Books published by publisher Classic Collection

Featured title on PBS's The Great American Read in 2018A classic tale of Gothic horror, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been a world favorite since it was first published in 1818.Originally published as part of a contest between Mary Shelley, her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron, Frankenstein has since captured countless imaginations. When Dr. Victor Frankenstein learns the secret of imparting life to inanimate matter, he is eager to test his theories. The bones he collects to construct his human subject become a gruesome, frightening creature, endowed with supernatural size and strength. Lonely and miserable, the created comes to hate his creator. When the monster murders Frankenstein’s brother and his bride, the doctor embarks on a heated pursuit, only to put his own life in grave danger.This novel is part of Brilliance Audio's extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.

From the author of Middlemarch comes the timeless novel about one of Victorian literature's most engaging characters: Maggie Tulliver.As Maggie Tulliver approaches maturity, she enters into conflict with family and community over her desire for self-fulfillment. Eliot's rendering of Maggie's life and dilemma has been hailed as a precise, evocative picture of English rural life and the struggle between loyalty and love, making this work as relevant today as it was in the 19th century.This novel is part of Brilliance Audio's extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.

Featured title on PBS's The Great American Read in 2018Ishmael, a sailor, recounts the ill-fated voyage of a whaling ship led by Captain Ahab.Moby Dick is at once a thrilling adventure tale, a timeless allegory, and an epic saga of heroic determination and conflict. At its heart is the powerful, unknowable sea—and Captain Ahab, a brooding, one-legged fanatic who has sworn vengeance on the mammoth white whale that crippled him. Narrated by Ishmael, a wayfarer who joins the crew of Ahab’s whaling ship, this is the story of that hair-raising voyage, and of the men who embraced hardship and nameless horrors as they dared to challenge God’s most dreaded creation and death itself for a chance at immortality.A novel that delves with astonishing vigor into the complex souls of men, Moby Dick is an impassioned drama of the ultimate human struggle that the Atlantic Monthly called “the greatest of American novels.”This novel is part of Brilliance Audio’s extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.

A brilliant adventure that has gripped generationsOn board a ship bound for Natal, adventurer Allan Quatermain meets Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good. His new friends have set out to find Sir Henry's younger brother, who vanished while seeking King Solomon's legendary diamond mines in the African interior. By strange chance, Quatermain has a map to the mines, drawn in blood, and agrees to join the others on their perilous journey.Along their quest, the travelers face many dangers: the baking desert heat, the hostile lost tribe they discover, and the evil "wise woman" who holds the secret of the diamond mines. Will they find Sir Henry's brother and make it out of the mines with their lives? This novel is part of Brilliance Audio's extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.

Anthony Trollope's last completed work is a touching novel of love, affection, and self-sacrificeWilliam Whittlestaff becomes a guardian to Mary Lawrie, the orphaned and penniless daughter of an old friend, and gradually finds himself falling in love with her.This novel is part of Brilliance Audio's extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.

Who owns the Eustace Diamonds?Lizzie Eustace claims that Sir Florian Eustace, her late husband, gave the Eustace Diamonds to her. But Mr. Camperdown, the family solicitor, insists that they are an heirloom, to be passed down from generation to generation. Lizzie is both beautiful and clever, yet Mr. Camperdown believes her to be a scheming liar. And Mr. Camperdown is right! The battle for the diamonds rages until a robbery intervenes and they disappear. Or do they...?This novel is part of Brilliance Audio's extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.

Solomon Northup’s harrowing true story, first published in 1853, was a key factor in the national debate over slavery prior to the American Civil War, significantly changing public opinion on the topic of abolition. It tells the horrifying tale of Solomon Northup, an educated, free black man living with his wife and children in New York, whose life takes an appalling turn when he is kidnapped, drugged, and sold into slavery.Shipped to New Orleans, he endures the life of a slave in Louisiana's isolated plantation country. For twelve long years, he endures the unimaginable brutality and inhumanity of daily life, while keeping his dignity intact and dreaming of one day returning home to the arms of his family.The film adaptation of Twelve Years a Slave starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, Brad Pitt, and Michael Fassbender won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture.

The American Civil War had ended, and the members of the American Gun Club tried to think of something else to interest them. At last they came up with the extraordinary idea of building the greatest cannon the world had ever seen and using it to launch a man-made "bullet" to the moon! When From the Earth to the Moon was published in 1865, it was regarded as pure fantasy. Who could imagine a rocket that would carry men and animals through space? Today, like so many of Jules Verne's prophecies, space travel is a reality.

The final rousing adventures of Alexandre Dumas' Three MusketeersDeep inside the dreaded Bastille, a twenty-three-year-old prisoner called merely "Philippe" has languished for eight long, dark years. He does not know his real name or what crime he is supposed to have committed. But Aramis, one of the original Three Musketeers, has bribed his way into the cell to reveal the shocking secret that has kept Philippe locked away from the world. That carefully concealed truth could topple Louis XIV, king of France—which is exactly Aramis' plan.A daring jailbreak, a brilliant masquerade, and a terrifying fight for the throne may make Aramis betray his sacred vow, "all for one, and one for all!" In this concluding episode of the Three Musketeers saga, the actions of Aramis and the other Musketeers—Athos, Porthos, and the most dashing of them all, D'Artagnan—bring either honor or disgrace…and a horrifying punishment for the final loser in the battle royal.This novel is part of Brilliance Audio's extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.

Part memoir and part spiritual quest, Walden is the compelling account of daily life at Walden Pond by the noted transcendentalist and author Henry David Thoreau.Detailing over two years of Henry David Thoreau's life, Walden chronicles his transcendentalist journey to live in the wilderness and immerse himself in nature. The result is this classic work on self-reliance and individual freedom. Since its first publication, Walden has become a mainstay in American literature, "…a personal declaration of independence, a social experiment, and a voyage of spiritual discovery.…" (The Library of America).

"The Island of Dr. Moreau": While on a voyage in a small ship, Edward Prendick makes the mistake of sticking up for a deformed man that the sailors are tormenting. The result is that he is thrown off the ship when the man reaches his destination - an uncharted island. He is reluctantly rescued by the two scientists using the island for experiments. Prendick discovers that they are attempting to "humanize" various beasts and the hideous results of their experiments freely roam the island. Prendick's arrival upsets the delicate peace between them and the "animal-men" with catastrophic results."The Country of the Blind": In this famous fantasy story, a mountain climber falls into a strange and isolated society of non-seeing persons - claiming to have been in existence for 15 generations and cut off from the rest of the world by an earthquake. The interloper decides quickly that "In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." However, things turn out very differently than he had planned. The experience of being an "other" - a seeing man in a world of blind persons - is the major theme of this story."The Crystal Egg": In this short story, Mr. Cave, a shop owner, finds a strange crystal egg that serves as a window into a Martian landscape. The War of the Worlds was probably H. G. Wells' best-known work, but this brief tale indicates that he had more than a passing interest in Mars. The artifact that the title refers to would not seem too extraordinary today, but this brilliant prediction of robotic planetary exploration seemed fantastic in the early 20th century.