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The lives of the humble Pringle family of Scotland are turned upside down with the news that they have been named the recipients of a relative's inheritance. Trading quiet village life for the hustle and bustle of London is a difficult transition, and the family documents the bumpy ride in a series of letters to friends and relatives.

The novella'The Hated Son'is a section from French writer Honore de Balzac's multi-volume masterwork, The Human Comedy. Set in the late 1500s and early 1600s, the tale follows a newly married woman who is pregnant -- and the baby's father is not her new husband. Terrified of what will become of herself and the child, she fears for both of their futures. The second part of the tale occurs several decades later. Will the illegitimate child ever be accepted by his mother's husband?

Predating Edgar Allen Poe's remarkably similar story'The Cask of Amontillado'by more than a decade, Honore de Balzac's chilling tale'La Grande Breteche'centers on a mysterious manor that sits abandoned in a town in central France. When a physician becomes curious about the estate and begins to question locals about it, he gradually unfurls a horrifying secret.

Like many of the short stories in Honore de Balzac's vast story cycle The Human Comedy,'The Red Inn'is a tale within a tale. After a pleasant dinner at the Red Inn, guests begin to swap anecdotes. German businessman Hermann contributes to the discussion with a story about a French soldier who was imprisoned after being unjustly accused of committing a murder.

Immerse yourself in a French pastoral idyll in this engrossing tale from Honore de Balzac, whose unparalleled powers of description will whisk you away to La Grenadiere, a quaint estate in the midst of a blossoming orchard. Indeed, the house itself emerges as one of the most memorable characters in the story.

Master of realism Honore de Balzac highlights his brilliant knack for character development in the short story'Madame Firmiani.'The story's plot is slight, dealing in large part with the mysterious identity of Madame Firmiani's husband. As always, where Balzac truly shines is in delving into the nuance of human behavior and personality.

A heartbroken cavalry officer, Auguste de Maulincour, is strolling through a rather seedy section of Paris when he happens to spot the object of his unrequited love, a married young woman named Clemence. Even more remarkable is the fact that he sees her furtively entering a house of ill repute. Aghast and yet intrigued, Auguste begins to follow Clemence -- and what he witnesses plunges him into a world of deception and dark secrets.

Set against the backdrop of the Peninsular War, Balzac's novella'Juana'focuses on a storied family of French courtesans who have achieved legendary status. For many generations, the women have lived outside of the bounds of polite society, eschewing the familial involvement of men and maintaining a matrilineal tradition. But with the birth of a little girl named Juana, everything changes.

This short section of Honore de Balzac's vast story cycle The Human Comedy unfolds against the beautiful backdrop of the western coast of France. A couple on vacation have a chance encounter with a fisherman. After chit-chatting for a while, they take him up on his offer to shuttle them to a nearby island. Along the way, he recounts a heartbreaking local legend that puts a damper on the trip.

Part of Honore de Balzac's sprawling epic The Human Comedy, the novella The Commission in Lunacy focuses on the story of a bachelor who feels his youth rapidly slipping away and tries to renew his sense of vigor and fulfillment through various means. He crosses paths with the beguiling Madame d'Espard and soon finds himself caught up in a nefarious scheme.

In this novel, one of the last vestiges of a genteel family, the Marquis d'Esgrignon, tries to navigate the new social and cultural landscape that has emerged in France's post-revolutionary period. Even though he is surrounded by some of the signs of his family's former affluence, the Marquis is virtually penniless, and he finds it difficult to come to terms with his reduced station in life.

One of the key themes that is woven throughout Balzac's masterpiece, The Human Comedy, relates to the dangers of materialism and greed. In this novella, the narrator overhears some fellow diners discussing a complicated financial scheme that contributed to the fortunes of one of the wealthiest families in the country. The story also provides important background information about many characters who appear elsewhere in The Human Comedy.

The novella Gambara is part of the Philosophical Studies section of Honore de Balzac's The Human Comedy. It follows a tumultuous relationship between Italian nobleman Andrea Marcosini and the beautiful, young Marianna. She happens to be married to a mercurial, much older composer, who some believe is a genius and others regard as an abject failure.

This collection of loosely interwoven tales puts the unique talents of French novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac on full display. In each, Balzac delves deeply into the eccentric characters and quaint customs of small villages whose ways of life are rapidly changing as the social and political climate of the nineteenth century begins to evolve.

