The Master and Margarita is a novel, by Russian writer, Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940 during Stalin’s regime. The story concerns a visit by the devil to the officially atheistic Soviet Union

The Devil comes to Moscow; but he isn’t all bad. Pontius Pilate sentences a charismatic leader to his death, but yearns for redemption; and a writer tries to destroy his greatest tale, but discovers that manuscripts don’t burn.

I could see that she was still terribly afraid but I didnt soften anything instead seeing that she was afraid I deliberately intensified it In this short story Dostoyevsky masterfully depicts desperation greed manipulation and suicide.

The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock.

Nikolai Gogol’s short story ”The Nose” is a story about a 19th-century Russian bureaucrat living in St. Petersburg who wakes up one morning to discover that his nose has left his face and takes on a life of its own.

This excellent prose translation of Homer’s epic poem of the 9th century BC recounts one of Western civilization’s most glorious tales, a treasury of Greek folklore and myth that maintains an ageless appeal for modern readers. 

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrid, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young… If it was only the other way!’ Wilde’s first and only published novel recounts the story of handsome Dorian Gray who upon having his portrait painted desires that it will age and grow ugly while he may remain eternally beautiful. The painting, which reflects each of Gray’s sins and transgressions in its hideousness, haunts him until it finally becomes unbearable. In this dark tale of duplicity and mortality, Wilde creates a world where art and reality collide.

‘A triumph of execution … one of the best narratives of the “double life” of a Victorian gentleman’ Peter Ackroyd