Of the many millions of books written over the course of history, only a relatively small percentage have been deemed classics. Authors of classic literature are those who have penned works definitive of a style, movement, era, or ethos. Their works are timeless in message and scope. This essential volume chronicles the lives of many literary luminaries-including Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, and Virginia Woolf-examining their early histories, journeys to success, and greatest tomes.