HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.‘From that hour we had no further occasion for the exercise of reason, or judgment, or skill, or contrivance. We were henceforth to be hurled along, the playthings of the fierce elements of the deep.’In Verne’s science-fiction classic, Professor Lidenbrock chances…
Great Expectations (first published in 1860/61) is one of the most mature and serious of Dickens's novels. As Angus Calder points out in his introduction, it re- sembles a detective story — but in the sense in which Oedipus Rex also resembles one. From the first shock of the early pages, when Pip encounters the convict Magwitch, the mystery grips our attention and its psychological and moral truth holds us until the end. For, in discovering the secret of his •great expecta- tions'. Pip also begins to discover the truth about himself. The cover shows a detail from 'A Country Blacksmith Disputing the Price of Iron' by J. M. W. Turner (photo: Rodney Todd-White) The portrait of Charles Dickens inside the front cover is taken from an engraving after a painting by W. P. Frith, by permission of the Trustees of the Dickens House
In a specialy adapted version by Eliza Gatewood Warren. Almost everyone has dreamed of being cast away on a desert island. What would we eat? Where would we live? How would we defend ourselves against wild beasts?...In this famous adventure story, the Robinson family is shipwrecked on a tropical island inhabited by beautiful birds, fragrant flowers, and rare animals. As they struggle to build a new life, they discover hidden strengths in themselves, and their love for one another takes on new meaning...Then one day a ships sails into their bay, and they have to ask one more question: Do we really want to go home?