BePublished
Start Writing

Discover Books,
Reimagined

132 classic books you can read, listen to, and experience at your level. Free, forever.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll · 1865

A young girl falls through a rabbit hole into a fantastical underground world filled with peculiar creatures and absurd situations.

fantasyclassicchildren2h 30min
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen · 1813

The turbulent relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy as they overcome their pride and prejudice.

romanceclassicsocial commentary7h
The Art of War
Sun Tzu

The Art of War

Sun Tzu · 500 BC

The most influential treatise on military strategy ever written, applicable to business, politics, and everyday life.

philosophystrategymilitary1h 30min
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

Marcus Aurelius · 180

The private reflections of the Roman Emperor on Stoic philosophy, duty, and the nature of existence.

philosophystoicismself-help4h
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925

A mysterious millionaire, his obsessive love, and the dark side of the American Dream in the Roaring Twenties.

classicamericanjazz age3h
Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare · 1597

Two young lovers from feuding families risk everything for their forbidden love in Verona.

tragedyromanceclassic2h
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley · 1818

A young scientist creates a sapient creature, only to face the terrible consequences of playing God.

horrorscience fictionclassic5h
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde · 1890

A handsome young man sells his soul so that a portrait ages instead of him, descending into a life of corruption.

gothicphilosophyclassic5h
Dracula
Bram Stoker

Dracula

Bram Stoker · 1897

Count Dracula moves from Transylvania to England to spread the undead curse, pursued by a determined group of heroes.

horrorgothicclassic9h
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle · 1892

Twelve short stories featuring the brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes and his loyal companion Dr. Watson.

mysterydetectiveclassic6h
The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka · 1915

A man wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect, and must face his family and society.

surrealexistentialclassic1h 15min
The Prince
Niccolo Machiavelli

The Prince

Niccolo Machiavelli · 1532

The foundational text of modern political science, a ruthlessly practical guide to acquiring and maintaining power.

philosophypoliticsstrategy3h
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens · 1859

A story of love, sacrifice, and resurrection set against the backdrop of the French Revolution.

classichistoricalrevolution8h
Moby Dick
Herman Melville

Moby Dick

Herman Melville · 1851

Captain Ahab's obsessive quest to destroy the great white whale that maimed him.

classicadventureamerican15h
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë · 1847

An orphan governess falls for her brooding employer, only to discover his terrible secret.

classicromancegothic10h
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë · 1847

The fierce, doomed love between Heathcliff and Catherine on the wild Yorkshire moors.

classicgothicromance7h
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1866

A destitute student commits murder and descends into psychological torment.

classicphilosophyrussian12h
Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island

Robert Louis Stevenson · 1883

Young Jim Hawkins finds a treasure map and sails into danger with a one-legged pirate.

adventureclassicpirates4h 30min
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson · 1886

A respected doctor's experiments unleash a monstrous alter ego upon London.

horrorgothicclassic1h 30min
The War of the Worlds
H.G. Wells

The War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells · 1898

Martians invade Earth with devastating heat-rays and towering tripods.

science fictionclassicinvasion4h
The Time Machine
H.G. Wells

The Time Machine

H.G. Wells · 1895

A scientist travels to the year 802,701 and discovers humanity split into two species.

science fictionclassictime travel2h 30min
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens · 1843

Miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who show him the error of his ways.

classicchristmasbritish1h 30min
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad · 1899

A journey up the Congo River into the heart of Africa and the darkness of the human soul.

classiccolonialismnovella2h
The Call of the Wild
Jack London

The Call of the Wild

Jack London · 1903

A domesticated dog is stolen and sold into the brutal Yukon dog-sled trade during the Klondike Gold Rush.

adventureclassicamerican2h
Walden
Henry David Thoreau

Walden

Henry David Thoreau · 1854

Two years of simple living in a cabin by Walden Pond, a meditation on self-reliance and nature.

philosophynatureamerican6h
The Odyssey
Homer

The Odyssey

Homer · 700 BC

Odysseus's ten-year journey home from Troy, facing monsters, gods, and temptation.

classicepicancient8h
The Iliad
Homer

The Iliad

Homer · 750 BC

The wrath of Achilles and the final weeks of the Trojan War.

classicepicancient10h
Don Quixote
Miguel de Cervantes

Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes · 1605

A delusional knight and his loyal squire tilt at windmills across Spain.