The mother of renowned novelist Anthony Trollope, Frances Trollope was an important literary figure in her own right. She made significant contributions to the then-nascent genre of travel writing, as well as publishing a number of well-researched novels that grapple with complex social issues. The sprawling epic The Vicar of Wrexhall casts a critical eye on the misdeeds of clergymen.

This fascinating novel from French master Honore de Balzac was published just as the age of bureaucracy was kicking into high gear in the mid-nineteenth century. Balzac delves deeply into the labyrinthine workings of a French agency, conveying the machinations, political alliances, and complex characters with astonishing texture and detail.

Honore de Balzac excelled at creating unforgettable characters, but most of his creations were works of pure fiction. Many critics have asserted that the novel Beatrix is a roman a clef depicting the life of the French memoirist George Sand, as well as the larger cultural shift from an era of genteel aristocracy and class stratification to a more democratic way of living.

The novel A Distinguished Provincial at Paris is the second volume of Honore de Balzac's Lost Illusions trilogy. In it, Balzac masterfully revisits one of his most commonly called-upon themes: the harsh realization that someone who is distinguished and revered in their small hometown may be an invisible nonentity amidst the hustle and bustle of the big city.

An extract from Honore de Balzac's sweeping novel cycle The Human Comedy, Gobseck is a novella that recounts the social ascendancy of young Anastasie de Restaud. Born into a wealthy family, Anastasie marries into aristocracy, but soon grows weary of the arcane rituals of her new lifestyle -- not to mention her lack of feelings toward her husband. Seeking passion, she makes several bold decisions and quickly finds herself on the road to ruin.

'Another Study of Woman'is a narrative hovering between a short story and a novella in terms of length, extracted from Honore de Balzac's multi-volume masterpiece The Human Comedy. At a private dinner party, guests warmed by the flush of fine food and drink begin to banter about the qualities and attributes that characterize the ideal woman. Gradually, the guests begin to reminisce about their own experiences and encounters with perfect and not-so-perfect women. Throughout the entertaining back-and-forth, Balzac presents a number of keen insights about the social mores governing women's behavior in nineteenth-century Europe.

Today, French writer Honore de Balzac is best remembered for The Human Comedy, a sprawling story cycle in which he attempted -- and some would argue, succeeded -- to capture the ebb and flow of everyday life in nineteenth-century Europe. But Balzac was an intrepid literary experimenter, and his prolific output encompassed every form and genre. The Resources of Quinola is a drama set in the Spanish Inquisition.

In this novella from Honore de Balzac, an impoverished mother and daughter slave away as embroiderers but are barely able to evade starvation. Finally, what seems to be a blessing enters into their lives -- an older gentleman falls in love with the daughter, Caroline, and whisks her away to a fine country estate. Will Caroline get the happily-ever-after she so richly deserves?

A Christmas Carol in Prose: The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. The book was written at a time when the British were examining and exploring Christmas traditions from the past as well as new customs such as Christmas cards and Christmas trees. Carol singing took a new lease on life during this time. Dickens's sources for the tale appear to be many and varied, but are, principally, the humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.

The novel Eve and David is the third entry in Honore de Balzac's Lost Illusions trilogy, which in turn is part of his larger novel cycle, The Human Comedy. The story focuses on a pair of earnest, good-hearted lovers who struggle to remain unsullied even as the world around them devolves into a hellish demimonde beset by greed, sensationalism, and baseness.

Set among the sprawling vineyards of France's Loire Valley, Balzac's novel Parisians in the Country follows the life of one Dinah Piedefer, a beautiful and talented young woman who finds herself trapped in a not-so-perfect marriage. Though she is initially content, she gradually begins to bristle against the constraints of her union and the provincial shabbiness of her lifestyle.

Throughout his entire literary career, French writer Honore de Balzac was fascinated by the many ways in which social class can impact the trajectory of a life. In the early novel The Lesser Bourgeoisie, an ambitious young lawyer named Theodose de la Peyrade tries every trick in the book to ingratiate himself with the affluent Thuillier family -- and finds his integrity threatened along the way.

