The Charterhouse of Parma (1839) is a compelling novel of passion and daring, of prisons and heroic escape, of political chicanery and sublime personal courage. Set at the beginning of the nineteenth century, amidst the golden landscapes of northern Italy, it traces the joyous but ill-starred amorous exploits of a handsome young aristocrat called Fabrice del Dongo, and of his incomparable aunt Gina, her suitor Prime Minister Mosca, and Clelia, a heroine...

It is one of the most memorable first lines in all of literature: "When Gregor Samsa woke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into some kind of monstrous vermin." So begins Kafka's famous short story, The Metamorphosis . Kafka considered publishing it with two of the stories included here in a volume to be called Punishments. The Judgment explores an enigmatic power struggle between a father and son, while In the Penal Colony...

A baby boy, left alone in the African jungle after the deaths of his parents, is adopted by an ape and raised to manhood without ever seeing another human being.

When Alice tumbles down, down, down a rabbit-hole one hot summer's afternoon in pursuit of a White Rabbit, she finds herself in Wonderland. And there begin the fantastical adventures that will see her experiencing extraordinary changes in size, swimming in a pool of her own tears and attending the very maddest of tea parties. For Wonderland is no ordinary place and the characters that populate it are quite unlike anybody young Alice has ever met before....

"At a time when most black women were slaves or servants and even white women were expected to sit quietly in the corner, Sojourner Truth transformed herself from a runaway slave to a well-known campaigner for abolition and women's rights. Born a slave in New York State around 1797 and given the name Isabella by her owner, she had already fled to freedom when New York's 1827 anti-slavery law officially emancipated her. Deeply religious, she adopted...

Sheherezade, daughter of King Shahryar's advisor, tells her husband a different story every night to keep the king from killing her.

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Transported to the land of Oz by a powerful cyclone, young Dorothy Gale and her dog, Toto, team up with the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion to seek out the mighty Wizard of Oz and help her return home. -- The Marvelous Land of Oz. When Tip steals the Powder of Life from the witch, Mombi, it's just the start of adventures that will include the animation of Jack Pumpkinhead and the Saw-Horse, a meeting...