of his affection, the beautiful Albertine, who causes him to reflect on the nature of love.Although it was originally meant to be published in 1914, Within a BuddingGrove's release was delayed until 1919 due to World War I. The book was awarded the Prix Goncourt, which quickly garnered fame for Proust. It is the second of seven volumes in a saga Edmund White hailed as “the most respected novel of the twentieth century.”Praise for Marcel Proust“Reading Proust... it's a whole world not just a book. Everyone wants to live more than one life and Proust is like ‘here's another one you can live.'” —Francine Prose, New York Times–bestselling author of Mister Monkey“I can think of only one other writer capable of such breadth and humanity: Shakespeare.” —André Aciman, New York Times–bestselling author of Find Me “When I want to restore my faith in literature, I read Proust.... Reading Proust is like watching a galaxy being put together, one particle at a time.” —Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Making of Zombie Wars

The masterful novel of Jazz Age idealism, decadence, and disillusionment by the celebrated author of The Beautiful and Damned.Here is the timeless story of mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby; beautiful debutant Daisy Buchanan; Daisy's philandering husband, Tom; and aspiring writer Nick Carraway, who gets caught up in their drama of elegant parties and doomed romance. With its vivid prose and perceptive character portraits, it is widely considered to be author F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, as well as one of the greatest novels ever written. Adapted for stage and screen numerous times, The Great Gatsby is emblematic of the style and sensibility of the Roaring Twenties as well as a brilliant evocation of popular culture's growing disillusionment with the American Dream.

A collection of ten short stories portraying immigrant life in 1920s New York City by the acclaimed Jewish American author of Bread Givers. Anzia Yezierska, known as the “Cinderella of the Tenements,” calls upon her own background as a child of immigrants who worked in sweatshops on Manhattan's Lower East Side to bring to life stories of women struggling to survive in similar circumstances. From a hardworking woman who becomes the target of her children's scorn and indifference when they find success to the young mother and her family who are subjected to humiliating rules and circumstances when offered a vacation in the country, these are tales of women who strive, dream, and fight to hold on to their dignity and identity in a harsh reality. “Coping with scholarly dependents and chiseling landlords, chafed by the class system, ravenous for learning and desperate for beauty, Anzia Yezierska's protagonists have emotions they express in great, big, attention-getting gestures.... Louis B. Mayer was so taken by Yezierska's stories he brought her to Hollywood: The film adapted from Hungry Hearts is about as loud as silent cinema gets.” —Tablet, “101 Great Jewish Books” “Poverty makes no one eloquent, and lack of opportunity to learn leaves its scars. Yezierska, despite her literary faults, is a remarkable writer, a recorder of a history that still is attached to us, that still follows us like a shadow.” —The Los Angeles Times “These stories... are, in fact, slices of life as much as fiction, in that tradition of American social realism which harks back to Dreiser.” —The Irish Times

In the third volume of the celebrated novel, a writer comes into his own and learns the way of the world in Paris. Continuing the nameless narrator's voyage through his memories after Within a Budding Grove, The Guermantes Way finds him and his family entering Parisian high society. They have moved into a stately old town house owned by the Duke and Duchess de Guermantes in the Fauborg Saint-Germain district of Paris. Daily sightings of the duchess do nothing but fan the flames of the narrator's infatuation with her. So, of course, he falls in love once more. He also continues his journey as a writer, visiting aristocratic and literary salons where, beneath a thin veneer of manners, a battle for political, sexual, and social supremacy rages on... Originally published in two volumes in 1920 and 1921, The Guermantes Way explores the customs of Parisian society in Belle Époque France. Praise for Marcel Proust “Whatever your preference, Proust is a pleasure no serious reader should miss.” —Kirkus Reviews “Reading Proust... it's a whole world not just a book. Everyone wants to live more than one life and Proust is like ‘here's another one you can live.'” —Francine Prose, New York Times–bestselling author of Mister Monkey “I can think of only one other writer capable of such breadth and humanity: Shakespeare.” —André Aciman, New York Times–bestselling author of Find Me “When I want to restore my faith in literature, I read Proust.... Reading Proust is like watching a galaxy being put together, one particle at a time.” —Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Making of Zombie Wars