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In Vienna, a famous writer comes home on his birthday and finds a long letter, with no name or address. A woman tells him her life story: she has loved him since she was thirteen, since the day he moved into the flat opposite hers. Over the years he has met her many times, without ever recognising her. Who is this unknown woman, and why is she writing to him now? This short story by Stefan Zweig is one of the most beautiful tales of unrequited love. Written like a confession, in a single voice, it can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In 1930, a scientific expedition sets out to explore Antarctica. Beyond mountains higher than the Himalayas, two men fly over a vast stone city, abandoned for millions of years. On its walls, carvings tell the story of its builders, who came from the stars long before mankind. The narrator is writing to stop a new expedition from leaving, and one question drives the whole story: what did they see out there? With the translation always in front of you, you can follow this expedition in the language you are learning.

Black Beauty, a handsome black horse, tells his own life story: his peaceful early days in a meadow, then his years of work for very different masters. Some care for him with affection, others treat him harshly, and each new home brings him a different life. This moving novel, which changed the way a whole era saw animals, is about kindness, respect and dignity. Written in simple words, it is an ideal classic to read in the language you are learning.

In this collection of twelve stories, Rudyard Kipling explains to a child he calls “Best Beloved” how the whale got his throat, the camel his hump, the leopard his spots and the elephant his trunk. We also learn how the first letter and the alphabet were invented. Full of sound games, refrains and made-up words, these funny, mischievous tales are made to be read aloud, to children and grown-ups alike. Short and rhythmic, these stories can be read one by one in the language you are learning.

Back from Europe, Dr Simão Bacamarte settles in Itaguaí, a small town in Brazil, and opens an asylum there, the Green House, to study madness methodically. First he locks up a few slightly odd inhabitants, then respected people, then so many that the asylum ends up housing four fifths of the town. With biting irony, Machado de Assis, Brazil's greatest writer, asks a question that makes us smile and think: who decides what is normal? Full of humour, this short story can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

During the American Civil War, Henry Fleming, a young farmer, joins the Union army dreaming of glory. For weeks he waits for his first battle and wonders whether he will stand firm or run away. When the battle finally comes, the smoke, the noise and the fear sweep away all his ideas about heroism. Stephen Crane, born after the war, had never seen it, and yet many readers took him for an old soldier. This short novel tells the battle from the inside, as close as possible to what a frightened man feels. Its clear sentences and vivid scenes make it enjoyable to read in the language you are learning.

For six years, Mary Morstan has received a magnificent pearl by post every year, without knowing who sends it. Her father disappeared ten years ago. When a letter invites her to a meeting, she asks Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson to go with her. A treasure from India, a room locked from the inside, a man with a wooden leg, a chase on the Thames: this second case for Holmes is one of the most thrilling, and it is also the one in which Watson falls in love. Fast-paced, this short novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

These two St Petersburg stories each follow a minor civil servant. Akaky Akakievich, a copying clerk mocked by his colleagues, goes without for months to have a new overcoat made. Kovalyov, for his part, wakes up one morning without his nose, and soon meets it in the street, in uniform and of a higher rank than his own. Gogol mixes laughter and pity, in a city where the absurd rules. Dostoevsky is credited with a famous line: “We all came out of Gogol's Overcoat.” You can read each of these short stories in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In Budapest, a gang of schoolboys defends its playground, a patch of waste ground squeezed between a timber yard and blocks of flats. The Red Shirts, a rival gang, want to take it over, and war is organised, with ranks, a flag and battle plans. Little Nemecsek, the only one in the gang with no rank at all, will show more courage than all the officers. A great novel about friendship, loyalty and courage, which you can read at any age and never forget. Simply written, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Brought up in a castle in Westphalia, young Candide learns from his tutor Pangloss that “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds”. Thrown out for kissing the lovely Cunégonde, he makes his way through war, the Inquisition, the Lisbon earthquake and the American colonies. At every disaster, Candide repeats his master's lesson, and Voltaire mocks, with fierce humour, those who want to explain everything. His phrase about “the best of all possible worlds” has stayed in everyone's memory. Its very short chapters and biting irony make it a tale that is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Out of work, Étienne Lantier arrives one March night at Le Voreux, a mine in the north of France, and gets taken on in the miner Maheu's team. Down the mine, he discovers the heat, the danger and the hunger of the families, and he is far from indifferent to Catherine, Maheu's daughter. Outraged, Étienne leads the miners into a great strike against the Company. The title recalls the spring month when seeds germinate, like the hope of a fairer world. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great novel by Zola in the language you are learning.

One evening, two gentlemen come to see Father, who leaves with them and does not come back. His three children, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis, leave London with their mother for a little house in the country, near a railway line. Every morning they wave at the passing train, and an old gentleman at the window ends up waving back. The mystery of the missing father hangs over this tender story full of adventures, in which the children even stop a train by waving red petticoats. Simply written, with plenty of dialogue, the novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

A man-cub, lost in the Indian jungle, is adopted by a family of wolves who call him Mowgli. Baloo, the old bear, teaches him the Law of the Jungle, and Bagheera, the black panther, watches over him. But the tiger Shere Khan claims the child, and he is biding his time. The book also includes other famous stories, such as that of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the little mongoose who fights two cobras to protect a family. Kipling gives each animal its own character, voice and wisdom. Full of action, these stories can be read one by one in the language you are learning.

