Publisher: Project Gutenberg
Volpone (Italian for "sly fox") is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, drawing on elements of city comedy, black comedy and animal fable. A merciless satire of greed and lust, it remains Jonson's most-performed play, and it is among the finest Jacobean comedies.
Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897) was one of France's finest writers of short stories."The Pope's Mule" is the amusing story of an animal which waited patiently for seven years to repay a man who mistreated her.Show book
Anne Elliot lives at Kellynch Hall with her two sisters and vain father Sir Walter. When financial struggles begin to affect the Elliot family, they decide to move to Bath. Anne decides to visit before the move, and runs into many old friends. Most surprisingly she is reunited with Fredrick Wentworth, a past fiance who under advice from her father and friend Lady Russell never married. Wentworth's lack of wealth and rank in the community were their main concerns and therefore eight years later Anne is still unmarried with little romantic prospects. However, through her journey and move Anne may find that what she has been looking for was right in front of her the whole time.Show book
Set in 1482, Victor Hugo's powerful novel of imagination, caprice and fantasy is a meditation on love, fate, architecture and politics, as well as a compelling recreation of the medieval world at the dawn of the modern age. In a brilliant reworking of the tale of Beauty and the Beast, Hugo creates a host of unforgettable characters amongst them, Quasimodo, the hunchback of the title, hopelessly in love with the gypsy girl Esmeralda, the satanic priest Claude Frollo, Clopin Trouillefou, king of the beggars, and Louis XI, King of France. Over the entire novel, both literally and symbolically, broods the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Vivid characters and memorable set-piece action scenes combine to bring the past to life in this story of love, lust, betrayal, doom and redemption.Show book
The fractured relationship between Albertine and Marcel continues, with Marcel’s fixations of his lover’s outside interests driving the affair to a bitter conclusion. Neville Jason’s outstanding abridgement and performance of this great classic draws near a conclusion with only two more volumes to go – The Fugitive and Time Regained. This is the tenth volume in this widely admired series.Show book
Four brilliant men have died mysteriously-and the only clue is the carved tail of a golden scorpion left beside their bodies. The man behind the horror calls himself "The Scorpion," and he is clearly a man of superior cunning. When the finest detectives of France and England-Gaston Max and Inspector Dunbar-join forces to stop the Scorpion before he can add a fifth victim to his list, the twisting trail takes them from the haunts of London's underworld to the seamy opium dens of Chinatown-and from there into the "Lair of the Scorpion."Show book
Have you ever wondered what it was like in times gone by? Have you ever wondered what it was like to be in jail, back then? The Ballad Of Reading gaol, Is a valuable insight into what it was like in jail in the 19th century in the UK. Oscar Wilde was the most famous playwright of the 1890’s. This is his final work published during his lifetime.(De Profundis published 1905 after his passing in 1900) His works included “The Importance Of Being Earnest” and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” Oscar was jailed for 2 years from 1895 to 1897 for “gross indecency” towards other men. Even so, He was famous for his wit, flamboyant dress style and conversational skill. During his imprisonment a man was hanged for cutting the throat of his wife. Rather than attempt to assess the laws that convicted him, Oscar chooses to highlight the brutalisation of punishment that all convicts share. It also highlights Oscar's belief that everyone is deserving of more compassion, more charity because after all we are all offenders to some degree. This heart wrenching and eye opening account is a must read for anyone interested in history, literature or LGBT rights.Show book
