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Silvia is to marry Dorante, whom she has never seen. To observe him without being recognised, she takes the place of her maid Lisette. But Dorante has had exactly the same idea, and arrives disguised as a manservant. Each then falls in love with someone they believe to be a servant, and no longer knows what to do with their heart. It is Marivaux's most famous comedy, a very subtle game of masks and feelings. Its author even gave a word to the French language: marivaudage. Written in short, lively dialogue, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This collection retells fourteen of Shakespeare's comedies and romances in prose. We meet the exiled magician of The Tempest on his island, the fairies who sow confusion in the wood near Athens, the merchant of Venice facing his moneylender, twins who are forever being mistaken for each other and a young woman disguised as a boy. Written in 1807 by Mary Lamb for young readers, these stories full of mix-ups, disguises and happy endings are a very gentle way into Shakespeare. Short and clear, each tale can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In the nineteenth-century English countryside, Lady Constantine lives alone on her estate while her husband hunts lions in Africa. She has promised him she will see almost no one, and she is bored. At the top of an old tower she finds Swithin St Cleeve, a young man of twenty who watches the sky and dreams of becoming an astronomer. She helps him with his research, and love grows between them, despite the difference in age and rank. Thomas Hardy sets this intimate story beneath the vastness of the starry sky. With the translation always in front of you, this tender novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

Pip, a young orphan, is brought up by his sister and her husband Joe, a kind-hearted blacksmith, in the Kent marshes. One evening in the churchyard, he comes across an escaped convict who terrifies him. Then he is invited to the house of Miss Havisham, an old lady who still wears her wedding dress, and who lives with the beautiful, cold Estella. The day an unknown benefactor offers to make him a gentleman in London, Pip's life is turned upside down. His dreams, his mistakes and his illusions make him one of Dickens's most endearing heroes. Pip tells his own story, and this great novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

Eight years ago, on the advice of those close to her, Anne Elliot gave up marrying Frederick Wentworth, a young naval officer with no fortune. Now her father, ruined by his vanity, has to let the family estate. And Wentworth returns, now a captain, rich and much sought after. Anne sees him again and again, but nothing is ever said openly. Jane Austen's last completed novel tells of a second chance at love, with the subtlety and irony that made her famous. Its witty dialogue and endearing heroine make it an enjoyable read in the language you are learning.

In Paris, Thérèse, a young society woman in a loveless marriage, is bored in her elegant drawing room. On a trip to Florence, the city whose emblem is the red lily, she falls in love with Jacques Dechartre, a sensitive and passionate artist. But Jacques is jealous, and Thérèse's past comes back to haunt him. A great story of love and jealousy under the Tuscan sun, by Anatole France, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this beautiful novel in the language you are learning.

In a quiet London suburb, twenty-one-year-old Ann Veronica Stanley is stifled by the authority of her father, who forbids her to go to a fancy-dress ball. She leaves home to live alone in London, study biology and run her own life. But money soon runs short, and a young woman's freedom has a price in those days. Wells caused a scandal with the story of this “New Woman”, who dares to claim the right to love and to choose, in the age of the suffragettes. Its lively, determined heroine makes it a gripping 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.