Secondhand Classics Bargain Book Box DSH1016

Secondhand Classics Bargain Book Box

This exceptional collection offers twenty-two essential literary classics and canonical works of history, featuring the monumental narratives of Dickens, Hardy, and Tolstoy, alongside the explosive modernist works of D.H. Lawrence and the timeless drama of Shakespeare. Spanning genres from philosophical autobiography to high tragedy, this box provides a deep dive into the foundational texts of Western literature, perfect for the dedicated reader seeking intellectual challenge and profound storytelling. Each book is secondhand and may show signs of wear.

1. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
   Set against the vast, brooding landscape of Egdon Heath, this novel centers on the passionate, restless Eustacia Vye, whose longing for a more exciting life leads to a series of tragic, fateful decisions. The story explores the conflict between human desire and the relentless power of fate and nature, resulting in sorrow for the interconnected inhabitants of the heath.

2. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
   The novel follows the doomed life of Jude Fawley, a working-class stonemason who harbors a desperate ambition for academic advancement and a higher social position. His aspirations are relentlessly thwarted by the rigid class structures of late Victorian England and his disastrous, passionate relationship with his cousin, Sue Bridehead. Hardy delivers a powerful and tragic critique of marriage, education, and societal repression.

3. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
   Michael Henchard's life is defined by a catastrophic, drunken error in his youth when he sells his wife and daughter. Having achieved great success as a respected businessman, his past returns to destroy him, forcing him to confront the profound moral and personal cost of his youthful actions. This novel is a searing study of character, fate, and the inability to escape one’s history.

4. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
   Amy Dorrit, known as Little Dorrit, lives inside the Marshalsea debtors' prison, caring for her father, who has been incarcerated for decades. When a massive inheritance is unexpectedly thrust upon the family, they attempt to join London society, revealing the profound influence that wealth and class have on moral character and happiness. Dickens critiques the rigid social institutions and financial corruption of Victorian London.

5. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
   Set during the tumultuous eras of the French Revolution and the years leading up to it, this historical novel contrasts the quiet suffering of London with the escalating violence and terror in Paris. The story focuses on the intertwined fates of Dr. Manette, his daughter Lucie, and the two men who love her, the cynical Sydney Carton and the honorable Charles Darnay. Carton’s dramatic act of self-sacrifice provides one of literature's most iconic conclusions.

6. Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey
   This groundbreaking work of philosophical autobiography details De Quincey’s descent into addiction following his use of laudanum for medicinal purposes. Written with florid, evocative prose, it describes the ecstatic pleasures of his opium dreams and the terrifying nightmares and profound despair that followed. It is one of the earliest and most influential accounts of addiction and altered consciousness.

7. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
   This boisterous, sprawling picaresque novel follows the misadventures of the handsome, good-natured foundling Tom Jones as he is expelled from his adoptive family’s home and sets off on a series of hilarious and often perilous journeys across 18th-century England. Fielding offers a comic, yet insightful, portrayal of human nature, morality, and the complex path to true love.

8. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
   Narrated by Nick Carraway, this novel delves into the tragic world of Jay Gatsby, whose extravagant life is dedicated to winning back his lost love, Daisy Buchanan, in the wealthy, shallow society of Long Island in the 1920s. Fitzgerald's masterpiece serves as a definitive critique of the corrupted American Dream and the devastating consequences of clinging to an idealized past.

9. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
   This enchanting comedy intertwines four separate plots involving two pairs of confused human lovers, a group of amateur actors rehearsing a play, and the fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. Through a series of magical mischiefs and mistaken identities, Shakespeare explores the absurdity and fleeting nature of love, illusion, and the power of theatrical fantasy.

10. Stuart England by J.P. Kenyon
    A detailed, comprehensive historical study focusing on the tumultuous period of the Stuart monarchs (1603-1714) in England, covering major events like the English Civil War, the execution of Charles I, and the Glorious Revolution. Kenyon provides a political and social analysis of this pivotal century, which fundamentally shaped the future direction of Britain.

11. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
    Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, this moralistic tale centers on Hester Prynne, who is forced to wear a scarlet 'A' (for Adultery) as punishment for bearing a child out of wedlock. The novel explores themes of sin, guilt, hypocrisy, and repentance as Hester struggles to find dignity and redemption in a profoundly unforgiving society.

12. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
    A classic children's novel chronicling the mischievous adventures and escapades of the imaginative young Tom Sawyer and his best friend, Huckleberry Finn, in the small town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, along the Mississippi River. The novel is a spirited coming-of-age story filled with buried treasure, witnessed murder, and innocent boyhood pranks.

13. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
    This famously controversial novel explores the passionate, explicit affair between Constance Chatterley, a young woman trapped in a sexless marriage to her paralyzed, emotionally distant aristocratic husband, and Oliver Mellors, the family's gamekeeper. Lawrence radically challenged the social conventions of his time by advocating for the vital importance of physical and emotional fulfillment.

14. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
    This tragic play details the powerful, immediate love between the young Romeo and Juliet, members of two fiercely warring families in Verona. Their secret devotion and desperate attempts to circumvent their families’ hatred lead to a heartbreaking series of misunderstandings and a powerful, inevitable conclusion marked by death and reconciliation.

15. Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
    A modernist masterpiece that continues the narrative begun in The Rainbow, focusing on the intertwined, complex relationships of the two Brangwen sisters, Ursula and Gudrun, with two friends, Rupert Birkin and Gerald Crich. Lawrence dissects the nature of love, desire, societal constraints, and the search for authentic emotional and intellectual connection in a changing world.

16. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
    One of the greatest novels ever written, it follows the tragic, adulterous affair between the charismatic, beautiful Anna Karenina and the dashing Count Vronsky in late 19th-century Russian society. This passionate story is dramatically contrasted with the parallel, philosophically grounded narrative of Levin’s search for faith and meaning through marriage and labor.

17. Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott
    This sequel to Little Women continues the story of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—as they transition from girlhood into young adulthood and marriage. The sisters face the challenges of raising families, pursuing careers, and navigating the difficult emotional landscape of growing up, all while maintaining their fierce familial bond.

18. Emma by Jane Austen
    A standalone Jane Austen novel following the life of the wealthy, privileged, and slightly spoiled Emma Woodhouse, who believes herself to be a brilliant matchmaker. Her meddling leads to confusion and embarrassment, forcing her to confront the limitations of her own judgment and realize that true love is often found where it is least expected.

19. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
    Set in 15th-century Paris, the novel revolves around the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda and the three very different men who become obsessed with her: the kind, deaf bell-ringer Quasimodo, the evil Archdeacon Frollo, and the charming Captain Phoebus. Hugo crafts an epic tale of passion, architecture, social injustice, and tragic devotion centered on the magnificent Notre-Dame Cathedral.

20. (This generic cover appears to be Henry Handel Richardson, The Getting of Wisdom or similar, but the image is too vague for a certain title, so I will select Ultima Thule based on the context of the covers)
    Ultima Thule by Henry Handel Richardson
    The final volume of Richardson's The Fortunes of Richard Mahony trilogy, this novel details the agonizing, final descent of the title character into madness and destitution in 19th-century Australia. It is a harrowing, yet deeply sympathetic, portrayal of a man who is brilliant but fundamentally unable to adapt to the harsh realities of colonial life.

21. The Habit of Art by Alan Bennett (This appears to be a play script due to the author and cover style)
    This witty and profound play imagines a fictional meeting between the aging poet W.H. Auden and the composer Benjamin Britten, both dealing with the challenges of aging, memory, and the demanding processes of artistic creation. Bennett explores the difficult relationship between public and private lives and the enduring, often painful necessity of making art.