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First published in 1922, “Captain Blood” is an entertaining tale of pirates by Rafael Sabatini, the Italian-English author of adventure and romance novels. “Captain Blood” tells the story of Dr. Peter Blood, an Irish physician who had traded his past life as a sailor and a soldier for a quiet life tending to his garden and patients in Somerset, England. Dr. Blood attends to the wounds of rebels injured in the Battle of Sedgemoor during the Monmouth Rebellion and is soon arrested for treason. While he did not actually participate in the rebellion and merely did what he felt he must, he is tried and convicted nonetheless. The sentence for treason is death, but King James II has the sentence commuted and instead sells Dr. Blood and his fellow rebels into slavery in the Caribbean. Dr. Blood continues to demonstrate his bravery and decency after he is bought by the cruel Colonel Bishop and takes advantage of a raid by Spanish forces to escape his new owner. Dr. Blood acquires a ship and quickly becomes the most successful pirate in the Caribbean, ultimately triumphing over his enemies and misfortune. “Captain Blood” remains a gripping and entertaining tale of pirates and high sea adventures. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1917, “Growth of the Soil” is the epic and seminal work by Knut Hamsun, the Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian writer. Originally published in Norwegian and subsequently translated into numerous languages and read around the world, “Growth of the Soil” has been lauded as one of the twentieth-century’s most important and ground-breaking novels. Hamsun was a pioneer in a new more realistic style of literature and was one of the first to use a stream of consciousness writing technique that would have a profound influence on such writers as Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, and Henry Miller. “Growth of the Soil” is the lyrical and intensely subjective story of Isak, a rural farmer, his family, and his local community members. Isak represents the agrarian and primitive lifestyle that Hamsun idealized as opposed to the increasingly urban and modernized world around him. Isak and his family resist the obligations and complexities of the regimented world of rules and machines, but are also perplexed and confused by it when they are forced to interact with its realities. A thought-provoking examination of the tension between the old primitive world and the new modern one, “Growth of the Soil” endures as one of literature’s modern masterpieces.

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“The Dead” is the final and longest story in the Dubliners, a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce. First published in 1904, the stories aim to capture Irish middle class life as it really was around Dublin at the turn-of-the-century. Like many of Joyce’s tales in the collection, “The Dead” features a transformative epiphany, where a character experiences a sudden insight into their life that changes the way they see everything. In what many consider one of Joyce’s most nuanced and well-written works, the story centers around Gabriel Conroy, his evening attending a Christmas dinner party hosted by his elderly aunts, and the experiences of his wife and various friends. In his signature style, Joyce delves deeply into the inner lives of his characters and the subtle details of their evening together in order to transform a seemingly mundane dinner party into a profound examination of the fleeting nature of life, love, happiness, and regret. At the end of the evening, Gabriel is surprised to learn that even the people he believed he knew well are capable of unseen depths of emotion and hidden experiences. “The Dead” withstands the test of time as one of Joyce’s most thought-provoking and emotionally powerful works. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1907, “The Shepherd of the Hills” is Harold Bell Wright’s mostly fictional tale of people living in the foothills of the Ozarks. The story is principally concerned with the relationship of Grant Matthews, Sr., affectionately known in his community as “Old Matt”, and “The Shepherd of the Hills”, a wise old man who has chosen the peace of the backwoods over the hustle and bustle of the city. The Shepherd is a quiet and mysterious character who is trying to recover from a tragic and troubled past. While his reclusiveness has left him largely isolated from others in the settlement, he earns the love and trust of the Matthews clan, which is one of the most respected families in the community. Set against The Shepherd’s story is also the touching and romantic love affair between the pretty young Samantha Lane and Grant “Young Matt” Matthews, Jr. “The Shepherd of the Hills” has become an enduring and often adapted classic of American literature. It is beloved for its portrayal of the life and death concerns of ordinary people and for its commentary on human weaknesses, the strength of community, and the redemptive power of forgiveness and kindness. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1917, “Summer” is one of only two novels by Edith Wharton not set in the upper-class society of New York. It is instead set in New England and was very controversial at the time it was published as it is the story of the sexual awakening of a young woman, named Charity Royall. Charity, the daughter of mountain moonshiners, was abandoned by her poor parents and adopted by her small town’s most learned person, Lawyer Royall. Charity is unsatisfied and restless and spends her days yearning for a more exciting and luxurious life outside of North Dormer. She falls for Lucius Harney, an educated young architect visiting North Dormer from the city. Charity and Lucius begin an affair, much to the disapproval of Mr. Royall and Charity’s relationship with her guardian becomes darker and more complicated. “Summer” is a thought-provoking and ambiguous story of a young girl coming to terms with her feelings and sexuality, as well as a commentary on the impossible standards that are often applied to women’s behavior. The war between freedom and repression in the environment of overwhelming social pressure of early 20th century America continues to resonant today. