John Ridd, a farmer, is desperately in love with Lorna, a member of the Doone clan betrothed to the clan heir, Carver Doone. Ridd helps Lorna evade Carver's clutches, but the revelation of her true birthright takes her far from Exmoor, and John, to the city of London. Part romance and part pastoral novel, Richard Doddridge Blackmore's Lorna Doone incorporated real events and places of the author's experience. The novel has been adapted multiple...

Smollett's last rollicking picaresque novel, published in 1771, is considered one of his funniest. Inspired by the author's return to his native Scotland, it is told in the form of letters penned by six characters-most of whom have decidedly different takes on a group tour of England's seaside spas towns and resorts.