National Network for Equitable Library Service

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace published on November 12, 1880 by Harper & Brothers. Considered "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century", it was the best-selling American novel from the time of its publication, superseding Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). It remained at the top until the publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (1936). Following release of the 1959 MGM film adaptation of Ben-Hur, which was seen by tens of millions and won 11 Academy Awards in 1960, book sales surpassed Gone with the Wind.

Jocelyn Pierston, a sculptor is detemined to find his ideal in womanhood. Just as it seems that he has found his heart's desire, disillusionment sets in and his burning love turns to ashes. Returning to Portland, he meets the young, Avice Caro. They are betrothed until a fateful meeting with the self-assured Marcia Bencomb changes the course of his life yet again.

This sequel to The Warden satirizes the struggle for ascendancy among the clergy of a cathedral city. The contest is between the outgoing church authorities led by Archdeacon Grantly and the newcomers led by Mrs. Proudie and her protégé, the ambitious Mr. Obadiah Slope. Each wishes to become the dominant voice in the quiet diocese of Barchester, and they contend for the newly vacant post of warden of Hiram's Hospital. The truth is that Barchester's leadership is really concerned with social rather than spiritual or moral issues.

The Cricket on the Hearth is the third in Charles Dickens' series of Christmas classics that started with his beloved A Christmas Carol. In this tale the Peerybingle and Plummer families find themselves at odds with crotchety toymaker Mr. Tackleton, who hates children as much as he hates making toys.

A historical farce set in St. Petersburg, 1776, in which Shaw vividly contrasts the predatory and amoral Empress with a stuffy young English captain she has summoned to describe the events of the war in America. Originally written in 1913.

An old-fashioned novel that describes the struggles and achievements of spirited Kate, the youngest daughter of a rich Indiana farmer. Her father presents each of her brothers with a 200-acre farm and no land to Kate. When her parents deny her even the brief term of schooling achieved by her sister, Kate rebels against her father's authority.

Tale of the timber regions of California.

Joe Fleming, a youth of twenty, earning his livelihood as a sailmaker and supporting his mother and sisters by his trade, augments his income by prize-fighting before so-called sporting clubs. On the eve of his marriage to Genevieve, an employe' in the Silversteins' candy shop, Joe is to fight his last bout before a club, having promised Genevieve to give up "the game," which, while it seems wrong to her, is to him a clean and manly as well as lucrative occupation.

It was a long walk from Hull to Anlaby and the woman holding the newborn baby was tired when she arrived at Humber Villa, the grand home of the powerful Rayner family. She was shabby, but refused to be intimidated, and when young James Rayner appeared at the door she thrust the child into his arms, saying it was his.

The story of a close-knit family who dedicate themselves to the salvation of their homeland, Korea. The story covers the period from the era of Queen Min, to the fateful days of the Second World War.