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When their father dies, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood lose the family home and go to live with their mother in a cottage in Devon. Elinor, the elder, keeps her feelings to herself; Marianne, passionate, says everything she feels. Marianne falls in love with the charming Willoughby, who came to her rescue one rainy day, and hides nothing of her happiness. Elinor, for her part, silently loves the reserved Edward. With her light irony, Jane Austen shows two ways of loving, and right to the end we wonder which of the two sisters is right. Its witty dialogue makes it an enjoyable read in the language you are learning.

Laura lives alone with her father in a lonely castle in Styria, far from any neighbours. One evening, a carriage accident leaves a young stranger under their roof: Carmilla, beautiful, languid and full of tenderness for Laura. Soon young women start dying in the surrounding villages, and Laura herself grows weaker, troubled by strange dreams. Carmilla gets up late and refuses to say where she comes from: that is her whole mystery. This short novel, published a quarter of a century before “Dracula”, long shaped the figure of the female vampire. Told by Laura, like a confidence, it can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

Orphaned, Denise arrives in Paris from Normandy with her two young brothers. Her uncle, a small draper, is being ruined by the department store across the road, The Ladies' Paradise. Denise starts work there as a shop assistant, mocked by the other employees, and little by little catches the eye of the owner, the ambitious Octave Mouret. Huge departments, dazzling shop windows, customers spending freely: Zola tells of the birth of the department store, and the story of an upright young woman whom money cannot buy. With the translation always in front of you, this absorbing story is easy to read in the language you are learning.

“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” Rousseau starts from this observation and looks for a form of association in which each person, by uniting with all, obeys only himself. From this pact he draws a simple idea: power belongs to the people, and the law must express the will of all. Against those who based power on force or on divine right, Rousseau bases it on the agreement of citizens. This little book inspired the French Revolution, and it still helps us understand where our ideas of democracy and equality come from. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this founding text in the language you are learning.

Hank Morgan, a foreman in a Connecticut arms factory, gets a blow on the head and wakes up in King Arthur's England, in the sixth century. Sentenced to be burnt at the stake, he saves himself by announcing an eclipse of the sun whose date he knows, and is at once taken for a magician more powerful than Merlin. Now known as “the Boss”, he brings the telegraph, newspapers and schools to the Knights of the Round Table. Mark Twain has fun with this clash between two eras, in one of the very first time-travel novels. Full of humour and lively dialogue, the novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

Everyone believed Sherlock Holmes was dead. Yet he reappears in London, before Dr Watson's eyes, and takes up his cases again: drawings of little dancing men that hide a secret message, busts of Napoleon smashed one after another, a marksman lying in wait for him in an empty house. Thirteen cases in which the smallest detail becomes a clue. With their lively dialogue and clear sentences, they can each be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In Milan, in May 1831, Vittore, a former soldier of Napoleon, dies in poverty. His eldest son, Damiano, must then support his mother, his sister Stella and his young brother. Yet he dreams of being a painter, and has secretly learnt to draw from a poor old artist. Subtitled “Story of a Poor Family”, this novel brings to life the humble people of the outskirts of Milan. It speaks tenderly of duty, of poverty and of the dignity of ordinary people. This touching family story is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

In 1845, Henry David Thoreau builds a cabin with his own hands beside Walden Pond, in the woods of Massachusetts, and lives there alone for two years. He grows beans, watches the seasons and the animals, and reduces his needs to the bare essentials. A book that invites you to ask what you really need in order to live. It has become a touchstone for everyone seeking a simpler, freer life, closer to nature. With the translation always in front of you, you can read it chapter by chapter, at your own pace, in the language you are learning.

Saved from a shipwreck, Edward Prendick is put ashore on a remote island in the Pacific, home to a banished scientist, Dr Moreau, and his assistant. At night, screams come from the laboratory. The island's strange inhabitants recite a Law like a prayer: “Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law.” H. G. Wells asks a question that is still with us: how far does science have the right to go, and what separates man from animal? Full of suspense, this novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

On Mars, Thuvia, Princess of Ptarth, is kidnapped, and Carthoris, the son of John Carter, is accused. To find her and clear his name, he crosses the deserts to Lothar, a forgotten city whose inhabitants can summon armies of phantom bowmen by the power of thought. This fourth novel in the Mars series hands over to a new generation of heroes, amid battles, jealous rivals and strange cities. Fast-paced from start to finish, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

At twenty-nine, Valancy Stirling lives under the thumb of her mother and a family who make fun of her, in a small town in Ontario. She consoles herself by dreaming of a blue castle where she would at last be happy. The day a doctor tells her she has only a year to live, she decides to obey no one any more. At last she says what she thinks, leaves home and meets Barney Snaith, a mysterious man the whole town speaks ill of. A romantic comedy full of humour, about the courage to live for yourself at last. By the author of “Anne of Green Gables”, this radiant novel is a joy to read in the language you are learning.

