Considered by some to be the greatest novel ever written, Anna Karenina is Tolstoy's classic tale of love and adultery set against the backdrop of high society in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. A rich and complex masterpiece, the novel charts the disastrous course of a love affair between Anna, a beautiful married woman, and Count Vronsky, a wealthy army officer. Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together the lives of dozens of characters, and in doing so captures...

As she emerges from the prison of a Puritan New England town, Hester Prynne defies the dark gloom much as the rose blooms against the prison door. With her illegitimate baby, Pearl, clutched in her arms and the letter A -- the mark of an adultress -- embroideredin scarlet thread on her breast, Hester holds her head high as she faces the malice and scorn of the townsfolk. Her powerful, bittersweet story is an American Classic that continues to touch...

In the summer of her 28th year, Edna Pontellier and her children, along with the wives and families of other prospective businessmen, spend the summer in an idyllic coastal community away from their husbands and the sweltering heat of 1890s' New Orleans. Aware of deep yearnings that are unfulfilled by marriage and motherhood, Edna plunges into an illicit liaison that reawakens her long dormant desires, inflames her heart, and eventually blinds her...

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult comes a “sensitive exploration of the balance of love” (Publishers Weekly).
Two cousins are driven to extremes by the power of love, as one helps his terminally ill wife commit suicide at her request, and the other becomes involved in a passionate affair with his wife’s new assistant. In the midst of betrayals and trials,...

When Lauren discovers her husband with another woman, she decides to take revenge by beating him at his own game--but her night of passion takes a dangerous turn when she witnesses an unbelievable crime. Her shocking secret threatens to tear her life apart, pitting her need to uncover the truth against her fear that the truth may be too horrible to bear. And whichever choice she makes could cost her job, her marriage, even her life.--From publisher...

Stepping over the threshold seemed symbolic of a certain level of acceptance—a joining of the hopes and dreams formed within these walls to the bitter reality that those dreams were dead. They would not have a child—not ever.

For years, Matt and Maddie have held onto their hope of becoming parents. Now, suddenly faced with the reality that they will not have a child together, Matt is shocked to discover that the consequences

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Hired to counter a blackmailer who has had affairs with several wealthy women, Boston private eye Spenser finds the case turning violent when the women are systematically murdered.

Ella Reynolds, head cheerleader and part of the "in" crowd, befriends Holden Harris, an autistic boy who is bullied at school, and takes on the popular kids at school in the process, including her boyfriend, Jake.

In “Madame Bovary”, Charles, an awkward country doctor courts and weds Emma, the beautiful young daughter of a patient. Emma, unsuited to the role of housewife, quickly gets restless and begins to explore her passions. This leads to infidelities which she hides from Charles and, eventually, mounting debts as she turns to merchandise for her happiness. Flaubert’s novel is cited as the first example of literary realism and has been called a “perfect”...

"Heads always turned when Rose McCarthy walked into a room. Nearly six foot tall, she was ramrod straight, and impeccably put together with faultless style, long graceful legs, her snow-white hair cut in a chin-length rounded cap. Her piercing blue eyes missed nothing. She could terrify anyone with a few, well chosen, soft-spoken, eloquent words, or comfort and delight a young employee with generous praise. For twenty-five years, she had been the...