“The sky settles everything—not only climates and seasons but when the earth shall be beautiful.” Part 1: Florence Lucy Honeychurch, a young Englishwoman, travels to Florence with her […]
English literature
Orlando
“He—for there could be no doubt of his sex, though the fashion of the time did something to disguise it—was in the act of slicing at the head […]
English literature
Mrs Dalloway
“Fear no more the heat o’ the sun, Nor the furious winter’s rages.” — William Shakespeare, Cymbeline (epigraph in Mrs Dalloway) Morning in Westminster Clarissa Dalloway, a high-society […]
English literature
To the Lighthouse
“But what after all is one night? A short space, especially when the darkness dims so soon, and so soon a bird sings, a cock crows, or a […]
English literature
Lord of the Flies
“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.” — William Golding, Lord of the Flies Chapter 1: The Sound of the Shell After a plane crash, a […]
English literature
Dracula
“Listen to them—the children of the night. What music they make!” Chapters 1–4: Jonathan Harker’s Journal Jonathan Harker, an English solicitor, travels to Transylvania to assist Count Dracula […]
English literature
The Picture of Dorian Gray
“The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim.” — Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapter 1–3: […]
English literature
The Mayor of Casterbridge
“Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain.” Chapter 1: The Folly of Youth The novel opens with Michael Henchard, a young hay-trusser, drunkenly […]
English literature
Far from the Madding Crowd
“It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.” Chapter 1: The Shepherd Meets a Stranger […]
English literature
Tess of the d’Urbervilles
“Justice was done, and the President of the Immortals, in Æschylean phrase, had ended his sport with Tess.” Phase the First: The Maiden Tess Durbeyfield, a poor country […]