Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels | Main Natrona County Library

1) A farewell to arms

Author

Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961

Earliest Publication Date

1929

Summary

"Set against the harrowing backdrop of World War I, A Farewell to Arms tells the powerful and semiautobiographical story of Frederic Henry, an American ambulance driver, and Catherine Barkley, a British nurse. As the world around them descends into chaos, their love becomes a fragile beacon of hope and connection. Through Hemingway's raw and vivid prose, this novel captures the intensity of life on the Italian front--the horrors of the battlefield,...

2) A high wind in Jamaica

Author

Hughes, Richard, 1900-1976

Earliest Publication Date

1963

Summary

"This brilliant" sea adventure is "a powerful . . . meditation on . . . loyalty and betrayal, innocence and corruption, truth and deception" (Francine Prose, Elle) After a hurricane destroys their Jamaican estate, the Bas-Thornton family send their children on a merchant ship back to England, hoping to restore them to a life of safety and comfort. But shortly after leaving Jamaica, the ship is seized by pirates and the children become unexpected...

3) All quiet on the western front

Author

Remarque, Erich Maria, 1898-1970

Earliest Publication Date

1929

Summary

"On the hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I: a hardcover edition of the classic tale of a young German soldier's harrowing experiences in the trenches, widely acclaimed as the greatest war novel of all time. When twenty-year-old Paul Baumer and his classmates enlist in the German army during World War I, they are full of youthful enthusiasm. But the world of duty, culture, and progress they had been taught to believe in shatters under...

Author

Wren, Percival Christopher, 1885-1941

Earliest Publication Date

1925

Summary

A cavalry unit, having crossed the Sahara to relieve a besieged French Foreign Legion fort, arrives to an eerie silence - the enemy has vanished, and the post's walls and ramparts are defended by dead men. The fort's commander, slain by a bayonet through the heart, clutches a letter that links the riddle of the desert massacre to another mystery, the long-ago and far-away theft of a sapphire known as the Blue Water. It was the scandalous disappearance...

5) Cup of gold: a life of Sir Henry Morgan, buccaneer, with occasional reference to history

Author

Steinbeck, John, 1902-1968

Earliest Publication Date

1936

Summary

From the mid-1650s through the 1660s, Henry Morgan, a pirate and outlaw of legendary viciousness, ruled the Spanish Main. He ravaged the coasts of Cuba and America, striking terror wherever he went. Morgan was obsessive. He had two driving ambitions: to possess the beautiful woman called La Santa Roja and to conquer Panama, the "cup of gold."

6) Orlando: a biography

Author

Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941

Earliest Publication Date

1960

Summary

Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" is an enchanting and thought-provoking tale that transcends time and gender, offering a profound exploration of identity, self-discovery, and the limits of societal roles. The novel tells the story of Orlando, a young nobleman in the Elizabethan era who miraculously transforms into a woman and embarks on a centuries-long journey through history. Through Orlando's extraordinary adventures-from Shakespeare's court to modern-day...

7) Robinson Crusoe

Author

Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731

Earliest Publication Date

1920

Summary

"Shipwrecked off the coast of Trinidad, Robinson Crusoe - a young man with a thirst for adventure - finds himself washed up on a remote tropical island with nothing but a few tools and animals for company. Castaway for thirty years, he must battle cannibals, mutineers and the elements in a tale so convincing that many readers at the time believed it to be non-fiction. A true page-turner, Robinson Crusoe is one of the most enduring novels in the English...

8) St. Mawr: and The man who died

Author

Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930

Earliest Publication Date

1953

Summary

D. H. Lawrence is celebrated for his bold artistic vision and transformative portrayal of sex and emotions. His evocative prose, penetrating psychological insights, and fearless examination of human nature offer a rich literary experience in two brilliant novellas. St. Mawr unveils a story of self-discovery and the stark contrast between modern civilization and nature's raw, untamed spirit. Fleeing from a complacent marriage, Lou Witt finds solace...

9) The bridge of San Luis Rey

Author

Wilder, Thornton, 1897-1975

Earliest Publication Date

1927

Summary

Reconstruction of five lives lost when the finest bridge in all Peru collapses.

Author

Kafka, Franz, 1883-1924

Earliest Publication Date

1954

Summary

Kafka's last novel, The Castle is set in a remote village covered almost permanently in snow and dominated by a castle and its staff of dictatorial, sexually predatory bureaucrats. The novel breaks new ground in exploring the relation between the individual and power, asking why the villagers so readily submit to an authority which may exist only in their collective imagination. Published only after Kafka's death, The Castle appeared in the same decade...

Author

Bowen, Elizabeth, 1899-1973

Earliest Publication Date

1928

Summary

It was an exciting time for young women of the 1920s as they embraced liberation from the pre–World War I traditions of their mothers. In the mild Mediterranean climate of the Italian Riviera, a rebellious young Sydney Warren cautiously tested her newfound freedom, developing an intimate relationship with the charming middle-aged widow Mrs. Kerr that caused rumors and speculation to stir among the wealthy British guests of a luxurious seaside hotel. ...

12) The Man Within

Author

Earliest Publication Date

2018

Summary

The "strikingly original" debut novel by the award-winning British author is "a perfect adventure" of love and smuggling on the English coast (The Nation). Francis Andrews is a reluctant smuggler living in the shadow of his brutish father's legacy. To exorcise the ghosts of the man he loathes, Andrews betrays his colleagues to authorities and takes flight across the downs. It's here that he stumbles upon the isolated cottage of a beguiling stranger...

13) The shadow line: a confession

Author

Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924

Earliest Publication Date

1917

Summary

"Written in 1915, The Shadow-Line is based upon events and experiences from twenty-seven years earlier to which Conrad returned obsessively in his fiction. A young sea-captain's first command brings with it a succession of crises: his sea is becalmed, the crew laid low by fever, and his deranged first mate is convinced that the ship is haunted by the malignant spirit of a previous captain. This is indeed a work full of 'sudden passion', in which Conrad...

14) The sound and the fury

Author

Faulkner, William, 1897-1962

Earliest Publication Date

1946

Summary

Dive into the haunting and powerful world of "The Sound and the Fury", William Faulkner's Southern Gothic masterpiece. A tale of loss, decay, and the passage of time, this novel unravels the tragic downfall of the once-proud Compson family through an innovative and deeply emotional narrative. Told from four distinct perspectives, Faulkner's stream-of-consciousness technique immerses readers in the fragmented minds of his unforgettable characters....

15) The torrents of spring

Author

Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961

Earliest Publication Date

1990

Summary

The Torrents of Spring, is a captivating story by Ernest Hemingway that serves as both a tribute and a critique of the literary world of his time. Set against the backdrop of post-World War I America, the story follows the journey of two main characters, the disillusioned writer, and the spirited young woman, as they navigate the complexities of love, ambition, and the search for authenticity in a rapidly changing society. Hemingway's signature sparse...

16) To the lighthouse

Author

Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941

Earliest Publication Date

1927

Summary

A landmark novel of high modernism, the text, which centres on the Ramsays and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920, skillfully manipulates temporal and psychological elements. To the Lighthouse follows and extends the tradition of modernist novelists like Marcel Proust and James Joyce, where the plot is secondary to philosophical introspection, and the prose can be winding and hard to follow. The novel includes little...

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