In seventeenth-century Boston, Hester Prynne shoulders the scorn of her fellow Puritan townsfolk for bearing a child out of wedlock. For her refusal to name the father of her daughter Pearl, Hester is made to wear a scarlet 'A' stitched conspicuously upon her dress. But though she bears the stigma of the shame her peers would confer upon her, others feel the guilt for her transgression more acutely, notably the pious Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the confessor with whom Hester and Pearl's destinies are intimately bound up. First published in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne's historical study of guilt and sin has since been lauded as the most important work of fiction by its distinguished author and a landmark of American literature.

Few literary masterpieces cast quite as awesome a shadow as Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Captain Ahab's quest for the white whale is a timeless epic - a thrilling tale of vengeance and obsession, and a searing parable about humanity lost in a universe of moral ambiguity. Inspired by true events, Moby Dick is a work of astonishing psychological depth. It is perhaps the greatest sea story ever told and one of the great classics of literature. 'Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee...'

HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Is Mr. Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil?' Heathcliff, an orphan, wild and unkempt, is taken in by Mr Earnshaw and raised as his son at Wuthering Heights on the bleak Yorkshire moors. He is drawn to Earnshaw's daughter Catherine, and as the pair grow up together they become bound by an intense and passionate love. But when Catherine's father dies, Heathcliff is condemned to servitude, and social disparity drives a wedge between them that will eventually become their downfall. Poetic, grand in scope, and with complex ideas of morality, social codes, violence and illness, Wuthering Heights is one of the most unique and emotive Gothic novels, and is considered Emily Bronte's masterpiece.

Bealby is a young boy who is absolutely determined not to accept his lot in life as a servant. However, despite having thrown tantrums and argued with his mother about his future he has not been able to change his fate. He reluctantly leaves his home for Shonts, a big country house, to work as a steward's boy. What he hasn't anticipated, howver, are the guests that are arriving for the weekend at the big house, or for the arrival of the eccentric but captivating Lord Chancellor. What follows is an adventure that Bealby will not soon forget. Although better known for his science fiction stories, such as The Time Machine or The War of the Worlds - both of which have been turned into successful films - H. G. Wells was also a journalist, sociologist and historian and wrote over a hundred books, about fifty of them novels. First published in 1915 Bealby was originally entitled Bealby a Holiday.