Sovereign imprint: 731 books

High above the city, on a tall column, stands the statue of the Happy Prince. He is gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he has two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glows on his sword-hilt. He is very much admired by the town officials yet a lot of poor people suffer here. One...

The Town Traveller is one of Gissing's novels which earned him more income during his lifetime than most of his other novels. The story is full of life and descriptive detail. It revolves around life of town traveller Gammon, just the sort of quarter-educated that Gissing usually despises.

I offer here some of the essays that I have written in the course of the past ten years. While I was collecting them and (quite patiently) reading them again, I found that a few of them were in direct reference to the moments at which they were severally composed. It was clear that these must have...

A cultivated poor young woman Emily Hood from a small town in the north of England works as a governess in a wealthy country family. She falls in love with her employer's son, Wilfrid Athel, and the two are engaged. However, during a visit to her parents' home, she is confronted by her father's employer, Dagworthy, who threatens to expose her father as a thief unless Emily marries him.

Eve's Ransom is the story of a mechanical draughtsman named Maurice Hilliard, who comes into some money, which enables him to live without working. As part of his resulting travels, he meets and falls in love with Eve Madeley, a book keeper.

Genoa in 1547. This commercial center had gained its independence from France as well as a new prince through the actions of Andrea Doria 19 years previously. But the Doge Doria is now an old man 80 years old and there are fears that his nephew, Gianettino Doria, will be his successor. Among the Genoese...

Much Ado About Nothing, one of Shakespeare's best comedies combining elements of robust hilarity with more serious meditations on honour, shame, and court politics. The story follows two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance.

Roderigo, a rich and dissolute gentleman, complaining to Iago, an ensign, that Iago has not told him about the secret marriage between Desdemona, the daughter of a Senator named Brabantio, and Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army. He is upset by this development because he loves Desdemona and had asked her father for her hand in marriage.

The Comedy of Errors tells the story of two sets of identical twins that were accidentally separated at birth. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus....

The play is set in a duchy in France, but most of the action takes place in a location called the Forest of Arden. Arden, Warwickshire, near Shakespeare's home town, which was the ancestral origin of his mother's family—who incidentally were called Arden. It follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees...

Long ago, as I’ve heard tell, there dwelt at the temple of Morinji, in the Province of Kotsuke, a holy priest. Now there were three things about this reverend man. First, he was wrapped up in meditations and observances and forms and doctrines. He was a great one for the Sacred Sutras, and knew strange...

Valentine has fallen under the displeasure of his father by his extravagance, and is besieged by creditors. His father, Sir Sampson Legend, offers him enough to pay his debts if he will sign a bond engaging to make over his right to his inheritance to his younger brother Ben. Valentine, to escape from...

Mirabell and Fainall have just finished playing cards. A footman comes and tells Mirabell that Waitwell and Foible were married that morning. Mirabell tells Fainall about his love of Millamant and is encouraged to marry her. Witwoud and Petulant appear and Mirabell is informed that should Lady Wishfort...

Meet Onegin, a dandy from Saint Petersburg, about 26. An arrogant, selfish and world-weary cynic. One day he inherits a landed estate from his uncle where he strikes up a friendship with his neighbour, a starry-eyed young poet named Vladimir Lensky. One day, Lensky takes Onegin to dine with the family...