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First published in 1918, “My Antonia” is the final book of Willa Cather’s “prairie trilogy” of novels, preceded by “O Pioneers!” and “The Song of the Lark.” It is the classic story of the daughter of the immigrant Bohemian Shimerda family that sets out to farm the untamed prairie land of Nebraska in the late 19th century. The father of the family finds the demands of this new life unbearable. He did not want to leave his homeland where he had a home, a trade, and friends, but does so because his wife believes their children will have a better life in America. The burdens of this new life become too much for the father to bear and he commits suicide before the end of the first winter. Told to us from the perspective of the adoring Jim Burden, an orphan who comes to live at his grandparent’s neighboring farm, “My Antonia” is an enduring American classic rich with both the spirit that brought so many immigrants to this land in search of a better life and of the tragic circumstances that affected so many pioneers. Will Cather viewed “My Antonia” as the best book that she had ever written and countless of her fans have concurred with her opinion ever since its original publication. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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The second best-selling book of the 19th century, behind only the Bible, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic anti-slavery novel. First published in 1852, the work is a seminal piece of abolitionist literature which helped spur the country towards Civil War. The story centers on the lives of several slaves of a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby. Mounting debts forces the farmer to sell two of his slaves, Uncle Tom, a middle-aged man with a wife and children, and Harry, the son of Eliza, the family’s maid. Fearing separation from her child, Eliza runs away with her son and reunites with her husband George, also an escaped slave, planning to travel north to Canada. Meanwhile Tom is sold and placed on a Mississippi river boat where he befriends a young white girl named Eva, whose father Augustine St. Clare purchases him and takes him to their home in New Orleans. What follows for Tom is a tragic set of circumstances which highlighted the brutal reality of slavery in early 19th century America.

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Dante Alighieri was born in Florence, Italy in the middle of the 13th century and what is principally known of him comes from his own writings. One of the world’s great literary masterpieces, “The Divine Comedy” is at its heart an allegorical tale regarding man’s search for divinity. The work is divided into three sections, “Inferno”, “Purgatorio”, and “Paradiso”, each containing thirty-three cantos. It is the narrative of a journey down through Hell, up the mountain of Purgatory, and through the revolving heavens into the presence of God. In this aspect it belongs to the two familiar medieval literary types of the Journey and the Vision, however Dante intended the work to be more than just simple allegory, layering the narrative with rich historical, moral, political, literal, and anagogical context. In order for the work to be more accessible to the common readers of his day, Dante wrote in the Italian language. This was an uncommon practice at the time for serious literary works, which would traditionally be written in Latin. One of the truly great compositions of all time, “The Divine Comedy” has inspired and influenced readers ever since its original creation. Presented here is the second volume of “The Divine Comedy” translated into English verse by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This edition includes an introduction by William Warren Vernon.

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” so begins Charles Dickens’s famous novel concerning the contentious time leading up to and during the French Revolution. In these first words Dickens exemplifies the dichotomous relationship that existed between the aristocracy and the lower classes of the time and the universal themes that would be depicted throughout the book. “A Tale of Two Cities,” is set in London and Paris, the titular two cities, at the end of the 18th century, and principally concerns the lives of Dr. Alexandre Manette, his daughter Lucie, who marries a French nobleman, Charles Darnay, and their close family friend, barrister Sydney Carton. Despite the union of Lucie and Darney, Carton confesses his love to Lucie, declaring to “embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you,” a promise that he will uphold in dramatic fashion by the end of the novel. Dickens considered “A Tale of Two Cities” to be the best novel that he had ever written. One of only two works of historical fiction that the author would compose; it is a sweeping narrative that explores the best and the worst of the human character and condition. This edition is illustrated by Harvey Dunn, includes introductions by G. K. Chesterton, Andrew Lang, and Edwin Percy Whipple, and a biographical afterword.

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One of the most popular novels of early American literature, “The Last of the Mohicans” helped to establish James Fenimore Cooper as one of the first great and world-famous American authors. The second and best known novel in the “Leatherstocking Tales” series, “The Last of the Mohicans” is set in the British province of New York during the French and Indian War. It concerns the rescue and transport to safety, of two sisters, Alice and Cora, daughters of British commander Colonel Munro, who are kidnapped following a Huron massacre of Anglo-American soldiers. They are escorted by frontiersman Natty Bumppo, Major Duncan Heyward, and the Indians Chingachgook and Uncas, the titular sole surviving member of the Mohican tribe. A fantastic tale of adventure set during the middle of the 18th century, “The Last of the Mohicans” is a true American classic, which has captivated readers ever since its original publication. This edition includes an introduction and notes by John B. Dunbar.

