Northanger Abbey is available for free download from our ebook catalog. This ebook is also part of The Complete Works of Jane Austen ebook compilation. Northanger Abbey, written around 1798 but actually published in 1817, follows Catherine Morland on a visit to Bath and later to Northanger Abbey, the house of new acquaintances, the Tilneys. … Continue reading →.

We wrap up Banned Books Week with two free ebook offerings: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Black Beauty. At first I thought these two books had nothing to do with one another, but after further research I see a common themes of cruelty, compassion, and propaganda through storytelling. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe was … Continue reading →.

Wuthering Heights is a classic tale of possessive and thwarted passion, one of the forerunners of today’s soap operas and romance novels. The tempestuous and mythic story of Catherine Earnshaw, the precocious daughter of the house, and the ruggedly handsome, uncultured foundling her father brings home and names Heathcliff, is played out against the backdrop of English moors no less wild and raw than the love they develop for one another. Continue reading →.

Strange to say, the book has some merit as a sensation novel, and, in spite of this puffery, will make its way. It is, in fact, just the sort of book to be read by everybody, – not too sentimental for a man’s requirements, nor too useful for a woman’s; having no end of plots and conspiracies for those who like plots, and plenty of light, easy, agreeable conversation for those who do not. Continue reading →.

Edna Pontellier, the heroine of The Awakening, shocked readers in 1899 and the scandal created by the book haunted Kate Chopin for the rest of her life. The Awakening begins at a crisis point in twenty-eight year-old Edna Pontellier’s life. Continue reading →.

Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf may be downloaded for free from our ebook catalog. Her third novel published in 1922 centers around the life of Jacob Flanders. In an innovative style, Jacob is presented to the reader entirely through impressions of the other characters including the repressed upper-middle-class Clara Durrant and the uninhibited young art … Continue reading →.

Moving from regret to jealousy to acceptance, Anne experiences a far wider range of emotions than we see in other Austen characters. At 27, Anne is also far older and more mature in outlook. She hopes for a second chance at love, but is not expecting it. Continue reading →.

Jane Eyre may be downloaded for free from our ebook catalog. Jane Eyre might look like the typical high school required reading – a dry, slow, sleep-inducing novel. But don’t be fooled. It has all the elements of a modern-day soap opera or telenovela. While the reader might not be able to identify with the … Continue reading →.

An endearing quality about Wiggins’ writing is the wonderful detail with which she describes even the most minor of events. She is also very clever at describing the social milieu of the day, so clever that one would come to believe that she might be commenting on social realities such as class divisions. Continue reading →.

Sense and Sensibility may be downloaded for free in our ebook catalog. Also see our illustrated and annotated edition in the ebook store. The primary thing I took away from this book was what a great job Kate Winslet did with the character Marianne in Ang Lee’s film adaptation. She was spot on, and her … Continue reading →.