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First published in 1848, “Mary Barton” is a moving account of poverty and the working class by English author Elizabeth Gaskell. Set in the early 1840s in the English city of Manchester, Gaskell’s first novel follows the young and beautiful Mary Barton, daughter of a factory worker, who is eventually caught up in the class struggle of her time. She attracts the attention of a wealthy mill-owner’s son, Henry Carson, although she soon discovers her love for the poor, hard-working Jem Wilson. When a brutal shooting leaves a man dead, Mary must decide if she wishes to help in Jem’s defense, as he is accused of the murder, and she is certain she knows the identity of the true culprit. Gaskell weaves Mary’s story of romance and hope amidst a moving account of the grinding poverty of England’s working class, who often risked much with little regard or appreciation from the wealthy. Gaskell makes a compelling case for increased communication between workers and employers, greater equality between the rich and the poor, and the importance of the possibility of redemption and forgiveness. “Mary Barton” makes it clear why Gaskell is often called Great Britain’s social conscience of the Industrial Revolution. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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Originally published in 1859, “Adam Bede” is the first novel by George Eliot, which was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. Eliot was one of the leading British writers of the Victorian era, as well as a noted journalist, poet, and translator. “Adam Bede” concerns a small, tight-knit, and fictional rural community called Hayslope and the romantic drama that develops between four of its young residents: the title character Adam, a young carpenter, the beautiful young Hetty Sorrel, Captain Arthur Donnithorne, a young squire, and Hetty’s cousin, the virtuous Methodist lay preacher, Dinah Morris. Adam, respected for his intelligence and integrity, has fallen in love with Hetty, who in turn has fallen in love with Arthur, the local squire’s charismatic grandson and heir. Adam discovers that Hetty and Arthur have been meeting in secret and uses this knowledge to force his rival to leave town. However, before Hetty and Adam can wed, Hetty discovers herself to be pregnant and a series of bad decisions results in tragic consequences. A classic of 19th century literature, “Adam Bede”, a popular choice in English literature courses, remains a classic tale of love, desperation, and redemption. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1909, “A Girl of the Limberlost” is American author and naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter’s sequel to her 1904 novel “Freckles” and continues the stories of many of the same characters. Also set in Indiana near the Limberlost Swamp at the beginning of the 20th century, it tells the tale of Elnora Comstock, a young girl who is just entering high school at the outset of the novel. The story is one of Elnora’s emerging adulthood and her struggles: to overcome her poverty; to win the love of her mother, who blames Elnora for her husband’s death; to afford an education and a more secure future; and to find a romantic love of her own. Elnora is an admirable heroine, hard-working and diligent, respectful and resourceful. She collects moths and artifacts from the Limberlost to sell and uses the money to better herself and save for college. Like the rare moths she finds, Elnora too undergoes a transformation from a shy and reticent young girl into an intelligent and charming young lady, who earns the admiration of all she meets and eventually the love and acceptance she so desires. A classic and romantic coming of age story, “A Girl of the Limberlost” will delight readers of all ages. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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In Edgar Rice Burroughs’ sequel to “A Princess of Mars”, we find John Carter returning to Mars after a ten-year absence. First published serially in 1913, “The Gods of Mars” is the second volume in the “Barsoom” series. “A Princess of Mars” ended with the heroic Carter being unwillingly transported back to Earth. Having been long separated from his wife Dejah Thoris, his unborn child, and the Martian people of Helium that he has adopted as his own, Carter struggles to return to them. However, he is thwarted when he lands back on Mars in the Valley Dor, the Martian afterlife and a place from which no one is allowed to return. However Carter is not so easily defeated. Brave and determined, he fights countless enemies in his quest to escape the Valley Dor and be reunited with his family and people. Fantastical and far ahead of its time, Burroughs’s futuristic Martian world was an influential classic and inspired many science fiction authors, such as Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and Carl Sagan. Romantic and exhilarating, “The Gods of Mars” is a captivating and timeless tale of adventure and determination by a masterful storyteller. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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“Eight Cousins” is Louisa May Alcott’s classic children’s tale first published in 1875. It is the story of Rose Campbell, who is thirteen when her wealthy father dies. Rose has been motherless from a young age and has had very little contact with her extended family when she finds herself orphaned. A pretty and sweet girl she is suddenly in the care of her great-aunts, her father’s six brothers, their wives, and her seven male cousins. Rose must learn to find her place as a young lady and heiress in this new and often overwhelming world. “Eight Cousins” is full of the practical, healthy, and wholesome advice and wisdom that readers expect from Alcott and her timeless novels of young girls growing into independent, thoughtful, and respectable ladies. Rose’s story is also a touching and heartwarming glimpse of her struggle to overcome the sadness of the loss of her father and the hardship of adapting to a new environment following that loss. “Eight Cousins” is one of Alcott’s most loved tales which can be enjoyed by readers both young and old alike. