Best of
Classics

1847

The Brontë Sisters: Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre


Emily Brontë - 1847
    This omnibus collects in a single volume two novels that they published in 1847, each a tale of passionate romance and transformative personal experience. Jane Eyre At Thornfield Hall, where she takes employment as a governess, Jane Eyre finds fulfillment in her work, and the love of her life in her employer Edward Rochester. When a dark secret from Rochester’s past comes to light, Jane must make the most difficult decision of her life: to stay beside the man she loves regardless of the truth, or to embark upon a new life free of encumbrances of the past. Wuthering Heights From the moment of his adoption by the Earnshaws, the foundling boy Heathcliff devotes himself to their young daughter Catherine. Growing up together the two share a love that blossoms into romance, until Catherine’s hurtful betrayal. Embittered as an adult, Heathcliff vents his rage on his and Catherine’s heirs, manipulating their lives under the influence of a passion that has curdled into obsession.

Jane Eyre


Charlotte Brontë - 1847
    Her courage is tested once again when she arrives at Thornfield Hall, where she has been hired by the brooding, proud Edward Rochester to care for his ward Adèle. Jane finds herself drawn to his troubled yet kind spirit. She falls in love. Hard. But there is a terrifying secret inside the gloomy, forbidding Thornfield Hall. Is Rochester hiding from Jane? Will Jane be left heartbroken and exiled once again?

Jane Eyre


Stacy King - 1847
    Though she meets with further abuse, she receives an education, and eventually takes a job as a governess at the estate of Edward Rochester. Jane and Rochester begin to bond, but his dark moods trouble her. When Jane uncovers the terrible secret Rochester has been hiding, she flees and finds temporary refuge at the home of St. John Rivers.

The Same Old Story


Ivan Goncharov - 1847
    Petersburg under the guidance and protection of his uncle, a government official. Such is the beginning of this "ordinary story". Alexander Aduyev, a "romantic three times over" (to quote Vissarion Belinsky) gradually sheds his idyllic notions and develops into a heartless and calculating climber.

The Vicomte de Bragelonne


Alexandre Dumas - 1847
    This new edition of the classic translation presents a key episode in the Musketeers saga, fully annotated and with an introduction by a leading Dumas scholar.

Jane Eyre


Ann Ward - 1847
    She loves him and wants to marry him and he loves Jane too, but he hides a terrible secret which will bring them both great sadness.

Faust: A Romance of the Secret Tribunals


George W.M. Reynolds - 1847
    

Marmaduke Herbert; Or, the Fatal Error


Marguerite Power Gardiner - 1847
    This accident leads to misery, setting in motion a chain of events that will result in the deaths of nearly everyone Herbert loves, as well as an elaborate blackmail scheme and a trial for murder! A bizarre novel, by turns sensational, psychological, and campy, "Marmaduke Herbert; or, The Fatal Error" (1847) is one of the best of the prolific Marguerite, Countess of Blessington's novels. This new edition features an introduction by Ross G. Arthur and a chronology of the Countess of Blessington's works.About the AuthorMarguerite, Countess of Blessington (1789-1849) is described by John Sutherland as "the most fashionable of fashionable novelists." Born into poverty in Ireland, she was forced into marriage with a brutal army officer at age fifteen. After fleeing from this marriage, Marguerite read widely and educated herself, and married the Earl of Blessington in 1818. She became a leading London hostess and consorted with Lord Byron. After her husband's death in 1829, she turned to writing, becoming one of the most important of the "silver fork" novelists.