19th Century

Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment: Raskolnikov commits murder and faces Porfiry in this psychological thriller. Summary, analysis, and where to buy.

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy's legendary romance. Regency-era wit and social satire - summary, analysis, and where to buy.

Tolstoy's War and Peace: Pierre, Natasha, and Prince Andrei during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Epic literature - summary, characters, and where to buy.

Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights: Heathcliff and Catherine's destructive love on the Yorkshire moors. Gothic romance classic - summary and where to buy.

Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov: Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha debate God and morality. The Grand Inquisitor chapter - summary, analysis, and where to buy.

Flaubert's Madame Bovary: Emma Bovary's tragic pursuit of passion in provincial France. The novel that defined Realism - summary, analysis, and where to buy.

Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn: Huck and Jim raft down the Mississippi River. American literature classic on freedom and morality - summary and where to buy.

Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre: Jane and Mr. Rochester at Thornfield Hall. Gothic romance and female independence - summary, analysis, and where to buy.

George Eliot's Middlemarch: Dorothea Brooke and Dr. Lydgate in Victorian England. Study of provincial life - summary, characters, and where to buy.

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness: Marlow's journey up the Congo to find Kurtz. Colonialism and the human soul - summary, analysis, and where to buy.

Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland: Alice meets the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, and Queen of Hearts. Classic fantasy - summary, characters, and where to buy.

Victor Hugo's Les Misérables: Jean Valjean's journey from convict to saint in revolutionary France. An epic of redemption, justice, and the human spirit.

Dickens's Great Expectations: orphan Pip's rise from the marshes to London high society. A timeless novel of ambition, class, and moral growth.

Stendhal's The Red and the Black: Julien Sorel's ruthless ascent through Restoration France. The pioneering psychological novel of ambition and desire.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: Victor creates life and unleashes tragedy. The novel that launched science fiction and asks what we owe our creations.

Dickens's David Copperfield: from orphan's hardship to literary triumph. The autobiographical masterpiece Dickens called his 'favourite child.'

Dostoevsky's The Idiot: Prince Myshkin's radical goodness collides with a corrupt St. Petersburg society. A tragic study of innocence destroyed.

Bram Stoker's Dracula: Count Dracula descends on England in the Gothic novel that created the modern vampire myth. Terror, desire, and eternal night.

Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass: the revolutionary poetry collection that invented American verse. Summary, analysis, and where to buy.

Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter: Hester Prynne defies Puritan Boston with her scarlet 'A.' A haunting tale of sin, guilt, and defiance.

Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady: Isabel Archer's fateful quest for freedom in a world that conspires to contain her. A masterwork of psychological fiction.

Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo: Edmond Dantès escapes prison and exacts magnificent revenge. The greatest adventure novel ever written.