本书是英国神秘故事小说家科林斯（William Wilkie Collins 1824－1889）的第一部主要作品。故事讲的是青年画师沃尔特・哈特莱特，应聘到费尔利家当家庭教师。临去前，他月夜从乡下返回伦敦寓所，途中遇见一个全身白色穿戴的年轻妇女向他问路，看情形她刚从疯人院逃出来。沃尔特帮助她躲开跟踪追来的人。 沃尔特的学生劳拉，是主人弗雷德里克的长兄菲利普的女儿，温柔美貌，纯洁善良。她的同母异父姐姐玛丽安，容貌丑陋，但聪慧能干。沃尔特发现劳拉外貌酷肖他路上所遇的白衣女人。根据玛丽安提供的情况，他断定那白衣女人就是菲利普・费尔利夫人生前曾经关心照顾过的安・卡塞里克。 沃尔特不久就对劳拉产生了爱情。但是玛丽安告诉他，劳拉的父亲临终时已将劳拉许给珀西瓦尔・格莱德准男爵，准男爵即将前来商定婚事。这对沃尔特是极大的打击。这时白衣女人突然出现，试图阻止劳拉和珀西瓦尔的婚事。沃尔特暗中跟她见面后，对珀 西瓦尔的品德产生怀疑。为了劳拉，他有心查明真相，但终于无能为力，黯然离去。不久经玛丽安的朋友介绍，他参加了一支去中美洲的考古探险队。 拍西瓦尔来后，劳拉心情极度矛盾。她对珀西瓦尔毫无感情，但又不愿违背父亲的遗命。虽然她坦诚告诉珀西瓦尔，自己心中已另有所爱，但珀西瓦尔虚伪地表示劳拉的高洁心地更加深了他的爱慕。几个月后，他们举行了婚礼。玛丽安随劳拉移居珀西瓦尔家。 婚后，珀西瓦尔毫不掩饰他娶劳拉纯然为了占有她继承的巨额财产。他逼迫劳拉交出全部财产的处置权，劳拉拒绝签宇。这时白衣女人再次出现。她要告诉劳拉关于珀西瓦尔的一件不可告人的秘密，以帮助劳拉对付他。但是没有说出秘密，就受惊仓皇逃走。珀西瓦尔以为劳拉已经掌握秘密，就凶狠地把她禁闭起来． 劳拉的姑父福斯克伯爵，为人极端狡诈，为了从劳拉的财产中捞得一份，极力为珀西瓦尔出谋划策。两人定计制造劳拉“死亡”的骗局，以便攫取她的财产。玛丽安黑夜冒雨窃听到他们的密谈，但是未来得及采取行动就因受寒病倒。 福斯克找到安，把她骗到家中。安受到惊吓，心脏病突发而死。珀西瓦尔把安当作劳拉埋葬在费尔利夫人墓旁。与此同时。福斯克夫妇把劳拉接到家中，将其麻醉后送进疯人院，冒称就是逃走的安。劳拉的财产落人珀西瓦尔和福斯克之手。 玛丽安病愈后，四处寻访劳拉的下落，终于将她从疯人院中救出。但是冷酷自私的弗雷德里克声称侄女已死，将劳拉拒之门外。劳拉身心受到严重摧残．丧失记忆，无法证明自己的身份． 正在此时，沃尔特回到英国，得知劳拉蒙受奇冤，决心为她申雪。他找到安的母亲，探悉珀西瓦尔的底细。原来珀西瓦尔的父母没有正式结婚，他无权承袭爵位。他曾收买安的母亲，协助他伪造了父母的婚姻登记。后来他以为安知道了他的秘密，怕她泄漏出去，就伙同她母亲把她关进疯人院。沃尔特还了解到，安和劳拉实际是同父异母姐妹。 珀西瓦尔觉察到沃尔特正在追查他的秘密后，黑夜潜入教堂，企图销毁罪证，不料烛火引起大火，自己葬身火窟。 沃尔特转而查访福斯克的底细，弄清此人本是意大利一个秘密革命团体的成员，叛变后当了政府密探。沃尔特找到福斯克，以宣布他的身份相威胁，迫使他写下坦白书，交待他和珀西瓦尔合谋借尸夺产，迫害劳拉的罪行。劳拉终于恢复了合法身份，并和沃尔特结为伉俪。 福斯克最终未能逃脱秘密团体的惩罚，被暗杀在巴黎。

本书是哈代最杰出的作品，也是英语文学中最伟大的作品之一。小说主人公苔丝这一形象是哈代对人类世界的最伟大贡献，她已成为世界文学长廊中最优美迷人的女性形象之一。生活贫困的苔丝因貌美而被地主少爷亚利克玷污了贞节。因此，苔丝曾一度精神不振。后来，经过时间的洗涤，苔丝重振精神开始新的人生。她遇上了年轻、英俊的克莱尔，两人情投意合。然而，就在结婚的当天，克莱尔知道了苔丝的过去……本书为英文版。 苔丝是一位善良淳朴的农村姑娘，她的命运却极其悲惨。她遭人诱奸，却背负了所谓的罪名。她想重新开始，却在新婚之夜被丈夫抛弃，理由就是她不再纯洁。万般无奈之下，她投靠曾经欺辱自己的人，却等来了丈夫迟来的忏悔。最终，绝望的苔丝杀死了让自己饱受欺凌的人，而等待她的将是无情的绞刑。

Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why a chimp fetus resembles a human being? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction--is it worse than the disease?

What's coming Next? Get a hint of what Michael Crichton sees on the horizon in this short video clip: high bandwidth or low bandwidth

We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps, a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars and to test our spouses for genetic maladies. We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes... Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn. Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and the bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect. The future is closer than you think.

A literary sensation and runaway bestseller, this brilliant debut novel tells with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha. Speaking to us with the wisdom of age and in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. It begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old girl with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. We witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup, and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it. In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction—at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful—and completely unforgettable.