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Dashiell Hammett is universally regarded as one of the finest American writers of "hard boiled" detective fiction and his short stories and novels have been hailed as some of the best mystery stories ever written. Hammett would doubtless have gone down in literary history simply for his creation of the detective Sam Spade ("The Maltese Falcon") as well as Nick and Nora Charles ("The Thin Man" series), but he is also the creator of another of the most popular detectives in the genre: the nameless private investigator known as the Continental Op, who appears in dozens of his stories.

"Kilmeny of the Orchard" is one of the few stand-alone novels by Canadian author L.M. Montgomery, best known for her "Anne of Green Gables" series of books. "Kilmeny of the Orchard" tells the story of Eric Marshall, a young, successful teacher who takes a temporary position on Prince Edward Island. While there, he meets Kilmeny Gordon, a beautiful and talented young woman who is mute. Kilmeny lives a secluded life, communicating through writing and music, her violin expressing what words cannot. Eric becomes captivated by her innocence, intelligence, and mysterious silence.

"The Murder at the Vicarage" is Agatha Christie's first novel featuring the mild-mannered but brilliantly incisive Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living a quiet life in the little village of St. Mary Mead who often steps in to assist the local constabulary in solving their most baffling cases. In this story, narrated by Rev. Leonard Clement — the local vicar - the townspeople are shocked when Colonel Protheroe - a wealthy magistrate who is widely disliked in the village - is found shot to death in the vicarage.

In 1886, a struggling young doctor and part-time author named Arthur Conan Doyle picked up his pen and created what is arguably the most famous character in the history of mystery and detective fiction: the consulting detective known as Sherlock Holmes. Forty years later, Doyle would conclude this astonishing series of adventures having penned four full novels and fifty-six short stories featuring Holmes and - in most of these stories - his friend and crime-fighting partner, Dr. John Watson (who often served as the fictional chronicler of these tales).

Agatha Christie - the Queen of Crime and the world's best selling author - created dozens of detective novels and over a hundred short stories in her long and storied career, but few of her characters are as beloved and admired as the mild-mannered but incisively brilliant amateur sleuth, Miss Jane Marple.

Dashiell Hammett was already a well-established hard-boiled mystery writer by the time he released what would turn out to be his masterpiece, The Maltese Falcon in 1930. But with the release of this novel, Hammett would be catapulted to the forefront of American crime writers. The novel has been adapted several times for the screen and the 1941 film version—starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor—has become a film noir classic.

The autobiographical first novel by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto, A Daughter of the Samurai tells the incredible true story of a young girl born into a high-status family in Nagaoka, Japan, whose father, a samurai, is stripped of his power when the feudal system in Japan collapses and his family is thrown into turmoil and uncertainty. Originally destined to become a priestess, young Etsu is instead betrothed to a wealthy Japanese merchant in Cincinnati, Ohio, and makes the unlikely and culturally jarring journey from the Japanese countryside to the American Midwest.

When the New Mexico territory is annexed by the United States in the mid-1800's, the Catholic Church decides it is time to re-assert its authority in the region which, due to centuries of neglect, is now a haven for corrupt priests. The Vatican chooses Father Jean Marie Latour, a French Jesuit living in Ohio, to accomplish this task, and soon after elevating him to bishop, sends him on his journey into the Wild West.

"The Blue Castle" is one of the few books author L.M. Montgomery (author of the "Anne of Green Gables" series) wrote for an adult audience. It is a romantic novel set in early 20th-century Ontario, Canada, that follows the emotional and romantic awakening of Valancy Stirling, a 29-year-old spinster trapped in a stifling, judgmental family. Valancy appears trapped, living a dull, joyless life while her relatives order her about. Her only escape is her imagination, where she dreams of a beautiful place she calls the Blue Castle-a symbol of freedom, love, and happiness.

Perhaps the most famous labor activist and union organizer in history, Mary Harris Jones was an Irish emigre, who watched her husband and four children die of yellow fever, saw her modest dressmaking shop go up in flames in the Great Chicago Fire, and, as a lonely, poor widow in the late 19th century, was facing a bleak future.

Agatha Christie — the Queen of Crime and the world's best selling author — created dozens of detective novels and over a hundred short stories in her long and storied career, but few of her characters are as beloved and admired as the mild-mannered but incisively brilliant amateur sleuth, Miss Jane Marple. First introduced in 1927 in the short story "The Tuesday Night Club" (the first chapter of this volume), Miss Marple would become a favorite with readers and would appear in a dozen novels and over twenty short stories.

"The House of Mirth" was the breakthrough novel for Edith Wharton and its immediate commercial and critical success put her on the American literary map. Based on Wharton's own experiences among the elite of the New York City social set in the late 1890's, "The House of Mirth" is both a fascinating glimpse into the upper-reaches of high society and a searing satire of the cruelties, frivolities and hypocrisy of the city's ultra-rich.

My Ántonia relates the story of two young arrivals in Nebraska in the 1880s: Jim Burden and Ántonia Shimerda. Jim is an orphan, traveling to Nebraska to live with his grandparents, while Ántonia is emigrating to Nebraska with her Bohemian parents and siblings. The novel follows the pair as they become fast friends and experience life (and great challenges) on the Western prairie.

Few families in history can boast of the incredible literary achievements of the Brontë sisters - Anne, Emily and Charlotte - who penned three of the most beloved novels ever written: Anne's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," Emily's "Wuthering Heights" and Charlotte's "Jane Eyre." Collected here are all three of these classic novels, plus a pair of essays penned by Charlotte fiercely defending her sister's books and drawing attention to the literary misogyny of the time, which forced the sisters to publish their novels under male pseudonyms.

Viewed from an historical perspective, Jane Austen's novels should not exist. She was born during a period where female writers (if they dared to write at all) were dismissed, ignored, and dissuaded from writing altogether. The fact that Ms. Austen went ahead and created the novels contained in this collection—which have gone on to become some of the most treasured books in literary history—is nothing short of a miracle.

A powerful and disturbing adventure story set in the wilds of Mexico after the First World War, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" is B. Traven's much-beloved and thrilling tale of three desperate men who set out to make their fortune in the gold-filled Sierra Madre Mountains...and wind up confronting their own greed and paranoia along the way.

"A Room of One's Own" began life as a pair of lectures delivered by Virginia Woolf in October 1928 at Newnham College and Girton College, women's colleges at the University of Cambridge and was published as a stand-alone book in 1929. In this brilliant examination of literature, history and gender discrimination, Woolf posits that the dearth of female writers in literature did not result from a lack of talent; it was the lack of opportunity.

The Prairie Trilogy is a series of three novels centered around life in the Midwest during the late 19th/early 20th centuries by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather. First, in "O Pioneers!," we meet Alexandra Bergson, who inherits the family farm after her father dies and leaves her to care for her three siblings. While many immigrant families are giving up their farms and moving back to the city (or to their home countries), Alexandra decides to try to tough it out on the prairie.

In Volume II, we present Austen's timeless classics "Sense and Sensibility," "Northanger Abbey" and "Emma." Though the books only received modest attention and few reviews at the time of their first release ("Northanger Abbey" was, in fact, published posthumously), all of these books have gone on to become best-sellers are now considered to be among the finest examples of 19th century literature.

Pooh and all of his friends are here: Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, Roo, and Christopher Robin. As they explore the Hundred Acre Wood, they have all sorts of adventures: tracking the Heffalump, visiting with Rabbit (and getting stuck in a very tight place), dressing up as a little black rain cloud to get honey from the bees, and even going on an "expotition" to the North Pole!