When a plan to better his family's situation leaves Jerry to bring up his children on his own, it's the people of the Four Streets who rally to help mend his spirits.

In 'Our Mutual Friend', his last completed novel, Dickens turned again to question the life and soul of a society corrupted by money.

Birmingham, almost a decade after the end of the Great War, and the women of Lilac Street have had more than their fair share of troubles. Rose Southgate is trapped in a loveless marriage. Jen Green is desperately struggling to make ends meet, with a sick husband, and five children to support. And Phyllis Taylor is a widow who has managed to put a dark and traumatic past behind her.

The Great War is over, and sisters Iris and Rose are adjusting to life in their modest Liverpool home after their brother Charlie has returned from the front. But when their mother sends Rose to the beautiful Welsh village of Tregarron to recover from an illness she discovers a new world of possibility at her feet.

When her father is murdered, Katherine Donovan and Ceppi, an orphan, head to Liverpool. She rents a ramshackle lodging house, but discovers that one of her tenants is not the salesman he claims to be. He is a murderer, and a disgraced doctor.

Sean O'Casey, writer of such works as Juno and the Paycock - included in this volume - is one of the great dramatists of the twentieth century, whose plays have influenced every Irish dramatist since.

There are approximately 322 million Chinese aged between 16 and 30 - a group larger than the population of the USA, and destined to have an unprecedented influence on global affairs in the coming years. The one-child policy has led to a generation of only children; there is intense competition for education and jobs, and a tug-of-war between cultural change and tradition, nationalism and the lures of the West. We know the headlines of their lives,...

'The Green hat' perfectly reflects the atmosphere of the 1920s - the post-war fashion for verbal smartness, youthful cynicism and the spirit of rebellion of the 'bright young things' of Mayfair.

London in the 1840s worships money at the expense of love. Mr Dombey pins all his hopes and affections on his son, Paul, and cruelly neglects his loving daughter, Florence. This is a newly edited edition of the original volume of 1848.

Hope's just a child when she's orphaned, and as she grows up her dream is always to have a family of her own. When she meets and falls in love with Daniel Fallow, son of a successful businessman, she's quick to accept his proposal of marriage. Tragedy is just around the corner and worse is to come when war is declared in 1939.