Undisputed king of jazz-age writing, F. Scott Fitzgerald perfectly encapsulated all the glamour and despair of 1920s' society. These three short stories are supreme examples of his craft. With wealth and privileges beyond measure, 'rich boy' Anson Hunter had every reason to expect life to be a breeze. Yet one by one his dreams fade away, leaving him with nothing. Slowly, painfully he realises that beneath the sparkle and fizz of his glittering life lies only failure and disillusionment — the self-same emptiness that pervades the beautiful people of The Last of the Belles and The Bridal Party.

«Compiled by Charles Dickens, and including chapters by Elizabeth Gaskell and Wilkie Collins, «A House to Let» is a composite tale of mystery and intrigue set amid the dark streets of Victorian London. Advised by her doctor to have a change of scenery, the elderly Sophonisba takes up lodgings in London. Immediately intrigued by a nearby house to let, she charges her two warring attendants, Trottle and Jarber, to unearth the secret behind its seeming desertedness. Rivals to the end, they each seek to outdo the other to satisfy their mistress curiosity; however, it is only after repeated false startsand by way of elaborate tales of men lost at sea, circus performers, and forged death certificatesthat they happen upon the truth. Charles Dickens is one of England's most important literary figures. His works enjoyed enormous success in his day and are still among the most popular and widely read classics of all time.»

Boasting a veritable menagerie of characters, including dancing instructors, pies, and talking parrots, and written in the Franco-Italian story-telling tradition, The Three Fat Men, unquestionably the greatest Soviet children's parable, is considered the absolute endorsement of the Communist regime.

Born in Hampshire in 1775, Jane Austen was one of seven children and began writing at an early age. In this new biography, leading Austen scholar Fiona Stafford offers a fresh perspective on the life and times of one of England’s most beloved authors. Such classics as Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility are also analyzed and discussed in the context of the world in which they were published. Providing an informative and enjoyable insight into the life of Austen both as a woman and a writer, this book will appeal to literature students and general readers alike.

Tolstoy's final novella, The Forged Coupon is an ingenious study of the destructive powers of evil set against a brilliant depiction of Russian life.Inescapably in thrall to the power his crimes bring him, Stepan goes further and further down the path of evil, relentlessly seeking new opportunities to murder and maim. When, however, one of his victims refuses to surrender to him, instead dying with pity on her lips, he finds himself haunted by her image. Suddenly, he is faced with the choice of continuing a life of crime, or facing up to his actions and their certain consequences. Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, is one of Russia's greatest novelists.

First complete translation of one of the most fascinating accounts of the leading poet of the Russian Revolutionary period; Touring the United States, by way of an enforced sojourn in Mexico, Russian poet and indefatigable traveller, Vladimir Mayakovsky was able to observe first hand what he considered to be the model for Soviet development. Although ideologically at odds with much of American culture, and taking every opportunity to propound his own political beliefs en route, he delighted in the creativity and advancement he saw, believing it to be the future for mankind. His impressions, presented in full here for the first time in the English language, form an inspired series of sketches, thoughts, jottings and poems.

Three Years is Anton Chekhov's heartfelt attempt to create a 'novel of Moscow life'. In it, he paints a poignant portrait of the struggles and frustrations that go hand in hand with human relationships. Away from his native Moscow to care for his ailing sister, Laptev falls instantly in love with Yulia Sergeyevna, the daughter of the local doctor. She in turn feels nothing for him, but convinces herself it would be doing him a gross disservice to refuse his proposal. So begins the unequal marriage between the two, a marriage that will bring a bitter and desperate sorrow to them both. Yet as the years go by, and as they face and overcome tragedy together, they learn to value each other in new ways — and so restore their faith in the redemptive power of time.

Stifled by her marriage of convenience to a man twice her age, the young Katerina Lvovna goes yawning about the house, missing the barefoot freedom of her childhood, until she meets the feckless steward Sergei Filipych. Sergei proceeds to seduce Katerina, as he has done half the women in the town, not realising that her passions, once awoken, will attach to him so fiercely that Katerina will stop at nothing to keep hold of him. Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is an unsettling tale of a woman's struggle for happiness and control in the midst of a society that watches, constrains and judges her. The simple and dramatic plot inspired Shostakovich's acclaimed opera of the same name, whilst in Katerina herself, whose unselfconscious passion and calculating brutality is narrated in startlingly detached detail, Leskov has created an anti-heroine of almost superhuman stature and compelling intensity who now stands as one of the archetypes of European literature.