Full catalogue

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.

In Kentucky in 1925, sixteen-year-old Ellen Gaddy works on the family farm. Her father, a stern man, pins all his hopes on her younger sister, who studies the piano. Ellen falls for a young farmhand, who takes advantage of her and then disappears. Pregnant, she hides her secret and leaves the farm. We follow her for a dozen years, through the Great Depression, to the rhythm of the seasons, the animals and folk songs: a sensitive and unvarnished portrait of country life. Written in a simple, direct style, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

In a valley in the Tyrol, two young Englishmen on their travels, Will Deverill, a poet and musician, and his friend Florian Wood, discover Linnet, a young dairymaid who sings with an exceptional voice. The village innkeeper, her singing teacher, wants to make her an opera singer and marry her. But a jealous young hunter is courting her too. From mountain pastures to the opera stage, a story of love and ambition in which a rare voice draws every eye. Told with humour, this story is easy to read 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.

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.

In Chicago at the start of the twentieth century, Rose Stanton, a lively, independent student who means to study law, marries Rodney Aldrich, a wealthy lawyer she met by chance, within a few weeks. Settled in a fine house, surrounded by servants and then the mother of twins, she realises that she is expected to be a decorative wife, with no role and no real work. Rose wants a life of her own, and she fights for it, even trying to earn her own living in the world of the theatre. Published in 1916, this novel speaks about marriage and women's place with astonishing frankness. Its absorbing story and lively dialogue are a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.