Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Classics

Winter in a Massachusetts village serves as a backdrop to Edith Wharton's masterpiece about a man with little hope of escaping his bleak future. Married to an older woman named Zeena, Ethan Frome finds himself drawn to his wife's cousin, Mattie.

In the wake of a humbling incident aboard a canal boat in the Cotswolds, young Captain Horatio Hornblower arrives in London to take command of the Atropos, a 22-gun sloop barely large enough to require a captain. Her first assignment under Hornblower's command is as flagship for the funeral procession of Lord Nelson. Soon Atropos is part of the Mediterranean Fleet's harassment of Napoleon, recovering treasure that lies deep in Turkish waters

This adventure story has everything you could want: a handsome good guy, a pretty heroine, some bad guys, sword fighting, revenge, romance, and of course a happy ending, along with “rodents of unusual size.” Join Westley (the plucky farm boy), Buttercup (the beautiful young maiden), Inigo Montoya (the driven, embittered swordsman), Prince Humperdinck (the scheming villain), and many other strange and unusual characters in this swashbuckling tale of good-natured silliness. 

Two friends in 1950s San Francisco Bohemia explore Buddhism Zen - hipster style. On the road to finding Dharma, or truth, the story's narrator, Raymond Smith comes to a spiritual roadblock. Smith, based on Kerouac himself, discovers a role model in his friend Japhy Ryder, modeled after the real poet-Buddhist Gary Snyder. This autobiographical novel is one of Kerouac's most popular, and has served as an inspiration to the beat culture, hippies, and dharma seekers since the 1950s.

Stuart Cuno has decided to become good. Not believing in God, he invents his own methods, which include celibacy, chastity, and the abandonment of a promising academic career. Interfering friends and relations question his sincerity, his sanity, and his motives.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Drawing upon everyday incidents, common situations, and rural imagery, Robert Frost fashioned poetry of great lyrical beauty and potent symbolism. His language is simple, clear, and colloquial, yet dense with meaning and wider significance.

For sustained dramatic intrigue and sophistication of plot, William Shakespeare's sonnets are at least the equal of his greatest plays. Throughout the centuries since their first publication in 1609, critics, psychologists and curiosity-seekers alike have pondered the nature of the poet's relationships with the mysterious young man, "Mr. W.H.", and the "ill-coloured" Dark lady.

Sappho's Leap is a journey back 2,600 years into the heart and mind of the greatest romantic poet the world has ever known. At the age of 14, Sappho is seduced by the beautiful poet Alcaeus and plots with him to overthrow the dictator of their island. Sappho is caught and married off to a repellent older man in hopes that marriage will cause her to behave. Instead, it leads to a series of amorous adventures with both men and women, taking her from Delphi to Egypt, to the Land of the Amazons and the realm of Hades.

The Call of the Wild is Jack London's most popular and enduring work. Set in the frozen wasteland of the Yukon, it tells the story of the magnificent dog Buck, who is a loyal family pet until cruel men steal him and make him a pawn in their feverish search for the gold of the Klondike. Brutally beaten into serving as a sled dog, Buck finds the blood of his wolf ancestors rising within him.

This rich and charming novel about a virtuous young woman's search for love amidst the fickle world of country gentry in Regency England is one of Jane Austen's most memorable works. Anne Elliot exists in a world where shallowness and hypocrisy present a challenge to her centered values and tender emotions. Anne vies for the affections of the man she loves while at the same time her willpower is threatened as she battles the conventions of a proper parochial society.

A young governess finds romance, mystery, and heartbreak when she accepts a position in the home of the brooding and arrogant Mr. Rochester.

The disastrous banjo-playing of Bertram "Bertie" Wooster has driven the otherwise steadfast gentleman's gentleman Jeeves to give notice—because even butlers have limits. In anger, Bertie disappears to the country with his new valet Brinkley as a guest of Lord “Chuffy” Chuffnell, who has employed the services of the recently resigned Jeeves. Bertie soon finds himself in no shortage of trouble as he encounters his ex-fiancée Pauline, her formidable father, and the eminent looney-doctor Sir Roderick Glossop.

The senator. The girl. The accident. Oates creates an unforgettable allegory about power, morals, and ambition. The ghost of an American tragedy is resurrected in order to give voice to its silenced victim - an idealistic young woman too easily seduced by a Camelot fairy tale.

The Nobel Laureate's early poetry is suffused with the radiant lyricism of Irish folklore and myth; the yearning romance and distinctly Irish voice of these first works have inspired scores of poets.

Here is the quintessence of romance that spans not only the ages but the full range of passionate expression of love in all of its forms and stages. Authors include John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, George Gordon Byron, Baron Byron, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Blake.

"...there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." So says Rat, as he welcomes the lonely Mole to the community of the River. Whether messing about in boats, touring in Toad's motorcar, or simply relaxing at home, Mole, Rat, Otter, Toad, and Badger demonstrate the honorable human characteristics of kindness, patience, and tolerance toward all that have made this classic tale beloved by generations since it was first published in 1908.

This disturbing and insightful novel explores the question of morality when a man is free to do as he pleases without risk of being caught. This masterpiece of science fiction depicts the fascinating story of a young scientist's experiments that allow him to become invisible. Much to his anger and dismay, he realizes his condition is irreversible and descends into madness and brutality. Freed from the constraints of the law and rejected by a society that fears him, he takes advantage of the opportunity to terrorize a remote English village. Can an invisible criminal ever be stopped?

The poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke addresses the issues of God, death, and "destructive time." Rilke tries to transform these problems into an inner world, what he calls "a whole inner world as if an angel, comprehending all space, were blind and looking into himself." Eminent author and translator Stephen Mitchell brings these ideas vividly to life in this new translation of Rilke's most transcendent works.

Count Dracula travels from his castle in the Carpathian mountains to England on a ship in which the entire crew is lost. Upon his arrival, the count entrances Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker, both women doomed to become vampires—unless Jonathan Harker and Professor Abraham Van Helsing can stop Dracula. This unabridged recording of a horror masterpiece brilliantly evokes a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and illuminates the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

In October 1872, the fastidious Phileas Fogg—a British gentleman who rarely ventures outside the comforts of home or his beloved club—bets his compatriots that he can travel around the entire world in just eighty days. With his newly hired valet, Passepartout, as his traveling companion, Fogg embarks on a wild journey, traversing the continents. He is determined not to lose the bet, no matter what obstacles arise—and they do arise—in this classic tale of adventure and romance!