Driven by dreams of literary success, George Webber has left his provincial hometown to make his name as a writer in New York City. When his first novel is published, it brings him the fame he has sought, but it also brings the censure of his neighbors back home, who are outraged by his depiction of them. Unsettled by their reaction and unsure of himself and his future, Webber begins a search for a greater understanding of his artistic identity that...

Interweaves story and dream, past and present, and philosophy and poetry in a sardonic and erotic tale of two couples--Tomas and Tereza, and Sabina and her Swiss lover, Gerhart. Controlled by day, Tereza's jealousy awakens by night, transformed into ineffably sad death-dreams, while Tomas, a successful surgeon, alternates loving devotion to the dependent Tereza with the ardent pursuit of other women. Sabina, an independent, free-spirited artist, lives...

Dreiser's second novel and his own personal favorite features an impoverished heroine who, in simply trying to make her way in the world, inadvertently defies a host of social conventions.

First Published in 1860, "The Marble Faun" is the last of the four major romances written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Published shortly before the beginning of the American Civil War, it is a romantic and fantastical tale set in an imagined Italy and revolves around the love lives of the four main characters: Miriam, a beautiful and mysterious painter, Hilda, an innocent and morally upright copyist, Kenyon, a gifted sculptor, and Donatello,...

Chance (1914) was the first of Conrad's novels to bring him popular success and it holds a unique place among his works. It tells the story of Flora de Barral, a vulnerable and abandoned young girl who is "like a beggar, without a right to anything but compassion." After her bankrupt father is imprisoned, she learns the harsh fact that a woman in her position "has no resources but in herself." Her only means of action is to be what she is. Flora's...

This is a rousing, old-fashioned tale that Grey based on the true story of a chapter of Western history&;the deadly feud of the Tonto Basin in Arizona, also known as "The Pleasant Valley War." It might be compared to an Old West Romeo and Juliet with two feuding families and two star crossed sweethearts. Family loyalty, forbidden love, and rivalry between cattle ranchers and sheep herders are all wrapped up in this classic western tale.

Darley returns to a war-fevered Alexandria as the stories of the many characters move toward conclusion.

On the eve of World War II in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, an exiled Irish schoolteacher becomes involved with Justine, the Jewish wife of a Coptic Christian.

Tells the story of Magnolia Ravenal and of her marriage to the river gambler, Gaylord Ravenal, black sheep son of an aristocratic family. It is also the story of their daughter Kim, who became a famous Broadway actress.

First published anonymously in 1872, "Under the Greenwood Tree" is Thomas Hardy's story of the romantic entanglement between church musician, Dick Dewey, and the attractive new school mistress, Fancy Day. A pleasant romantic tale set in the Victorian era, "Under the Greenwood Tree" is the first of Hardy's "Wessex" novels and is one of his most gentle and pastoral stories. Dick falls in love with the beautiful and talented Fancy the moment he meets...