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Parade's End
by Ford Madox FordA stark, modernist look at the realities of contemporary war. The four novels that makes up Parade's End (Some Do Not..., No More Parades, A Man Who Could Stand Up--, and Last Post) tell the story of Christopher Tietjens, a British government statistician who joins the army during the first world war. He suffers severe shell-shock, and must live through an unhappy marriage while suspicions run rampant that he has been having an affair. The novels have been referred to as classics of 20th century modernist literature, and Ford has been praised for his unwillingness to ascribe some sort of purpose or order to the violence of war. HBO, VRT, and BBC collaborated on a miniseries adaptation of the novels starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall, and written by Tom Stoppard.
Out of Africa
by Isak DinesenAn enthralling depiction of the waning years of British colonial power. Out of Africa recounts the experiences of Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke in what was then British East Africa, now called Kenya. Blixen and her husband build a coffee plantation and staff it with local workers. At first things seems idyllic, but as the memoir progresses it traces the descent and ultimate failure of both the marriage and the plantation. It was adapted into a film in 1985, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
On the Beach
by Nevil ShuteA classic work of post-apocalyptic fiction, and a haunting look at the capacity of humankind for self-destruction. On the Beach is set in the wake of World War III; the world has been rendered almost completely uninhabitable due to Nuclear Fallout, with the only liveable areas, located in the southern part of the planet, on a short clock as air currents threaten to eventually spread the fallout over the entire planet. When Austrlia receives a morse code message from the Seattle area, they dispatch one of the last nuclear submarines in hopes of finding survivors. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Oliver Twist
by Charles DickensOliver is an orphan living on the dangerous London streets with no one but himself to rely on. Fleeing from poverty and hardship, he falls in with a criminal street gang who will not let him go, however hard he tries to escape. In Oliver Twist, Dickens graphically conjures up the capital's underworld, full of prostitutes, thieves and lost and homeless children, and gives a voice to the disadvantaged and abused.Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
by T. S. EliotA lighter side of the great poet. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats will be a delightful surprise for any readers familiar with poem's like The Waste Land and Prufrock. Eliot playfully weaves his way through 13 vignettes about cats, starting with some observations on the importance of cats' names, before diving into the lives of individual felines. Cat burglars, magicians, thieves, and troublemakers populate the colourful cast of this wonderful book. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Old New York
by Edith WhartonA series of four interconnected novellas, painting a vivid portrait of New York through the middle of the 19th century.
In the 1840s, Lewis Raycie is sent to Europe by his father to purchase art by famous painters. The elder Raycie, a self-made man, wants to establish a family dynasty and hopes that a respected art gallery well help entrench his family in New York's upper crust.
But when his son returns home with works by cutting edge but unknown artists, it threatens to tear this fledgling family apart.
In the 1850s, Delia Ralston's cousin Charlotte is about to be married but has a dilemma. Her husband-to-be wishes her to give up her work at an orphanage where, unbeknownst to him, Charlotte's illegitimate daughter resides.
Delia wants to help her cousin out, while also looking out for Charlotte's future husband, who is in turn her husband's cousin. And then there is the young child to worry about, an orphan in the public eye who has no prospects to speak of...
In the 1860s, a young man named Hayley joins the Civil War and is wounded. Three decades later, the narrator traces the way his life has unfolded since the war.
Finally, in the 1870s, a woman named Lizzie's apparent affair is causing a scandal throughout the city, but the relationship is not as it appears...
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Officers and Gentlemen
by Evelyn WaughThe second part of the Sword of Honour Trilogy, inspired by the author’s experiences in World War II.
After being bounced from his regiment in the war, Guy Crouchback, the youngest member of a declining British aristocratic family, falls in with a commando-brigade-in-training led by Tommy Blackhouse, Crouchback’s ex-wife’s second husband (but not her last).
Guy is posted to Egypt and finds himself in the middle of the frantic evacuation of Crete. Can he distinguish himself in service this time, or will he once again stumble?
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Of Human Bondage
by W. Somerset MaughamWhen Philip Carey’s parents pass away he is sent to live with his Aunt Louisa and Uncle William, a vicar.
Because of his club foot and his odd childhood, Philip has trouble fitting in at school, and passes up a scholarship at Oxford to try and make his own way.
He tries an apprenticeship, and pursues a career as a painter, before finally settling on a career in medicine.
But nothing is ever simple for Philip Carey, and the often banal realities of real life confound him at every turn.
