Tragedy Books

Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë

Emily Brontë went to her grave the year after her first and only novel was published in 1847, and since wasn't a hit that year, she would never know what an enduring masterpiece of Gothic fiction Wuth..

Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet is synonymous with the tragic fate of two young "star-cross'd lovers." The idea wasn't originally Shakespeare's - he borrowed the plot from a few other sources-but his version is the ..

Frankenstein

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, is the classic gothic horror novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, who began writing the influential work at the age of 18. It features Dr. Victor Frankenstein,..

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's immortal play Hamlet needs little introduction, but in short: A Danish prince learns from his father (now a ghost) that he was murdered by his own brother Claudius, who married the princ..

Les Miserables

Victor Hugo

Les Miserables is an unforgettable 19th century masterpiece of French literature by Victor Hugo, which was first published in 1862. Les Miserables (or "the Miserable Ones") is a story filled with adve..

Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert

Interesting novel. Enjoyable to read how the French lived alongside the parallel Victorian era. Some absolutely fantastic moments, however, especially in the first part character detachment makes it d..

The Jungle

Upton Sinclair

The Jungle (1906) is a novel by Upton Sinclair which exposed the horrible conditions of the U.S. meatpacking industry and a corrupt economic system. Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant, is treated l..

Faust

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The classic German legend Faust describes a protagonist who is a highly successful, though dissatisfied scholar who strikes up a deal with the devil. The offer: One Human Soul in exchange for unlimite..