Mark Twain's "tale" became his first historical novel, The Prince and the Pauper, published in 1881. This treasured historical satire, played out in two very different socioeconomic worlds of 16th Century England, centers around the lives of two boys born in London on the same day: Edward, Prince of Wales, and Tom Canty, a street beggar. During a chance encounter, the two realize they are identical and, as a lark, decide to exchange clothes and roles-a...

A young scientist, to the amazement and disbelief of his colleagues and other experts, has perfected a machine that lets him live one of mankind's oldest dreams--to live in times other than his own.

A young sailor returns home from a dangerous voyage. His father and his sweetheart are waiting for him. But an act of jealous treachery changes his life forever!

While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads them to a pirate's fortune as well as great danger.

During one of his several adventurous voyages in the 1600s, an Englishman becomes the sole survivor of a shipwreck and lives for nearly thirty years on a deserted island. Illustrated notes throughout the text explain the historical background of the story.

First published in 1897, "Captains Courageous" follows the adventures of Harvey Cheyne, a spoiled, rich young man who is accidentally washed overboard from a luxury ocean liner and is rescued by the Portuguese captain of a fishing boat and his hard scrabble crew. Kipling, drawing on his own experiences living in Vermont, fills this classic coming of age story with period details of late nineteenth-century American fishing, whaling, and railroad travel....

In nineteenth-century England, a young orphan boy lives in the squalid surroundings of a workhouse until he runs away and is captured by a gang of thieves, and is finally reunited with his long lost family.

Kidnapped was published in 1886 amid one of the most productive periods of Robert Louis Stevenson's career. Although it was immediately met with popular success and critical acclaim, the novel was derided for decades as a story for children before being recognized as a major work of English literature. Set in the aftermath of the Jacobite uprising of 1745, and full of a rich blend of English and Scots, Kidnapped is a powerful work with strong Scottish...

The narrator tells of witnessing the unstoppable onslaught of invaders from Mars, leading toward the seemingly inevitable downfall of mankind in this landmark of the literary imagination and foundational novel of the science fiction genre. First published in 1897 and never out of print since, The War of the Worlds is told in a lucid, almost documentary, style. The realistically depicted setting, with cities and streets accurately described, gives...