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1865, “From the Earth to the Moon” is Jules Verne’s fantastical tale of an ambitious plan to fly to the moon. Set at the end of the American Civil War, Verne’s novel is a forward-looking and modern tale of space adventure. With the war over and no other pressing tasks to occupy them, the members of the Baltimore Gun Club, at the urging of their President, Impey Barbicane, decide to build a gun large enough to propel a projectile from the Earth to the Moon. Barbicane is certain that, based on his calculations, the group can build a cannon powerful enough to launch a projectile all the way to the moon. Wagers begin to be placed on this incredible plan, great sums of money are raised, and the mission is soon expanded to the idea of sending three people in the projectile with the hope of landing them on the moon. Verne’s tale of grand dreams and enterprising scientists ends on a cliffhanger as the intrepid explorers blast off to the moon and an uncertain fate in this enduring classic of science fiction. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First serialized in 1905, “The Railway Children”, by English author and poet Edith Nesbit, is the entertaining and heart-warming story of three siblings, Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis. The children and their mother move to “The Three Chimneys”, a house near a railway, when their father, who works for the Foreign Office, is wrongly accused and falsely imprisoned for selling government secrets to the Russians. The children pass the time by watching the railcars go by and waving to the passengers riding the trains. Eventually they meet and befriend Perks, the station porter and a kind old gentleman, who may be able to help free their father from his wrongful imprisonment. After the family is reunited, the children and their parents extend their kindness to others and help both a man exiled from Russia find his lost family, and Jim, the grandson of Perks, who suffered from a broken leg in a tunnel accident. Nesbit’s timeless story of family, generosity, and benevolence continues to captivate audiences young and old alike. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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A sequel to the “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, this 1904 book by L. Frank Baum delves once more into the Land of Oz after Dorothy’s return to Kansas in a story that follows the adventure of a boy named Tip. In “The Marvelous Land of Oz” the reader is introduced to Tip after he escapes the witch Mombi. Tip travels the lands of Oz with a group of friends and has numerous adventures, including encountering an army of wild women, escaping violent creatures such as the Jackdaws, seeking Glinda the Good, and ultimately meeting his destiny in the Emerald City. Baum infuses his land of fantasy with new characters while utilizing some of the familiar personalities of the first novel, creating an engaging and memorable cast and an entertaining plot that twists and turns when the reader least expects it. “The Marvelous Land of Oz” is a well-crafted novel that continues to entertain audiences over one hundred years after its first publication. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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An imaginative work first published in 1902, L. Frank Baum’s “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” tells the story of Claus, an orphaned boy raised by various immortal creatures in an enchanted forest. When he reaches adulthood, Claus is told to live among mortals; he is disheartened initially by poverty, war, and other negative aspects of humanity. He becomes well-known for his kindness to children, and this enthusiasm leads to the invention of the first toys. Claus eventually makes it his life’s mission to bring joy to children, and this unfolds into an entertaining explanation of many Christmas traditions, including the hanging of stockings, Christmas trees, and gift-giving. After a lifetime of generosity the immortal creatures who raised him must consider whether Claus is worthy of immortality so that he may continue to bring joy into the lives of children. “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” illustrates the depth of Baum’s skill as an author of children’s literature. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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The first novel of Trollope’s “Chronicles of Barsetshire” series, “The Warden” introduces the fictional cathedral town of Barchester and many of its clerical inhabitants. Originally published in 1855, the story centers on Mr. Septimus Harding who has been granted the comfortable wardenship of Hiram’s Hospital, an almshouse from a medieval charity of the diocese. Mr. Harding, a fundamentally good man and an excellent musician, conscientiously fulfills his duties to the twelve elderly occupants of the hospital. He also cares for his younger daughter Eleanor, who is in love with a young doctor named John Bold. The misfortunes of Harding begin when Bold becomes an enthusiastic reformer and endeavors to expose the great disparity in the allotment of Hiram’s antiquated charity funds. This leads to a sequence of events that he becomes powerless to stop, from the editorials of Tom Towers in “The Jupiter” to the legal interference of Archdeacon Grantly. The novel is a thoughtful description of clerical life infused with the romance of a young couple, which combines to form a novel with a melancholy conclusion. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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