Smith and Taylor Classics

First published serially in 1861, Mary Elizabeth Braddon's "Lady Audley's Secret" is the wildly successful Victorian-era sensation novel. Sensation novels were very popular in English literature in the 1860s and 1870s. The novels were a combination of realism and romance and were usually tales of terrible crimes, such as murder, kidnapping, bigamy, adultery, and theft, occurring in otherwise normal, tranquil domestic settings. "Lady Audley's Secret"...

A nameless female writer has come to Dunnet Landing, a small town on the coast of Maine, for the summer in order to finish her manuscript. Once there, she finds herself absorbed in the rhythms of daily life, which come at a much-altered pace than the city she's left behind. Her observations of the residents of Dunnet Landing-their loves, their fights, their occupation with sky and sea and land, their tall tales, and their quiet secrets-comprise The...

When their father's death leaves them with no money and a dim future, the Madden sisters, Alice, Virginia, and Monica, must negotiate the gender roles and class constraints of Victorian London in the 1890s. Virginia and Alice have aged out of the possibility of marriage and seemingly the idea of love itself and find themselves with few prospects and little hope. Remaindered in the marriage equation, these "odd women" face a great deal of scrutiny,...

First published in 1866, Hugo's story unfolds the life of a reclusive fisherman, Gilliat, who lives on the Isle of Guernsey, where Hugo himself was exiled for a large portion of his life. When Gilliat becomes a young man, he falls in love with Déruchette, the beautiful niece of wealthy ship-owner Lethierry. When Lethierry's steamship mysteriously runs aground, Déruchette, who is in love with the new rector of the island, offers to marry the man...

Obsession, vengeance, and jealousy pour from a tangle of lovers in Emily Bronte's only published novel, a story of unrequited love. Complete and unabridged, Wuthering Heights is an essential collectible. Explore Bronte's world of crime and punishment, nature and culture, and love and loss. Since its original publication in 1847, the tempestuous relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine has long echoed on the moors. After being spurned by his lover...