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O Pioneers!
by Willa CatherWidely known as Willa Cather’s first great novel and the first of the “prairie trilogy,” O Pioneers! is a work of fiction that conveys both the sharp physical realities and the mythic transformation of the American frontier and those who settled in it. Alexandra Bergson, the heroine of the novel, arrives in Nebraska with her family and grows up to make a prosperous farm despite the losses she experiences—but her love of the land comes at a cost. Filled with clear prose and a characterized landscape, this novel is about personal sacrifice, family loyalty, emotional and romantic ties, and belonging. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
No Pockets in a Shroud
by Horace McCoyIs the pen really mightier than the sword – or the gun?
Mike Dolan is an investigative journalist with his eyes on a baseball bribery scandal until his editor kills the story.
Mike quits his job and starts his own magazine, determined to unearth corruption and make the world a better place. But as he goes after more and more dangerous and powerful people, will he find that he’s bitten off more than he can chew?
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Ninteen Eighty-Four
by George OrwellGeorge Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-Four is perhaps the most pervasively influential book of the twentieth century, published with an introduction by Ben Pimlott in Penguin Modern Classics. 'Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past' Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal. If you enjoyed Nineteen Eighty-Four, you might like Orwell's Animal Farm, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'His final masterpiece . . . enthralling and indispensible for understanding modern history' Timothy Garton-Ash, New York Review of Books 'The book of the twentieth century . . . haunts us with an ever-darker relevance' Independent
My Bondage and My Freedom
by Frederick DouglassA deep meditation on the implications of slavery, race, and freedom, as well as a study of one man's perspective and how he intersects with the nation in which he lives, My Bondage and My Freedom is a powerful look at pre-Civil Wars America. Frederick Douglass—abolitionist, journalist, orator, and one of the most powerful voices to emerge from the American civil rights movement—transforms himself from slave to fugitive to reformer, leaving behind a legacy of social, intellectual, and political thought. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
My Antonia
by Willa CatherOriginally published in 1918, My Ántonia is considered one of Willa Cather’s best works and was praised as a masterpiece. It is the final book of her “prairie trilogy” novels, preceded by O Pioneers! and The Song of the Lark. After the death of his parents, ten-year-old Jim Burden arrives in Nebraska to live with his grandparents and makes fast friends with the Shimerda children, particularly Ántonia, who live on a neighbouring farm. When tragedy strikes Ántonia’s family, she and Jim drift apart, seeing each other only infrequently over the next two decades and building their own lives. But after twenty years, Jim visits Ántonia and they reconnect, reflecting on the ways in which they’d been tied together all those years. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Murder Must Advertise
by Dorothy L. SayersMad Men weren’t the first advertisers with dark secrets. When an advertising copywriter is murdered under suspicious circumstances, Lord Peter Wimsey must go undercover to solve the case; by day, as a respected member of an advertising agency, and by night, as a wild bohemian. When he starts to sniff out evidence of a cocaine ring connected to the murder, things become rather more dangerous than Lord Peter bargained for. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Murder in the Cathedral
by T. S. EliotA vivid exploration of the fundamental contradiction of martyrdom. Though best known for his poetry, T.S. Eliot was also an accomplished playwright. Murder in the Cathedral is a beautiful, haunting poetic take on the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170. Becket sees his death coming, but embraces it. This strange duality - a martyr's death as both tragic and glorious - serves as the basis for the action. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville“Call me Ishmael.” Thus begins one of the classics of American literature.
A masterful tale of revenge, Moby Dick follows the relentless quest of Captain Ahab to find and slay the whale that stole his leg. The story touches of topics ranging from the technicalities of whale oil to the existence of God, and all things in between.
It is Melville’s most ambitious novel, bending genres and styles, and is still considered one of the greatest achievements in American writing. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values.
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MLK on "The Other America" and "Black Power"
by Martin Luther KingTwo of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most radical works examining economic inequality, police brutality, and black power, which speak to our most pressing social issues of today.
Though we're familiar with the celebrated King who shared his dream of racial equality on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and who reassured those engaged in the struggle that "if you stand up for justice you can never fail," it is rare that we remember his declarations that "a riot is the language of the unheard," or that "Black power is a cry of disappointment."
