Other books that might interest you

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  Secret Sister The: A Chatsworth...

  Felicity York

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  A Christmas surprise. A scandal in disguise. 
  1809. Eliza Courtney and Harryo Cavendish lead opposite lives, except for the secret that binds them. 
  Harryo’s life of luxury at Chatsworth House is shaken when pressure mounts on her to marry. A dreadful selection of suitors leaves her convinced that her late mother, the Duchess of Devonshire, was right: husbands are an incomparable nuisance. Meanwhile, Eliza can’t wait to marry and escape her lonely existence, as an unwanted orphan in her own well-to-do household. 
  But as the season begins, all matchmaking – eager or reluctant – is interrupted by rumours of a huge family secret. A secret daughter, in fact. Will Eliza be the last to know that she is the scandal everyone’s talking about? 
  This Christmas, romance lies around every corner. But another kind of love – sisterhood – might make this season one they’ll never forget… 
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  All of Felicity York's novels can be read as standalones. If you love The Secret Sister: A Chatsworth House Scandal, read her other Stately Scandals novels, The Runaway Bride: A Lyme Park Scandal and The Quiet Wife: A Speke Hall Scandal, both out now! 
  For fans of Mimi Matthews (The Lily of Ludgate Hill), Erica Ridley (My Rogue to Ruin), Sandra Sookoo (Night of Lyons), Sophia Holloway (Celia), and Mary Balogh (Someone to Love).

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  The Mouthless - A tale from the...

  Marcel Schwob

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  Mayer André Marcel Schwob was born in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, France on 23rd August 1867 into a cultivated Jewish family.  
   
  As a child he devoured the works of Poe and Stevenson in French and then again in English.  His attachment to the bizarre and dark was already forming. 
   
  His education at the Lycée of Nantes earned him the 1st Prize for Excellence.  In 1881, he was in Paris with his maternal uncle to study at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.  Schwob quickly developed his multilingual abilities and then studied philology and Sanscrit at the École pratique des hautes études before completing his military service in Vannes with the artillery. 
   
  After completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1888 he became a professional journalist and worked for the Phare de la Loire, the Événement and L'Écho de Paris. 
   
  The 1890’s marked his establishment as a brilliant writer with the publication of six short story collections.   
   
  He fell ill in 1896 with a chronic, incurable intestinal disorder.  He also suffered recurring bouts of influenza and pneumonia.  Intestinal surgery was given several times, at first with success but, by 1900, after two more surgeries, he was told that nothing more could be done for him.  Schwob now existed on kefir and fermented milk. 
   
  By the turn of the century, despite failing health, and often too ill to write, he embarked on several long travels, including to Vailima in the South Pacific where his literary hero Stevenson had died.  
   
  Schwob was regarded as a symbolist writer and a ‘precursor of Surrealism’.  He wrote over a hundred short stories, journalistic articles, essays, biographies, literary reviews and analysis, translations and plays.  
   
  Marcel Schwob died on 26th February 1905 of Pneumonia.  He was 37.

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  The Scarlet Pimpernel

  Emmuska Orczy

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  "The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy is set against the backdrop of the French Revolution. The story revolves around a mysterious Englishman, the Scarlet Pimpernel, who boldly rescues aristocrats from the clutches of death at the guillotine. The protagonist's dual identity creates a tense atmosphere as he navigates the tumultuous political landscape, emphasizing bravery, loyalty, and sacrifice themes. 
  At the beginning of the novel, the grim realities of the Reign of Terror in Paris are vividly depicted. The atmosphere is charged with violence as the guillotine claims countless lives, and the bloodthirsty crowd eagerly anticipates the next execution. Sergeant Bibot, stationed at the barricades, takes pride in thwarting the escape attempts of fleeing aristocrats. Meanwhile, rumors circulate about a group of Englishmen whose leader, the enigmatic Scarlet Pimpernel, manages to outsmart the authorities and save victims from certain deaths. 
  The narrative explores the fear and desperation of those on the run, as well as the zealous excitement of the citizens, reveling in their newfound power and vengeance. This sets the stage for a gripping tale of heroism amidst chaos.

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  Top 10 Short Stories The - The...

  Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins,...

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  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  This mid-century decade reveals a journey traversing continents and genres as authors explore and revel in the tumultuous times of social upheaval as nations are divided by Civil War or expand with the brute force of Imperial Dreams.  Our writers also explore other genres including the absurd and ghostly with consummate ease. 
   
  01 - Top Ten - The 1860's - An Introduction 
  02 - The Signalman by Charles Dickens 
  03 - The Crocodile. An Extraordinary Incident - Part 1 by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
  04 - The Crocodile. An Extraordinary Incident - Part 2 by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
  05 - The Romance of Certain Old Clothes by Henry James 
  06 - Malachi's Cove by Anthony Trollope 
  07 - The Luck of Roaring Camp by Bret Harte 
  08 - The Brothers by Louisa May Alcott 
  09 - The Father by Bjornstjerne Bjornson 
  10 - The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calveras Country by Mark Twain 
  11 - The Phantom Coach by Amelia Edwards 
  12 - The Dream Woman by Wilkie Collins

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  With The Indians In The Rockies

  James Willard Schultz

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  With the Indians in the Rockies" is a biography of James Willard Schultz's close friend Thomas Fox. Based on Fox's stories told by the evening camp-fire and before the comfortable fireplaces of various posts. Two boys, one a Black Foot Indian named Pitimakan and a white boy named Thomas are trapped in the Rockies for the winter, Having nothing but the clothing on their backs, they manage to fashion bows and arrows, the makings for creating a fire and the materials for building a shelter to protect then from  the six feet deep snow.  This a tale of survival, ingenuity and friendship.

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  Bittersweet Short Stories - It...

  Ivan Turgenev, O Henry, Fyodor...

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  In the English language ‘bittersweet’ is that most pivotal of words.  The mixture of sadness and happiness that suggest both but often bringing us smartly to earth, smack dab in-between them both, with little of either.

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