Classics That Entered the Public Domain in 2024

Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

When the luxurious Blue Train arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to wake serene Ruth Kettering from her slumbers. But she will never wake again—for a heavy blow has killed her, disfiguring her features almost beyond recognition. What is more, her precious rubies are missing.

The prime suspect is Ruth’s estranged husband, Derek. Yet Hercule Poirot is not convinced, so he stages an eerie reenactment of the journey, complete with the murderer on board. . . . (Credit: William Morrow and Paperbacks)

Find more of Christie’s novels in the public domain here

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence

Lyric and sensual, D.H. Lawrence’s last novel is one of the major works of fiction of the twentieth century. Filled with scenes of intimate beauty, explores the emotions of a lonely woman trapped in a sterile marriage and her growing love for the robust gamekeeper of her husband’s estate. The most controversial of Lawrence’s books, Lady Chatterly’s Lover joyously affirms the author’s vision of individual regeneration through sexual love. The book’s power, complexity, and psychological intricacy make this a completely original work–a triumph of passion, an erotic celebration of life. (Credit: Alma Books)

The House At Pooh Corner by A.A. Miline

Winnie-the-Pooh, the Best Bear in All the World, has long been adored by readers young and old. In this beautiful full-color gift edition of “The House at Pooh Corner, ” Ernest H. Shepard’s classic illustrations have been painstakingly hand-colored. An exquisite volume and the perfect gift for any occasion, this book is as vivid and charming as the beloved characters from the Hundred Acre Wood. (Credit: Dutton Books for Young Readers)

Find more of Miline’s novels in the public domain here

Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf’s Orlando ‘The longest and most charming love letter in literature’, playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf’s close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. Spanning three centuries, the novel opens as Orlando, a young nobleman in Elizabeth’s England, awaits a visit from the Queen and traces his experience with first love as England under James I lies locked in the embrace of the Great Frost. At the midpoint of the novel, Orlando, now an ambassador in Constantinople, awakes to find that he is now a woman, and the novel indulges in farce and irony to consider the roles of women in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the novel ends in 1928, a year consonant with full suffrage for women. Orlando, now a wife and mother, stands poised at the brink of a future that holds new hope and promise for women. (Credit: Modern Classics)

Dark Princess by W.E.B DuBois

Matthew Townes, aspiring obstetrician, has hit the glass ceiling. Unable to continue his medical studies in New York City, the young man becomes disillusioned with the reality of racism within the United States and heads for Germany. Arriving in Berlin, Matthew immediately recognizes all that he’s lost, not just the harsh prejudices of American society but also his America– Black America–and begins to feel a sense of lonesomeness. Not so long after, he meets the purple haired princess Kautilya and fully enters into the unknown future that lies ahead. Departing from the realm of nonfiction and sociology, W. E. B. Du Bois set forth to produce a romance novel. The end result, Dark Princess , would be published in 1928 to incredibly mixed reviews with some critics lauding the ideas within the book and others slamming the aesthetics of the text. Despite this mixed feedback, the novel would cement it’s place in the heart of Du Bois and become his favorite published work. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of W. E. B. Du Bois’ Dark Princess is a classic of Black literature reimagined for modern readers. (Credit: Mint Editions)

Home To Harlem by Claude McKay

With sensual, often brutal accuracy, Claude McKay traces the parallel paths of two very different young men struggling to find their way through the suspicion and prejudice of American society. At the same time, this stark but moving story touches on the central themes of the Harlem Renaissance, including the urgent need for unity and identity among blacks. (Credit: Northeastern University Press)

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

Stephen is an ideal child of aristocratic parents—a fencer, a horse rider and a keen scholar. Stephen grows to be a war hero, a bestselling writer and a loyal, protective lover. But Stephen is a woman, and her lovers are women. As her ambitions drive her, and society confines her, Stephen is forced into desperate actions.

The Well of Loneliness was banned for obscenity when published in 1928. It became an international bestseller, and for decades was the single most famous lesbian novel. It has influenced how love between women is understood, for the twentieth century and beyond. (Credit: Wordsworth Editions)

Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág

Once upon a time there was an old man and an old woman who were very lonely. They decided to get a cat, but when the old man went out searching, he found not one cat, but millions and billions and trillions of cats! Unable to decide which one would be the best pet, he brought them all home.

How the old couple came to have just one cat to call their own is a classic tale that has been loved for generations. Winner of a Newbery Honor, this collector’s edition—featuring a heavy interior stock, spot gloss and embossing on the cover, and a thread-sewn binding—will bring this beloved tale to a whole new generation of readers. (Credit: Picture Puffin Books)

Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh

Sent down from Oxford in outrageous circumstances, Paul Pennyfeather is oddly surprised to find himself qualifying for the position of schoolmaster at Llanabba Castle. His colleagues are an assortment of misfits, rascals and fools, including Prendy (plagued by doubts) and Captain Grimes, who is always in the soup (or just plain drunk). Then Sports Day arrives, and with it the delectable Margot Beste-Chetwynde, floating on a scented breeze. As the farce unfolds and the young run riot, no one is safe, least of all Paul. (Credit:Pengiun UK Classics)

West-Running Brook by Robert Frost

“West-Running Brook” is a poem by Robert Frost that explores the existential dilemma of how to live knowing you have to die and the inability to entirely abandon the concept of a spiritual universe.

All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. . . .

This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army during World War I. They become soldiers with youthful enthusiasm. But the world of duty, culture, and progress they had been taught breaks in pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches.

Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principle of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another . . . if only he can come out of the war alive. (Credit: Ballantine Books)

Peter Pan by J.M Barrie

Peter Pan, the mischievous boy who refuses to grow up, lands in the Darling’s proper middle-class home to look for his shadow. He befriends Wendy, John and Michael and teaches them to fly (with a little help from fairy dust). He and Tinker Bell whisk them off to Never-land where they encounter the Red Indians, the Little Lost Boys, pirates and the dastardly Captain Hook. (Credit: Henry Holt & Company)

The Front Page: A Play in Three Acts by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur

An irresistible comedy with thrills and derring do set in the news room. Hildy wants to break away from journalism and go on a belated honeymoon. There is a jailbreak and into Hildy’s hands falls the escapee as hostage. He conceals his prize in a rolltop desk and phones his scoop to his managing editor. Their job is to prevent other reporters and the sheriff from opening the desk and finding their story. (Credit: Samuel French)