This is the only critical edition of this perennially popular story. Sally Shuttleworth's introduction finds, beneath the idyllic evocation of rural bliss and a tale of love and high adventure, a startling sub-text which rigidly defends Victorian values, and portrays a manly' hero constantly having to prove his masculinity to himself. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature...

Charlotte Graham is at the center of the most famous kidnapping in Chicago history. A task force of FBI and local cops found her two abductors, killed them, rescued her, but it took four very long years. The fact she was found less than three miles from her home, and had been there the entire time, haunts them. She's changed her identity, found a profession she loves, and rebuilt her life. She's never said a word -- to the cops, to her doctors, to...

When Katherine Tyler is kidnapped by a band of outlaws while on a cross-country trip, cowboy T. C. Castle rescues Katherine and hides her at a remote ranch where he lives with his five-year-old disabled daughter.

Connecting with an eight-year-old kidnapping victim named Kathy, child therapist Robin Hart is unsettled when it seems Kathy is playacting real unsolved murders and must unlock the secrets in Kathy's brain and stop a serial killer before he strikes again.

Emma Ruskin, disillusioned with life and love, takes a position as governess to ten-year-old Poppy Ackroyd at a large country home. Despite the Ackroyd family's contempt for her, she soon begins to develop a rapport with Gavin, their effortlessly superior eldest son. Then disaster strikes when Emma and Poppy are snatched and imprisoned by kidnappers. Emma knows they'll be killed if the ransom money isn't forthcoming, unless Gavin can get to them first....

"A dragon will kill any who dare to take its gold. After her dangerous adventures earlier in the year, everything is finally going well for Dr. Eva Paz. Her breakthroughs in dolphin communication are changing the world. Her discoveries could save the reef she loves. And now her mother has found love again. But then a madman returns to claim what's his. Eva's old nemesis, Julian Gulliver, kidnaps Eva's mother, and he demands an exorbitant ransom. It's...

Kick Lannigan, abducted at age six, goes into a tailspin when a second Amber Alert in a month signals the disappearance of a child in the Portland area.That's when the enigmatic Bishop approaches her with a proposition. He made a fortune as a weapons dealer and now wants to make good by using his resources to rescue abducted children. And he is convinced Kick's experiences and expertise can be mined to help rescue the abductees. Little does Kick know...

"A windowless shack in the woods. A dash to safety. But when a woman finally escapes her captor, the end of the story is only the beginning of her nightmare. She says her name is Lena. Lena, who disappeared without a trace 14 years prior. She fits the profile. She has the distinctive scar. But her family swears that she isn't their Lena. The little girl who escaped the woods with her knows things she isn't sharing, and Lena's devastated father is...

"A kidnapped girl returns home after twelve years away--but coming home may not be as easy as she thought in this roller coaster ride of lies, betrayal, and secrets that just might be the twistiest thriller you'll read all year. Jenny Kristal was six years old when she was snatched off the sidewalk from her quiet suburban neighborhood. Twelve years later, she's miraculously returned home after escaping her kidnappers--but as her parents and younger...