The story of Humbert Humbert, poet and pervert, and his obsession with 12-year-old Dolores Haze. Determined to possess his Lolita both carnally and artistically, Humbert embarks on a disastrous courtship that can only end in tragedy.

Lawrence is known mainly as a novelist and poet but he was also the author of many short stories and novellas. Bringing together all his shorter fiction, this volume makes it possible to survey his entire writing career. Stories include The Prussian Officer and The Virgin and the Gypsy .

One of the Wessex tales, this tells the story of the brooding, and sometimes brutal Michael Henchard and the women with whom he searches for happiness in the harsh world of 19th-century rural England.

First published in 1922, and modelled on Homer's Odyssey , this is Joyce's account of one day in 1904 in the life of Dublin. It is an earthy story which focuses on the humble Lionel Bloom and his sensuous wife, Molly.

This, the author's first novel, tells the story of a spoilt child in search of happiness. Wealthy, pampered and brilliant at school, Amory Blaine looks for the love of others, but finds only himself.