A young woman's secret love affair leads to a violent and tragic act in one of Elizabeth Bowen's most acclaimed novels. To the North centers on two young women in 1920s London, the recently widowed Cecilia Summers and her late husband's sister, Emmeline. Drawn to each other in the wake of their loss, the two set up house together and gradually become more entwined than they know. But the comfortable refuge they have made is "a house built on sand";...

Profiles fifteen commonly studied novels by such authors as William Faulkner, Amy Tan, Margaret Atwood, and L. Frank Baum, providing plot summaries, biographical and historical context, examples of criticism, and discussion ofcharacters, themes, and style.