Candide ou l'Optimisme est un conte philosophique écrit par Voltaire en 1759. Il suit les aventures de Candide, un jeune homme optimiste qui croit que tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes, mais qui est confronté à de nombreux malheurs et injustices. Il voyage à travers le monde, rencontrant des personnages hauts en couleur et des situations absurdes, tout en étant confronté à des problèmes tels que la guerre, la famine, la pauvreté...

Antic account of a young American's life in the Irish castle he inherits, complete with mad servants and lusty guests.

Born in the back room of the mansion where her mother toils, and herself in service from an early age, the enchanting and ever-enchanted Eva Luna escapes oppression through story telling. Rolf Carle flees Germany for South America, and ultimately works as a documentary film maker, to escape childhood memories of burying the concentration camp dead.

The Adventures of Augie March blends street language with literary elegance to tell the story of a poor Chicago boy growing up during the Great Depression. A "born recruit," Augie makes himself available for hire by plungers, schemers, risk takers, and operators, compiling a record of choices that is-to say the least- eccentric.

Steve Toltz's exceptional debut has drawn favorable comparisons to the work of New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Safran Foer. Stewing in an Australian prison, Jasper Dean reflects on his relationship with his dead father and recounts the many zany adventures they shared together.

Moll is a headstrong, street-smart woman born into the low ranks of society in 18th century London. Surviving on her cunning wit and powers of seduction, Moll goes through five husbands and countless lovers before her luck runs out and she faces the gallows.

First published in 1971 in a typewritten edition, then finally printed in book form in 1989, I Served the King of England is "an extraordinary and subtly tragicomic novel" (The New York Times), telling the tale of Ditie, a hugely ambitious but simple waiter in a deluxe Prague hotel in the years before World War II. Ditie is called upon to serve not the King of England, but Haile Selassie. It is one of the great moments in his life. Eventually, he...

Following the success of Robinson Crusoe, Defoe composed a further tale of high adventure at sea. The result was this lesser-known work, an inspired and hugely enjoyable "first-hand" account of pirate life. In response to an alleged letter accusing him of the worst possible deeds, Captain Avery pens a reply seeking to exonerate himself from all such charges. He sees fit to provide a full account of life as captain of a pirate ship. Yet far from being...

Last Last Chance, Fiona Maazel's first novel, is one of the most distinctive debuts of recent years: a rollicking comic tale about (in no particular order) plague, narcotics recovery, and reincarnation. A lethal strain of virus vanishes from a lab in Washington, D.C., unleashing an epidemic-and the world thinks Lucy Clark's dead father is to blame. The plague may be the least of Lucy's problems. There's her mother, Isifrid, a peddler of high-end...

The first book of the epic fantasy caper Gentleman Bastard Sequence about a roguish group of conmen, which George R. R. Martin says “captured me right on the first page and never let me go.”
 
“If you haven’t read [The Lies of Locke Lamora], you should. If you have read it, you should probably read it again.”—Patrick Rothfuss
An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in...