Publisher: The Gresham Library
Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights tells the story of the ill-fated love of Catherine Earnshaw for the dark and brooding Heathcliff, and is set on the bleak Yorkshire moors where Heathcliff acts out his cruel revenge against Edgar and Isabella Linton. This book is considered by many to be the most passionate and original novel in English literature.
When Margaret Hale moves with her parents from the comfort of the south of England to the industrial north, she is at first repulsed by what she sees; and then when she discovers the conditions under which the workers are forced to live, she is outraged. But this throws her into direct conflict with the powerful young mill-owner, John Thornton. Using personal passions to explore deep social divisions, North and South is a great romance – and one of Elizabeth Gaskell’s finest works.Show book
John Shefford rode into Utah's valley in search of a new life, and when he met Fay Larkin, he knew he had found it. Even when she was charged with murder, he did not care. He had to have her. She was worth life itself.Breaking her out of jail was the easy part. After that he had posses to worry about, violent bands of Indians to outrun, a murderous trek across a trackless waste, and a brutal passage through white water hell.Hell, yes. Busting her out of jail had been a cinch. After that it really got tough.Show book
The first novel from the acclaimed author of EUNICE FLEET - a poignant story of belonging, nationhood and identity set in Wales, England and Palestine. Simon is a troubled young man…born in Wales, of Jewish heritage, and in love with Englishness and an English heiress. He determines to reject his Jewish and Welsh identity and the industrial valleys he grew up in and seeks to fulfil his ambition to rise in the Civil Service. His experiences in love and his professional life see him reject Edith on discovering that she is not what he believed her to be, and taking up arms in the fight against England's enemies in the Great War. Ultimately, he must embrace his family and his heritage before he can experience a sense of wholeness. Tragically, he falls victim to an enemy bullet in Palestine with the tantalising promise of a new life on the horizon. Simon's experience raises questions of belonging, language, nationhood and identity that are as relevant now as they were in 1931 when the novel was first published. Lily Tobias's sensitive individual and communal portraits illuminate some of the most topical personal, social and political issues of the twenty-first century.Show book
Hear rare recordings from some of the world's most-respected poets reading their own works: Ezra Pound, Old Men With Beautiful Manners; William Butler Yeats, The Lake Isle Of Innisfree; Robert Graves, A Last Poem; Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Harp-Weaver; Richard Eberhart, The Groundhog; Philip Levine, Blasting from Heaven; Marianne Moore, The Mind is an Enchanting Thing; Stephen Spender, What I Expected; Vachel Lindsay, An Interpolation by Mr. Lindsay. Recording obtained and published by Rick Sheridan. ©2009 Rick Sheridan (P)2009 Rick SheridanShow book
Mary Elizabeth Braddon was born in London on the 4th October 1835. At age 5 her parents separated but her ambition to succeed was not daunted. After being privately educated she took to acting, and the minor roles she obtained where enough to support both her and her mother. This potential career waned as soon as she began writing and secured an income from it. In 1860, she met John Maxwell, a publisher of periodicals, and moved in with him the following year. At the time Maxwell was already married with five children but his wife was confined to an Irish mental asylum. On her death they married and she had six children by him. Braddon was prolific and wrote over 80 novels, perhaps the most famous is ‘Lady Audley's Secret’ (1862), which won her both sales and a fortune as a bestseller. She also wrote a number of historical fiction novels which again increased her reputation. She was equally prolific as a short story writer, primarily supernatural and ghost stories, all of which continue to be anthologized to this day, such is the high regard they are kept in. Braddon founded Belgravia magazine in 1866, its fare being serialised sensation novels, poems, travel narratives and biographies, along with essays on fashion, history and science, all lavishly illustrated. She also edited Temple Bar magazine. Mary Elizabeth Braddon died on 4th February 1915 and is buried in Richmond Cemetery. In this story Colonel Benyon returns from service abroad on sick leave to find that England is very much changed. He accepts a friend’s invitation to take a short recuperation at his home in Cornwall, which has lain empty for some time. The Colonel takes up the offer, but things do not go quite as planned.Show book
Thirty years after the his death, Capt. Stormfield is still speeding across the universe, on his way to the next life, though he doesn't know yet where or when his journey will end. It's not a spoiler to tell you that he does get into heaven (it's in the title after all), but you may be surprised at some of the customs, characters, and spectacles he finds there. Great fun, interesting philosophy, and for a finale, a magnificent heavenly reception to welcome a deathbed convert: a barkeeper from New Jersey.Show book
