In pre-WWI Brooklyn, young Francie struggles to keep her idealism alive in the face of grinding poverty, her father's alcoholism, and the comedies and tragedies of ordinary life.

The life and loves of Nicholas, the orphaned son of a bankrupt man, form the basis of this complex novel based on Dickens' recurrent theme of rising from poverty.

"This harrowing tale of a young girl in the slums is a searing portrayal of turn-of-the-century New York, and Stephen Crane's most innovative work. Published in 1893, when the author was just twenty-one, it broke new ground with its vivid characters, its brutal naturalism, and its empathic rendering of the lives of the poor. It remains both "powerful, severe, and harshly comic" (in Alfred Kazin's words) and a masterpiece of modern American prose."...

"Charles Dickens, struggling writer, is haunted by the ghost of his lost sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth. In his darkest Christmastime, she comes to him in visions to inspire his writing, to make him reflect on the pivotal moments of his life... and to spark the idea for one of the greatest Christmas stories of all time. Bonus, includes the original Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol." --

Fictionalized account of the author's father who emigrated with his family from Mexico to Arizona to escape the Mexican Revolution.