classiccomedyadventure20h
Les Misérables
Victor Hugo

Les Misérables

Victor Hugo · 1862

An ex-convict seeks redemption in post-revolutionary France while pursued by a relentless inspector.

classichistoricalfrench30h
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas

The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas · 1844

A wrongly imprisoned sailor escapes, finds treasure, and exacts elaborate revenge on those who betrayed him.

classicadventurerevenge25h
The Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling

The Jungle Book

Rudyard Kipling · 1894

Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves, learns the law of the jungle from Baloo, Bagheera, and Shere Khan.

classicchildrenadventure3h
The Republic
Plato

The Republic

Plato · 375 BC

Socratic dialogues on justice, the ideal state, and the nature of the human soul.

philosophypoliticsancient8h
A Study in Scarlet
Arthur Conan Doyle

A Study in Scarlet

Arthur Conan Doyle · 1887

The first appearance of Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Watson meets the brilliant detective and they solve a murder.

mysterydetectiveclassic3h
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Arthur Conan Doyle

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Arthur Conan Doyle · 1902

Holmes investigates a legendary phantom hound that haunts the Baskerville family on the Devon moors.

mysterydetectiveclassic4h
The Invisible Man
H.G. Wells

The Invisible Man

H.G. Wells · 1897

A scientist discovers invisibility but descends into madness and terror.

science fictionclassichorror3h 30min
Around the World in Eighty Days
Jules Verne

Around the World in Eighty Days

Jules Verne · 1873

Phileas Fogg bets he can circumnavigate the globe in 80 days.

adventureclassictravel4h
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Jules Verne

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas

Jules Verne · 1870

Captain Nemo and the submarine Nautilus explore the ocean depths.

science fictionadventureclassic7h
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

Charles Dickens · 1861

An orphan named Pip rises from humble beginnings with the help of a mysterious benefactor.

classicbritishcoming of age10h
David Copperfield
Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

Charles Dickens · 1850

Dickens's most autobiographical novel, following David from orphanhood to maturity.

classicbritishcoming of age18h
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain · 1876

A mischievous boy grows up along the Mississippi River in small-town America.

classicamericanadventure4h
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain · 1884

Huck and the escaped slave Jim raft down the Mississippi, encountering con men and moral dilemmas.

classicamericanadventure6h
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott

Little Women

Louisa May Alcott · 1868

Four sisters grow up during the Civil War, navigating love, loss, and ambition.

classicamericancoming of age9h
Sense and Sensibility
Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen · 1811

Two sisters navigate love and heartbreak with contrasting temperaments.

classicromancebritish6h
Emma
Jane Austen

Emma

Jane Austen · 1815

A wealthy young woman plays matchmaker with disastrous and amusing results.

classicromancebritish9h
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne · 1850

A woman in Puritan New England is forced to wear a scarlet A for adultery.

classicamericanpuritan4h
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Friedrich Nietzsche · 1883

A prophet descends from his mountain solitude to teach humanity about the Overman.

philosophyexistentialismclassic8h
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy · 1878

A married aristocrat begins a passionate affair with a dashing cavalry officer, setting off a chain of events that leads to jealousy, social ruin, and tragic consequences.

classicrussianromance3h
The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden

Frances Hodgson Burnett · 1911

A spoiled, lonely girl is sent to live at her uncle's mysterious estate on the Yorkshire moors, where she discovers a hidden garden and the transformative power of nature and friendship.

classicchildrennature2h 30min
The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1880

Three brothers grapple with faith, doubt, and morality after their dissolute father is murdered, forcing each to confront the darkest corners of human nature.

classicrussianphilosophy1h 30min
Bleak House
Charles Dickens

Bleak House

Charles Dickens · 1853

A sprawling tale centered on an interminable court case that ruins lives, exposing the injustice and absurdity of the Victorian legal system.

classicbritishsocial2h
Northanger Abbey
Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen · 1817

A naive young woman's love of Gothic novels leads her to misinterpret the world around her during a stay at the mysterious Northanger Abbey.

classicbritishromance3h
Persuasion
Jane Austen

Persuasion

Jane Austen · 1817

A woman who was persuaded to reject a naval officer years earlier gets a second chance at love when he returns successful and still single.

classicbritishromance2h 30min
Mansfield Park
Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

