Virginia Woolf’s second novel, Night and Day (1919), portrays the gradual changes in a society, the patterns and conventions of which are slowly disintegrating; where the representatives of the younger generation struggle to forge their own way, for '... life has to be faced: to be rejected; then accepted on new terms with rapture'. Woolf begins to experiment with the novel form while demonstrating her affection for the literature of the past. Jacob’s Room (1922), Woolf’s third novel, marks the bold affirmation of her own voice and search for a new form to express her view that 'the human soul... orientates itself afresh every now & then. It is doing so now. No one can see it whole therefore.' Jacob's life is presented in subtle, delicate and tantalising glimpses, the novel’s gaps and silences are as replete with meaning as the wicker armchair creaking in the empty room. 565 page paperback. New from Wordsworth.

Gaskell's last novel, widely considered her masterpiece, follows the fortunes of two families in 19th century rural England. At its core are family relationships - father, daughter and step-mother, father and sons, father and step-daughter - all tested and strained by the romantic entanglements that ensue. Despite its underlying seriousness, the prevailing tone is one of comedy. Gaskell vividly portrays the world of the late 1820s and the forces of change within it, and her vision is always humane and progressive. The story if full of acute observation and sympathetic character study: the feudal squire clinging to old values, his naturalist son welcoming the new world of science, the local doctor and his schemeing second wife, the two girls brought together by their parents' marriage... 624pp. Paperback.

'Around the World in Eighty Days' (1873) relates the hair-raising journey made as a wager by the Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg, who succeeds - but only just! - in circling the globe within 80 days. The dour Fogg's obsession with his timetable is complemented by the dynamism and versatility of his French manservant, Passepartout, whose talent for getting into scrapes brings colour and suspense to the race against time. 'Five Weeks in a Balloon' (1863) was Verne's first novel. It documents an apocryphal jaunt across the continent of Africa in a hydrogen balloon designed by the omniscient, imperturbable and ever capable Dr Fergusson, the prototype of the Vernian adventurer. 384pp. Paperback.

All of your favourite Beatrix Potter stories are available in two volumes. Volume two code 73729. Volume one contains The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, The Tailor of Gloucester, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, The Tale of Two Bad Mice, The Tale of the Pie and the Patty Pan, The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher, The Story of A Fierce Bad Rabbit, The Story of Miss Moppet, The Tale of Tom Kitten, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, The Tale of Pigling Bland and Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes. 412 page paperback with beautiful b/w line art illustrations throughout.

All of your favourite Beatrix Potter stories are available in two volumes. Volume one code 73728. Volume two contains The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, The Tale of Ginger and Pickles, The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse, The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes, The Tale of Mr Tod, The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse, The Tale of Little Pig Robinson and Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes. 430 page paperback with beautiful b/w illustrations throughout.

An invaluable companion to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi is Mark Twain's inimitable portrait of 'the great Father of Waters'. Part memoir, part travelogue, it expresses the full range of Twain's literary personality, and remains the most vivid, boisterous and provocative account of the cultural and societal history of the Mississippi Valley, from 'the golden age' of steamboating to the violence wrought by the Civil War. This new edition of Life on the Mississippi contains a comprehensive introduction, extensive annotations and a guide to further reading designed to appeal to both the student and the general reader. 412 page paperback. New from Wordsworth.

This novel traces the private lives of a group of people caught up in the cataclysm of the French Revolution and the Terror. Dickens based his historical detail on Carlyle's The French Revolution, and his own observations and investigations during his numerous visits to Paris. 320pp. Paperback.

A full cast of delectable characters that range from the iniquitous Wackford Squeers and his family, to the delightful Mrs Nickelby, taking in the eccentric Crummles and his travelling players, the Mantalinis, the Kenwigs and many more. So great was its impact as it left Dickens' pen that many pirated versions appeared in print and on stage before the original was even finished. Nicholas Nickleby has never ceased to delight readers and is widely regarded as one of the greatest comic masterpieces of 19th century literature. 752pp. Paperback.

Like George Orwell, Franz Kafka has given his name to a world of nightmare, but in Kafka's world, it is never completely clear just what the nightmare is. The Trial, where the rules are hidden from even the highest officials, and if there is any help to be had, it will come from unexpected sources, is a chilling, blackly amusing tale that maintains, to the very end, a relentless atmosphere of disorientation. Superficially about bureaucracy, it is in the last resort a description of the absurdity of 'normal' human nature. Still more enigmatic is The Castle. Is it an allegory of a quasi-feudal system giving way to a new freedom for the subject? The search by a central European Jew for acceptance into a dominant culture? A spiritual quest for grace or salvation? An individual's struggle between his sense of independence and his need for approval? Is it all of these things? And K? Is he opportunist, victim, or an outsider battling against elusive authority? Finally, in his fables, Kafka deals in dark and quirkily humorous terms with the insoluble dilemmas of a world which offers no reassurance, and no reliable guidance to resolving our existential and emotional uncertainties and anxieties. Translated and with an Introduction by John R. Williams. 614 page paperback.

Homer's great epic describes the many adventures of Odysseus, Greek warrior, as he strives over many years to return to his home island of Ithaca after the Trojan War. Odysseus's quick-witted heroism, his colourful adventures, his endurance, his love for his wife and son have the same power to move and inspire readers today as they did in Archaic Greece, 2,800 years ago. This poem has been translated many times over the years, but Chapman's sinewy, gorgeous rendering (1616) stands in a class of its own. Chapman believed himself inspired by the spirit of Homer and matches the breadth and power of the original with a complex and stunning idiom of his own. John Keats expressed his admiration for the resulting work in the famous sonnet On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer: 'Much have I travelled in the realms of gold…' This new Wordsworth edition of Chapman's Homer contains accessible annotation and a detailed introduction that places his masterpiece in the context of his own day and discusses its influence on later poets. 512 page paperback.