The Rainbow chronicles the lives of three generations of the Brangwen family over a period of more than 60 years, setting them against the emergence of modern England. In her introduction to this edition Kate Flint illuminates Lawrence's aims and achievements against the background of the burgeoning century.

Anxious, accident-prone, occasionally waspish, Charles Pooter has come to be seen as the epitome of English suburban life. This edition features Weedon Grossmith's hilarious illustrations and is complemented by an introduction detailing the book's social background.

Tracing the lives of a group of six friends, this novel follows their development from childhood to youth and middle age. It conveys the inner lives of its characters: their aspirations, their triumphs and regrets, their awareness of unity and isolation.

Feeding both his pupils and family with facts, Mr Thomas Gradgrind bans fancy and wonder from young minds. As a consequence his daughter Louisa marries the loveless businessman, and his son Tom rebels to become embroiled in gambling and robbery. Then, their fortunes cross with a circus girl Sissy Jupe and a weaver Stephen Blackpool.

Virginia Woolf's humorous biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's spaniel is charming yet also radical. A work of sensuous imagination, it opens up a range of questions about class, society, and cultural attitudes which are woven throughout the whole of Woolf's writing.

Tracing the lives of a group of friends, this novel follows their development from childhood to middle age. It focuses on the inner life of the characters.

Tracing the lives of a group of friends, this title follows their development from childhood to middle age. Covering social events, individual achievements and disappointments, it focuses on the inner life of the characters.

Coketown is dominated by the figure of Mr Thomas Gradgrind, school headmaster and model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils and family with facts, he bans fancy and wonder from any young minds. As a consequence his obedient daughter Louisa marries the loveless businessman and 'bully of humanity' Mr Bounderby.

An account of Charles Dickens's experiences in Italy in which he portrays a nation of great contrasts: between grandiose buildings and squalid poverty, and between past and present. Combining travelogue with social commentary, this book is depicts an exciting and disquieting journey.