Fiction

This is the saddest story I have ever heardâ€: so begins John Dowell, the unreliable narrator of this dark and intriguing tale of two disintegrating marriages – his own and that of the ‘good soldierâ€, Capt Edward Ashburnham. Set in the years before the First World War, and published in 1915, The Good Soldier is acknowledged as one of finest novels of the 20th century.

"A young governess is employed to look after two enchantingly beautiful orphans. Striving to protect the children, she becomes obsessed with the idea that they are in danger, and her good intentions cause more harm than good. Uneasy and sinister, this novella shows a woman haunted by an eerie and evil presence that emerges from the terrors of real life"

In a sleepy French village, the body of a man shot through the head is disinterred by the roots of a fallen tree. A week later a famous art critic is viciously murdered in a nearby house. The deaths occurred more than seventy years apart. Asked by a colleague to inspect the site of the former, forensics expert Enzo Macleod quickly finds himself embroiled in the investigation of the latter. Two ext

A cornerstone of Western literature, Homer's Iliad is the epic tale of the siege of Troy. After nine years, the Greeks are still fighting to claim the beautiful Helen and it is hardly the time for their supreme warrior, Achilles, to drop out of the war. But he does, in revenge against the overlord Agamemnon for seizing his concubine, Briseis. Only the death of his best friend, Patroclus, persu

One of the books that 'everybody should read', this was named the '2nd greatest novel of the 20th century' by the Modern Library and it has now been filmed six times, including the latest version directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. ABOUT THE SERIES: Arcturus Essential Fitzgerald presents a selection of F. Scott Fitzgerald's most acclaimed fiction with striking contemporary

Jules Verne's classic work, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, has been adapted at least three times as a film and also for television. The story of Professor Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel and their guide Hans venturing into the Icelandic volcano if Snaefellsjökull and encountering a weird underground world that is full of prehistoric animals and other phenomena before reaching the earth's surfac

Jane Austen's classic tale of love overcoming preconceptions centres on the two eldest daughters of the Bennet family: Jane and Elizabeth. Elizabeth has to fend off an unwelcome offer of marriage from the Rev. Collins, while mistakenly falling for the charms of the dashing Mr Wickham, before realising that appearances are deceptive and that her prejudice against Mr Darcy has blinded her to his r

Oliver Twist sent out shock waves when it appeared in 1838. With a half-starved orphan for a hero, it was Dickens' first attempt to rouse the public conscience over the social evils of the day. The adventures of the innocent Oliver - from workhouse to London's underworld, and how he was rescued - is one of Dickens' most popular stories.

Written in an epistolary format, Dracula recalls the experiences of a young lawyer called Jonathan Harker, who pays a visit to Count Dracula on the border of Transylvania to deal with the purchase of some property. After Harker leaves Dracula's castle, having nearly been the victim of vampires, a Russian ship runs aground off Whitby and the captain's log details the gradual disappearance of the

Heart of Darkness tells the story of Charlie Marlowe, who takes a steamboat on a voyage into the heart of Africa. His mission is to relieve an ivory agent named Kurtz, who has been taken ill at a remote trading station. Marlowe's eyes are opened wide as he witnesses acts of cruelty on his journey and when he meets Kurtz, he is forced to examine his own values and views of humanity. In addition t

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in a friend's copy of Tender Is the Night, "If you liked The Great Gatsby, for God's sake read this. Gatsby was a tour de force but this is a confession of faith.

Frankenstein is considered to be one of the earliest examples of science fiction. Written by Mary Shelley it tells the story of scientist Victor Frankenstein and the catastrophic consequences of his attempts to create a perfect new being by activating a group of body parts with an electrical charge. The hideous monster that is born of Frankenstein's experiment wreaks havoc when it realises that

Jane Eyre recounts the story of a governess who, having suffered during childhood both at her aunt's house and then at school, finds herself falling for her new employer, Mr Rochester. But Mr Rochester and his home are not all they seem and when secrets come to light, Jane is forced to abandon all her hopes and dreams. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality

Northanger Abbey is the light-hearted account of a young girl's first excursion into fashionable society. While in Bath, Catherine Morland is invited by Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor to visit their home, Northanger Abbey. A devotee of Gothic novels, Catherine hopes that the Abbey will live up to her vision of haunted ruins. This delightful novel pokes fun at the popular fiction of its day