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  Cymbeline King of Britain

  William Shakespeare

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  Cymbeline, also known as The Tragedie of Cymbeline or Cymbeline, King of Britain, is a play by William Shakespeare set in Ancient Britain (c. 10–14)[a] and based on legends that formed part of the Matter of Britain concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobeline. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance or even a comedy. Like Othello and The Winter's Tale, it deals with the themes of innocence and jealousy. While the precise date of composition remains unknown, the play was certainly produced as early as 1611.
  Cymbeline, the Roman Empire's vassal king of Britain, once had two sons, Guiderius and Arvirargus, but they were stolen twenty years earlier as infants by an exiled traitor named Belarius. Cymbeline discovers that his only child left, his daughter Imogen (or Innogen), has secretly married her lover Posthumus Leonatus, a member of Cymbeline's court. The lovers have exchanged jewellery as tokens: Imogen with a bracelet, and Posthumus with a ring. Cymbeline dismisses the marriage and banishes Posthumus since Imogen — as Cymbeline's only child — must produce a fully royal-blooded heir to succeed to the British throne. In the meantime, Cymbeline's Queen is conspiring to have Cloten (her cloddish and arrogant son by an earlier marriage) married to Imogen to secure her bloodline. The Queen is also plotting to murder both Imogen and Cymbeline, procuring what she believes to be deadly poison from the court doctor. The doctor, Cornelius, is suspicious and switches the poison with a harmless sleeping potion. The Queen passes the "poison" along to Pisanio, Posthumus and Imogen's loving servant — the latter is led to believe it is a medicinal drug. No longer able to be with her banished Posthumus, Imogen secludes herself in her chambers, away from Cloten's aggressive advances.
  Although the play is named Julius Caesar, Brutus speaks more than four times as many lines as the title character; and the central psychological drama of the play focuses on Brutus' struggle between the conflicting demands of honour, patriotism, and friendship. 
  Among the most significant works William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Orpheus, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Troilus and Cressida, The Tempest, Venus and Adonis, Antony and Cleopatra, Measure for Measure, The Winter's Tale and many more.

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  War and Peace (Book Seven: 1810-11)

  Leo Tolstoy

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  War and Peace is a literary work mixed with chapters on history and philosophy by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. It was first published serially, then published in its entirety in 1869. It is regarded as one of Tolstoy's finest literary achievements and remains an internationally praised classic of world literature.
  Book 7: 1810-11: The Bible legend tells us that the absence of labor idleness was a condition of the first man’s blessedness before the Fall. Fallen man has retained a love of idleness, but the curse weighs on the race not only because we have to seek our bread in the sweat of our brows, but because our moral nature is such that we cannot be both idle and at ease.

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  Rainbow Valley

  L. M. Montgomery

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  "“It is never quite safe to think we have done with life. When we imagine we have finished our story fate has a trick of turning the page and showing us yet another chapter.”In the seventh book of the Anne of Green Gables series, Anne and Gilbert Blythe have been happily married for over a decade and have six children. The children take center stage in this story, as they befriend the four children of a new minister in tow, John Meredith. After John’s wife died, he has buried himself into theological studies, and lets his children run free. And though the children are generally kind and loyal, the townsfolk only really notice them on the occasions where they’re getting into trouble.The Blythe children focus helping the Meredith children parent themselves while their father still mourns. The children spend a lot of time together in Rainbow Valley, forming a “Good-Conduct Club” and attempting to self-discipline for any wrongdoings. Eventually, John Meredith begins to see that his children need actual parents, though, and decides it is time to find love again. In typical Anne of Green Gables fashion, this book contrasts the idyllic environment of the town of Ingleside and Rainbow Valley with the difficulties of the townspeople’s lives. But through all of the personal turmoil and difficulties, the sunny world of Prince Edward Island and its warm-hearted inhabitants bring hope to each person with time. "

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  Men Without Women

  Ernest Hemingway

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  Originally published in October 1927, the second short-story collection published by Pulitzer Prize winner and Nobel Laureate Ernest Hemingway contains the following fourteen stories: The Undefeated In Another Country Hills Like White Elephants The Killers Che Ti Dice La Patria? Fifty Grand A Simple Enquiry Ten Indians A Canary for One An Alpine Idyll A Pursuit Race Today is Friday Banal Story Now I Lay Me Themes and subject matter range from bullfighting, boxing, and prizefighting to divorce, infidelity, and death. Critics at the time praised Hemingway's concise language and powerful prose. Content Warning: As a part of the public domain, Men Without Women is a literary work that reflects the time in which it was published—both its good and its ill. The original text of Men Without Women contains slurs and depictions that represent prejudiced and harmful beliefs regarding race, ethnicity, and religion. To erase or bury this representation of inequity and prejudice would be akin to pretending it never existed, a denial that only perpetuates and extends the original harm done. Thus, in the interest of preserving and documenting both the faults and highlights of literary history—an instrumental, crucial function of works entering the public domain—this text is unedited and uncensored in this audiobook recording. Please proceed with discretion.

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  Tess of the d'Urbervilles

  Thomas Hardy

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   Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy: "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" tells the tragic story of Tess Durbeyfield, a young woman from a poor rural family who discovers her aristocratic heritage. The novel explores themes of fate, morality, and the rigid social norms of Victorian England. As Tess's life is shaped by events beyond her control, including a tumultuous romance with the charismatic Alec d'Urberville and her relationship with the compassionate Angel Clare, Hardy's narrative examines the harsh consequences of society's judgment on female purity. With its powerful critique of societal double standards and its portrayal of a flawed yet resilient heroine, "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" remains a timeless classic in English literature.

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  The Pearls of Parlay

  Jack London

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  The Pearls of Parlay (1911) Parlay, who has become the ruler of the atoll of Hikihoho after marrying the queen there, summons the leading traders of the South Seas to his atoll for an auction of the whole of his fabulous collection of pearls. But that day is precisely at the peak of the hurricane season and when their ships have gathered in the atoll's lagoon the barometer starts going through the floor, as the mother of all hurricanes is on the verge of destroying not only all the ships but the island as well.

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