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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Agatha Christie’s second novel, “The Secret Adversary”, which was first published in 1922, introduces the world to the adventures of intrepid detectives Tommy and Tuppence, or as they are more formally known, Thomas Beresford and Prudence Cowley. The two young friends find themselves out of work after the end of the first world war and form the partnership “The Young Adventures, Ltd.” They are immediately hired by a mysterious individual by the name of Mr. Whittington to find a young lady named Jane Finn. Jane has not been seen in the five years since she was on board the Lusitania when it sank. She is believed to be alive and in possession of a treaty, the contents of which the government prefer remain hidden. Tommy and Tuppence, hot on Jane’s trail, are quickly drawn into a dangerous world of government secrets, violent kidnappers, hidden identities, and murderous plots. Christie is a master at creating suspension and intrigue, as well as believable characters and engaging dialogue, and these gifts are evident throughout this clever and entertaining novel. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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The second book in Booth Tarkington’s “Growth” trilogy, “The Magnificent Ambersons”, is considered by many to be his greatest novel. The novel depicts Mid-Western life from the post-Civil War era to the early twentieth century. First published in 1918, and awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1919, this novel follows, through three generations, the decline of the Ambersons, an aristocratic family of the upper-class society of Indianapolis. Following the American Civil war, the second industrial revolution gives rise to a new group of wealthy individuals whose fortunes and political prominence begin to displace that of the aristocratic families of the past. “The Magnificent Ambersons” explores this phenomenon of late 19th century and early 20th century American life by tracing the fall in wealth and social prominence of one fictional family who find themselves displaced by the rise of industrial tycoons and land developers in a new and emerging urban landscape. By following the changes in the social and economic circumstances of the Ambersons, Tarkington gives readers a realistic glimpse into a time of great social and economic upheaval in the United States. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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The last novel written by Leo Tolstoy, “Resurrection” was first published in 1899 amidst huge anticipation. What surprised the world was Tolstoy’s story of a guilt-ridden nobleman, haunted by the sins of his past and seeking a way to atone for them. The aristocratic Prince Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhlyudov serves on a jury of a murder trial, only to discover that the accused prostitute is Maslova, a maid he seduced and abandoned years before. Though he comes to realize that Maslova was framed, she is sent to Siberia, and in his attempts to help her, he discovers a new world of squalid prisons, oppression, and misery. Dmitri finally sees a comprehensive vista of Russian life, much more a nightmare than the pleasant dream he has known, which begins his convoluted struggle with responsibility and morals. In this powerful denunciation, Tolstoy criticizes the complacency of the government and judicial system, as well as the hypocrisy of religion and the upper classes. All the while, he reveals the greatest depths of a guilty man, and the lengths he can and does take for redemption. This edition follows the translation of Louise Maude and includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1823, “The Pioneers” was the debut novel in James Fenimore Cooper’s famous “Leatherstocking Tales”. While published first, it is the fourth chronologically of Cooper’s five “Leatherstocking Tales” and follows the later life of his central character, Natty Bumppo. Well-known to Cooper’s readers as the archetypal American frontiersman and friend to Indians, Natty struggles with hunting and maintaining his way of life amid a growing economy and the new societal laws that restrict the freedom of the wilderness he has always known. He finds allies of his rebellion in a local landowner’s daughter and a mysterious young visitor in this rich and fascinating depiction of early frontier life and the essential American character that clashes with the expanding nature of society. Natty is the wise and pragmatic voice of reason in the novel, a man who understands that the settlers must respect the land they now find themselves the stewards of if they want to continue to enjoy its beauty and resources. “The Pioneers” is both a rich social drama, as well as a political and ecological novel, that helped established Cooper as one of the first great American novelists. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1912, Jean Webster’s “Daddy-Long-Legs” is the tale of Jerusha “Judy” Abbott, raised in the John Grier House, a bleak orphanage, and left as a baby without even a name from her parents. Told in a series of letters, this modern girls’ fairy tale follows Judy, a plucky young woman without ties and unsure of her future, as she comes of age. After a visit from the trustees of the orphanage when she is 17, Judy is told that one of the trustees sees in her the potential of a writer and wishes to be the patron of her college education. In exchange for tuition payment and a generous monthly allowance, Judy must write him a letter each month. It is this correspondence which forms the basis of this epistolary novel. She goes to an excellent women’s university and thrives, growing, learning, and having fun in an adventurous period of self-discovery. Webster’s tale of an orphan and her unknown, shadowy benefactor is an enriching and hopeful love story that unfolds in the pages of letters from a cheerful young woman to the man who changes her life.

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