Other books that might interest you

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  Cup of Gold - A Life of Henry...

  John Steinbeck, Stefan Rudnicki

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  “There was no desire in him for a state or condition, no picture in his mind of the thing to be when he had followed his longing; but only a burning and a will overpowering to journey outward and outward after the earliest risen star.”  
  John Steinbeck’s first novel, and his only work of historical fiction, is loosely inspired by Sir Henry Morgan, the infamous pirate of the 1650s and 60s. Captain Morgan was a legendary and notorious man who struck terror into the hearts of men, in service of his personal ambitions. He has become obsessed with two thoughts: the beautiful and mysterious woman known as La Santa Roja, and to conquer Panama City (the titular Cup of Gold) away from Spain. 
  Unique in Steinbeck’s oeuvre, this swashbuckling tale is both a historical and fantastical retelling of the life of this legendary Welsh pirate.  
  Featuring an introduction written and read by Stefan Rudnicki

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  When Emperors Wept: The First...

  Gaurav Garg

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  This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. The late twelfth century. Japan stands on a precipice. The once-glorious Heian era fades, its refined courtly culture overshadowed by the burgeoning power of the warrior class. At the zenith of this new order stands the Taira clan, their crimson banners a symbol of absolute authority under the formidable, yet increasingly tyrannical, Taira no Kiyomori. His ambition knows no bounds, culminating in the manipulation of the Imperial succession – an act of sacrilege that plunges a nation into the abyss of civil war. 
   
  From the embers of past defeats, the Minamoto clan, the Genji, stirs. Minamoto no Yoritomo, an exile for two decades, his spirit tempered by hardship and a burning desire for retribution, receives a desperate call to arms from a wronged Imperial Prince. Cautious, calculating, and possessed of an unshakeable will, Yoritomo begins to weave a web of alliances in the Kanto, his stronghold of Kamakura destined to become the heart of a new warrior government. 
   
  "When Emperors Wept: The First Shogun's War" sweeps readers into the heart of the Genpei War, a five-year epic of ambition, honor, loyalty, and devastating betrayal. It is a story of towering personalities – the ruthless Kiyomori, the calculating Yoritomo, the tragic hero Yoshitsune, the indomitable warrior-monk Benkei, and the astute Hōjō Masako. Witness the fall of one age and the violent birth of another, as the

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  Top 10 Short Stories The -...

  Victor Hugo, Guy de Maupassant, ...

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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. 
   
  The City of Lights may be one of the glories of the world but for those whose three score and ten have passed it is the final resting place for some of the very finest of literary talents. 
   
   
  1 - The Top 10 Short Stories - Buried in Paris - An Introduction 
  2 - Claude Gueux by Victor Hugo 
  3 - The Maison Tellier by Guy de Maupassant 
  4 - Plato's Dream by Voltaire 
  5 - The Atheist's Mass by Honore de Balzac 
  6 - The Spectral Hand by Jean Lorrain 
  7 - The Secret of the Scaffold by Auguste Villiers de I'Ísle-Adam 
  8 - The Siege of Berlin by Alphonse Daudet 
  9 - Rooms by Gertrude Stein 
  10 - The Opium Gates by Marcel Schwob 
  11 - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Part 1 by Oscar Wilde 
  12 - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Part 2 by Oscar Wilde

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  Survival in Auschwitz - The Nazi...

  Primo Levi

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  In 1943, Primo Levi, a twenty-five-year-old chemist and "Italian citizen of Jewish race," was arrested by Italian fascists and deported from his native Turin to Auschwitz. Survival in Auschwitz is Levi's classic account of his ten months in the German death camp, a harrowing story of systematic cruelty and miraculous endurance. Remarkable for its simplicity, restraint, compassion, and even wit, Survival in Auschwitz remains a lasting testament to the indestructibility of the human spirit.

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  Blue Masquerade

  T.K. Blackwood

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  The year is 1992. Over twenty years have passed since Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev was assassinated by a crazed gunman. Since that time, the Soviet Union has been put on a course toward economic success—and war. 
   
   
   
  In the Balkans, Yugoslavia's collapse into ethnic violence draws NATO and the Warsaw Pact to the brink of Armageddon. Armies deploy and fleets maneuver. Political intrigue engulfs Moscow and Washington, and paranoia radiates from the Iron Curtain. In the zero-sum game of Cold War, neither side can afford to blink or back down. 
   
   
   
  A conflict nearly fifty years in the making spills from boardrooms and back alleys and explodes into open battle on land, air, and sea. The showdown of the century is here: East versus West with the future of mankind at stake.

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  Little Princess AND The Secret...

  Frances Hodgson Burnett

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  Frances Hodgson Burnett is one of the most beloved writers of children's books in history. Two of her novels - "A Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden" - regularly find themselves near the top of any list of favorite children's books and they have both been adapted to the stage and screen dozens of times. 
  In the first of these novels - "A Little Princess" tells the tale of young Sara Crewe, a young British girl who lives the life of a princess. Born to rich father who dotes on her, she enjoys all the trappings of wealth: carriages, fine clothing, servants...anything her heart desires. But when her father dies and his fortune dries up, Sara finds herself a penniless orphan, abused by her guardian and forced to work at menial jobs to scratch out an existence.   
  In the second book, "The Secret Garden," Burnett continues this theme with the story of Mary Lennox, another British girl who is orphaned as a child and sent to live with her moody, enigmatic uncle at his sprawling estate in England. Mary learns that her uncle is a widower and has shut up a beautiful garden on his estate because it was a favorite of his dead wife and the girl becomes obsessed with finding this mysterious place and exploring it herself. 
  These two books are both extraordinary novels of survival, friendship and the power of the human spirit and they are presented here in their original and unabridged format, just as it first appeared in print.

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