So what makes a Penguin Classic a classic? Simple. It has to be one of the 'best books ever written'. And that doesn't mean ladies with parasols strolling through Victorian gardens admiring the roses. It means the most shocking sex scenes and the most gratuitous violence. It means love - at its most enthralling and its most heartbreaking. It means the best politics, psychology and philosophy since ancient civilization. It means the darkest criminal minds, the cheekiest minxes and the most inspiring heroes ever committed to paper.

See the Best of the Classics