Orlando: A Biography is a groundbreaking, genre-defying modernist novel by English author Virginia Woolf, published in 1928. Written as a playful love letter and biographical tribute to her close friend and lover, poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West, the novel spans over three centuries, blending historical satire, fantasy, and deep philosophical reflections on gender, identity, and the fluid…
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, published in 1886. Set in foggy, Victorian London, the story explores the dual nature of humanity, morality, and the destructive consequences of suppressing or unleashing one's darker impulses. It remains one of the most famous pieces of horror and psychological literature ever written, giving b…
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem written by the poet Virgil between 29 and 19 BCE. It tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan warrior who survived the fall of Troy and was fated to travel to Italy to become the ancestor of the Roman people.
Babe: The Gallant Pig (published in the UK and US as The Sheep-Pig) is a charming children's novel by English author Dick King-Smith, published in 1983. The heartwarming story follows an orphaned piglet who is won at a country fair by a quiet farmer and goes on to defy all natural expectations by learning to herd sheep using polite manners rather than aggressive barking. The book won the presti…
The Jungle Book is a collection of classic stories by English author Rudyard Kipling, originally published in magazines between 1893 and 1894 and released as a complete book in 1894. Set primarily in the forests of India, the book blends animal fable, folklore, and rich environmental storytelling. It is most famous for introducing Mowgli, a human boy raised by wolves, alongside an unforgettable…
The Last Tycoon (originally published as The Last Tycoon: An Unfinished Novel) is the final, unfinished masterwork of American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Left incomplete upon Fitzgerald's sudden death in 1940 and later edited and published by his friend Edmund Wilson, the novel is widely regarded as one of the greatest fictional indictments of Hollywood's Golden Age—capturing the intoxicatin…
Anne of Green Gables is a beloved classic children's novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, published in 1908. Set in the late 19th century on Prince Edward Island, Canada, the novel follows the imaginative, talkative, and fiercely independent orphan girl Anne Shirley as she accidentally finds her way into the hearts of an aging brother and sister and transforms the rustic rural communi…
Richard II is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1595. It is the first play in Shakespeare's second historical tetralogy (often called the Henriad), which is followed by Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V. Unlike the action-packed battle scenes of later plays in the sequence, Richard II is a deeply lyrical, poetic, and psychological drama…
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic American masterpiece by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), first published in 1884 (UK) and 1885 (US). Serving as a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the novel is narrated in the first person by Huckleberry Finn. Widely celebrated as one of the Great American Novels, it is celebrated for its rich local color, sharp satire of American society an…
The Happy Prince and Other Stories is a celebrated collection of fairy tales by Irish author Oscar Wilde, published in 1888. Illustrated originally by Walter Crane and Jacomb Hood, the collection includes five enchanting, melancholic, and deeply allegorical stories: "The Happy Prince," "The Nightingale and the Rose," "The Selfish Giant," "The Devoted Friend," and "The Remarkable Rocket." Blendi…