Jane Austen · 1814

A poor young girl taken in by wealthy relatives must navigate the complexities of love, duty, and moral integrity in Regency-era England.

classicbritishromance3h
A Room with a View
E.M. Forster

A Room with a View

E.M. Forster · 1908

A young English woman travels to Italy, where a chance encounter challenges her conventional upbringing and forces her to choose between passion and propriety.

classicbritishromance2h 30min
The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton

The Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton · 1920

A New York socialite engaged to the perfect woman finds himself drawn to her scandalous cousin, torn between desire and the rigid expectations of 1870s society.

classicamericanromance45min
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe · 1852

The story of enslaved people in the antebellum South, depicting the cruelty of slavery and the humanity of those who endured it.

classicamericansocial-justice3h
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Baroness Orczy

The Scarlet Pimpernel

Baroness Orczy · 1905

A mysterious English nobleman leads a secret double life, rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine during the Reign of Terror.

classicadventurehistorical3h
Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist

Charles Dickens · 1838

An orphan boy escapes a workhouse only to fall in with a gang of young pickpockets in the criminal underworld of London.

classicbritishsocial3h
Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift

Gulliver's Travels

Jonathan Swift · 1726

A ship's surgeon recounts his voyages to fantastical lands inhabited by tiny people, giants, and intelligent horses, each journey a biting satire of human nature.

classicsatireadventure3h
The Phantom of the Opera
Gaston Leroux

The Phantom of the Opera

Gaston Leroux · 1910

A mysterious masked genius haunts the Paris Opera House, terrorizing its occupants and falling obsessively in love with a young soprano.

classicgothichorror3h
Peter Pan
J.M. Barrie

Peter Pan

J.M. Barrie · 1911

Three children follow a magical boy to Neverland, where they encounter pirates, fairies, and the terror of growing up.

classicchildrenfantasy2h 30min
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

L. Frank Baum · 1900

A Kansas girl is swept away by a tornado to a magical land, where she must follow the Yellow Brick Road to find a way home.

classicchildrenfantasy2h
The Three Musketeers
Alexandre Dumas

The Three Musketeers

Alexandre Dumas · 1844

A young Gascon journeys to Paris to join the Musketeers and becomes entangled in court intrigue, duels, and a dangerous affair involving the Queen of France.

classicadventurehistorical3h
The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde · 1895

Two gentlemen create fictional alter egos to escape social obligations, leading to a farcical tangle of mistaken identities, romantic misunderstandings, and razor-sharp wit.

classiccomedysatire1h
Middlemarch
George Eliot

Middlemarch

George Eliot · 1871

An ambitious young woman and an idealistic doctor navigate love, politics, and provincial life in a richly detailed portrait of English society.

classicbritishvictorian45min
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Thomas Hardy · 1891

A young peasant woman's life is destroyed by the hypocrisy and rigid morality of Victorian society after she is seduced by a wealthy man.

classicbritishtragedy1h 30min
Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe

Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe · 1719

A shipwrecked sailor survives alone on a deserted island for 28 years, building a life from nothing and grappling with solitude.

classicadventuresurvival3h
Ivanhoe
Walter Scott

Ivanhoe

Walter Scott · 1819

A disinherited Saxon knight returns from the Crusades to a divided England, fighting for justice and love amid Norman tyranny.

classichistoricaladventure3h
Anne of Green Gables
L. M. Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables

L. M. Montgomery · 1908

An orphan girl with a vivid imagination is mistakenly sent to a farm on Prince Edward Island, where she transforms the lives of everyone around her.

classicchildrencanadian3h
Ethan Frome
Edith Wharton

Ethan Frome

Edith Wharton · 1911

A poor farmer in bleak New England is trapped in a loveless marriage and falls for his wife's young cousin, leading to devastating consequences.

classicamericantragedy2h
The Awakening
Kate Chopin

The Awakening

Kate Chopin · 1899

A young wife vacationing on the Gulf Coast awakens to desires beyond her marriage and motherhood, challenging the expectations of Creole society.

classicamericanfeminist2h 30min
Dead Souls
Nikolai Gogol

Dead Souls

Nikolai Gogol · 1842

A charming con man travels through provincial Russia buying the ownership rights to deceased serfs, exposing the corruption and absurdity of the feudal system.

classicrussiansatire3h
Sons and Lovers
D. H. Lawrence

Sons and Lovers

D. H. Lawrence · 1913

A young man struggles to break free from his mother's possessive love while navigating relationships and his artistic ambitions in a mining town.

