Florence Bell Books

The novel begins with the titular character Jane Eyre living with her maternal uncle's family, the Reeds, as a result of her uncle's dying wish. The novel starts when Jane is ten years old and several years after her parents died of typhus. Mr. Reed was the only one in the Reed family to be kind to Jane. Jane's aunt Sarah Reed does not like her, treats her as a burden and discourages her children from associating with Jane. Mrs. Reed and her three children are abusive to Jane, both physically and emotionally. The servant Bessie proves to be Jane's only ally in the household even though Bessie sometimes harshly scolds Jane. Excluded from the family activities, Jane is incredibly unhappy with only a doll and occasionally books in which to find solace. One day, Jane is locked in the red room where her uncle died, and she panics after seeing visions of him. She is finally rescued when she is allowed to attend Lowood School for Girls, after the physician, Dr. Lloyd, convinces Mrs. Reed to send Jane away. Before Jane leaves, she confronts Mrs. Reed and declares that she'll never call her "aunt" again, that Mrs. Reed and her daughters, Georgiana, and Eliza are deceitful and that she'd tell everyone at Lowood how cruelly Mrs. Reed treated her ...

A simplified retelling of Zane Grey's tale of Lassiter, a gunman with a reputation, who rode into a Mormon village and found a mob angry at the richest woman in town because she was unwilling to give up control of her spring water.

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

Macmillan Readers series is one of the most popular simplified readers for learners of English. The information is controlled, with pictures explaining some of the difficult vocabulary. This book has 600 basic words for Beginner-level students and explains how Cornelius wants to grow the first black tulip but there are many factors in his way.

This novel, based on George Eliot's own experiences of provincial life, is an ambiguous work where moral choice is subjected to the hypocrisy of the Victorian age. Headstrong Maggie Tulliver finds that her love for her brother turns to conflict, due to his bourgeois standards.