This novel, Hardy's last, is quite a delightful tale, almost comical in tone, and its wry, tongue-in-cheek flavor is beautifully realized by reader Robert Powell. It concerns sculptor Jocelyn Pierston and his 40-year quest for the incarnation of the ideal woman. This phantom eludes him as it flits from woman to woman most especially Avice Caro, his sweetheart at 20; then Avice's daughter, Anne Avice, who charms him when he is 40; and finally Avice the third, the granddaughter, whom he courts at 60. Alas, none of these romances reach fruition, and he loses both his artistic abilities and drive and his interest in the old quest. At 62, he can pass for 75, and in his old age he finds an old flame who sees him into his dotage. Hardy classed this work with his "Romances and Fantasies," and it is indeed almost an allegory or fable. Very enjoyable and excellently read, this is a good addition to fiction collections that feature important British writers. Harriet Edwards, East Meadow P.L., NY Copyright 20
Written by British-born author Frances Hodgson Burnett and first published in 1905, A Little Princess tells the story of young Sara Crewe, privileged daughter of a wealthy diamond merchant. All the other girls at Miss Minchin's school treat Sara as if she truly were a princess. But when Captain Crewe's fortune is sadly lost, Sara's luck changes. Suddenly she is treated no better than a scullery maid. Her own fierce determination to maintain her dignity and remain a princess inside has intrigued and delighted readers for almost a hundred years, even inspiring a recent popular feature film.
Tuintessential American family story,Little Women captured readers' hearts right from the start. A bestseller from the time it was originally published in 1868, it is the story of the four March sisters: Meg, Beth, Jo, and Amy. Louisa May Alcott recreates her own family's dramatic and sometimes comic experiences in this American novel, inspiration for numerous dramatic and film versions. LOUISA MAY ALCOTT, daughter of famous New England transcendentalist Bronson Alcott. was born in 1832 and after an extremely successful writing career which brought her international renown, died in 1888.
Our Mutual Friend, Dickens' last complete novel, gives one of his most comprehensive and penetrating accounts of Victorian society. Its vision of a culture stifled by materialistic values emerges not just through its central narratives, but through its apparently incidental characters and scenes. The chief of its several plots centres on John Harmon who returns to England as his father's heir. He is believed drowned under suspicious circumstances - a situation convenient to his wish for anonymity until he can evaluate Bella Wilfer whom he must marry to secure his inheritance. The story is filled with colourful characters and incidents - the faded aristocrats and parvenus gathered at the Veneering's dinner table, Betty Higden and her terror of the workhouse and the greedy plottings of Silas Wegg.
Probably the most popular horse story of all time, Black Beauty tells the story of one horse's long and varied life. On the one hand, a fully engaging novel and on the other hand, a strong statement against animal maltreatment. Anna Sewell's classic novel has enthralled readers since it was first published in 1877.
One of the most beloved children's books of all time and the inspiration for a feature film, a television miniseries, and a Broadway musical, The Secret Garden is the best-known work of Frances Hodgson Burnett. In this unforgettable story, three children find healing and friendship in a magical forgotten garden on the haunting Yorkshire moors. British-born FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT (1849—1924) emigrated at age sixteen to Tennessee and was one of the most popular writers of her time. Her other books include A Little Princess and Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Jonathan Swifts classic satirical narrative was first published in 1726. seven, years after Defoes Robinson Crusoe (one of its few rivals in fame and breadth of appeal). As a parody travel-memoir it reports on extraordinary lands and societies, whose names have entered the English language: notably the minute inhabitants of Lilliput the giants of Brobdingnag, and the Yahoos in Houyhnhnmland. where talking horses are the dominant species. It spares no vested interest from its irreverent wit. and its attacks on political and financial corruption, as well as abuses in science, continue to resonate in our own times.
Epic historical novel by Leo Tolstoy, originally published as Voyna i mir in 1865-69. This panoramic study of early 19th-century Russian society, noted for its mastery of realistic detail and variety of psychological analysis, is generally regarded as one of the world's greatest novels. War and Peace is primarily concerned with the histories of five aristocratic families--particularly the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, and the Rostovs--the members of which are portrayed against a vivid background of Russian social life during the war against Napoleon (1805-14). The theme of war, however, is subordinate to the story of family existence, which involves Tolstoy's optimistic belief in the life-asserting pattern of human existence. The heroine, Natasha Rostova, for example, reaches her greatest fulfillment through her marriage to Pierre Bezukhov and her motherhood. The novel also sets forth a theory of history, concluding that there is a minimum of free choice; all is ruled by an inexorable historical determinism. --
The unforgettable story of Heathcliff and Catherine, whose doomed love torments them in a tempest of madness, vengeance, and redemption. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: A concise introduction that gives readers important background information A chronology of the author's life and work A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations Detailed explanatory notes Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full pot
They were just kids when they stumbled upon the hidden horror oftheir hometown. Now, as adults, none of them can withstand theforce that has drawn them all back to Derry, Maine, to face thenightmare without end, and the evil without a name.
Black Beauty had a fine, soft black coat, one white foot and a silver star on his forehead. This tale tells of the horse's adventures and tjoys is perhaps the most famous animal story of all time.Tens of millions of copies have been sold,and it remains as pupular now as when it was first published over a century ago.
This specially commissioned selection of Conrads matchless short stories includes such favourites as Youth. a modern epic of the sea; The Secret Sharer. a thrilling psychological drama: An Outpost of Progress.a blackly comic prelude to Heart of Darkness; Amy Foster. a moving story of a shipwrecked, alienated Pole: and The Lagoon and Karain. two exotic, exciting Malay tales. II Conde and The Tale are subtle portrayals of bewildered outrage: An Anarchist and The Infomer are sardonic depictions of revolutionaries:and Prince Roman is a tale of magnificent, doomed heroisrn set in Conrads native Poland during the Uprising of 1831. Both those new to Conrads work and those familiar with his novels will delight in this wide-ranging collection.