classicbritishmodernist3h
The Man Who Was Thursday
G. K. Chesterton

The Man Who Was Thursday

G. K. Chesterton · 1908

A poet-turned-detective infiltrates a secret council of anarchists, each named after a day of the week, only to discover nothing is as it seems.

classicmysteryphilosophical3h
Silas Marner
George Eliot

Silas Marner

George Eliot · 1861

A lonely weaver betrayed by his community hoards gold in exile until a golden-haired orphan appears at his door and transforms his life.

classicbritishvictorian2h 30min
Candide
Voltaire

Candide

Voltaire · 1759

A naive young man is cast out of paradise and travels the world, encountering war, disaster, and cruelty, learning that optimism alone cannot explain the world.

classicfrenchsatire2h
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

James Joyce · 1916

A young Irish man grows from childhood through university, rejecting religion and nationalism to forge his identity as an artist.

classicirishmodernist1h 30min
The Turn of the Screw
Henry James

The Turn of the Screw

Henry James · 1898

A young governess becomes convinced that the children in her care are being haunted by malevolent ghosts, but the truth may be far more disturbing.

classicgothichorror2h
Notes from Underground
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Notes from Underground

Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1864

A bitter, isolated man writes a confession from his underground den, raging against reason, progress, and the smugness of civilization.

classicrussianphilosophy2h 30min
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair

The Jungle

Upton Sinclair · 1906

A Lithuanian immigrant family's struggles in Chicago's brutal meatpacking industry expose the exploitation and corruption of American capitalism.

classicamericansocial-justice3h
Hamlet
William Shakespeare

Hamlet

William Shakespeare · 1603

A Danish prince feigns madness to avenge his murdered father, wrestling with doubt, mortality, and the corruption of the royal court.

classictragedybritish2h
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare · 1596

Lovers, fairies, and amateur actors collide in an enchanted forest, where magic potions cause hilarious romantic chaos.

classiccomedybritish1h
A Doll's House
Henrik Ibsen

A Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen · 1879

A seemingly happy wife discovers that her marriage is built on deception and dependence, leading to one of theater's most famous door slams.

classicplayfeminist1h 30min
Pygmalion
George Bernard Shaw

Pygmalion

George Bernard Shaw · 1913

A phonetics professor bets he can transform a Cockney flower girl into a lady of high society, but she has ideas of her own.

classiccomedybritish2h
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass · 1845

A formerly enslaved man tells his own story of bondage, brutality, and escape, becoming one of the most powerful arguments against slavery ever written.

classicamericanautobiography2h 30min
Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan

Thomas Hobbes · 1651

A foundational work of political philosophy arguing that a strong sovereign authority is necessary to prevent the "war of all against all."

classicphilosophypolitical3h
The Enchanted April
Elizabeth von Arnim

The Enchanted April

Elizabeth von Arnim · 1922

Four very different London women rent an Italian castle for April, and the Mediterranean sun slowly thaws their frozen lives and marriages.

classicbritishromance3h
The Blue Castle
L. M. Montgomery

The Blue Castle

L. M. Montgomery · 1926

A repressed 29-year-old woman receives a terminal diagnosis and decides to finally live on her own terms, scandalizing her controlling family.

classiccanadianromance3h
The King in Yellow
Robert W. Chambers

The King in Yellow

Robert W. Chambers · 1895

Connected stories revolving around a sinister play that drives all who read it to madness, blending decadence with cosmic dread.

classichorrorweird-fiction3h
Twenty Years After
Alexandre Dumas

Twenty Years After

Alexandre Dumas · 1845

The four musketeers reunite two decades later amid civil war and palace intrigue, proving that age has not dulled their swords or their friendship.

classicadventurehistorical3h
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Mark Twain

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Mark Twain · 1889

A 19th-century American engineer is transported to Arthurian England, where he attempts to modernize the medieval world with hilarious and devastating results.

classicamericansatire3h
Cranford
Elizabeth Gaskell

Cranford

Elizabeth Gaskell · 1853

The ladies of a small English town navigate genteel poverty, social rituals, and quiet dramas with dignity and dry humor.

classicbritishvictorian3h
Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy

Jude the Obscure

Thomas Hardy · 1895

A working-class man's dreams of attending university are crushed by class barriers, disastrous marriages, and a society that punishes ambition.

