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"There could not be a more perfect work of the American imagination."-D. H. LawrenceIn colonial New England, beautiful, young Hester Pryne bears a child although her husband is presumed lost at sea. She refuses to name the father and is condemned to wear a scarlet "A" and live as an outcast. As she transforms the badge of shame into a symbol of freedom, Hawthorne's dramatic masterpiece envisions an authentic relation between the sexes-and a different way of imagining love, sin, and redemption-that can form the basis for America's radical project of a true democracy.

Stefan Zweig's posthumously published Chess Story is the tale of a legendary chess match played on an ocean liner leaving Nazi-occupied Europe. The world champion and a man who attained mastery of chess during a harrowing ordeal are locked in a battle that becomes far more than merely a game. Gripping and visceral, this unforgettable novella powerfully renders a psychological condition nearly impossible to convey in words. Ulrich Baer's lively new translation beautifully captures Zweig's nuanced mix of introspection and suspense. Includes "My Last Conversations with Stefan Zweig" by Ernst Feder and a detailed biographical timeline.

Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter is one of the most beloved fantasy novels of our time. The surpassingly charming, dreamlike, and wildly imaginative tale takes place in the ancient land of Erl, which borders the ethereal world of Elfland. When the elders of Erl decide they wish to be ruled by a magic lord, Alverac, the firstborn son of the king, must venture to Elfland for a bride. Magical adventures and mysterious encounters ensue in this story about the power of bonds that are forged in the heart. Praised by the likes of H. P. Lovecraft, J. R. R. Tolkien, Guillermo del Toro, Neil Gaiman, Jorge Luis Borges, and Ursula Le Guin, this poetic, sweeping tale is a timeless masterpiece. This Warbler Classics edition includes a biographical timeline.

Bertie Wooster's life is changed when the highly competent Jeeves arrives to replace Wooster's previous, thieving valet. In ten uproariously amusing tales, Jeeves quietly comes to the rescue as Wooster, his fiancé, his foppish friends, and airy aristocratic acquaintances land themselves in the soup again. Among other hullabaloo and adventure, Wodehouse's much-loved cast of characters navigate unintentional or broken engagements, orchestrate visits with ghastly friends of relatives, and scramble to avoid the consequences of not a few little white lies. This Warbler Classics edition includes an extensive biographical timeline.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is one of the greatest philosophical works of all time. A collection of personal reflections written by Marcus Aurelius during his reign as one of Rome's greatest emperors, Meditations delves into topics that are as relevant today as they were more than two thousand years ago. Aurelius expresses his insights on the nature of virtue, the impermanence of existence, and the importance of mindfulness. He offers a Stoic's perspective on life, which emphasizes self-control, rationality, and acceptance of the world as it is. Stoicism teaches that while we cannot control external events, we can control our responses to them. With exceptional clarity and elegance Aurelius asserts that the cultivation of virtues such as wisdom, courage, justice, and moderation is the foundation of a richly meaningful and contented life. Simple, powerful, and persuasive, Meditations is essential reading for anyone interested in questions of happiness, leadership, and personal freedom. This Warbler Classics edition is based on the meticulous, time-honored translation by George Long and includes a succinct introduction to Stoicism and its practical application to daily life by Massimo Pigliucci as well as a biographical essay on the life of Marcus Aurelius.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes first appeared as a series of short stories in The Strand magazine from July 1891 to June 1892. The iconic, masterful, incandescent Sherlock Holmes and his loyal accomplice Dr. Watson gained instant popularity and their appeal has never ceased. Sherlock Holmes has been played by more than seventy actors in more than two hundred films, making this character one of the most portrayed creations in the history of literature. Along with twelve illustrations by Sidney Paget that first appeared in The Strand, this edition includes a newly translated version of the obituary Maurice Leblanc, the creator of Arsène Lupin, wrote for Doyle and a detailed biographical timeline.

Published in 1922, The Garden Party and Other Stories is Katherine Mansfield's third and most acclaimed collection of short stories. In addition to the title piece, it includes fourteen other masterful stories, including "At the Bay" and "The Daughters of the Late Colonel." Set in post-World War I Europe and New Zealand, Mansfield captures the psychology and inner lives of her characters through free indirect discourse and sudden moments of realization and insight. Many of The Garden Party stories were written between 1920 and 1921 when Mansfield was both at the height of her literary powers and seriously ill with tuberculosis, to which she succumbed in 1923. Includes a review of the 1922 edition by Rebecca West, an essay by Mansfield scholar Joanna Woods, and a detailed biographical timeline.

