Classics

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas’ epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s. Robin Buss’s lively English translation is complete and unabridged, and remains faithful to the style of Dumas’s original. This edition includes an introduction, explanatory notes and suggestions for further reading.

The novel follows the adventures of an 18-year-old penniless Gascon, d'Artagnan, who comes to Paris to pursue a career in the Musketeers. He befriends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, musketeers serving King Louis XIII. These four men will oppose the Prime Minister, Cardinal Richelieu, and his agents, including the Count of Rochefort and the beautiful and mysterious Milady de Winter, in order to save the honor of the Queen of France, Anne of Austria. With its numerous sword fights and dramatic twists, The Three Musketeers is the quintessential swashbuckling novel, and its success was so great that Dumas himself adapted it for the theater and brought back the four heroes in the rest of the trilogy.

Another cover edition for this ISBN One of the most passionate and heartfelt novels ever written, Wuthering Heights tells of the relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, the orphan boy her father adopted and brought to Wuthering Heights when they were children. While Catherine forms a deep attachment to Heathcliff, her brother Hindley despises him as a rival. Heathcliff becomes torn between love for Catherine and the rage and humiliation he suffers. Finally he can stand it no longer and, in the violence of a summer storm, leaves the Heights for three years. During his absence Catherine has married, but her tormented heart belongs eternally to Heathcliff who is now prepared to exact his tyrannical revenge. With its freedom from social convention and its unparalleled emotional intensity, Wuthering Heights is a highly original and deeply tragic work.