classicbritishtragedy2h
Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare

Twelfth Night

William Shakespeare · 1602

A shipwrecked woman disguises herself as a man, creating a hilarious love triangle in the household of a mourning countess.

classiccomedybritish1h 30min
Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman · 1855

A revolutionary collection of poems celebrating the self, the body, nature, democracy, and the American spirit in unprecedented free verse.

classicamericanpoetry3h
Mrs Dalloway
Virginia Woolf

Mrs Dalloway

Virginia Woolf · 1925

A day in the life of a London socialite preparing for a party, weaving between present and memory in a revolutionary narrative that changed the novel forever.

classicbritishmodernist4h
The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises

Ernest Hemingway · 1926

American and British expatriates travel from Paris to Pamplona for the running of the bulls, drinking and loving their way through postwar disillusionment.

classicamericanmodernist3h
A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway

A Farewell to Arms

Ernest Hemingway · 1929

An American ambulance driver on the Italian front in World War I falls in love with an English nurse, and together they try to escape the war.

classicamericanwar4h
The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner

The Sound and the Fury

William Faulkner · 1929

The decline of a once-proud Southern family told through four narrators, including a mentally disabled man whose fragmented consciousness opens the novel.

classicamericanmodernist4h
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner

As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner · 1930

A poor Mississippi family hauls their mother's coffin across the countryside to bury her in her hometown, each family member narrating their darkly comic journey.

classicamericanmodernist3h
Manhattan Transfer
John Dos Passos

Manhattan Transfer

John Dos Passos · 1925

A kaleidoscopic portrait of New York City in the early 20th century, following dozens of characters through the chaos, ambition, and heartbreak of the metropolis.

classicamericanmodernist4h
Lady Chatterley's Lover
D. H. Lawrence

Lady Chatterley's Lover

D. H. Lawrence · 1928

A woman married to a paralyzed aristocrat begins a passionate affair with the gamekeeper, in a novel that was banned for decades for its frank depiction of sex and class.

classicbritishromance5h
The Maltese Falcon
Dashiell Hammett

The Maltese Falcon

Dashiell Hammett · 1930

San Francisco private eye Sam Spade gets tangled in a dangerous hunt for a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette when his partner is murdered.

classicamericannoir3h
Red Harvest
Dashiell Hammett

Red Harvest

Dashiell Hammett · 1929

A detective arrives in a corrupt mining town and proceeds to clean it up by turning the warring factions against each other, with bloody results.

classicamericannoir3h
Bambi, a Life in the Woods
Felix Salten

Bambi, a Life in the Woods

Felix Salten · 1923

A young deer grows up in the forest, learning about life, danger, love, and loss in this surprisingly deep and sometimes dark coming-of-age tale.

classicchildrennature2h 30min
Cane
Jean Toomer

Cane

Jean Toomer · 1923

A groundbreaking blend of poetry, prose, and drama capturing Black life in the rural South and urban North during the early 20th century.

classicamericanharlem-renaissance2h
North of Boston
Robert Frost

North of Boston

Robert Frost · 1914

The poetry collection that made Frost famous, featuring "Mending Wall" and "The Death of the Hired Man" in the voice of rural New England.

classicamericanpoetry1h
The Red House Mystery
A. A. Milne

The Red House Mystery

A. A. Milne · 1922

A guest at an English country house is found shot dead in the study, and an amateur detective and his friend set out to solve the locked-room mystery.

classicbritishmystery3h
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin · 1791

One of America's Founding Fathers tells his own story, from runaway apprentice to world-famous scientist, diplomat, and statesman.

classicamericanautobiography30min
Far from the Madding Crowd
Thomas Hardy

Far from the Madding Crowd

Thomas Hardy · 1874

An independent woman farmer juggles the attentions of three very different suitors on the windswept Wessex downs.

classicbritishromance30min
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Brothers Grimm

Grimms' Fairy Tales

Brothers Grimm · 1812

The definitive collection of folk tales including Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, and dozens more stories that have enchanted readers for centuries.

classicgermanfairy-tales30min
The Merchant of Venice
William Shakespeare

The Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare · 1600

A merchant borrows money from a moneylender who demands a pound of flesh as collateral, leading to one of literature's most famous courtroom scenes.