G. K. Chesterton's celebrity priest-detective returns in The Secret of Father Brown, the fourth of five collections of short stories featuring Father Brown. Through his uncanny ability to anticipate the actions of others and his profound understanding of human nature, Father Brown uncovers the truth behind perplexing murders, elaborate robberies, and other acts of maleficence. Flambeau, once the most famous burglar in France and now a detective in England, makes a reappearance as Father Brown's reformed friend and colleague in the two stories that frame the eight detective mysteries in this volume. Father Brown's investigations involve such varied characters as the celebrated poet Osric Orm, the Robin Hood-like criminal Michael Moonshine, the goldfish-obsessed Peregrine Smart, the haggard theatre manager Mundon Mandeville, and the eccentric Lady Mounteagle. This collection includes "The Vanishing of Vaudrey," one of Chesterton's most memorable and startling stories, and "The Chief Mourner of Marne," a story that vies with "The Sign of the Broken Sword" for the position of Chesterton's masterpiece.

A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, John Muir's captivating and lyrical travelogue, chronicles his remarkable 1867 journey from Indiana through Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to the Gulf Coast. Muir draws on his diaries to deliver a vivid and evocative portrayal of the natural world, as well as the people and towns he encountered in the American South in the aftermath of the Civil War. Muir's passionate love of nature is on full display in this beautifully written tribute, which serves as a testament to the transformative power of travel and the enduring importance of preserving our natural heritage. This Warbler Classics includes sketches by Muir that appeared in the first edition of the book and a detailed biographical note.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a riveting tale of daring and heroism set during the upheaval and violence of the French Revolution. The novel follows the story of Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English baronet with a secret identity as the Scarlet Pimpernel, a daring and elusive hero who rescues French aristocrats from the guillotine. As the Reign of Terror sweeps through France, the Scarlet Pimpernel risks his life to smuggle men, women, and children out of the country and to safety in England. He outwits the ruthless agents of the revolutionary government at every turn, leaving them frustrated and baffled by his sudden appearances and disappearances. When the beautiful French actress Marguerite St. Just becomes embroiled in the dangerous world of the Pimpernel, her loyalty and love are put to the test. Can she keep the Pimpernel's true identity a secret, even when the consequences of discovery are deadly? With its thrilling escapes and a cast of memorable characters, The Scarlet Pimpernel is a swashbuckling adventure full of fast-paced action and vivid depictions of the tumultuous events of the French Revolution. This Warbler Classics edition includes a biographical timeline.

Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes brims with Robert Louis Stevenson's wry and exquisite observations and his obvious delight in the farmers and peasants he encounters in the Cévennes, a region of south-central France that was remote and largely inaccessible in 1878. Modestine, Stevenson's much-adored but predictably stubborn donkey, sets the pace and becomes a central character in the account of this twelve-day adventure. Beguiling and charming, this pioneering travelogue lends itself beautifully to Stevenson's dry humor and razor-sharp reflections. Thought by many to be a slender but influential masterpiece of early travel writing, it ranks on The Guardian's list of one hundred best nonfiction books of all time. This Warbler Classics edition includes an extensive biographical timeline.

The arrest of his brother, Gerald the Duke of Denver, for murder plunges Lord Peter Wimsey into a treacherous world where nothing is as it seems. Every new clue only compounds the mystery. When Captain Denis Cathcart, fiancé to Lord Peter Wimsey's sister, Lady Mary, is discovered dead outside the family's shooting lodge in Yorkshire, Wimsey must unravel a complex web of lies, deceit, and seemingly random events to find the killer, even as the Duke refuses to cooperate and Lady Mary seems to be hiding something. Clouds of Witness, the second novel by one of the most renowned mystery writers of all time, is a fast-paced, sophisticated must-read mystery for any fan of the genre.

Virginia Woolf published her only collection of short fiction, Monday or Tuesday, in 1919. In the book's eight exuberant, entertaining, and happily eccentric stories, Woolf anticipates themes developed in her political writings, A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas, and invents literary techniques perfected in her later novels, including Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse. A delightful introduction to one of the most influential writers of all time, this is a must-read for Woolf aficionados and anyone interested in how a young artist finds her voice. This edition includes a detailed biographical timeline, Woolf's landmark essay "Modern Fiction," which explains her aesthetic philosophy, and a new afterword by Ulrich Baer.

Virginia Woolf considered her novel To the Lighthouse "easily the best of my books." A pathbreaking work of uncompromising and startling beauty, the 1927 novel is the greatest example of Woolf's unflagging search for meaning and happiness in the face of loss and death. Indelibly memorable, deeply moving, and immensely rewarding, it ranks as one of the masterpieces of world literature. To the Lighthouse continues to increase its power and fascination over readers to this day. This Warbler Classics edition includes a new afterword by Ulrich Baer and a detailed biographical timeline.

