Everyman's Library CLASSICS

Homer's Odyssey is one of the supreme masterpieces of Western literature. Of this much acclaimed translation by Robert Fitzgerald, George Steiner has written, 'Fitzgerald is taking his place beside Chapman and Pope in the unbroken lineage of English Homeric translations...it has an economy and soar of a poet'.
Introduced by Seamus Heaney

The story of the orphan Oliver, who runs away from the workhouse to be taken in by a den of thieves, shocked readers with its depiction of a dark criminal underworld peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the arch-villain Fagin, the artful Dodger, the menacing Bill Sikes and the prostitute Nancy. Combining elements of Gothic romance, the Newgate novel and popular melodrama, Oliver Twist created an entirely new kind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.

Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter with a man to whom she is not married and then struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. As punishment, she must wear a scarlet letter 'A' (for "adultery"). Containing a number of religious and historic allusions, the book explores themes of legalism, sin and guilt.

The Aeneid is a journey of Aeneas, a survivor of the siege of Troy. The themes within this classic work include piety, respect, destiny, war and peace. The city of Rome and its empire, its formation, and its history is a central character among others - including Dido, Venus, Juno the queen of heaven, Helen of Sparta , Jupiter and a host of other gods. This epic tale takes the hero through battles on the field and in the mind to the underworld and back and finally arriving at his destiny in Rome.