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Mikhail Lermontov’s pioneering psychological novel, “A Hero of Our Time”, is probably his most impactful work, one which influenced the works of other great Russian authors such as Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. The novel’s narrative is the story of Pechorin a young officer in the army whose story is told in five non-chronological parts. Drawing upon his own experiences in the military, Lermontov creates a fascinating anti-hero in Pechorin, a man who is intelligent, calculating, manipulative, emotionally unavailable, arrogant, cynical, nihilistic, yet also sensitive. The principal accomplishment of “A Hero of Our Time” is the introduction of the Byronic anti-hero to Russian literature, a departure from the traditional idealized protagonist of the Romantic period which signifies a pivotal move towards the realism of the Modernist literary movement. As Lermontov describes in his preface: “A Hero of Our Time, my dear readers, is indeed a portrait, but not of one man. It is a portrait built up of all our generation’s vices in full bloom. You will again tell me that a human being cannot be so wicked, and I will reply that if you can believe in the existence of all the villains of tragedy and romance, why wouldn’t believe that there was a Pechorin?” This edition includes an introduction by George Reavey and a biographical afterword.

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What begins as the story of a middle-aged country gentleman absorbed with novels of chivalry deliberately evolves into a tale of purely imaginative knight-errantry in this highly influential work of the Spanish Golden Age. This first of modern novels was written in the experimental episodic form, allowing Don Quixote and his ‘squire’ Sancho Panza to go on quests that just as often as not land them in trouble or earn them the incredulity of those fully engaged in reality. While initially farcical, the novel slowly reveals a more philosophical thread exploring the theme of deception, all the while creating emotional and mental reversals in the two main figures that take them from tilting at windmills to fully comprehending reality. A work that frequently appears on lists in the highest echelon of published fiction, “Don Quixote” is a novel that has deeply influenced a host of notable writers and readers for hundreds of years. This edition follows the highly regarded translation by John Ormsby along with his complete original introduction.

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First published in 1905, “A Little Princess” is one of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s most beloved stories. Expanded from an earlier serialized short story entitled “Sara Crewe: or, What Happened at Miss Minchin’s”, it is the story of young girl named Sara who is enrolled by her father, Captain Richard Crewe, a wealthy English widower, at Miss Minchin’s boarding school for girls in London. Because of her father’s wealth Sara enjoys a life of luxury and convenience which abruptly comes to an end when she learns that her father has passed away following an unfortunate turn of events that leaves him penniless. The Headmistress, Miss Minchin, who secretly despises Sara, but pretends otherwise while she is wealthy, becomes infuriated over a large unpaid bill left by her father’s passing and consequently strips Sara of almost all her belongings and forces her to live in a cold and poorly furnished attic, making her earn her keep by working as an errand girl. To survive those hard times Sara imagines herself to be a little princess as she awaits her rescue from a mysterious benefactor. This edition includes the original illustrations by Ethel Franklin Betts.

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Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an American sociologist, author, poet, and lecturer whose influential work and unorthodox lifestyle made her an icon for future generations of feminists. Much of her work criticized common perceptions of the role of women in marriage and society, and advocated for educational, financial, and cultural equality amongst the sexes. Her advocacy is exhibited in her novella “Herland”, in which she describes a utopian society composed entirely of women, who reproduce asexually, resulting in an ideal society free of conflict. The world is seen through the viewpoints of three male protagonists who have set off to find and explore this fabled land. Through this story Gilman explores the role of gender in society, implying that it is arbitrarily constructed. Also included in this volume is her most famous short story, “The Yellow Wall-Paper”, a semi-autobiographical story written by Gilman in 1890 after a severe bout of post-partum depression. The story of a woman who is driven insane after three months trapped in her home, deprived of any mental stimulation, was a direct criticism of the doctor who “treated” Gilman’s depression. An additional eighteen short stories and sixteen poems are included in this representative selection of Gilman’s work. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1909, “Anne of Avonlea” is Lucy M. Montgomery’s second installment in the much loved “Anne of Green Gables” book series. Following the life of Anne Shirley from age sixteen to eighteen this chapter in Anne’s life sees her having left Green Gables for the grown up world of Avonlea where she is to begin a job teaching school. Gilbert Blythe, who we are introduced to in the first book as Anne’s enemy, is now a good friend teaching at the nearby White Sands School. Anne studies at home with Gilbert, with whom she is yet unaware has fallen in love with her. We are introduced to several new characters as well, including Mr. Harrison, a troublesome neighbor with a foul-mouthed parrot, as well as the recently orphaned twins Dora, a well-behaved young girl, and her brother, Davy, who is the exact opposite of his sister and is constantly getting into trouble. The story of a young girl’s maturation into adulthood which shows Anne dealing with the struggles and joys of her new job and adapting to her new home, “Anne of Avonlea” further exhibits Montgomery’s prowess in humorously dealing with the challenges of growing up. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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