Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  Washington Irving

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  In a quiet valley where time moves a little slower and shadows fall a little longer, a tale has been whispered for generations. Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow captures the strange charm of a world perched between dream and folklore—where superstition lingers, and the night rides on a restless horse.
  This classic story blends gentle satire, eerie beauty, and a touch of the uncanny. It doesn't just haunt—it hums like a memory just out of reach.

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  A Legend of Old Egypt - From...

  Boleslaw Prus

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  Aleksander Głowacki who wrote under the nom de plume Boleslaw Prus was born on 20th August 1847 at Hrubieszów in the Kingdom of Poland, at that time, controlled by the Russian Empire. 
  At three his mother died and then at nine his father.  Female relatives helped raise him but at 15 he joined the Polish uprising against the might of Imperial Russia.  Wounded on the battlefield, arrested and imprisoned, he was later released into the care of a relative and resumed secondary school and then Warsaw University but poverty forced him to leave after two years.  At some point he developed agoraphobia which often caused problems. 
  In 1869, he enrolled in the Forestry Department at Puławy but was soon sacked and so he began a system of self-education that led to work as a newspaper columnist on a wide-ranging series of topics that eventually became the ‘Weekly Chronicles’ and spanned 40 years. 
  With his finances now stabilized he married and then adopted his late brother-in-law’s son.  
  It seems he had doubts as to the scale of his talents and early on adopted the name ‘Boleslaw Prus’ for both his journalistic and literary offerings. 
  His work as a short-story writer met with much acclaim. He wrote several dozen of them, originally published in newspapers and ranging in length from micro-story to novella. His keen observation of everyday life and sense of humor are evident in them.  
  During his career he also wrote novels. After ‘Pharoah’, in 1895, he embarked on a four-month journey taking in Berlin, Dresden, Nuremberg, Rapperswil in Switzerland, where he stayed for two months, and his final destination, Paris.  Here his agoraphobia was so bad he couldn’t cross the Seine.  
  However, his writing continued and in 1911 his novel ‘Changes’, though uncompleted, began to be serialised.  It was never finished. 
  Boleslaw Prus died on 19th May 1912, at his Warsaw apartment.  He was 64.  A National Hero, thousands attended both his funeral service and interment.

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  The Pavilion - From the dark...

  Edith Nesbit

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  Edith Nesbit was born on the 15th August 1858 in Kennington, then part of Surrey.   
   
  Due to the health issues and tuberculosis of her sister Mary, Nesbit’s early life was one of constant changes of house both in England and on the continent. 
   
  At age 17, Nesbit met Hubert Bland and they married three years later―whilst she was 7 months pregnant.  Bland also kept his affair with another woman going throughout their marriage and the two children of that relationship were raised by Nesbit as well as her own three with Bland. 
   
  Together they were founder members of the Fabian Society in 1884 naming their son Fabian in its honour.  They also edited the Society's journal; ‘Today’.  Nesbit was an active lecturer and prolific writer on socialism during those years but gradually her work for them dwindled as her career as a children’s writer grew.  Her most famous success was ‘The Railway Children’ but she was also very prolific and greatly accomplished in poetry, short stories―especially her macabre ghost and supernatural stories―and novels for adults.  
   
  In February 1917, some three years after the death of Bland she married Thomas ‘the Skipper’ Tucker in Woolwich, where he was a ship's engineer on the Woolwich Ferry. 
   
  Edith Nesbit died from lung cancer on the 4th May 1924 at her house ‘The Long Boat’ at Jesson, St Mary's Bay, New Romney in Kent.  She was 65.

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  Deal in Ostriches A (Unabridged)

  H. G. Wells

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  "A Deal in Ostriches" is a short story by the British writer H. G. Wells. It is a cautionary tale about simple human greed. The taxidermist of Wells' story "Triumphs of a Taxidermist" (1894) makes a return appearance as the narrator of the story.

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  The Chimes

  Charles Dickens

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  The Chimes, the second of Charles Dickens' five Christmas books, first appeared in 1844, a year after the tremendous success of A Christmas Carol. Like its predecessor, this novella blends the magical with the moral, crafting a tale that is both an enchanting fable and a searing critique of Victorian society. Set on New Year’s Eve, The Chimes takes readers on a journey through themes of poverty, injustice, and the redeeming power of hope and human kindness. 
  At the heart of The Chimes is Toby "Trotty" Veck, a poor ticket-porter who, like many of Dickens' characters, represents the overlooked and downtrodden in society. Through a series of supernatural visions orchestrated by the spirits of the church bells, Trotty is forced to confront the despair and cynicism that poverty breeds. Yet, Dickens is careful not to let despair overwhelm the narrative. As in A Christmas Carol, he offers a vision of hope—of transformation, repentance, and the possibility of a better world, even for those whom society forgets. 
  Dickens wrote The Chimes at a time when social reform was a pressing issue. It was a period marked by debates over the Poor Laws, the treatment of the working class, and the growing disparity between rich and poor. His personal experiences with poverty as a child, and his deep empathy for the plight of the poor, fueled his desire to use fiction as a means of advocacy. Through The Chimes, Dickens wove his sharpest social commentary into a festive tale, making it both a celebration of the New Year and a somber reflection on society's responsibilities.

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  History of Tom Jones a Foundling...

  Henry Fielding

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  A foundling of mysterious parentage brought up by Mr. Allworthy on his country estate, Tom Jones is deeply in love with the seemingly unattainable Sophia Western, the beautiful daughter of the neighboring squire though he sometimes succumbs to the charms of the local girls. When Tom is banished to make his own fortune and Sophia follows him to London to escape an arranged marriage, the adventure begins. A vivid Hogarthian panorama of eighteenth-century life, spiced with danger and intrigue, bawdy exuberance and good-natured authorial interjections, Tom Jones is one of the greatest and most ambitious comic novels in English literature.
  BOOK 18: We are now, reader, arrived at the last stage of our long journey. As we have, therefore, travelled together through so many pages, let us behave to one another like fellow-travellers in a stage coach, who have passed several days in the company of each other; and who, notwithstanding any bickerings or little animosities which may have occurred on the road, generally make all up at last, and mount, for the last time, into their vehicle with chearfulness and good humour; since after this one stage, it may possibly happen to us, as it commonly happens to them, never to meet more.

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