Central Kansas Library System

The tale of a passionate, independent woman and her three suitors, Far from the Madding Crowd tells the story of Bathsheba Everdene and her relationships with the devoted Gabriel Oak, the dashing Sergeant Troy, and the reclusive gentleman farmer, Mr. Boldwood. Through her wayward nature and a winding path of events propelled by Thomas Hardy's recurring feminist themes, Bathsheba is led to tragedy and, finally, true love. Written in 1874, Far from...

Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is pursued by the rough-mannered, slovenly John Thorpe, as well as the more refined Henry Tilney

Retellings of twenty of Shakespeare's best known plays, using the playwright's own words when possible.

"In John Bunyan's classic allegory, Christian abandons his family and the City of Destruction and sets off to find salvation. His path is straight but not easy, and he is beset by trials, including the terrible violence of the destructive Apollyon and the Giant Despair, as he pursues his pilgrimage through the Slough of Despond, the Delectable Mountains and Vanity Fair towards the Celestial City. In the second part of the narrative his wife, Christiana,...

The breathtaking love story of an illegitimate girl and the young noble who would choose her above all. Gender issues and economic hardships are dealt with deftly in Doctor Thorne, the third novel in the Chronicles of Barsetshire, and arguably the saga's finest love story. Set in rural England in the fictitious county of Barsetshire, this Victorian novel is one of Anthony Trollope's most optimistic and engaging works. When Henry Thorne seduces local...

The magical Peter Pan comes to the night nursery of the Darling children, Wendy, John and Michael. He teaches them to fly, then takes them through the sky to Never-Never Land, where they find Red Indians, wolves, Mermaids and... Pirates. The leader of the pirates is the sinister Captain Hook. His hand was bitten off by a crocodile, who, as Captain Hook explains 'liked me arm so much that he has followed me ever since, licking his lips for the rest...

With an Introduction and Notes by James Fowler, Senior Lecturer in French, University of Kent   Voltaire is one of the three greatest French writers of the eighteenth century. He fought against religious persecution, bigotry and injustice throughout his life, and is one of the thinkers who prepared the way for the French Revolution. This volume contains: Zadig (1748), the story of a young man who becomes king of Babylon; Candide (1759), Voltaire's...