The Blue Castle, one of L. M. Montgomery's few adult works of fiction, is a heartwarming tale of love, self-discovery, and second chances. Valancy Stirling, a young woman of twenty-nine, has spent her entire life living in the shadow of her overbearing mother and gossipy extended family. She has never dared to defy their low expectations of her or attempted to gain independence and had long abandoned any hope of marriage. But when she receives a devastating diagnosis, Valancy decides it's time to take control of her life and live it to the fullest. As she embarks on a journey of self-discovery, Valancy encounters a cast of quirky, vividly drawn characters who help her kindle a newfound passion for life. With its charming and relatable characters, and its beautifully written prose, The Blue Castle is a timeless and captivating read about an endearing heroine breaking free of the constraints of society, the expectations of a judgmental family, and her own past. This Warbler Classics edition includes a detailed biographical timeline.

Often considered the greatest collection of short stories in the English language, Dubliners is the vivid portrayal of the people of "dear dirty Dublin" at the beginning of the twentieth century. In fifteen subtly interlinked stories that move from childhood to maturity and a reckoning with death, Joyce provides nuanced accounts of the lives, language, loves, and losses of the inhabitants of his native city. In these moving stories Joyce invents some literary techniques that have forever transformed storytelling and the shape of the novel. A detailed foreword to this authoritative edition highlights the depth of Joyce's understanding of humanity and how Dubliners foreshadows his later experimental writing in Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. This Warbler Classics edition includes an afterword by M. Keith Booker and a detailed biographical timeline.

When the plague swept through London in 1665 and killed twenty percent of its population who ended up in hastily dug mass graves, five-year old Daniel Defoe survived because his family left the city. In 1722 the author of Robinson Crusoe and other classic books published this path-breaking account of the human responses to a horrendous pandemic with no visible cause, based on an uncle's journals. Combining unusual curiosity and actual historical data with deep compassion, Defoe chronicles his fellow-citizen's disbelief and denial at the first cases, the desperate escapes from a ravaged London, and the alternately charitable and callous but heartrending stories of those who lived through it or died. A Journal of the Plague Year reveals with undiminished urgency how we make sense of our role in a cataclysmic historical event when many of the rules, expectations, and acts of creating meaning have been upended.

Set in pre-war England, Jacob's Room traces the development of Jacob Flanders from childhood to adulthood. In this pathbreaking experimental novel, Jacob's character and the events of his life are revealed primarily through the letters, conversations, and thoughts of the people in his life who love him. Their impressions and memories surround the lacuna at the center of the story, which is Jacob himself, whose inner life is only fleetingly glimpsed. Elegiac, probing, and poignant, Jacob's Room is an important modernist text by a literary virtuoso coming into her own. This Warbler Classics edition includes an illuminating afterword by Kristina K. Groover and a detailed biographical timeline.

Journalist, short story writer, poet, and critic Ambrose Bierce has been called one of America's greatest wits and an uncompromising satirist. He wrote unsparingly and with haunting realism of his Civil War experiences. His finest and most famous Civil War writings are gathered in this volume of six essays and twenty stories, including "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," "What I Saw of Shiloh," and "A Horseman in the Sky." Edited and introduced by William McCann, this annotated Warbler Classics edition also includes a detailed biographical timeline of Bierce's life.

As suggested by the reference to Nietzsche's "Übermensch" in the title of the play, George Bernard Shaw intended Man and Superman to be not only a light romantic comedy but also a deeply philosophical work. In this highly entertaining play, he lays out his perspective on life and the cosmos with unsurpassable wit and verve. Upon the death of her father, Ann Whitefield is left in the care of two guardians, Roebuck Ramsden and John Tanner. Tanner, author of The Revolutionist's Handbook and Pocket Companion, becomes the reluctant target of Ann's affections and marital ambitions. In the courtship that ensues, Ann's charm and sheer force of life are pitted against his protestations of disinterest and dedication to anarchy. This Warbler Classics edition presents the complete unabridged play, including the long third act, "Don Juan in Hell," along with The Revolutionist's Handbook and Pocket Companion, which is published with the play as an appendix as Shaw intended, and an extensive biographical timeline.

The Tao Te Ching, a more than two-thousand-year-old collection of eighty-one poems, offers timeless insight into how to live in harmony with oneself and the world. The central concept of the Tao Te Ching, wu wei (¿¿¿L¿¿¿¿), literally meaning "inexertion," "inaction," or "effortless action," is presented as the means of achieving ziran (¿&[¿¿M), a state of "as-it-isness." The Tao Te Ching is one of the most treasured and widely translated works of all time, and one that has influenced art and literature the world over. This edition presents the time-honored translation by James Legge with his original notes to each chapter of the Tao Te Ching. Also included is the essay on early Chinese philosophy by renowned scholar and teacher Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki and a biographical note.

