"Othello" by William Shakespeare is a captivating tale of love, jealousy, and the destructive power of deceit. Set against the backdrop of Venice, this timeless tragedy follows the noble Moorish general Othello as he falls deeply in love with the beautiful Desdemona. However, their happiness is short-lived as the ensign Iago, consumed by jealousy and ambition, begins to manipulate Othello into believing that Desdemona has been unfaithful. What unfolds...

Idylls of the King (1859-1885) is a cycle of narrative poems by British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Written while Tennyson was serving as Poet Laureate, Idylls of the King reworks the medieval Arthurian legend in blank verse and with an elegiac tone. Based on Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and the early British Mabinogion manuscripts, Tennyson's work connects an ancient tradition to the reign and ideals of Queen Victoria. "The Coming of Arthur"...

At the height of his career, a British surgeon has found success in both the hospital and at home. He and his wife have everything they want out of life, except the child she longs for, the child Dr. Woodruff secretly believes he may never be ready to parent. Suddenly, the delicate equilibrium of their relationship is blown apart by the arrival of shocking news. Deep in the desolate sub-Arctic wilderness of Canada where Woodruff lived and worked years...

First serialized in 1924 and published as a complete novel in 1925, "The Painted Veil" is the powerful novel of transgression and redemption by popular and prolific British author W. Somerset Maugham. "The Painted Veil" tells the story of the lovely and superficial Kitty Garstin and her unhappy marriage to Walter Fane, a quiet and honorable man. Kitty agrees to marry Walter not because she loves him, but because she fears being upstaged by her younger...

"The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays" brings together Oscar Wilde's most popular plays which first appeared between 1891 and 1895. Despite his relatively short theatrical career, Wilde's plays have enjoyed a sustained popularity. A classic satire of Victorian society, "The Importance of Being Earnest" is one of the author's most frequently performed works. The play trivializes its characters, who through a series of deceptions pretend...

Master of gibberish Lewis Carroll brings his inventive style of writing to life once more in the collection "Jabberwocky and Other Poems." Though most famous for his creation of Wonderland and Alice's fall into the uncanny world of the nonsensical, Carroll used his wordsmithing ability to form inventive rhymes and lexicons in this collection. Words like "bandersnatch," "chortled," "tulgey," and even "Jabberwocky" are inventions of Carroll's mind....

Classic Books Library presents this new beautiful edition of William Shakespeare's play, "Henry VI, Part 1", featuring a specially commissioned new biography of William Shakespeare. In the first instalment of a trilogy set during the War of the Roses, Henry VI rises to King following the death of his father, Henry V. As England's military hold in France dwindles, rivalry runs high between the Houses of York and Somerset, leading to Lord Talbot's defeat...

The charms of the poems in A Shropshire Lad, published in 1896, continue to resonate today. Housman's first collection and his signature work, the poems here mix the styles of traditional English ballads and classical verse, and evoke the idyllic English countryside, explore the nature of friendship, bravery, and the passing of youth, among other themes.

This collection of poems by famous English Romantic poet William Blake comprises two volumes in one. Self-published by Blake, the first collection entitled "Songs of Innocence", first appeared in 1789. This volume focuses on the pastoral and innocent perfection of childhood. The tone is beautiful and often delicately romantic. However, there is also a dark side to the naivety of childhood. Blake explores the vulnerability of the poor and the young...

The Rivals was Richard Brinsley Sheridan's first play and while at first it was not well received it would go on to prove to be a great success and establish Sheridan as a major talent. The Rivals satirizes the pretentiousness of English society in the late 18th century. As witty and accessible today as when it was first written, The Rivals sparkles with the humor that Sheridan and his writing are known for.