Love Jane Austen's Emma? If so, you'll relish every page of Margaret Oliphant's Miss Marjoribanks. Part of the author's Carlingford Chronicles, this delightful novel follows the indomitable Lucilla Marjoribanks, who returns to her hometown to take care of her father. She inserts herself into the local social scene with her trademark abundance of confidence, but will her machinations and plans be well received by the townspeople?

He may have vast stores of family money at his disposal, but no one would accuse sleazy Walter Longcluse of being a noble gentleman. After worming his way into the good graces of the genteel Arden clan, Longcluse develops an unsettling obsession with their daughter, Alice. Will his ulterior motives be revealed before it's too late?

Sheridan Le Fanu's final novel Willing to Die is an emotionally evocative look at the most vexing of all mysteries: suicide. In what some critics regard as his most ambitious work, Le Fanu leaves behind the sometimes conventional plot constructions of his earlier career and attempts something much more interesting, bringing together a fragmented jumble of clues and puzzle pieces to get at the truth of a tragic life that ended much too soon.

One of Henry James'specialties is the longish short story that delves into philosophical questions via detailed character studies, and'Eugene Pickering'is a perfect example of this. In it, James compares and contrasts two archetypes: a bookish scholar who has remained largely sheltered for most of his life and a streetwise'doer'who is deeply engaged with the world around him. Which of these approaches represents the best way to live? As always, James entrusts the final judgment to his readers.

Roderick Hudson is a novel by Henry James. Originally published in 1875 as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly, it is a bildungsroman that traces the development of the title character, a sculptor.

The great niece of James Fenimore Cooper and a close friend and correspondent of novelist Henry James, Constance Fenimore Woolson achieved a level of literary acclaim in her own right. The collection Solomon and Other Sketches brings together a number of Woolson's short stories and vignettes, many of which highlight the unique landscapes and traditions of the Midwestern United States.

Do you believe in fate? Is true love powerful enough to overcome even the most adverse of circumstances? These thought-provoking questions form the thematic core of the novel The Two Destinies by master storyteller Wilkie Collins. Two star-crossed lovers fall head-over-heels for one another, but soon fall prey to a seemingly insurmountable series of mishaps and misadventures. Will they wind up together eventually?

The American is a novel by Henry James. The novel is an uneasy combination of social comedy and melodrama concerning the adventures and misadventures of Christopher Newman, an essentially good-hearted but rather gauche American businessman on his first tour of Europe. Newman is looking for a world different from the simple, harsh realities of 19th-century American business. He encounters both the beauty and the ugliness of Europe, and learns not to take either for granted. The core of the novel concerns Newman's courtship of a young widow from an aristocratic Parisian family.

The Europeans: A sketch is a short novel by Henry James. It is essentially a comedy contrasting the behaviour and attitudes of two visitors from Europe with those of their relatives living in the'new'world of New England. The novel first appeared as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly for July–October 1878. James made numerous minor revisions for the first book publication.

The Golden Bowl is a novel by Henry James. Set in England, this complex, intense study of marriage and adultery completes what some critics have called the'major phase'of James'career. The Golden Bowl explores the tangle of interrelationships between a father and daughter and their respective spouses.

Confidence is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in Scribner's Monthly in 1879 and then as a book later the same year. This light and somewhat awkward comedy centers on artist Bernard Longueville, scientist Gordon Wright, and the sometimes inscrutable heroine, Angela Vivian. The plot rambles through various romantic entanglements before reaching an uncomplicated, but still believable happy ending.

Henry James'short story'The Diary of a Man of Fifty'is a moving and thought-provoking meditation on aging and coming to terms with one's past. The narrator pays a return visit to Italy, where he spent some time many years before, and revisits memories of an ultimately doomed love affair, some painful and some enriching.

Methodist minister Silas Hocking scored a major bestseller with Her Benny, an inspiring tale that follows the trials and triumphs of one Benny Bates, a young boy whose life has fallen to pieces and who is forced to fend for himself on the streets of Liverpool. Will Benny make it out of the slums and find a happy, stable life?

Charming and intelligent but somewhat lacking in the purpose and dedication departments, protagonist Frank Softly just can't seem to find a profession that suits him, much to the chagrin of his family. Still, his journey to find himself is full of entertaining adventures and misadventures. Modern-day readers will find a lot to love in Wilkie Collins'A Rogue's Life.