classicbritishplay1h
The Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper

Mark Twain · 1881

Two identical boys, one a prince and one a pauper, swap places in Tudor England, each discovering how the other half lives.

classicamericanadventure30min
The Wind in the Willows
Kenneth Grahame

The Wind in the Willows

Kenneth Grahame · 1908

Mole, Rat, Badger, and the irrepressible Mr. Toad share adventures along the English riverbank in a timeless tale of friendship and home.

classicbritishchildren30min
Ulysses
James Joyce

Ulysses

James Joyce · 1922

A single day in Dublin follows Leopold Bloom through encounters mundane and profound, reimagining Homer's Odyssey in the most revolutionary novel of the 20th century.

classicirishmodernist12h
All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque

All Quiet on the Western Front

Erich Maria Remarque · 1929

A young German soldier and his classmates experience the horror of trench warfare in World War I, watching their youth and humanity stripped away by combat.

classicgermanwar3h
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer · 1400

A group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury Cathedral pass the time by telling stories that range from bawdy comedy to courtly romance to moral fables.

classicbritishmedieval6h
Aesop's Fables
Aesop

Aesop's Fables

Aesop · 600 BC

The tortoise and the hare, the fox and the grapes, the boy who cried wolf: timeless short tales with sharp moral lessons that have shaped storytelling for 2,600 years.

classicancientfables2h
Short Fiction
Edgar Allan Poe

Short Fiction

Edgar Allan Poe · 1845

The Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Cask of Amontillado, and more: the complete short fiction of the master of American horror.

classicamericanhorror5h
Poetry
Edgar Allan Poe

Poetry

Edgar Allan Poe · 1845

The Raven, Annabel Lee, The Bells, and all of Poe's haunting, musical poems that defined American dark romanticism.

classicamericanpoetry1h
Short Fiction
Ernest Hemingway

Short Fiction

Ernest Hemingway · 1927

Hills Like White Elephants, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, A Clean Well-Lighted Place. Hemingway at his most concentrated.

classicamericanmodernist4h
To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf

To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf · 1927

A family visits their summer home on the Isle of Skye across a decade, time passing through the characters' inner lives.

classicbritishmodernist4h
A Passage to India
E.M. Forster

A Passage to India

E.M. Forster · 1924

An English woman accuses an Indian doctor of assault in a cave, exposing the racial tensions of British colonial India.

classicbritishcolonial4h
Howards End
E.M. Forster

Howards End

E.M. Forster · 1910

Three families from different social classes collide over the fate of a country house, exploring whether England's classes can ever truly connect.

classicbritishsocial5h
Winesburg, Ohio
Sherwood Anderson

Winesburg, Ohio

Sherwood Anderson · 1919

Interconnected stories reveal the hidden lives and quiet desperation of residents in a small Ohio town.

classicamericanshort-stories3h
My Antonia
Willa Cather

My Antonia

Willa Cather · 1918

A man looks back on his childhood friendship with a Bohemian immigrant girl on the Nebraska prairie.

classicamericanfrontier4h
The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton

The House of Mirth

Edith Wharton · 1905

A beautiful but poor socialite gambles on marriage to save herself from poverty, but New York society punishes every misstep.

classicamericansocial5h
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad

The Secret Agent

Joseph Conrad · 1907

A seedy shop owner who moonlights as a spy is ordered to bomb the Greenwich Observatory, setting off a devastating chain of events.

classicbritishspy4h
Lord Jim
Joseph Conrad

Lord Jim

Joseph Conrad · 1900

A young sailor haunted by a single act of cowardice seeks redemption in the remote East.

classicbritishadventure5h
Sister Carrie
Theodore Dreiser

Sister Carrie

Theodore Dreiser · 1900

A small-town girl arrives in Chicago and claws her way to Broadway stardom while the men who helped her rise are destroyed.

classicamericannaturalism6h
Main Street
Sinclair Lewis

Main Street

Sinclair Lewis · 1920

An idealistic young woman marries a small-town doctor and tries to reform the stifling provincialism of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota.

classicamericansatire7h
Babbitt
Sinclair Lewis

Babbitt

Sinclair Lewis · 1922

A middle-aged real estate agent tries to break free from his empty, conformist life, only to discover he lacks the courage.

classicamericansatire5h

Your Story Deserves to Be Published

Record your thoughts. AI structures them into chapters. Publish to the world. No typing required.

Start Writing for Free