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Why are there so many different species, and why does each one seem made for its surroundings? Charles Darwin starts from concrete observations: breeders' pigeons, plants, the animals of distant islands. From them he draws a simple idea: in the struggle for life, it is the best adapted beings that survive and leave offspring. It is in this book that Darwin sets out his theory of evolution by natural selection. It changed for ever the way we see living things and our own place in nature. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great classic of science in the language you are learning.

One August morning, whole trainloads of sick people and pilgrims leave Paris for Lourdes. On board, Marie, a young woman who can no longer walk, hopes to be cured. Travelling beside her is Abbé Pierre Froment, her childhood friend, who became a priest but has lost his faith: she also prays that he will find it again. The novel takes place over five days, among the crowds and the sick. Zola shows the immense hope of those waiting for a miracle, and asks a question that touches everyone: what should we believe in the face of suffering? With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great novel by Zola in the language you are learning.

In London in 1902, Jane Holland, a young novelist, suddenly becomes famous. Her friend George Tanqueray, a writer of genius who is still unknown, warns her: for him, fame is the beginning of the end. Jane secretly loves him, but Tanqueray, who shuns society, marries Rose, the young servant who nursed him. The novel asks a question that has lost none of its force: can you love, marry and go on writing, and is the answer the same for a woman as for a man? With the translation always in front of you, you can discover this subtle and witty novel in the language you are learning.

Lucy Honeychurch, a young Englishwoman, is discovering Florence with her cousin, who keeps a close eye on her. At the pension, their room does not have the view they were promised. An odd old gentleman, Mr Emerson, then offers them his room and his son George's. Back in England, Lucy becomes engaged to Cecil, a cultured and very proper man, but she does not forget Italy. Part comedy, part love story, Forster gently pokes fun at convention and asks a simple question: should we listen to what is expected of us, or to what we feel? Its humorous dialogue makes it an enjoyable read in the language you are learning.

Here Nietzsche attacks the certainties of philosophers, who claim to seek the truth without bias. He asks where our ideas of good and evil come from, and distinguishes a master morality, which celebrates strength and pride, from a slave morality, which makes virtues of humility and pity. A provocative book that makes you ask why you believe what you believe. It gave us a famous line: “if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you”. Written in fragments, often very short ones, it can be read one aphorism at a time, at your own pace, in the language you are learning.

London, 1869: Robert Orange, a young Catholic MP of French descent and a protégé of Disraeli, marries Brigit, a young widow whom he loves with an almost religious love. On the very day of the wedding, they learn that Brigit's first husband, believed drowned, is alive: so their marriage is not valid. Torn between politics, his faith and the eyes of the world, Orange must decide how to act, while the ambitious Lady Sara de Treverell takes an interest in him. This novel is about love, honour and conscience. With the translation always in front of you, you can read it in the language you are learning.

Ruined and determined to die, young Raphaël de Valentin walks into an antique shop, where the dealer offers him an animal skin covered in signs. This talisman grants every wish of its owner, but it shrinks with each wish, and its owner's life grows shorter with it. Rich overnight, Raphaël must choose between living long and living out his desires. Balzac blends the supernatural with a portrait of the Paris of his day. The novel left an expression still used in France: to shrink “like the peau de chagrin”. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great novel in the language you are learning.

In New York around 1913, Harvey Forbes, a young lieutenant with no fortune, comes back from the Philippines. At the theatre he meets Persis Cabot, a rich and very beautiful young woman whom everyone around her already sees married to Willie Enslee, the richest man in her circle. Persis does not love Willie, and she is drawn to this officer who lives only on his pay. Amid luxury motor cars, evenings at the theatre and fashionable dances, everyone watches and judges everyone else. In this world, one question decides everything: what will people say? This love story that defies convention is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.