Margaret Hale moves from the South to the industrialized North of the U.S. and is shocked by the noise, the dirt, and the independence of the workers. Friendship with the daughter of a union leader finally gets Margaret interested in local concerns. Thrown together by danger in a violent strike, Margaret and her father's patron continue to misunderstand each other.

This classic novel of farmers, outlaws, and forbidden romance beautifully evokes seventeenth-century rural life in England's West Country. Amidst the social and religious upheaval of seventeenth-century England, the once-noble Doone family has been transformed. Now a notorious clan of outlaws, the Doones show their victims no mercy-a lesson the yeoman John Ridd learns when they murder his father. Though he longs for revenge, John must continue to...

Describes the geography and culture of Thailand, including information on such topics as the land, wildlife, people, food, and holidays of the country.

Jude the Obscure, the semi-autobiographical final novel from Thomas Hardy explores notions of surprising candor; within the eponymous protagonist lies the tragic truth of failed ambitions and relationships. In a fierce exploration of the darkness of love and the intellect, this is one of the great tragic novels of English literature. Jude Fawley, an earnest boy from a rural English village, dreams of a life of academia despite his working-class background....

Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. Tolstoy clashed with editor Mikhail Katkov over political issues that arose in the final installment (Tolstoy's negative views of Russian volunteers going to fight in Serbia), therefore, the novel's first complete appearance was in book form in 1878. Widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction,...

Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in the real world, so when she takes on a job in a convenience store while at university, they are delighted for her. For her part, in the convenience store she finds a predictable world mandated by the store manual, which dictates how the workers should act and what they should say, and she copies her coworkers' style of dress and speech...

Looks at ancient Greece, discussing daily life, rulers, beliefs, culture and more.