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HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.Wilfred of Ivanhoe is a Saxon loyal to the Norman king Richard I. Because of this loyalty, and his love for Lady Rowena, Ivanhoe is cast out by his father, a Saxon loyalist determined to liberate the Saxon people from Norman rule. He plans to marry Rowena, his ward and a descendant of the Saxon king Alfred, to Lord Aethelstane, pretender to the throne of England. In so doing, Ivanhoe would unite two rival Saxon houses in their claim for the crown. Ivanhoe returns from the Crusades in secret and is joined in his plans to re-establish Richard on the thrown by the moneylender Isaac of York, his daughter Rebecca, the mysterious Black Knight, Lady Rowena, and Robin Hood and his merry men.

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HarperCollins is proud to present a range of best-loved, essential classics.‘The real evils, indeed, of Emma’s situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself…’Beautiful, rich, self-assured and witty, Emma Woodhouse delights in matchmaking those around her, with no apparent care for her own romantic life. Taking young Harriet Smith under her wing, Emma sets her sights on finding a suitable match for her friend. Chided for her mistakes by old friend Mr Knightley, it is only when Harriet starts to pursue her own love interests that Emma realises the true hidden depths of her own heart.Delightful, engaging and entertaining, and with a dazzling gallery of characters, Emma is arguably Austen’s most well-loved social comedy.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.‘“I am Kim. I am Kim. And what is Kim?” His soul repeated it again and again.’Set against the backdrop of Britain and Russia’s political struggle in central Asia, Kim, the son of a drunken Irish soldier grows up as a street-wise orphan in the city of Lahore. Upon befriending an aged Tibetan Lama, the playful and spirited Kim journeys with him across India, experiencing the exotic culture, religion and people of the subcontinent.On their travels they come across Kim’s father’s old army regiment. The Colonel quickly spots Kim’s ability to blend into his surroundings and trains him to become a spy for the British Army. As his adventures take him further into the world of secret agents and political intrigue, Kim is torn between his spiritual self and the expectations of his British compatriots. In this exotic tale of mystery, friendship and struggle, Kipling gives a fascinating insight into the British Raj and the volatile age of Imperialism in India.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.‘She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.’Written at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Persuasion is a tale of love, heartache and the determination of one woman as she strives to reignite a lost love.Anne Elliot is persuaded by her friends and family to reject a marriage proposal from Captain Wentworth because he lacks in fortune and rank. More than seven years later, when he returns home from the Navy, Anne realises she still has strong feelings for him, but Wentworth only appears to have eyes for a friend of Anne’s.Moving, tender, but intrinsically ‘Austen’ in style, with it’s satirical portrayal of the vanity of society in eighteenth-century England, Persuasion celebrates enduring love and hope.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.‘People glorify all sorts of bravery except the bravery they might show on behalf of their nearest neighbours.’An epic study of provincial life at a time when England was facing rapid industrialization and increasingly fluid social mobility, Eliot’s depiction of the small community of Middlemarch weaves an intricate web of different characters disparate lives as they strive to adapt to the changing world around them. Eliot was one of the first of her female contemporaries to write a novel that dealt with real-life issues and complex yet ordinary human life.

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First published in 1898, and now a major TV series, Moonfleet is a riveting adventure story full of drama, mystery, revenge, pursuit, smuggling, pirates, and romance, sharing its literary canon with Treasure Island and Kidnapped.The tiny village of Moonfleet is nestled along the English coast, and every one of its inhabitants lives off the sea in one way or another. When local young man John Trenchard accidentally stumbles upon treasure stashed in the local crypt, he unknowingly enters the murky world of the smuggling trade and the local secret of Colonel John Mohune’s treasure.Trenchard is soon forced to flee England with a price on his head, leaving behind his beloved Grace and the life he hoped for. But the adventures, trials, and tribulations that befall him on his personal journey back to Moonfleet and ultimately redemption are written with such intensity and hope, as well as love for the history and landscape of Dorset, that the story never loses pace or power on its epic journey.Moonfleet is a classic adventure story to be read again and again.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.‘When you look for the bad, expecting it, you will get it. When you know you will find the good—you will get that’When life feels difficult, Pollyanna has learned to play “The Glad Game”. In any situation, no matter how dire it may seem, she challenges herself to find the silver-lining. However, orphaned at a young age and forced to live with her hard-hearted Aunt Polly, Pollyanna has had a lot of opportunities to practice. With her infectious cheer, she is soon convincing some of the town’s most troubled residents to rediscover the things they’re glad about, until even her sunny disposition is tested.A classic of the Golden Age of Children’s Literature, Pollyanna has become a synonym for optimism, and inspired countless readers to find hope in the hardest of situations.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.‘Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within as on the state of things without and around us.’Considered one of her less well-known novels, Shirley is Charlotte Brontë’s only historical work, set during the Napoleonic Wars. Wealthy and independent, Shirley is very different from her friend Caroline who has few prospects and is dependent on her uncle. Struggling Mill owner Robert Moore considers marriage to the monied Shirley in order to secure his financial future, however it is Caroline who he loves while Shirley has fallen for Robert’s brother, an impoverished tutor who is deemed an unsuitable match for her. Unsentimental, yet unflinching in its honest portrayal of love, class conflict and identity, Brontë uses the backdrop of her beloved Yorkshire to play out the tensions and dramas of a society facing social and industrial upheaval.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.‘There is no greater sorrow then to recall our times of joy in wretchedness.’Considered one of the greatest medieval poems written in the common vernacular of the time, Dante’s Inferno begins on Good Friday in the year 1300. As he wanders through a dark forest, Dante loses his way and stumbles across the ghost of the poet Virgil. Virgil promises to lead him back to the top of the mountain, but to do so, they must pass through Hell, encountering all manner of shocking horrors, sins and evil torments along the way, evoking questions about God’s justice, human behaviour and Christianity.

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A typist uncovers a man’s body from behind the sofa…As instructed, stenographer Sheila Webb let herself into the house at 19 Wilbraham Crescent. It was then that she made a grisly discovery: the body of a dead man sprawled across the living room floor.What intrigued Poirot about the case was the time factor. Although in a state of shock, Sheila clearly remembered having heard a cuckoo clock strike three o’clock. Yet, the four other clocks in the living room all showed the time as 4.13. Even more strangely, only one of these clocks belonged to the owner of the house…