This selection of stories by Katherine Mansfield has been chosen by Claire Tomalin and emphasize the stronger, feminist side of her writing rather than the popular, more sentimental view. The 21 stories are presented in chronological order and include Prelude, The Garden Party and At the Bay.

This is the spirited story of a survivor whose racy anecdotes and shady dealings only underline her essential warmth and goodness. But there is nothing sentimental about Moll, who presents herself warts and all. Though her adventures take her abroad, she remains the vivid creation of London.

No other book in history has wielded greater influence over a larger number of people over a longer period of time than "The Analects of Confucius." Since it was written about 2,500 years ago, it has been the essential text of Chinese scholarship: a man could simply not be considered enlightened if he had not read it.
The teachings of Chinese philosopher and thinker Confucius (BC 551-479) espouse the importance of education for moral development and celebrate qualities such as sincerity, piety, and virtue. It was in these pivotal writings that, for the first time, human behavior was put...

First published in 1792, this book was written in a spirit of outrage and enthusiasm. In an age of ferment, following the American and French revolutions, Mary Wollstonecraft took prevailing egalitarian principles and dared to apply them to women. The introduction discusses her ideas.

Closely linked to the Arthurian legends - King Arthur himself appears in one of the stories - they summon up a world of mystery and magic which is still evoked by the landscape so vividly described in them.

From the author of THE POWER AND THE GLORY. A story of gang war in the underworld of Brighton. Pinkie, only seventeen, has already brutally killed a man. Now believing he has escaped retribution, he is unprepared for Ida Arnold, who is determined to avenge the death.

Published in 1913, this is a fictionalized account of Lawrence's love for his mother. It traces Paul Morel's childhood, his growing into adolescence and adulthood, and the frustrations of his love for Miriam and Clara caused by his mother's possessiveness and his devotion to her.

This is the only novel that Conrad set in London, and it communicates a profoundly ironic view of human affairs. The story is woven around an attack on the Greenwich Observatory in 1894. Verloc, (a Russian spy who is also working for the police) is ostensibly a member of an anarchist group in Soho.

Howards End is the story of the Schlegel sisters and their struggle to come to terms with their German heritage in Edwardian England. Their lives are intertwined with those of the Wilcox family and their country house, Howards End.

Wild passion leads to tragedy as love is perverted by marriage. But the concerns of mortals are belittled by the sombre, immemorial presence of Egdon Heath, perhaps Hardy's finest evocation of his native landscape. The text is accompanied by a critical introduction.