Captured here, in this brief ebook volume, are excerpts of two of King's most radical works--"The Other America" and "Black Power"--which powerfully speak across time to our most pressing social issues today."Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 'white backlash' speech, 'The Other America,' is a classic. It reveals King, the intellectual, coolly analyzing the racist basis of the neoconservative policies that would influence government policies on the right and left and the bought media opinion of the 1980s.
He forsees the rise of Reaganism and the mainstreaming of the Klan, neo-Nazism, and Yuppie solipsism."--Ishmael Reed, author of Mumbo Jumbo
Miss Mapp
by E. F. BensonThe second volume of E.F. Benson's wildly satirical take on the Edwardian English upper class. The books were recently adapted by the BBC into a mini-series starring Sherlock's Mark Gatiss. Miss Elizabeth Mapp is the self-appointed guardian of good manners and propriety for her upper-crust neighbours in the small town of Tilling, but her job isn't easy, as they are beset from all sides by potential scandals and romantic entanglements (but not the ones that Mapp herself engineers - those are, of course, the good kind). Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Miss Lonelyhearts
by Nathanael WestMiss Lonelyhearts is a decidedly off-kilter, darkly comic tale set in New York in the early 1930s. A nameless man is assigned to produce a newspaper advice column. It was meant to be a joke. But as endless letters from the Desperate, Sick-of-it-All and Disillusioned pile up for Miss Lonelyhearts's attention the joke begins to escape him.Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Men at Arms
by Evelyn WaughThe first part of the Sword of Honour Trilogy, inspired by the author’s experiences in World War II.
Guy Crouchback, the youngest member of a declining British aristocratic family, is on self-imposed exile in Italy, ashamed of his failed marriage.
When World War II breaks out, he sees a chance to turn his life around, and to combat the evils of modernity.
As it turns out, war is not so glamorous as he’d imagined, and he finds himself an officer in an old, stodgy regiment, surrounded by eccentric and buffoonish characters, like his friend Apthorpe, a career soldier with an exceedingly complicated past. Guy is determined to do right by himself, and by his Catholic faith, but circumstances will not make it easy.
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Martin Eden
by Jack LondonA brilliant critique of class hierarchies and The American Dream. Martin Eden is in love with Ruth Morse, but their union cannot be. Eden is a poor, uneducated sailor, and Ruth comes from a bourgeoisie family.
To allow them to be together, Martin commits to a tireless enterprise of education and self-refinement, hoping to elevate himself to the upper classes through literary achievements.
But if he makes it, will Martin like what he finds?Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you high quality, classic works of literature in e-book form.
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Mapp and Lucia
by E. F. BensonThe fourth volume of E.F. Benson's wildly satirical take on the Edwardian English upper class. The books were recently adapted by the BBC into a mini-series starring Sherlock's Mark Gatiss. Miss Elizabeth Mapp is the undisputed queen of the social scene in the village of Tilling - undisputed, that is, until the arrival of Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas, someone just as clever and determined as she is. The two women, backed by their respective coteries, clash for dominance over the local society scene. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Madame de Treymes
by Edith WhartonFanny de Malrive, an American living in Paris, is trapped in a loveless marriage. She wants nothing more than to divorce her estranged husband and marry her childhood friend John Durham. But even if her husband could overcome his conservative, religious family and culture to acquiesce, she fears losing custody of their son. In hopes of finding a solution, Durham meets with Fanny's sister-in-law, the enigmatic Madame de Treymes, who suggests that she might be willing to appeal to her brother on his behalf--if, that is, he will help settle her illicit lover's gambling debts. Such a proposition surely won't have a catch...
Madame Bovary
by Gustave FlaubertOne of the greatest novels ever written, in a classic translation from Karl Marx's daughter. Emma, a farmer's daughter, marries Chris Bovary, an earnest young doctor, hoping that he will be the gateway to the world of passion and wealth that she has read about in her novels, but when the married provincial life proves bland compared to her fantasies, Madame Bovary turns to adultery and excess indulgence. Will her new life fulfill her, or will it destroy her first? The novel has been filmed numerous times, with the most recent adaptation starring Mia Wasikowska and Paul Giammati. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Lucia's Progress
by E. F. BensonThe fifth volume of E.F. Benson's wildly satirical take on the Edwardian English upper class. The books were recently adapted by the BBC into a mini-series starring Sherlock's Mark Gatiss. Published in America as The Worshipful Lucia. Continuing to live in the village of Tilling, the novel chronicles her continued clashes with Miss Mapp as the two vie for control over the local social scene. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.