Elfride Swancourt is the daughter of the Rector of Endelstow, a remote sea-swept parish in Corwall based on St Juliot, where Hardy began A Pair of Blue Eyes during the beginning of his courtship of his first wife, Emma. Blue-eyed and high-spirited, Elfride has little experience of the world beyond, and becomes entangled with two men: the boyish architect, Stephen Smith, and the older literary man, Henry Knight. The former friends become rivals, and Elfride faces an agonizing choice. Written at a crucial time in Hardy's life, A Pair of Blue Eyes expresses more directly than any of his novels the events and social forces that made him the writer he was. Elfride's dilemma mirrors the difficult decision Hardy himself had to make with this novel: to pursue the profession of architecture, where he was established, or literature, where he had yet to make his name. This updated edition contains a new introduction, bibliography, and chronology.

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*Edith Wharton wrote Ethan Frome as a frame story — meaning that the prologue and epilogue constitute a "frame" around the main story* **How It All Goes Down** It's winter. A nameless engineer is in Starkfield, Massachusetts on business and he first sees Ethan Frome at the post office. Ethan is a man in his early fifties who is obviously strong, and obviously crippled. The man becomes fascinated with Ethan and wants to know his story. When Ethan begins giving him occasional rides to the train station, the two men strike up a friendship. One night when the weather is particularly bad, Ethan invites the man to stay at his house. In the hall the man hears a woman talking angrily, on and on. When Ethan speaks, the voice stops. The man tells us that he learned something that night which allowed him to imagine Ethan's story. Now we go back in time 24 years and learn about Ethan's life. Ethan has walked from his farm and sawmill into town to pick up Mattie Silver from the church dance. He peeks in the windows of the church basement and sees Mattie dancing with Denis Eady and is jealous. Mattie is Ethan's wife's cousin. Her parents both died just over a year ago, and she was left with nothing. Her father had apparently swindled some of the relatives out of their savings, so nobody wanted to help Mattie. Zeena, Ethan's wife, is always sick, and decided to let Mattie live with them in exchange for doing the housework and helping the ailing Zeena. Ethan liked Mattie from the beginning and worried that Zeena was too hard on her. The two women soon adjusted to each other (sort of) and things weren't as bad as they could have been. Meanwhile, Ethan has fallen in love with Mattie and wants to spend all his time with her. Mattie soon comes out of the dance, and Ethan watches while Denis Eady tries to give her a ride home. She brushes him off and then Ethan reveals his presence. Ethan and Mattie are happy to see each other. They discuss possibly doing some sledding in the future. Neither is afraid to sled down the hill – at the bottom of which lies the deadly elm tree. The walk home is altogether lovely and romantic, but when they arrive, the house key isn't under the mat like it usually is. Soon, Zeena, looking ill and scary, comes downstairs and lets them in. She's usually in bed by this hour but she couldn't sleep. She is obviously suspicious of their behavior. The next day she announces that she will be gone overnight visiting a new doctor. Mattie and Ethan make good use of her absence and enjoy a romantic dinner for two. Unfortunately, the cat breaks Zeena's favorite dish and Ethan isn't able to locate any glue until after Zeena gets back. The first thing Zeena does when she gets home is to tell Ethan that she's kicking out Mattie. He protests, but fighting is useless. Then Zeena finds the broken pickle dish and is super upset (it had been a wedding gift). Ethan decides he'll run away with Mattie, but then a combination of lack of cash and guilt stop him. Still, he insists on driving Mattie to the train station. He takes her on the long route, so they can look at different places they enjoyed together. By the time they get to the town sledding hill, it's already dark. As they are contemplating sledding, and pondering the hopelessness of their situation, Mattie suggests that they sled into the elm tree and kill themselves. Ethan agrees and they smash into the tree. But they survive. Then the story goes back to the present and we find the engineer right where we left him, about to enter the Frome kitchen. When he does enter he learns that the woman who was talking on and on in an argumentative tone is…Mattie! She has spinal disease and can't move without assistance. Zeena is there too, cooking. They all three live together, an unhappy family in the Frome house. ---------- Also contained in: - [Edith Wharton Reader](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL98540W/The_Edith_Wharton_reader) - [Ethan Frome and Other Stories](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15000117W/Ethan_Frome_and_other_stories) - [Ethan Frome and Related Readings][1] - [Ethan Frome and Selected Stories](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15000119W/Ethan_Frome_and_Selected_Stories) - [Edith Wharton Omnibus](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL98499W/The_Edith_Wharton_Omnibus) - [Ethan Frome with Connections](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15000126W/Ethan_Frome_with_Connections) - [The Hermit and the Wild Woman and other stories / Ethan Frome](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL13131348W/Ethan_Frome_The_Hermit_and_the_Wild_Woman_and_other_stories) - [Novellas and Other Writings](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15000211W/Novellas_and_other_writings) - [Three Classics by American Women][2] - [Three Novels](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15000264W/Three_Novels) - [Works of Edith Wharton](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL98524W/Works_of_Edith_Wharton) [1]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16061406W/Ethan_Frome_and_Related_Readings [2]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15514881W/Three_Classics_by_American_Women_(The_Awakening_Ethan_Frome_O_Pioneers!

