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Classic Literature of a Romantic Genre
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The Prisoner of Zenda
by
Anthony Hope
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from £18.49
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The hugely successful romantic adventure story which continues to thrill a century after it was written. It has all the classic ingredients - a twisting plot of betrayal and deception, love interest, great swashbuckling action and a most beguiling villain in Rupert of Hentzau, who captured the publics imaginat ... more on this title.
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Under The Greenwood Tree
by
Thomas Hardy
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from £18.49
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A wonderfully evocative tale of the courtship of Fancy Day, newly arrived schoolmistress, by Dick Dewy, carrier of goods, during the four seasons of one year in Wessex.
Most of Hardys’ work had tragedy woven into the narrative but ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’ is full of whimsy and good humour.
... more on this title.
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Love and Mr Lewisham
by
H.G. Wells
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from £22.99
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Love and Mr Lewisham is a hugely uplifting tale from the pen of one of our greatest writers. Wells drew on his own experience as a young teacher to provide the background and, one suspects, the emotional drama.
The plot enables him to satirise the educational establishment and deliver many wry obs ... more on this title.
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Two on a Tower
by
Thomas Hardy
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from £19.99
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Written in 1882, and set in the author's beloved West Country, `Two on a Tower' is one of Hardy's earliest works. This fast moving story combines tragedy, romance and humour in a convoluted tale of human relationships. It also reflects Hardy's interest in the stars and astronomy. Lonely Viviette Constantine awaits the retur ... more on this title.
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Dr Wortle's School
by
Anthony Trollope
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from £19.99
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Dr. Wortle's School is Trollope's most merciless attack on the false moralising and hypocrisy of the Victorian age.
When Dr. Wortle, in good faith, hires a couple as teacher and matron at his school, scandal about their marriage is subsequently brought to light. Will the doctor submit to the social pressures brou ... more on this title.
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The Semi Attached Couple
by
Emily Eden
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from £19.99
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Emily Eden was the daughter of the 1st Baron Auckland, a close confidant of Pitt. She was thus well placed to observe the manners and mores of nineteenth century aristocracy. A huge admirer of Jane Austen, her works reflect this in their perception, tongue in cheek humour and benevolence toward the victims of her pen.
... more on this title.
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The Professor
by
Charlotte Bronte
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from £22.99
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William Crimsworth escapes the brutal employment of his brother in a Yorkshire mill town, changes profession and takes a position as tutor in a boys' school in Brussels.
The authoress is unusually frank, for the time, in her scrutiny of the relationship between the teacher and the domineering headmistress of th ... more on this title.
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Trilby
by
George Du Maurier
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from £19.99
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Full of the author's joie de vivre, this tale revels in the artistic life of 19th Century Paris.
Three friends, perfect companions for each other, try to make their way as painters in the Bohemian climate of the left bank of the Seine, but then Little Billee falls in love. The object of his affections is Trilby ... more on this title.
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The Woman Who Did
by
Grant Allen
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from £14.99
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‘The Woman Who Did’ written in 1893, wholly and solely to satisfy the author’s conscience was perhaps the most controversial book of the late 19th Century. Certainly, it was a success de scandale and a commercial triumph. The heroine, Herminia Barton, chooses to live unmarried with her lover. When he dies, she endures many ... more on this title.
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Cousin Phillis
by
Elizabeth Gaskell
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from £11.99
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The tale of a rural habitation in the late 19th Century and the effect of industrialisation on the local community.
Seventeen year old Phillis lives on Hope Farm with her parents Minister Ebenezer Holman and his simple wife. Her second cousin Paul Manning, at first reluctantly, comes to visit. He is the son of ... more on this title.
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Sir Harry Hotspur
by
Anthony Trollope
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from £19.99
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A man of conscience, duty and tradition, an immature, impressionable girl of supreme virtue and perhaps the greatest cad in English Literature are the chief protagonists of this tale.
Tragedy falls upon the House of Humblethwaite. Sir Harry Hotspur's son dies at 21 years of age. There is no other male heir save a s ... more on this title.
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The Semi-Detached House
by
Emily Eden
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from £14.99
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The house is called "Pleasance" and is rented by two sisters, Blanche and Aileen. The story revolves around the fortunes of two neighbouring families of varied social standing. The sisters' semi-detachment is to the Hopkinsons. Whilst Blanche's husband, Arthur, is abroad on a mission, the neighbours soon prove themselves in ... more on this title.
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The Frozen Deep
by
Wilkie Collins
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from £11.99
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Richard Wardour leaves England on a voyage to the African coast under the impression he is engaged to delicate orphan Clara Burnham. Despite sending him a letter stating the contrary Clara is anxious for her honour. She is aware that he may not have received the missive and is now betrothed to another, Frank Aldersley.
... more on this title.
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The Sowers
by
H.S. Merriman
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from £24.99
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A romantic adventure yarn of plotting and corruption largely set against the panorama of Imperialist Russia but with some of the skulduggery taking place in the major capitals of Europe.
An old Etonian and half Russian, Prince Paul Alexis, inherits the Osterno estate in the Steppes. Naive and honest, but helped b ... more on this title.
