The narrative centers on Mowgli, an Indian boy who, as a toddler, escapes from the clutches of Shere Khan, a fierce, man-eating Bengal tiger, during a jungle hunt. The child wanders into the territory of a wolf pack in the Seonee hills. Mother Wolf adopts the human toddler—whom she names Mowgli (meaning "The Frog")—and raises him alongside her own cubs. When the pack gathers at Council R…
The novel is set against the dark, isolated backdrop of the Yorkshire moors and is framed as a tale told by the housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to a new tenant named Mr. Lockwood. The story begins years earlier when Mr. Earnshaw, the owner of the remote estate Wuthering Heights, travels to Liverpool and returns home with a starving, dark-haired homeless orphan boy whom he names Heathcliff. Mr. Earn…
The Prince (Italian: Il Principe) is a 16th-century political treatise written by the Italian diplomat, philosopher, and historian Niccolò Machiavelli. Written in 1513 (though published posthumously in 1532), it is widely regarded as one of the most influential and controversial works of political philosophy ever created. Instead of offering an idealistic blueprint of how rulers should beha…
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) was a French military commander, emperor, and political mastermind who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of successful military campaigns across Europe. As Napoleon I, he ruled as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. Widely considered one of the greatest military strategists in history, Napoleon re…
The story begins in a bleak mid-19th-century English workhouse, where an impoverished young woman gives birth to a baby boy and dies moments later. The orphan is named Oliver Twist by the parish beadle, Mr. Bumble.
The play is set in the sun-drenched Italian city of Verona, which is plagued by a bitter, bloody, generational feud between two noble families: the Capulets and the Montagues. Romeo, a young Montague, is initially lovesick over a woman named Rosaline who does not return his affections. To cheer him up, his cousin Benvolio and his flamboyant friend Mercutio convince Romeo to sneak into a gran…
The Bolds Go Wild is a children's comedy novel written by English comedian and author Julian Clary and illustrated by David Roberts, published in 2019. It is the fifth installment in the bestselling The Bolds series, which follows a family of hyenas living disguised as human beings in the suburban neighborhood of Teddington, England
Bullet Train (originally published in Japanese as Maria Beetle) is a high-octane, darkly comedic thriller by Japanese author Kōtarō Isaka, translated into English by Sam Malat and published in 2021. The novel follows a group of eccentric, deadly assassins whose paths cross on a high-speed Shinkansen train hurtling from Tokyo to Morioka, resulting in a chaotic collision of murder, revenge, and…
Always and Forever, Lara Jean is the heartwarming third and final installment in the bestselling To All the Boys I've Loved Before young adult romance trilogy by American author Jenny Han, published in 2017. The story follows Lara Jean Song Covey as she stands on the precipice of adulthood, navigating the bittersweet end of high school, college decisions, and the challenges of maintaining a lon…
To All the Boys I've Loved Before is a bestselling young adult romance novel by American author Jenny Han, published in 2014. The story follows Lara Jean Song Covey, a shy, imaginative high school junior whose secret, deeply emotional love letters—written to every boy she has ever had a crush on and kept hidden in a hatbox—are accidentally mailed out, turning her quiet romantic fantasies in…