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- WHEN Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance of his ears, his eyes were reduced to chinks, and diverging wrinkles appeared round them, exten- ding upon his countenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of the rising sun. His Christian name was Gabriel, and on working days he was a young man of sound judgment, easy motions, proper dress, and general good character. On Sundays he was a man of misty views, rather given to post- poning, and hampered by his best clothes and umbrella: upon the whole, one who felt himself to occupy morally that vast middle space of Laodicean neutrality which lay between the Communion people of the parish and the drunken section, - that is, he went to church, but yawned privately by the time the congregation reached the Nicene creed, and thought of what there would be for dinner when he meant to be listening to the sermon. Or, to state his character as it stood in the scale of public opinion, when his friends and critics were in tantrums, he was considered rather a bad man; when they were pleased, he was rather a good man; when they were neither, he was a man whose moral colour was a kind of pepper-and-salt mixture.

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Ivanhoe (1819) by Sir Walter Scott is the quintessential novel of romantic medieval chivalry, beloved by generations of readers. Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, disinherited by his father, returns home to England from the Crusades, and lively adventure ensues -- a jousting tournament, villainous Norman knights and passionate Templars, proud Saxon prisoners including Ivanhoe's own father and the lovely Lady Rowena, a castle siege, Robin Hood and his merry men, carousing friars, a clever and loyal jester and swineherd, a mysterious Black Knight who is more than he seems, the conniving Prince John, the return of King Richard the Lionheart, a trial and triumph of justice, an old noble Jew and his beautiful and courageous daughter Rebecca. And yet, among the vibrant pageantry and chivalry is a story of dark prejudice, religious conflict, sacrifice, and love that uplifts the novel to a more sophisticated level, and the fate of the unforgettable Rebecca takes center stage.

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A literary landmark in its groundbreaking approach, as well as a priceless document of its age One of the most ambitious narratives of nineteenth-century realism, "Middlemarch" tells the story of an entire town in the years leading up to the Reform Bill of 1832, a time when modern methods were starting to challenge old orthodoxies. Eliot's sophisticated and acute characterization gives rich expression to every nuance of feeling, and vividly brings to life the town's inhabitants--including the young idealist Dorothea Brooke, the dry scholar Casaubon, the young, passionate reformist doctor Lydgate, the flighty young beauty Rosamond, and the old, secretive banker Bulstrode--as they move in counterpoint to each other. Art, religion, politics, society, science, human relationships in all their complexity--nothing is left unexamined under the narrator's microscope. Also included in this edition are pictures and an extensive section on George Eliot's life and works.

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Virginia Woolf’s novel chronicles a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a politician’s wife in 1920s London, as she prepares to host a party that evening. The narrative follows Clarissa’s thoughts (and sometimes those of people she meets) as she goes about her errands, and events in the day remind her of her youth and friendships from the past. As the book progresses characters from the past emerge, igniting old feelings and making Clarissa question the life she has created for herself. *Mrs. Dalloway* became the inspiration for Michael Cunningham’s 1998 novel *The Hours*.

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Jim Cleve has been deemed, "a good guy" all of his life and it agitates him to no end. Even his girlfriend, Joan Randle has scorned him for this "weakness" shouting, "You haven?t it in you even to be BAD!" Dejected and hurt, Jim abandons the life he has known for the gold mining camps along Alder Gulch in southern Montana. It is here, among the thieves and murderers, that he must make a new name for himself. Meanwhile, Joan realizes danger that she has put Jim in and rushes off to save him. However, when she stumbles across the ruthless desperado gang leader, Jack Kells, it is soon Joan who is in need of rescue. When Kells tries to rape her, Joan grabs his gun and shoots him. But something keeps Joan from leaving him to die. In the face of Joan?s loving spirit, Kells experiences his own change of heart. But too late, Kells outlaw gang arrives and keeps Joan hostage. So begins the border legion adventures of roving bandits, lust and greed. With Jim?s search for a new identity, Jack?s moral dilemma and the fight for Joan?s freedom, this thrilling story portrays the epic theme of man?s continual struggle between good and evil.