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The Dark Flower
by
John Galsworthy
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from £19.99
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“The Dark Flower” has a universal theme - the positive powers and the disruptive effects of sexuality and desire. It is the story of Mark Lennan and his infatuation, adulterous affair, conventional marriage and obsession for a younger woman. Despite the moral debate Galsworthy’s novel has enormous narrative strength which s ... more on this title.
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Anna of the Five Towns
by
Arnold Bennett
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from £19.99
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Set in stifled industrial Staffordshire in the late nineteenth century against a strong evangelical background "Anna of the Five Towns" tells of the courting of hard businessman Ephraim Tellright's daughter by prosperous and accomplished Henry Mynors. As her father's fortune grows so does Anna's understanding. She realises ... more on this title.
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Game, Set and Match
by
Various Authors
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from £14.99
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A collection of love stories from around the world read by Jacqueline Quella, Andrew Hawkins and Peter Joyce.
The stories in this collection include:
1. ‘The Jilting of Jane’, by H. G. Wells.
2. ‘The Necklace’, by Guy de Maupassant.
3. ‘The Rocking Horse Winner’, by D. H. La ... more on this title.
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The Unbearable Bassington
by
Saki
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from £14.99
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Widow Francesca Bassington is deeply concerned. Her son, Comus, has finished his schooldays without benefit. He is now footloose and fancy free among the Edwardian social scene of London, showing no signs of responsibility or willingness to undertake a sensible career.
To add to this distress Francesca has a ho ... more on this title.
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The Card
by
Arnold Bennett
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from £19.99
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Arnold Bennett's splendidly comic portrayal of Edward Henry Machin, known as Denry to his mother to save time, is set in Bursley, one of the author's Five Towns of Staffordshire. Starting in 1897, when Denry first saw the smoke of the potbanks, the tale chronicles his rise to fame and wealth including such events as improvi ... more on this title.
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The Beloved Vagabond
by
W.J. Locke
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from £24.99
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"To Paragot I owe everything. He is at once my benefactor, my venerated master, my beloved friend, my creator."
Thus begins the story of one of the greatest characters of English Literature - Paragot the lovable Bohemian and celebrated Bon Vivant.
A young urchin from the London slums is adopted by ... more on this title.
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Pudd'nhead Wilson
by
Mark Twain
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from £14.99
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Puddn’head Wilson is Mark Twain’s novel of satirical wit aimed at the injustices in the southern states of America in the mid 19th century. It tells the story of two children, one born free, the other a slave. When the slaves mother, Roxana, switches the infants in their cradles she is not the only one who lives to regret t ... more on this title.
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Washington Square
by
Henry James
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from £17.99
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In 'Washington Square' James treats on a subject about which he was passionate - the relationship between parents and their children. Dr Sloper, a wealthy man, is in a difficult position. His son has died aged three years old. His wife also dies within two weeks of giving birth to their surviving daughter Catherine. She is ... more on this title.
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Miss Lonelyhearts
by
Nathanael West
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from £8.99
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The columnist of the New York Post-Dispatch, Miss Lonelyhearts, is initially cynical about the letters he receives for help. They are a joke. Gradually however, the letters start to move him but he is powerless to do anything. Retreating from the pain into a fantasy world he starts to believe that he is a Christ figure, a u ... more on this title.
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John Halifax, Gentleman
by
Dinah Craik
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from £39.49
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The greatest romantic narrative novel of the early 19th Century, John Halifax, Gentleman, tells the story of an orphan boy whose first words in the story are “Sir, I want work; may I earn a penny.” By hard work, diligent study and an unshakeable faith in his God John attains wealth and happiness, despite much ... more on this title.
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Eugénie Grandet
by
Honoré De Balzac
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from £17.99
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Eugénie Grandet is Balzac's first great novel and one of the series Comédie Humaine.
At the beginning of the story the heroine lives an unfulfilled life in rural France, her nature crushed by a domineering and miserly father.
Gallant cousin Charles arrives and acts as a catalyst on Eugénie's personality and emotions.
... more on this title.
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Maupassant Magic
by
Guy de Maupassant
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from £7.99
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Possessed of a voracious sexual appetite, bitter and frequently disillusioned by the history of his country and the foibles of its people is not a description that does justice to the tortured soul that was Guy de Maupassant.
He was also a compassionate and deeply patriotic man, volunteering to fight ... more on this title.
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Riceyman Steps
by
Arnold Bennett
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from £27.49
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It’s 1919 shortly after the termination of the 1st European holocaust. Henry Earlforward, a middle aged North London Bookseller, courts and marries Violet Arb, a widow who has inherited the confectioners shop opposite his own premises in Riceyman Square. Henry and Violet engage the services of Elsie as ‘char ... more on this title.
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Lawrence Loves
by
D. H. Lawrence
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from £7.99
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David Herbert Lawrence was born into a mining family in Nottinghamshire in 1885. He created his finest work shortly after the finish of the First World War.
Two of the themes in his writing are the gradual disintegration of the class system and the customs and sexual mores of people across cla ... more on this title.
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