Showing results for "The Contractor" in Literary Fiction

A kindly warden is accused of misusing church funds. This amusing book examines the making and breaking of reputations.

Against a background of industrial unrest, misery, suspicion, jealousy, and the deaths of family and dear friends, the star-crossed love between mill owner John Thornton and the cultivated Margaret Hale is put to the test.

Hyacinth Robinson, drawn into the London underworld of revolutionary politics, vows to assassinate an enemy of the people. His exposure to the Princess Casamassima's world of art, nobility, and beauty leads him to lose faith in his cause.

This 1896 edition of the famous historical romance, full of narrow escapes and harrowing exploits, tells the story of D'Artagnan and the three valiant musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, as well as the evil machinations of a certain milady.

We follow the mid-Eastern travels, careers, loves and marriages as three Oxford graduates explore the spirit of competition and the mid-Victorian money culture. This book is a remarkable novel full of psychological insight, satire, and social comedy.

An orphan, reared in a workhouse, runs away to London where he is captured by a gang of thieves. The leering Artful Dodger, the murderous Bill Sikes and the master thief Fagin are just some of the unforgettable characters in thsi heart-rendering tale.

In Dickens' most beloved novel, encounters with an escaped convict, the mysterious Miss Havisham, the beautiful but cold Estella, and his ups and downs with the kindly Joe Gargery all influence Pip's expectations and inform his struggle for moral redemption.

With war correspondents in the Sudan, Dick Heldar, a gifted painter, learns to perfect his art by depicting battle scenes. Years later, an old war wound brings the onset of blindness. While completing his final masterpiece, he struggles to regain control of his life and his love for his childhood sweetheart.

The interwoven relationships of a close circle of friends involved in the launching of two young ladies into society and marriage are examined through repartee.

Shunted between warring and neglectful divorced parents and caring governesses and step-parents, little Maisie lives in a bewildering world in this heart-rending novel.

As the starving people rise up against the ruling class during the French Revolution, there are vivid descriptions of the storming of the Bastille and the death cells of the aristocrats who have been doomed to the guillotine. The sinister Madame Defarge, charming Charles Darnay and herioc Sidney Carton are but a few of this beautiful novel's unforgettable characters.

Set in the 1870s, the same period as Wharton's The Age of Innocence, The Buccaneers is about five wealthy American girls denied entry into New York Society because their parents' money is too new. At the suggestion of their clever governess, the girls sail to London, where they marry lords, earls, and dukes who find their beauty charming—and their wealth extremely useful.

A forerunner of Ulysses, this autobiographical novel deals with Stephen Dedalus' childhood, adolescence and early manhood. His growing rebellion against Catholicism and his family background, his first love affairs and his interest in art, literature and aesthetics are explored in stream-of-consciousness sequences.

In this brilliant allegorical novel, the vain Dorian Gray's prayer is answered when he retains his handsome, youthful appearance while his hidden portrait grows old and shows the ravages of corruption.

Set in the Yorkshire moors, the ill-fated, passionate love story of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff is beautiful, haunting, and sometimes harrowing.

Self-made cotton mill owner and braggart Josiah Bounderby marries Thomas Gradgrind's daughter, Louisa. He later accuses a dismissed laborer of stealing from his bank, but the culprit's identity is revealed as a surprise to everyone! This Dickens tale, about the pratfalls of utilitarianism and the gifts of joy and love, is an underappreciated classic.

A wager made at the London Reform Club sends the imperturbable Phileas Fogg, his loyal valet Passepartout, the tenacious Mr. Fix, and the beautiful Aouda on a journey around the world that is fraught with obstacles, peril, and humor.

In this "tale for young people of all ages" young Tom switches identities with his look-alike, the Prince of Wales. But it's not quite a whimsical story. Twain uses this situation to compare the hardships of the lower class and the absurd privileges of the aristocracy.

In order to help support her parents and siblings, Agnes becomes a governess in various households. Then, while assisting a vision-impaired neighbor, she meets Mr. Weston, the new curate. Their paths cross briefly, but it has a lasting effect on her.

This is the sensitive entry into the mind of an animal of mixed parentage. Part dog, part wolf, White Fang's experiences in the wild and with the "man-animals" and his "love master" are sometimes frightening, yet often moving.