This collection brings together the last cases of Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr Watson. An old professor starts climbing walls at night. A man dies on a beach, his back covered in red marks, as if he had been whipped. And a mother is caught bending over her baby, with blood on her lips: it is up to Holmes to find the explanation. Twelve short cases, each with its own puzzle. In two of them, Holmes tells the story himself, something rare in the whole series. You can read each one in one sitting in the language you are learning.

Fyodor Karamazov, a miserly and dissolute father, quarrels with his eldest son Dmitri over money and over the same woman. His two other sons take opposite paths: Ivan, tormented by the existence of evil, and gentle Alyosha, a novice in a monastery. One evening, the old man is murdered, and all suspicion falls on Dmitri. Both a murder investigation and a great family novel, it is Dostoevsky's last book, and for many readers his greatest. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this masterpiece in the language you are learning.

In 1866, an unknown sea monster is reported on every ocean. Professor Aronnax sets out to hunt it down, with his servant Conseil and the harpooner Ned Land. Thrown into the sea, they are taken aboard the Nautilus, an extraordinary submarine commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo. Prisoners of this man who has broken with the world, they travel the oceans of the globe with him and discover the wonders of an undersea world then unknown. But who is Nemo really, and why does he flee dry land? Full of adventure and discovery, this novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

One morning, Sherlock Holmes deciphers a coded message warning of danger to a certain Douglas, at Birlstone Manor. Too late: news comes that a man has been shot dead there, in an old house surrounded by a moat and reached only by a drawbridge. With Dr Watson, Holmes notices a detail that nobody understands: one of the two dumb-bells in the house has disappeared. Behind the crime lie the shadow of Professor Moriarty, Holmes's worst enemy, and a past from a distant mining valley in America. Full of suspense and twists, the investigation is easy to read in the language you are learning.

On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge, an old miser who hates the festive season, is visited by the ghost of his former partner, chained for all eternity. Then three spirits come for him, one after another, to show him his past, his present and his future. Dickens turns a ghost story into a warm fable about generosity and the possibility of change. This tale did a great deal to shape the spirit of Christmas as we still celebrate it today. Full of life and humour, this short tale is easy to read in the language you are learning, and ideal for a winter's evening.

Ishmael, a young sailor, signs on at Nantucket aboard the Pequod, a whaler commanded by Captain Ahab. Ahab lost a leg to a white sperm whale, Moby Dick, and has only one idea left: to find it and kill it. This novel made the white whale the symbol of every obsession, and its first line, “Call me Ishmael”, is one of the most famous in literature. With the translation always in front of you, you can experience this great sea adventure in the language you are learning.

In sixteenth-century London, Tom Canty, a poor boy whose father beats him, dreams of seeing a real prince. One day, at the palace gates, he is noticed by Prince Edward, son of King Henry VIII. The two boys look as alike as twins. For fun, they swap clothes, and the guards throw the real prince out into the street. Tom has to play the prince without knowing anything about the court, while Edward discovers hunger, thieves and the injustice of his own kingdom. An adventure full of humour, in which each boy learns about the other's life. Full of twists and turns, this classic is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Harriet Jacobs is born a slave in North Carolina. As a teenager, she is pursued by her master's advances. To escape him and protect her children, she hides for seven years in a tiny attic at her grandmother's house, watching her children through a small hole, before she can flee to the North. It is one of the few slave narratives written by a woman. In it she says what others kept silent: what slavery did to women and mothers. She tells her life simply, like a confidence, and her story is a moving read in the language you are learning.

In 1625, young d'Artagnan leaves his native Gascony for Paris, with a ridiculous horse and a letter for the captain of the King's Musketeers. On his very first day he challenges three musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, to duels, and they become his friends for life. Together they defend the queen against Cardinal Richelieu and the formidable Milady. Duels, wild rides and plots: the great swashbuckling novel, and one of the finest stories of friendship in literature. Full of humour, action and lively dialogue, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

In the tenth year of the Trojan War, King Agamemnon takes from Achilles the captive woman who was his prize. Furious, the greatest warrior of the Greeks withdraws to his tent and refuses to fight. Without him, the Greek army falls back, and the Trojan Hector leads his men right up to the wall that protects the ships. The poem opens with the “wrath” of Achilles, and the whole story flows from it. It is the first great story of European literature, and some scenes, such as Hector's farewell to his wife Andromache, are still moving today. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great poem in the language you are learning.

Paris, 1482: during the Feast of Fools, the beautiful Esmeralda dances in the Place de Grève. Quasimodo, the cathedral's hunchbacked bell-ringer, and the archdeacon Claude Frollo, who brought him up, are both overwhelmed by her. From the Court of Miracles to the pillory, the young woman becomes the object of dangerous passions. Hugo brings medieval Paris back to life around the cathedral. The novel made Quasimodo one of the most famous characters in literature, and helped to save the cathedral, which was then badly run down. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great novel by Victor Hugo in the language you are learning.