In 1930, Jacques Bainville tells children the history of France in forty short chapters, from Vercingetorix to the Great War. We see Clovis and the Vase of Soissons, Joan of Arc before Orléans, Henri IV and his chicken in every pot, Napoleon at Austerlitz. The book tells stories rather than dates, with sixty-nine illustrations by Job, the great illustrator of his day. It is a simple and lively way into the history of France. Written for young readers, in simple sentences, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Two stories of young love. In “First Love”, a sixteen-year-old boy on holiday in the country falls under the spell of his neighbour, a young princess surrounded by admirers, and learns what love can cost. In “Asya”, on the banks of the Rhine, a traveller meets a free, proud and unpredictable young woman, and is slow to tell her what he feels. Turgenev tells with restraint and nostalgia of these loves we never forget. Written in a clear and gentle style, these two stories are a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

Three stories by Dostoevsky. In “White Nights”, a lonely young dreamer meets, four evenings in a row in the bright nights of St Petersburg, a young woman who is waiting for someone. In “A Gentle Creature”, a man keeps watch over the body of his young wife and tries to understand. In “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man”, a man in despair falls asleep and has a dream that changes everything. Tender, tragic or visionary, they show another side of the great Russian novelist. You can read each of these short stories in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In a mining district in the north of Spain, la Nela, a poor orphan girl without beauty, acts as guide to Pablo, a young blind man. He loves her for her kindness and for the way she describes the world to him. One day, a famous surgeon arrives in the village, hoping to give Pablo his sight. A tender and poignant love story that asks a simple question: what will Pablo see when his eyes are opened? It is one of the best loved novels of Galdós, the great Spanish novelist. Its absorbing story and endearing characters make it enjoyable to read in the language you are learning.

One June evening in London, the American millionaire Theodore Racksole dines with his daughter Nella at the Grand Babylon, the smartest hotel in town. The head waiter refuses to serve them steak and beer, which he thinks unworthy of the house: Racksole buys the hotel that very evening. He soon discovers that its corridors hide a disappearance and a plot involving European princes. A humorous adventure novel in which a businessman leads the investigation himself, helped by his daughter Nella, who is as bold as he is. Fast-paced and full of twists, the novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

This collection retells six great tragedies by Shakespeare in prose. Here are Prince Hamlet, who wants to avenge his father, Macbeth, driven to crime by his wife, Othello, the jealous Moor, and old King Lear, betrayed by his daughters. Romeo and Juliet, the lovers of Verona, are here too, with the fabulously rich Timon of Athens. Written in 1807 for young readers, these tales keep Shakespeare's own words in the most famous passages. It is the simplest way into his work. Simply told, these stories are easy to read in the language you are learning.

This collection brings together four of Chekhov's finest stories. In “Ward No. 6”, a provincial doctor starts talking with a patient in his asylum and ends up wondering who is really mad. In “The Lady with the Dog”, a man and a woman, each married to someone else, meet in Yalta and fall into a love they had not foreseen. We also meet a bishop, alone and ill on the eve of Easter, and a young bride-to-be who decides to leave everything behind. Chekhov never judges: in a few pages, he makes you feel a whole life. You can read each of these stories in one sitting in the language you are learning.

Young Jim Shorthouse goes with his Aunt Julia, who is passionate about psychic phenomena, to a small seaside town. They are to spend the night in an empty house, where a crime was committed a century earlier. It is the first of the ten stories in this collection, which also take us to an island on a Canadian lake, a student's room in Edinburgh and deep into the forests of Quebec. In Blackwood's stories you see almost nothing: fear comes from a noise, a silence, a presence you cannot name. You can read each story in one sitting in the language you are learning.

An airman climbs higher than any record to find out whether creatures live in the sky. A doctor resting on a farm in Derbyshire grows worried about sheep that disappear near a cave. A special train hired in Liverpool vanishes in broad daylight between two stations. These twelve stories, six of terror and six of mystery, are by Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Here there is no detective: reasonable people face what they cannot explain. Short and tense, each one can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

Father Brown, a small priest with an absent-minded air, solves the crimes the police cannot understand. One day, an American visitor finally asks him for his secret. The priest's answer is surprising: to find the culprit, he puts himself in his shoes, to the point of imagining that he committed the crime himself. This collection brings together eight short cases, such as “The Mirror of the Magistrate” and “The Man with Two Beards”. In Chesterton's stories, cleverness counts for less than knowledge of the human heart. You can read each case in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In New England, while their father is away at the Civil War, four sisters grow up with their mother: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. The family has little money but plenty of imagination. Jo, the most independent, writes plays and dreams of becoming a writer. First balls, first loves, quarrels and reconciliations: this warm novel about family and the wish to choose one's own life has been loved for generations. Jo March remains one of the most endearing heroines in literature. Its lively dialogue and everyday scenes are easy to read in the language you are learning.

One Sunday in November, Augustin Meaulnes, a daring teenager, arrives at the school in Sainte-Agathe and fascinates François, the schoolmaster's son. During an escapade, Meaulnes gets lost and comes to a mysterious estate where a strange celebration is being prepared. There he meets a young woman he will never stop searching for. A novel of adolescence, dreams and nostalgia, which keeps alive the memory of that moment when we believe anything is possible. François tells the story as a memory, and the novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

One summer afternoon, in an English country house, the wealthy Mark Ablett is expecting his brother Robert, back from Australia after fifteen years away. Shortly after his arrival, a shot rings out in the locked study. Robert is found dead inside, and Mark has disappeared. The police suspect Mark. Antony Gillingham, a visitor passing through, carries out his own investigation with his friend Bill, like Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. This detective novel is by A. A. Milne, the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh. Logically built and told with humour, this puzzle is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.