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The first novel written by the author of "Jane Eyre," "The Professor" is a story about the life of the resilient William Crimsworth. An English orphan raised by coldly aristocratic uncles, he rejects a life as a clergyman to work in his brother's mill in Yorkshire. Treated abominably in his tedious clerkship, Crimsworth escapes to Belgium and begins teaching in a boys' school. There he eventually meets the headmistress of a neighboring girls' school, Zoraide Reuter, as well as one of the teachers in the girls' school, Francis Henri. Narrated from a convincing male perspective, Bronte exercised her skill as a writer in telling a tale based on her own experiences as a student in Brussels, challenging many of the assumptions of Victorian society in the process. Crimsworth matures, finds a fulfilling profession, and discovers love in this significant commencement to Charlotte Bronte's literary career.

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From the book:It is a little remarkable, that - though disinclined to talk overmuch of myself and my affairs at the fireside, and to my personal friends - an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life have taken possession of me, in addressing the public. The first time was three or four years since, when I favoured the reader - inexcusably, and for no earthly reason that either the indulgent reader or the intrusive author could imagine - with a description of my way of life in the deep quietude of an Old Manse. And now - because, beyond my deserts, I was happy enough to find a listener or two on the former occasion - I again seize the public by the button, and talk of my three years' experience in a Custom-House. The example of the famous "P. P., Clerk of this Parish," was never more faithfully followed. The truth seems to be, however, that when he casts his leaves forth upon the wind, the author addresses, not the many who will fling aside his volume, or never take it up, but the few who will understand him better than most of his schoolmates or lifemates. Some authors, indeed, do far more than this, and indulge themselves in such confidential depths of revelation as could fittingly be addressed only and exclusively to the one heart and mind of perfect sympathy; as if the printed book, thrown at large on the wide world, were certain to find out the divided segment of the writer's own nature, and complete his circle of existence by bringing him into communion with it. It is scarcely decorous, however, to speak all, even where we speak impersonally.

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Love and the erratic heart are at the center of Hardy's "woodland story." Set in the beautiful Blackmoor Vale, The Woodlanders concerns the fortunes of Giles Winterborne, whose love for the well-to-do Grace Melbury is challenged by the arrival of the dashing and dissolute doctor, Edred Fitzpiers. When the mysterious Felice Charmond further complicates the romantic entanglements, marital choice and class mobility become inextricably linked. Hardy's powerful novel depicts individuals in thrall to desire and the natural law that motivates them. This is the only critical edition of the novel, which was Hardy's own favorite "as a story," that is based on a comprehensive study of the manuscript and incorporates later revisions. The new introduction by Penny Boumelha considers the novel in the context of Hardy's career, the characters' relationships with one another, the role of destiny and individual choice, narrative perspective, and the community. This edition also contains a new and up-to-date bibliography and a new chronology.

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Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, written between October 1845 and June 1846, and published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It was her first and only published novel: she died the following year, at age 30. The decision to publish came after the success of her sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.

Wuthering Heights is the name of the farmhouse on the North York Moors where the story unfolds. The book's core theme is the destructive effect that jealousy and vengefulness have, both on the jealous or vengeful individuals and on their communities.

Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, it received mixed reviews when first published, and was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. The English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti referred to it as "A fiend of a book – an incredible monster ... The action is laid in hell, – only it seems places and people have English names there."

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Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, written between October 1845 and June 1846, and published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It was her first and only published novel: she died the following year, at age 30. The decision to publish came after the success of her sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.

Wuthering Heights is the name of the farmhouse on the North York Moors where the story unfolds. The book's core theme is the destructive effect that jealousy and vengefulness have, both on the jealous or vengeful individuals and on their communities.

Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, it received mixed reviews when first published, and was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. The English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti referred to it as "A fiend of a book – an incredible monster ... The action is laid in hell, – only it seems places and people have English names there."

Listed by Unglue.it.

Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, written between October 1845 and June 1846, and published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It was her first and only published novel: she died the following year, at age 30. The decision to publish came after the success of her sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.

Wuthering Heights is the name of the farmhouse on the North York Moors where the story unfolds. The book's core theme is the destructive effect that jealousy and vengefulness have, both on the jealous or vengeful individuals and on their communities.

Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, it received mixed reviews when first published, and was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. The English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti referred to it as "A fiend of a book – an incredible monster ... The action is laid in hell, – only it seems places and people have English names there."

Listed by Unglue.it.

Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, written between October 1845 and June 1846, and published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It was her first and only published novel: she died the following year, at age 30. The decision to publish came after the success of her sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.

Wuthering Heights is the name of the farmhouse on the North York Moors where the story unfolds. The book's core theme is the destructive effect that jealousy and vengefulness have, both on the jealous or vengeful individuals and on their communities.

Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, it received mixed reviews when first published, and was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. The English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti referred to it as "A fiend of a book – an incredible monster ... The action is laid in hell, – only it seems places and people have English names there."

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