Millenia ago, the Old Ones ruled our planet. Since that time, they have but slumbered. But when a massive sea tremor brings the ancient stone city of R'lyeh to the surface once more, the Old Ones awaken at last. The Whisperer in Darkness brings together the original Cthulhu Mythos stories of the legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. Included in this volume are several early tales, along with the classics The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror and At the Mountains of Madness. Arm yourself with a copy of Abdul Alhazred's fabled Necronomican and prepare to face terrors beyond the wildest imaginings of all save H.P. Lovecraft.
1996 wurde das Teatro La Fenice in Venedig vom Feuer zerst?rt.Ausgehend von dieser Trag?die gestaltet der Autor einbeeindruckendes historisches Portr?t einer einzigartig sch?nenStadt und seiner Bewohner und prominenten G?ste.
A group of friends that hasnt seen one another in years isreunited through tragedy. Working through their grief together,they find that each of their lives is impacted in ways they couldhave never foreseen, in this story of friendship, family, and lifecoming full circle.
It is a Wednesday in mid-June 1923 andMrs Dalleway is to have a party. As Shespends the day in preparation, worryingabout the evening's success, she looks backover her life at the choices that have led herhere. Then an unexpected visitor calls ... PENGUIN POPULAR CLASSICS are the per-fect introduction to the world-famousPENGUIN CLASSICS series - which en-compasses the best books ever written,from Homer's Odyssey to Orwelrs 1984and everything in between. For a full listand ideas on what to read next, visitwww.penguinclassics.com
In the wake of World War I, a community of expatriate American writers established itself in the salons and cafes of 1920s Paris. They congregated at Gertrude Stein's select soirees, drank too much, married none too wisely, and wrote volumes--about the war, about the Jazz Age, and often about each other. F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, were part of this gang of literary Young Turks, and it was while living in France that Fitzgerald began writing Tender Is the Night. Begun in 1925, the novel was not actually published until 1934. By then, Fitzgerald was back in the States and his marriage was on the rocks, destroyed by Zelda's mental illness and alcoholism. Despite the modernist mandate to keep authors and their creations strictly segregated, it's difficult not to look for parallels between Fitzgerald's private life and the lives of his characters, psychiatrist Dick Diver and his former patient turned wife, Nicole. Certainly the hospital in Switzerland where Zelda was committed in 1929 provided the in
The Turn of the Screw is the classic ghost story for which Henry James is best remembered。Set in an English country house，it is a chlilling tale of the supernaural told by a master of the genre。 The Aspern Papers in a tale of Americans in Europe，a theme in which Henry James is at his most assurd and accomplished。The author cleverly evokes the drama of the comedie humaine against the majestic of a VVenetian Palace。
In 1915, Lawrence's frank representation of sexuality inThe Rainbow caused a furore and the novel was seized by thepolice and banned almost as soon as it was published. Todayit is recognised as one of the classic English novels of thetwentieth century. The Rainbow is about three generations of the Brangwen familyof Nottinghamshire from the 1840s to the early years of thetwentieth century. Within this historical framework Lawrence'sessential concern is with the passional lives of his charactersand he explores the pressures that determine their lives, usinga religious symbolism in which the 'rainbow' of the title ishis unifying motif. His primary focus is on the individual'sstruggle to growth and fulfilment within marriage and changingsocial circumstances, a process shown to grow more difficultthrough the generations. Young Ursula Brangwen, whose storyis continued in Women in Love, is ,finally the central figure inLawrence's anatomy of the confining structures of Englishsocial life and the impact of indust
There he lay looking as if youth had been half-renewed, for the white hair and moustache were changed to dark iron grey; the cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than ever,for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, burning eyes seemed set amongst swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were simply gorged with blood; he lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his repletion.
With an Introduction and Notes by Pat Righelato,University of Reading Daisy Miller is one of Henry James's most attractive heroines:she represents youth and frivolity.As a tourist in Italy,her American freedom and freshness of spirit come up against the corruption and hypocrisy of European manners.From its first publication,readers on both sides of the Atlantic have quarrelled about her,defending or attacking the liberties that Daisy takes and the conventions that she ignores.All three tales in this collection,Daisy Miller,An International Episode and Lady Barbarina,express James's most notable subject,'the international theme',the encounters,romantic and cultural,between Americans and Europeans.His heroes and heroines approach each other on unfamiliar ground with new freedoms,yet find themselves unexpectedly hampered by old constraints.In An International Episode,an English lord visiting Newport,Rhode Island,falls in love with an American girl,but their relationship becomes more complicated when she travels
The Man in the Iron Mask is the final episode in the cycle of novels featuring Dumas’ celebrated foursome of D’Artagnan，Athos，Porthos and Aramis，who first appeared in The Three Musketeers。Some thirty-five years on，the bonds of comradeship are under strain as they end up on different sides in a power struggle that may undermine the young Louis XIV and change the face of the French monarchy。 In the fast-paced narrative style that was his trademark，Dumas pitches us straight into the action。What is the secret shared by Aramis and Madame de Chevreuse? Why does the Queen Mother fear its revelation? Who is the mysterious prisoner in the Bastille? And what is the nature of the threat he poses？ Dumas，the master storyteller，keeps us reading until the climactic scene in the grotto of Locmaria，a fitting conclusion to the epic saga of the musketeers。
