Books in Immortal Classics series

Gulliver's Travels (1726) is a prose satire by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers' tales" literary subgenre. It is Swift's best-known full-length work, and a treasured classic of English literature. The book became popular as soon as it was published and since then, it has never been out of print. The book describes the extraordinary adventures of Lemuel Gulliver. He enjoys travelling, although it is that love of travel that is his downfall. During his first voyage, Gulliver is washed ashore after a shipwreck and finds himself a prisoner of a race of tiny people, less than 6 inches tall, who are inhabitants of the island country of Lilliput.

King Solomon's Mines (1885) is a popular novel by the Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the missing brother of one of the party. It is the first English adventure novel set in Africa, and is considered to be the genesis of the Lost World literary genre. Allan Quartermain, an adventurer and white hunter based in Durban, in what is now South Africa, is approached by aristocrat Sir Henry Curtis and his friend Captain Good, seeking his help finding Sir Henry's brother, who was last seen travelling north into the unexplored interior on a quest for the fabled King Solomon's Mines. Quatermain has a mysterious map purporting to lead to the mines, but had never taken it seriously. However, he agrees to lead an expedition in return for a share of the treasure, or a stipend for his son if he is killed along the way. They also take along a mysterious native, Umbopa, to join the party. The book was first published in September 1885 amid considerable fanfare, with billboards and posters around London announcing "The Most Amazing Book Ever Written". It became an immediate bestseller and over the years it has been adapted numerous times for the screen.

Around the World in Eighty Days is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1873. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager (roughly £1.6 million today) set by his friends at the Reform Club. It is one of Verne's best known, most popular and most acclaimed works. Accompanied by Passepartout, Phileas Fogg leaves London by train at 8:45 P.M. on Wednesday, October 2, 1872, and is due back at the Reform Club at the same time 80 days later, Saturday, December 21, 1872. The two men embark on a adventurous journey that is not going to be as easy as planned. The book has been adapted into numerous films, TV-series, plays and comic books.

The Return of the Native is Thomas Hardy's sixth published novel. It became one of Hardy's most popular novels. The novel takes place entirely in the environs of Egdon Heath, and, with the exception of the epilogue, Aftercourses, covers exactly a year and a day. The young and beautiful Eustacia Vye visits her grandfather in Egdon Heath, a country area in northern England, but quickly becomes bored and dreams of city life in Paris. When Egdon Heath native Clym Yeobright returns from Paris and falls in love with Eustacia, she agrees to the courtship in hopes of moving to the city with Clym. But Eustacia's attraction to the handsome Damon Wildeve forces her to choose between the two men. The Return of the Native has been adapted for the screen several times, most famously in 1994 featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Clive Owen.

The seemingly peaceful rural village in the English Midlands at the turn of the eighteenth century is the setting for George Eliot's moving novel of three unworldly people trapped by unwise love. Adam Bede, a simple carpenter, loves too blindly; Hetty Sorrel, a coquettish beauty, too recklessly; Arthur Donnithorne, a dashing squire, too carelessly. Their innocence, vanity and imprudence, their foolish hearts lead them to a tragic triangle of seduction, murder and retribution. With emotional sincerity and intellectual integrity, George Eliot probes deeply into the psychology of commonplace people caught in the act of uncommon heroics. In Adam Bede, Eliot takes the well-known tale of a lovely dairy-maid seduced by a careless squire, and out if it creates a wonderfully innovative, lively and sympathetic portrait of the lives of ordinary Midlands working people--their labours and loves, their beliefs and their mind-set. Alexandre Dumas called this novel "the masterpiece of the century."

Martin Chuzzlewit is a comic masterpiece by Charles Dickens first published in 1844. Although less well known than others of his works, Dickens thought it to be his best work. Old Martin Chuzzlewit, tormented by the greed and selfishness of his family, effectively drives his grandson, young Martin, to undertake a voyage to America, a voyage, which will have great consequences not only for Martin, but also for his grandfather and his grandfather's servant, Mary Graham with whom young Martin is in love. The commercial swindle of the Anglo-Bengalee company and the fraudulent Eden Land Corporation bring reminiscence of commercial fraud in our own time. The novel is full of wholesomely depicted characters such as the criminal Jonas Chuzzlewit, the old nurse Mrs Gamp, and the arch-hypocrite Seth Pecksniff who are the equal of any in his other great novels. Generations of readers have also enjoyed Dickens' wonderful description of the London boarding house - 'Todgers'.

The Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine in 1880–81 and then as a book in 1881. It is one of James's most popular long novels, and is regarded by critics as one of his finest. It is the story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who in "affronting her destiny", finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. Like many of James's novels, it is set in Europe, mostly England and Italy. Generally regarded as the masterpiece of James's early period, this novel reflects James's continuing interest in the differences between the New World and the Old, often to the detriment of the former. It also treats in a profound way the themes of personal freedom, responsibility, and betrayal. The novel features as number 30 of The Guardians’ list of the 100 greatest novels of all time.

In Wessex Tales, his first collection of short stories, Hardy recorded the legends, superstitions, local customs, and lore of a Wessex that was rapidly passing out of memory. But these well-loved Tales also portray the social and economic stresses of Dorset in the 1880s, and reveal Hardy's growing scepticism about the possibility of achieving personal and sexual satisfaction in the modern world. By turns humorous, ironic, macabre, and elegiac, these seven stories show the full range of Hardy's story-telling genius.

Magdalen Vanstone and her sister Norah learn the true meaning of social stigma in Victorian England only after the traumatic discovery that their dearly loved parents, whose sudden deaths have left them orphans, were not married at the time of their birth. Disinherited by law and brutally ousted from Combe-Raven, the idyllic country estate which has been their peaceful home since childhood, the two young women are left to fend for themselves. While the submissive Norah follows a path of duty and hardship as a governess, her high-spirited and rebellious younger sister has made other decisions. Determined to regain her rightful inheritance at any cost, Magdalen uses her unconventional beauty and dramatic talent in recklessly pursuing her revenge. Aided by the audacious swindler Captain Wragge, she braves a series of trials leading up to the climactic test: can she trade herself in marriage to the man she loathes? Written in the early 1860s, between The Woman in White and The Moonstone, No Name was rejected as immoral by critics of its time, but is today regarded as a novel of outstanding social insight, showing Collins at the height of his powers.

One day, a young girl named Alice is sitting on the riverbank with her sister, when she sees a curious looking white rabbit. She soon after falls into the magical world of Wonderland, where she meets a series of strange creatures. Described by The Times on its first publication in 1865 as 'an excellent piece of nonsense', Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has gone on to become one of the most popular books ever written, loved by children and adults alike and translated into over 125 languages.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his fictional detective Sherlock Holmes – the most famous detective of all times (that never lived). It was first published on 14 October 1892, though the individual stories had been serialised in The Strand Magazine between June 1891 and July 1892. The stories are not in chronological order, and the only characters common to all twelve are Holmes and Dr. Watson. As with all but four of the Sherlock Holmes stories, those contained within The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes are told by a first-person narrative from the point of view of Dr. Watson. In general the stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes identify, and try to correct, social injustices. Holmes is portrayed as offering a new, fairer sense of justice. The stories were well received, and boosted the subscriptions figures of The Strand Magazine, prompting Doyle to be able to demand more money for his next set of stories. The first story, "A Scandal in Bohemia", includes the character of Irene Adler, who, despite being featured only within this one story by Doyle, is a prominent character in modern Sherlock Holmes adaptations, generally as a love interest for Holmes. Doyle included four of the twelve stories from this collection in his twelve favourite Sherlock Holmes stories, picking "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" as his overall favourite. A must-read for all Sherlock Holmes fans.

The Tower of London is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth serially published in 1840. It is a historical romance that describes the history of Lady Jane Grey from her short-lived time as Queen of England to her execution. The focus in the novel is the three aspects of the Tower of London. To further this focus, Ainsworth depicts two crownings, a wedding, executions, and even a siege of the Tower. Lady Jane has her first night at the Tower as the Queen of England, and she visits St John's Chapel, located in the White Tower. Later, she is kept as the Tower's prisoner. The plot begins with Lady Jane Grey, wife of Guilford Dudley and daughter-in-law to the Duke of Northumberland, as she enters the Tower of London in 1553. Prior to her imprisonment, she ruled as Queen of England for nine days after she and her husband were put on the throne by the Duke of Northumberland. Soon after, Mary I was able to take control of England and sent the Duke to be executed. Dudley, to gain back the kingdom, formed a rebellion, which results in failure and the imprisonment of both himself and his wife and Lady Jane is executed. A great read and a great storytelling from a Victorian viewpoint.