Classics

A story of arms and heroism that follows the adventures of Aeneas, who flees the ashes of Troy to embark upon a tortuous course that brings him to Italy and fulfills his destiny as founder of the Roman people.

Accessible translations for GCSE students.

Aeneas the True - son of Venus and of a mortal father - escapes from Troy after it is sacked by the Greeks. He undergoes many trials and adventures on a long sea journey. All the way, he is tormented by the meddling of the vengeful Juno, but his mother and other gods protect him and remind him of his destiny - to find the great city of Rome.

Inspired by Homer and inspiration for Dante and Milton, the Aeneid is an immortal poem at the heart of Western life and culture. Virgil took Aeneas as his hero and in telling a story of dispossession and defeat, love and war, he portrayed human life in all its nobility and suffering.

The spirit of satire flourished during the Enlightenment, and its crowning achievement was Voltaire's "Candide". It follows the worldwide encounters - with shipwrecks, earthquakes, pestilence and human insanity - of its hero and his absurd tutor, Dr Pangloss.

When his love for the Baron's daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to make his own way in the world. And so he and his companions begin a breathless tour of Europe, South America and Asia, as an outrageous series of disasters befall them earthquakes, syphilis, a brush with the Inquisition, and murder, testing the young hero's optimism.

An American classic and one of the world's seminal antiwar books, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five is faithfully presented in graphic novel form for the first time.

Dr Felix Hoenikker is the inventor of 'ice-nine', a lethal chemical capable of freezing the planet. The search for its whereabouts leads to Hoenikker's three ecentric children, to a crazed dictator in the Caribbean. Felix Hoenikker's Death Wish comes true when his last, fatal gift to mankind brings about the end, that for all of us, is nigh.

Take Note for Exam Success! York Notes offer an exciting approach to English literature. This market leading series fully reflects student needs. They are packed with summaries, commentaries, exam advice, margin and textual features to offer a wider context to the text and encourage a critical analysis. York Notes, The Ultimate Literature Guides.

It has often been said that love, both sacred and profane, is the only true subject of the lyric poem. Nothing better justifies this claim than the splendid poems in this volume, which range from the writings of ancient China to those of modern-day America and represent, at its most piercing, a universal experience of the human soul.