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For an article judged too frank, Stephen Silk, a young diplomat, is sent as ambassador to New Texas, a planet peopled by descendants of Texans, which supplies meat to the whole galaxy. His predecessor has just been assassinated there. Silk soon discovers that, on New Texas, killing a politician is not necessarily a crime: a court only decides whether the victim had it coming. A political comedy full of humour, in which the young ambassador must also foil an invasion being prepared by a neighbouring alien people. Fast-paced, this short novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Mr Sabin, an old exiled French duke, lives happily in Massachusetts with his wife Lucille, until the day she disappears in New York. Anonymous letters, written in yellow crayon, order him to return home. The crayon is the mark of a secret society of European nobles, determined to halt the rise of the socialists. Mr Sabin follows Lucille to London, where the society is using her to influence a powerful minister. Alone, this old man stands up to a formidable organisation, amid elegant drawing rooms and political intrigue. Full of suspense, this novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

For her eighteenth birthday, Rachel Verinder inherits a fabulous diamond, the Moonstone, stolen long ago in India. That very night, the diamond disappears. Three mysterious Indians prowl around the house, and Sergeant Cuff, a famous London detective, comes to investigate. Each witness in turn tells what they saw, and the reader pieces the truth together bit by bit. It is one of the very first detective novels, and one of the finest. Each narrator has a voice of their own, like Betteredge, the old house steward who looks for answers to everything in “Robinson Crusoe”. The novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

On 5 November 1900, in the middle of the Atlantic, a flying ship of metal and glass draws alongside an American liner. Its owner, Lord Redgrave, a wealthy Englishman, takes on board Zaidie Rennick, a young American who was on her way to Europe to marry a man she does not love. They marry, and set off on their honeymoon to the Moon, Mars, Venus and the great planets. There they discover strange peoples and a dead world covered in ruins. This lively and often funny tale shows how people imagined the solar system before the aeroplane was even invented. Written with gusto, this novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Gordon Gregg, an English writer living near Leghorn, in Italy, stands in for the British consul for a while. He receives the owner of a stranded yacht, dines on board and finds the torn photograph of a young Englishwoman, Elma Heath. The next day, the consulate safe has been opened and the yacht has vanished. His investigation takes him to London, to Scotland, then to Finland, at that time a province of the Russian Empire, where the young woman seems to be in great danger. Amid false identities, an ordinary man tries to save a woman he does not know. Fast and full of mystery, this novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

In the fifth century BC, Athens and Sparta, the two greatest cities of Greece, wage war on each other for almost thirty years. Thucydides, an Athenian general who lived through it, tells of the battles, the plague that strikes Athens, the speeches of Pericles and the disastrous expedition against Sicily. He tries to understand what drives men to war: fear, interest, honour. His lessons still hold: people still speak of the “Thucydides Trap” when a rising power alarms an established one. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great classic of history in the language you are learning.

In 2353, Tom Corbett, a cadet at the Space Academy, shows off his ship, the Polaris, with his fellow cadets Roger and Astro, at a great exhibition on Venus. One night, two men dig a tunnel under the exhibition and steal the plans for a key that opens the safes of every ship. Now space pirates, they help the dangerous outlaw Bull Coxine to escape. To stop them, Tom disguises himself as a prisoner and goes aboard their ship. So begins a chase across the solar system. Fast and clear, this science fiction novel for young readers is easy to read in the language you are learning.

In 2430, Earth, Venus and Mars are linked by travel and messages. One May evening, the leaders of all three worlds are assassinated almost at the same moment. Jac Hallen, a young New York reporter, and his friend the scientist Brende receive a warning from Venus: “Beware of Tarrano!” Tarrano, once a minor officer, wants to rule all three worlds. He also wants Elza, the scientist's daughter, whom Jac secretly loves. An adventure of love and battle, in a future full of inventions: moving pavements, flying cars, news screens. Fast-paced from start to finish, the novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

In Kentucky at the start of the twentieth century, an old mansion stands on Billy-goat Hill, a hill the town is slowly swallowing up. Colonel Bob Carsey lives there with his daughter, nicknamed Miss Lady, a free and joyful girl who has grown up out of doors. She falls in love with Donald Morley, a rich and unsteady young man whom the colonel distrusts. Part love story, part drama, this novel full of humour and tenderness is peopled with colourful characters from the poor part of town. Written with warmth and simplicity, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

In a remote village on the Thames marshes, Archie, a poor young painter, wants to marry Lucy. Lucy's stepfather, Professor Braddock, a collector of mummies, sets one condition: Archie must pay for a rare mummy, that of an Inca king wrapped in green bandages. The professor's assistant goes to fetch it from Malta. But when the crate is opened, the mummy has vanished, and in its place lies the assistant's body, strangled. A misty detective puzzle, with a love story thrown in, by the author of “The Mystery of a Hansom Cab”, one of the greatest successes in crime fiction. Its absorbing plot makes it an enjoyable read in the language you are learning.

