A tale of sin, punishment and atonement, The Scarlet Letter exposes the moral rigidity of a 17th-Century Puritan New England community when faced with the illegitimate child of a young mother. Regarded as the first real heroine of American fiction, it is Hester Prynne’s strength of character that resonates with the reader when her harsh sentence is cast. It is in her refusal to reveal the identity of the father in the face of her accusers that Hawthorne champions his heroine and berates the weakness of Society for attacking the innocent. | Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne | Pages: Pages: 336 | Binding: Available in: Paperback | Language: English | Publisher: Harper Collins

After the sudden death of her wealthy parents, spoilt Mary Lennox is sent from India to live with her uncle in the austere Misselthwaite Manor on the Yorkshire Moors. Neglected and uncherished, she is horribly lonely, until one day she discovers a walled garden in the grounds that has been kept locked for years. When Mary finds the key to the garden and shares it with two unlikely companions, she opens up a world of hope, and as the garden blooms, Mary and her friends begin to find a new joy in life. | Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett | Pages: Pages: 256 | Binding: Available in: Paperback | Language: English | Publisher: Harper Collins

Adventurous and spirited in tone, The Three Musketeers is considered one of the greatest historical French novels. When Athos, Porthos and Aramis befriend a young and determined country boy d’Artagnan, together they confront the scheming King’s Minister, Cardinal Richelieu and the female spy Milady who threaten to undermine the King. Swashbuckling, romantic and often humourous, Dumas’ novel is a timeless tale of friendship and intrigue. | Author: Alexandre Dumas | Pages: Pages: 848 | Binding: Available in: Paperback | Language: English | Publisher: Harper Collins

Revered as one of the greatest ghost stories ever told, James’s The Turn of the Screw is an eerie Victorian masterpiece. | Author: Henry James | Pages: Pages: 192 | Binding: Available in: Paperback | Language: English | Publisher: Harper Collins

Swept away from her home in Kansas by a tornado, Dorothy and her dog Toto find themselves stranded in the fantastical Land of Oz. As instructed by the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins, Dorothy sets off on the yellow brick road to try to find her way to the Emerald City and the Wizard of Oz. With her companions the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, she experiences an adventure full of danger, friendship and magic. | Author: Frank L Baum | Pages: Pages: 176 | Binding: Available in: Paperback | Language: English | Publisher: Harper Collins

In Carroll’s sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice once again finds herself in a bizarre and nonsensical place when she passes through a mirror and enters a looking-glass world where nothing is quite as it seems. From her guest appearance as a pawn in a chess match to her meeting with Humpty Dumpty, Through the Looking Glass follows Alice on her curious adventure and shows Carroll’s great skill at creating an imaginary world full of the fantastical and extraordinary. | Author: Lewis Carroll | Pages: Pages: 192 | Binding: Available in: Paperback | Language: English | Publisher: Harper Collins

Viewed by many as fuelling the abolitionist movement of the 1850s and laying the groundwork for the Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s sentimental and moral tale of slaves attempting to secure their freedom was one of the most popular books of the nineteenth century. Centred round the long-suffering Uncle Tom, a devout Christian slave who endures cruelty and abuse from his owners, Tom is often celebrated as the first black hero in American fiction who refuses to obey his white masters. With other strong protagonists such as Eliza, a courageous slave who flees to the North with her son when she learns that he is to be sold, Beecher Stowe highlighted the plight of southern slaves and the breaking up of black families. Not without its controversy, more recent criticism has suggested that the novel contributed negatively to the stereotyping of the black community. | Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe | Pages: Pages: 608 | Binding: Available in: Paperback | Language: English | Publisher: Harper Collins

Set on the bleak moors of Yorkshire, Lockwood is forced to seek shelter at Wuthering Heights, the home of his new landlord, Heathcliff. The intense and wildly passionate Heathcliff tells the story of his life, his all-consuming love for Catherine Earnshaw and the doomed outcome of that relationship, leading to his revenge. | Author: Emily Bronte | Pages: Pages: 400 | Binding: Available in: Paperback | Language: English | Publisher: Harper Collins