Unisciti a noi in un viaggio nel mondo dei libri!
Aggiungi questo libro allo scaffale
Grey
Scrivi un nuovo commento Default profile 50px
Grey
Iscriviti per leggere l'intero libro o leggi le prime pagine gratuitamente!
All characters reduced
The Marchioness of Brinvilliers the poisoner of the seventeenth century - A romance of old Paris - cover

The Marchioness of Brinvilliers the poisoner of the seventeenth century - A romance of old Paris

Albert Smit

Casa editrice: Good Press

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Sinossi

In "The Marchioness of Brinvilliers, the Poisoner of the Seventeenth Century," Albert Smith delves into the scandalous and tumultuous life of Marie de Brinvilliers, a figure emblematic of the dark intrigue that permeated French society during the reign of Louis XIV. Through meticulous research and a compelling narrative style, Smith weaves together historical facts with evocative prose, bringing to life the nuances of 17th-century France—a period rife with social upheaval, political machinations, and the widespread fear of poisonings. The book is not merely a chronicle of crime; it also interrogates themes of gender, power, and morality in an era where women's roles were tightly constrained yet paradoxically wielded through their relationships and reputations. Albert Smith, a noted historian with a keen interest in the intersection of gender and crime in historical narratives, draws on his extensive background in French history and literature to craft this engaging biographical investigation. His previous works have examined similar themes, evidencing a sustained fascination with the darker aspects of human behavior, particularly as it pertains to female characters who disrupt societal norms. Smith's academic acumen brings a nuanced understanding to the historical context surrounding Brinvilliers, solidifying this work as both a biography and a social critique. This book is a must-read for historians, literary enthusiasts, and anyone intrigued by the macabre yet alluring world of historical crime. Smith's rich narrative not only informs but also captivates, inviting readers to consider how the echoes of the past continue to resonate today. "The Marchioness of Brinvilliers" promises an enlightening journey into a life shrouded in mystery and infamous allure, compellingly reinterpreted by a skilled storyteller.
Disponibile da: 02/03/2025.
Lunghezza di stampa: 200 pagine.

Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

  • A Chameleon - From their pens to your ears genius in every story - cover

    A Chameleon - From their pens to...

    Anton Chekhov

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born on 29th January 1860 in Taganrog, on the south coast of Russia.  
    His family life was difficult; his father was strict and over-bearing but his mother was a passionate story-teller, a subject Chekhov warmed to. As he later said; ‘our talents we got from our father, but our soul from our mother’.  
    At school Chekhov was distinctly average. At 16 his father mis-managed his finances and was declared bankrupt. His family fled to Moscow. Chekhov remained and eked out a living by various means, including writing and selling short sketches to newspapers, to finish his schooling. That completed and with a scholarship to Moscow University obtained he rejoined his family. 
    He was able to help support them by selling satirical sketches and vignettes of Russian lifestyles and gradually obtained further commissions. In 1884, he qualified as a physician and, although it earned him little, he often treated the poor for free, he was fond of saying ‘Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress.’ 
    His own health was now an issue as he began to cough up blood, a symptom of tuberculosis.  Despite this his writing success enabled him to move the family into more comfortable accommodation.  
    Chekhov wrote over 500 short stories which included many, many classics including ‘The Kiss’ and ‘The Lady with a Dog’.  His collection ‘At Dusk’ won him the coveted Pushkin Prize when was only 26.  
    He was also a major playwright beginning with the huge success of ‘Ivanov’ in 1887.   
    In 1892 Chekhov bought a country estate north of Moscow. Here his medical skills and money helped the peasants tackle outbreaks of cholera and bouts of famine. He also built three schools, a fire station and a clinic.  It left him with less time for writing but the interactions with real people gained him detailed knowledge about the peasantry and their living conditions for his stories.  
    His most famous work, ‘The Seagull’ was received disastrously at its premiere in St Petersburg. It was later restaged in Moscow to highlight its psychological aspects and was a huge success. It led to ‘Uncle Vanya’, ‘The Three Sisters’ and ‘The Cherry Orchard’.  
    Chekhov suffered a major lung hemorrhage in 1897 while visiting Moscow. A formal diagnosis confirmed tuberculosis and the doctors ordered changes to his lifestyle.  
    Despite a dread of weddings the elusive literary bachelor quietly married the actress Olga Knipper, whom he had met at rehearsals for ‘The Seagull’, on 25th May 1901. 
    By May 1904 with his tuberculosis worsening and death imminent he set off for the German town of Badenweiler writing cheerful, witty letters to his family and assuring them his health was improving.  
    On 15th July 1904 Anton Chekhov died at Badenweiler.  He was 44.
    Mostra libro
  • The Strength of Hope - from Auschwitz to a zest for life an incredible Australian story - cover

    The Strength of Hope - from...