London, May 1914. Gwenna Williams, a young, dreamy Welsh typist, goes to a flying display at Hendon and picks out, among the postcards, the portrait of an airman, Paul Dampier. Soon afterwards she meets him at a dinner, and he promises to take her flying. Before long she goes to work in an aeroplane factory. Her friend Leslie, meanwhile, always has a piece of ironic advice for her. A lively, romantic love story that brings back the excitement of the early days of flying, during the last summer before the war. Its light tone and endearing heroine make it an enjoyable read in the language you are learning.

On a Saturday in June 1880, a wealthy American factory town hears some astonishing news. During the night, burglars have broken into Miss Wardour's house, forced her small safe and stolen the famous “Wardour diamonds”. The investigation begins, and behind the town's fine façades everyone seems to be hiding something. An American detective novel full of false leads and reversals. With its twists and lively dialogue, this novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

In India, two babies are mixed up: the son of a captain and the son of a sergeant. Unable to tell which one is his, Captain Clinton brings up both boys as twins, Rupert and Edgar. When Edgar is sixteen, a stranger tells him that she is his real mother, and he runs away to join the army under a false name. With him, we travel up the Nile alongside the expedition sent to relieve General Gordon, besieged in Khartoum in 1884. A story of war and brotherly friendship that closely follows a very real campaign. Full of action, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

In the middle of the First World War, Richard Hannay, the hero of “The Thirty-Nine Steps”, has to unmask a formidable German spy hidden in England. Under a false identity, he settles among pacifists. Then the trail leads him from Scotland to the Swiss mountains, and on to the front in France. Chases, disguises and coded messages: Hannay can count only on his nerve and a few loyal friends. The title comes from a character in “The Pilgrim's Progress”, the old book that accompanies Hannay throughout his mission. Its fast pace makes it easy to read in the language you are learning.

One winter's day, Stephen Smith, a young assistant to a London architect, arrives in a remote coastal village to survey an old church. Staying with the vicar, he falls in love with his daughter, Elfride, a young woman with blue eyes. But Stephen is hiding a secret: his father is a mason in that very village. Thomas Hardy tells of a love threatened by class differences. The novel contains a famous scene in which a man is left hanging from the edge of a cliff. It is said that this scene gave us the word “cliffhanger”. A sensitive novel to discover in the language you are learning, with the translation always in view.

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.

Rejected by his family and penniless, young Roderick Random leaves his native Scotland to seek his fortune in London, with his faithful friend Strap, a barber. Robbed, deceived and press-ganged into the navy, he becomes a surgeon's mate on a warship and lives through the Battle of Cartagena. Smollett had himself served as a naval surgeon, and his scenes on board are strikingly true to life. Full of hard knocks and satire, this adventure novel delighted Charles Dickens as a child. With the translation always in front of you, its humorous adventures are a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

One night, on board a liner returning from Asia, a passenger who never sleeps approaches the narrator and tells him his secret. A doctor at a remote post in the Dutch East Indies, he was visited by a European woman, beautiful and proud, who came to ask him for a forbidden operation. He refused, out of pride as much as desire, then set off after this woman like a man seized by madness. That is where the title comes from: amok, the frenzy that, in Malaya, drives a man to run straight ahead. You can read this short story by Stefan Zweig in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In the little town of Tilling, nothing escapes Miss Mapp. From her window she watches the street, notes her neighbours' comings and goings, and spins a story out of every detail, often a false one. Between games of bridge, tea invitations and petty jealousies, she wages a quiet war to remain queen of the town. E. F. Benson gently mocks these tiny lives, where the smallest trifle becomes an affair of state. Miss Mapp has become a cult figure of British humour. With its sharp dialogue and light tone, this novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

The book opens with Mark Antony, who abandons his troops at Actium to chase after Cleopatra. Then, chapter after chapter, Lyndon Orr tells of other famous couples in history, some of whom were led to their ruin by passion. Each chapter reads like a short true story, in which we discover how love could change the fate of the great. You can read these stories one by one, at your own pace, in the language you are learning.

Lucy Graham, a charming young governess with no fortune, marries Sir Michael Audley, a rich widower much older than herself. Shortly afterwards, George Talboys returns from Australia, where he went looking for gold, and learns that his own wife died while he was away. George disappears during a visit to Audley Court, and his friend Robert Audley, Sir Michael's nephew, wants to know what has happened to him. It was one of the greatest successes of the Victorian age: a suspense novel in which a charming woman may be hiding a terrible secret. Full of suspense, it is a gripping read in the language you are learning.

In the mid-nineteenth century, in the mountains of North Carolina, Tom De Willoughby, huge, lazy and much loved by his neighbours, runs the store and post office at a remote crossroads. One day he takes in Sheba, a baby whose young mother has just died, and brings her up on his own. Years later comes Rupert, Tom's nephew, poor and without family, hoping to win back the fortune the De Willoughbys lost in the Civil War. A warm and humorous story about the family we choose, by the author of “The Secret Garden”. With its endearing characters, this novel is a pleasure to read 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.

In the near future, huge airliners link Plymouth and New York in thirty hours. Sir John Custance, head of the British air police, has just become engaged to Connie Shepherd, an actress all London adores. But pirates with silent engines are plundering planes over the Atlantic, and they kidnap Connie. Unrecognisable in disguise, Sir John follows their trail all the way to Cornwall. Written in 1919, this adventure novel already imagined a sky full of airliners. Told by Sir John himself, at a fast pace, the novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.