Constance Fenimore Woolson was the great niece of James Fenimore Cooper and a close friend and correspondent of Henry James. A successful short story and novel writer Woolson was one of the'local color', or American literary regionalism authors popular in late-nineteenth century America. She travelled a great deal through America and Europe where she gathered material for her works. Woolson's stories focus on character, dialects, customs and landscape that are unique to a region. Her tales are often imbued with a sense of nostalgia for a world not yet in step with the modern world of development.

Washington Square is a short novel by Henry James.It is a structurally simple tragicomedy that recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, unemotional father. The plot of the novel is based upon a true story told to James by his close friend, British actress Fanny Kemble. The book is often compared with Jane Austen's work for the clarity and grace of its prose and its intense focus on family relationships. James was not a great fan of Washington Square. He tried to read it over for inclusion in the New York Edition of his fiction but found that he could not, so the novel was not included. Readers, though, have sufficiently enjoyed the book to make it one of the more popular of James's works. Indeed, and has since been used in schools all over the world.

The Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James. It is one of James's most popular long novels and is regarded by critics as one of his finest. The Portrait of a Lady is the story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who,'confronting her destiny', finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. Like many of James's novels, it is set in Europe, mostly England and Italy. Generally regarded as the masterpiece of James's early period, this novel reflects James's continuing interest in the differences between the New World and the Old, often to the detriment of the former. It also treats in a profound way the themes of personal freedom, responsibility, and betrayal.

Constance Fenimore Woolson was the great niece of James Fenimore Cooper and a close friend and correspondent of Henry James. A successful short story and novel writer Woolson was one of the'local color', or American literary regionalism authors popular in late-nineteenth century America. She travelled a great deal through America and Europe where she gathered material for her works. Woolson's stories focus on character, dialects, customs and landscape that are unique to a region. Her tales are often imbued with a sense of nostalgia for a world not yet in step with the modern world of development.

Henry Adams'Esther puts a novel spin on the classic scenario of ill-matched lovers. Esther is a spirited, independent artist who also happens to be a committed atheist with deep disdain for organized religion. But when she falls in love with a minister, she starts to question all of her beliefs. Is it possible for this pair to overcome their differences?

A Little Tour in France is a book of travel writing by American writer Henry James. Originally published under the title En Province in 1883–1884 as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly, the book recounts a six-week tour James made of many provincial towns in France, including Tours, Bourges, Nantes, Toulouse, Arles and several others. James gives the idea for the book in the first paragraph of the first installment of the original magazine serial:'France may be Paris, but Paris is not France.'He conceived the book as a description of and even homage to the provinces. James had tried living in Paris before settling in London in 1876. He returned to France in 1882 to discover more of French provincial life than he had previously been able to see.

The Bostonians is a novel by Henry James. This bittersweet tragicomedy centres on an odd triangle of characters: Basil Ransom, a political conservative from Mississippi; Olive Chancellor, Ransom's cousin and a Boston feminist; and Verena Tarrant, a pretty, young protégée of Olive's in the feminist movement. The storyline concerns the struggle between Ransom and Olive for Verena's allegiance and affection, though the novel also includes a wide panorama of political activists, newspaper people, and quirky eccentrics.

The Bostonians is a novel by Henry James. This bittersweet tragicomedy centres on an odd triangle of characters: Basil Ransom, a political conservative from Mississippi; Olive Chancellor, Ransom's cousin and a Boston feminist; and Verena Tarrant, a pretty, young protégée of Olive's in the feminist movement. The storyline concerns the struggle between Ransom and Olive for Verena's allegiance and affection, though the novel also includes a wide panorama of political activists, newspaper people, and quirky eccentrics.

Regarded by many critics as one of Honore de Balzac's foremost literary achievements, the novel The Alkahest offers an incisive look at the dangers of obsession. Scientist Balthazar Claes begins his research into alchemical properties with the best of intentions, but before long, he begins to neglect everything else in his life.

Book lovers of all ages owe it to themselves to conquer this masterwork of nineteenth-century fiction from Victor Hugo, also author of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. One hundred and fifty years after the original publication of Les Miserables, the heart-rending story of Jean Valjean, Fantine, Cosette and dozens of others of France's downtrodden and dispossessed continues to capture the imaginations of audiences around the world.