    Abram Goldberg, Fiona Harris

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The day Abram and his mother arrived at Auschwitz death camp they both knew it would be her last. In their final moment together, Abram's mum urged her nineteen-year-old son to 'Do everything humanly possible to survive, and tell people what happened here.' Then she was taken to a gas chamber and murdered. Abram had already endured and survived so much until that moment but with his strength of hope, sometimes reduced to a flicker, he survived. 
    After liberation, Abram travelled back and forth across Europe, doing secret underground work and getting into dangerous scrapes. He met the love of his life, fellow Auschwitz survivor, Cesia, and the young couple made their way to Australia. Without bitterness and always with perspective, Abram has never forgotten his mother's last words to him. Abram and Cesia have remained dedicated to educating people about the Holocaust and to living their lives to the fullest in tribute to its victims. 
    Full of wisdom, insight and daring, with a love story at its heart: for Cesia, for Australia and for life itself.
    Mostra libro
  • 27 Club The: The Lives and Legacies of Jimi Hendrix Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison - cover

    27 Club The: The Lives and...

    Editors Charles River

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    It is rare in the world of music for a general consensus to form over who was the best at anything. Many would call The Beatles the greatest rock band, but it’s easy to find strongly opinionated dissenters. However, when it came to playing a guitar and laying the soundtrack for the psychedelic era, just about everyone agrees there was Jimi Hendrix and then there was everyone else. Anyone arguing otherwise either never heard his music or saw him perform. In fact, Jimi Hendrix is one of the few musicians known primarily for his sound and what he could do with a guitar than for his discography. A part of that is due to his untimely death and entry into the 27 Club, but it is also due to the fact that he was so revolutionary with the use of an electric guitar and so skilled at playing it that the effects have largely not been duplicated since.  
    The life and career of Janis Joplin marks such a stark departure from the blues, rock and soul traditions as American society has come to know them that her brief and tempestuous career defies artistic analysis, if only because there is so little precedent aside from the great African-American blues and jazz singers that influenced her. For a woman born in 1943 and coming into her professional prime in the 1960s, Joplin stood as a mesmerizing and baffling foil to the female tradition in non-classical music, which had previously been symbolized by pure, mellow voices singing thoughtful texts.  
    Jim Morrison accomplished just about everything by being extreme, in every sense of the word. His poetry was assaultive, blatant and graphic, a sign of the times, and his voice was mystical and haunting, lacking any sense of what was previously or typically considered vocal beauty. Whether intentional or not, Morrison also led the charge of excessive defiance toward anything hierarchical or rule-laden, and the acting out of his subconscious urges on public stages around the world surpassed all previous artists.
    Mostra libro
  • Billy Graham - America's Pastor - cover

    Billy Graham - America's Pastor

    Janet Benge, Geoff Benge

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Billy boarded the train to Minneapolis. He had come to Los Angeles months before as a small-time preacher. Now he was leaving as one of the most recognized Christians in the country. It was not what Billy had sought; he'd just been open for God to use. Billy wondered if this would be the peak of his fame or if something bigger was about to happen.The oldest son of dairy farmers from Charlotte, North Carolina, young Billy Graham (1918-) attended evangelical revival meetings that inspired him for the rest of his life. As an ordained minister, he rose to prominence and would subsequently preach the Christian message to over 200 million people in 185 countries. Graham championed civil rights, befriended US politicians and presidents, and traveled the world to places no one else dared to go. His life and ministry have shaped the spiritual life of America and offer hope for the future -- inspiring new generations of leaders willing to serve with courage, integrity, and vision.
    Mostra libro
  • A Fish Has No Word For Water - A punk homeless San Francisco memoir - cover

    A Fish Has No Word For Water - A...

    Violet Blue

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    WINNER: 2023 Independent Publisher Book Awards GOLD 
    "A gripping account of survival and a condemnation of the conditions that marginalize and endanger the unsheltered." —KIRKUS 
    "Superb... Sharp dialogue, incisive observations, and polished prose." —BookLife EDITOR'S PICK 
    Her mother was a hacker-for-hire and drug dealer to Silicon Valley's elite; after everything went wrong she was homeless and alone on San Francisco streets at the age of thirteen. Fleeing her mother's life on the run from a double-crossed cartel and fresh out of witness protection, she joined Silicon Valley's children foraging food from San Francisco's trash cans and sleeping in abandoned cars -- while tech's earliest generations of workers partied, broke laws, and spat on homeless kids begging for spare change under the glow of tech's latest creations. 
    A Fish Has No Word For Water is a memoir about what it's really like for homeless kids, the strength of chosen family, and a hard love letter to San Francisco. 
    This memoir of survival unflinchingly shows Silicon Valley's children begging in the shadows of tech's shining towers, the surprising care circles formed by adults in San Francisco's LGBTQ community, and a city that is a mosaic of technologies and peoples that should not be together, but are. It upends stereotypes about children who survive abuse, young sex workers, LGBTQ youth, resilience in the face of immense grief and trauma, and how communities form to overcome some of the deadliest forms of discrimination. It reveals to readers that there was never a case for tech's shine in the first place. 
    Most of all, it is a story of tremendous resilience and how we can remake trauma into an invitation to be part of a larger world.
    Mostra libro
  • The Curse of the Turtle - The True Story of Thailand's "Backpacker Murders" - cover

    The Curse of the Turtle - The...

    Suzanne Buchanan

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Koh Tao--a small island in the Gulf of Thailand, surrounded by pristine beaches, swathed in sunshine, and a mecca for tourists, divers and backpackers. But "Turtle Island" has its dark side. In 2014, Koh Tao was the site of the brutal double murders of two British backpackers, but theirs weren't the only suspicious backpacker deaths.My name is Suzanne Buchanan. I am the former owner and editor of the Samui Times, a news publication on Koh Samui, and covered the stories of the so-called "backpacker murders" and other suspicious deaths. Although I am a British citizen, because of my investigation and stories, as well as my support for the two Burmese migrant workers sentenced to death for the murders, I had to flee Thailand for my own safety. There is currently an active warrant for my arrest should I return to Thailand, which had been my home for more than twenty years, and I continue to receive death threats.In "THE CURSE OF THE TURTLE" readers can make up their own minds on who is responsible for the murders that so devastated the victims' families. Were the Burmese migrant workers responsible? Or were the powerful, tribal families who run Koh Tao involved? And if so, were they aided by corrupt law enforcement?
    Mostra libro