Other books that might interest you

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  Top 10 Short Stories The - The...

  Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth...

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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. 
   
  For women the odds have always been dauntingly against their works being recognised.  But one glance at the names here and you realise this is but a speck from an unlimited pool of immense talents.  Genius in every name. 
   
  01 - The Top 10 - The English Women - An Introduction 
  02 - An Unwritten Novel by Virginia Woolf 
  03 - The Old Nurses Story by Elizabeth Gaskell 
  04 - The Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley 
  05 - Man Size In Marble by Edith Nesbit 
  06 - Passed by Charlotte Mew 
  07 - Miss Ogilivy Finds Herself by Radclyffe Hall 
  08 - Her Murderer by Mary Cholmonderly 
  09 - Cohen of Trinity by Amy Levy 
  10 - Irremediable by Ella D'Arcy 
  11 - The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

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  Uncertain Legacy An

  Susan Greenwood

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  1659: Alone at fifteen years old, Elisabeth Osborne is easy prey as she fancies she can manage on her own in Paris, but a chance meeting with the madam of a gentlemen's club changes her mind. It is here she receives protection, the sort of education not taught in convents, and, just as important, the freedom to practice her skill with herbal remedies without fear. 
   
   
   
  But it isn't only her unusual knowledge of plants and the workings of the body which might land her in danger. In times of stress, she is capable of extraordinary feats which she cannot always control and which she struggles to keep secret. 
   
   
   
  Blessed with good looks, education, and an aristocratic air, it's not long before Elisabeth is pursued and swept up into high society, where she quickly learns that women who wish to be independent need to be clever, for there are few choices open to them in a patriarchal society where the law is very much against them. 
   
   
   
  Elisabeth doesn't know her mother's English family or who her father is—and she doesn't know why she's able to see and do things others can't. She sets out to find answers, traveling to Brittany and across to England, where London is gripped by plague and fire.

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  Eynhallow

  Tim McGregor

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  ORKNEY ISLANDS, 1797 – Agnes Tulloch feels a little cheated. This windswept place is not the island paradise her husband promised it to be when they wed. Now with four young children, she struggles to provide for her family while her husband grows increasingly distant. 
  When a stranger comes ashore to rent an abandoned cottage, Agnes and the other islanders are abuzz with curiosity. Who is this wealthy foreigner and why on earth would he come to Eynhallow? Her curiosity is soon replaced with vexation when her husband hires her out as cook and washerwoman, leaving Agnes with no say in the matter. Agnes begrudgingly befriends this aristocrat-in-exile; a mercurial scientist who toils night and day on some secret pursuit. Despite herself, she’s drawn to his dark, brooding charm. And who is this Byronic stranger sweeping Agnes off her feet? His name is Frankenstein and he’s come to this remote isle to fulfill a monstrous obligation.

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  O Pioneers!

  Willa Cather

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  Alexandra Bergson, a determined young woman, inherits her family's struggling Nebraska farm. With resilience and vision, she transforms it into a thriving enterprise. As she navigates love, loss, and the harsh challenges of pioneer life, Cather paints an evocative portrait of ambition and the enduring bond between people and the land they cultivate.

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  Yoruba Boy Running - A Novel

  Biyi Bandele

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  “A true artist. A brilliant writer. An original thinker.”—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 
  A captivating, fictionalized retelling of African linguist and clergyman Samuel Ajayi Crowther's miraculous journey from slave to liberator. 
  “Run, Àjàyí, run!” 
  When Malian slave traders invaded the Nigerian town of Òsogùn, thirteen-year-old Àjàyí's life is split in two. 
  Before, there was his childhood, surrounded by friends and family, watched over by the ancient Yorùbá gods of forest and water, earth and sky. 
  After, there was capture, slavery—and eventually release—with Àjàyí, left transfigured, unrecognizable, and now, inthe service of a new god, with a new name and a culture different from the one left far behind. Àjàyí becomes Samuel Crowther—missionary, linguist, minister, and eventually abolitionist, driven to negotiate against his own people to end the evil trade in human beings which destroyed his family and transformed his own life. 
  Drawing on the prolific writings of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, novelist and filmmaker Biyi Bándélé creates a many-voiced, kaleidoscopic portrait of an extraordinary man. From the heart-stopping drama of Àjàyí's last day of freedom to the farcical intrigue of the Òsogùn court; from a meeting with Queen Victoria to consecration as the first African Bishop of the Anglican Church, Samuel Ajayi Crowther’s journey, like all great odysseys, circles back to where he began. By turns witty, moving and revolutionary, Biyi Bándélé's reimagining of Crowther's life is a brilliant tour de force. 
  Cover artwork Chris Ofili, Blind Leading Blind, 2005 © The artist.

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  The Rose of Washington Square -...

  Pat Wahler

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  Self-taught artist Rose O'Neill leaves the Midwest for New York in 1893, determined to become an illustrator in a field dominated by males. Mindful of her duty to the impoverished family she left behind, Rose’s obligations require her to yield to the men who hold the reins of her career. 
  Yet despite the obstacles facing her, she excels at her craft, eventually designing a new character, the Kewpie. Her creation explodes into a phenomenon, but Rose’s disenchantment with the status quo fosters new ambitions. She must decide whether to remain within the boundaries dictated for her, or risk everything she’s gained to pursue the creative and personal passions that ignite her soul. 
  The Rose of Washington Square is the story of a remarkable artist, writer, suffragist, and philanthropist whose talents lifted her from obscurity into one of the most famous women of her era.

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