First published in 1898, The Turn of the Screw is one of the greatest gothic horror stories of all time and an unforgettable psychological thriller. A young governess with the responsibility for two young orphans sees ghosts that she suspects have nefarious designs on her charges. The eerie novella's ambiguous ending has left readers speculating about James's ultimate intention for more than a century. This Warbler Classics edition includes James's preface to the authoritative 1908 publication of the tale as well as a detailed biographical timeline.

The Complete Fairy Stories of Oscar Wilde gathers all nine of Oscar Wilde's whimsical, poignant fabulations from The Happy Prince and Other Tales and The House of Pomegranates. Laced with Wilde's legendary drollery, these fanciful tales touch on the themes of love, devotion, creativity, compassion, friendship, and longing with both irresistible charm and profound insight. As appealing to adults as children, these ingenious gems by a master storyteller provide delightful bedtime reading and an enthralling escape to worlds of Wilde's making. This Warbler Classics edition includes a detailed biographical timeline of Wilde's life and work.

This volume gathers eight of Mark Twain's most-loved humorous stories and features "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"-the career-making story of a visit by an inveterate gambler to an old mining camp in California's Gold Country. The undisputed master of the tall tale, Twain's legendary deadpan delivery and his ability to pile on and compound the hilarity make his stories as uproarious as they are singular. His humor also reveals a keen insight into not only what makes us laugh but what makes us human. This Warbler Classics edition includes Twain's 1894 essay "Private History of the 'Jumping Frog' Story," which includes Twain's "retranslation" from the French, and a detailed biographical timeline.

A chance meeting between Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, and Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle leads to a bet that he can teach her how to speak proper English. While Higgins undertakes an effort to train Liza out of her Cockney accent to prove that it is one's manner of speaking that determines one's opportunities, Liza's refreshing candor and generosity of spirit effect a change in Higgins. Beguiling, relatable, and engaging, Pygmalion is an uproariously funny and ultimately touching tale of mutual transformation. All the while, beneath its irresistible charm, it offers a scathing critique of class, entitlement, and social prejudice. Ever since its wildly popular first production in 1913, Pygmalion has amused and entertained audiences the world over and has become one of the most adapted plays of all time. In 1938 Shaw provided the screenplay for a filmed version of Pygmalion for which he received an Academy Award. In 1956 Pygmalion was adapted into a musical entitled My Fair Lady starring Rex Harrison as Higgins and Julie Andrews as Eliza. The 1964 filmed version starred Audrey Hepburn as Eliza and Rex Harrison as Higgins. This Warbler Classics edition includes an extensive biographical timeline.

Phantastes, one of George MacDonald's most important and enduring works, chronicles the adventures of Anodos, a young man of twenty-one, in fairyland where he wrestles with tree-spirits, the shadow, giants, and monsters while encountering dancing statues, fairies, and other magical beings. Dreamlike and whimsical, the tale is ultimately a quest for freedom that can only come with the ultimate sacrifice. This Warbler Classics edition includes a biographical timeline.

The first modest publication of A Voyage to Arcturus sold fewer than six hundred copies. Since then, the book has been reissued by more than a dozen trade houses and translated into at least six languages. It has significantly influenced such writers as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien and is thought by many to be the major underground novel of the twentieth century.An interstellar voyage takes three Englishmen to Tormance, a planet orbiting the double star Arcturus, one hundred light years from Earth. Allegorical in nature, the characters travel though lands that represent philosophical systems or states of mind as the main character, Maskull, searches for the meaning of life. An unusual amalgam of fantasy, philosophy, and science fiction, the story explores the nature of good and evil and their relationship to being. A Voyage to Arcturus continues to be loved as much for its imaginative world-making as its inimitable shimmering literary style. This Warbler Classics edition includes a biographical timeline.

When an influx of fairy fruit creates havoc in Lud-in-the-Mist, a merchant village situated where the rivers the Dawl and the Dapple meet in the Free State of Dorimare, the conventional, rule-abiding citizens must grapple with a previously unthinkable solution. The Dapple springs from the bordering land of Faerie-a country of fantastic inhabitants viewed by the tradition-bound people of Lud-in-the-Mist with fear and suspicion. When the effects of fairy fruit and the creatures of Faerie can no longer be ignored, the stolid mayor of Lud-in-the-Mist, Nathaniel Chanticleer, undergoes radical rethinking and emerges as an unlikely leader of change. A classic of fantasy fiction, Lud-in-the-Mist has had a diffuse but indelible influence on the genre and has inspired such authors as Neil Gaiman, Mary Gentle, Elizabeth Hand, Johanna Russ, and Tim Powers. This Warbler Classics edition includes a detailed biographical timeline.