Margaret Drabble

Love, & the erratic heart, are at the centre of Hardy's 'woodland story'. The romantic entanglements of Giles Winterborne, Grace Melbury, the dissolute Edred Fitzpiers & the wealthy Felice Charmond are bound up with issues of class & social status as they make their marital choices.

When Catherine Morland is taken to Bath to "come out" in society, she meets Henry Tilney, a young clergyman, and his sister. They are the children of the eccentric General Tilney, who when he meets Catherine belieces her to be wealthier than she is and arranges for her to visit his house in Gloucestershire -- Northanger Abbey -- to entice her into marriage with Henry. When Catherine learns that the General's wife has been dead for some years, she...

Overview: This story of a proud rural beauty and the three men who court her is the novel that first made Thomas Hardy famous. Despite the violent ends of several of its major characters, Far from the Madding Crowd is the sunniest and least brooding of Hardy's great novels. The strong-minded Bathsheba Everdene-and the devoted shepherd, obsessed farmer, and dashing soldier who vie for her favor-move through a beautifully realized late nineteenth-century...

Taken from the poverty of her parents' home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle's absence in Antigua, the Crawford's arrive in the neighbourhood bringing with them the glamour of London life and a reckless taste for flirtation. Mansfield Park is considered Jane Austen's first mature work and, with its quiet heroine...

"Seven Seas is pleased to present Pride and Prejudice, an all-new, illustrated edition of Jane Austen’s most famous novel, now brought to life in a unique way featuring manga-styled artwork that will appeal to readers and fans of all ages. Alongside Jane Austen’s original, unadulterated text, this edition includes over 120 delightful black-and-white full-page illustrations, four color inserts, and gorgeous wrap-around cover art. Elizabeth...