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  The Chamomile Drops - From their...

  Jaroslav Hašek

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  The bookshelves of European literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From this continent their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is Jaroslav Hasek.

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  The Haunted Man and the Ghost's...

  Charles Dickens

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  The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, A Fancy for Christmas-Time (better known as The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain is a novella by Charles Dickens first published in 1848. It is the fifth and last of Dickens's Christmas novellas. The story is more about the spirit of Christmas than about the holiday itself, harking back to the first in the series, A Christmas Carol. Charles John Huffam Dickens FRSA was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.

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  Gulliver's Travels

  Jonathan Swift

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  "Gulliver's Travels" is a classic adventure story about the fictional journey of Lemuel Gulliver.  Gulliver encounters the inhabitants of strange lands from distance places beyond his wildest dreams, which leads to a series of misadventures. Along the way, he meets some of the most imaginative and fantastical creatures ever written. Filled with timeless humour and wit, Gulliver's Travels has delighted readers of all ages for centuries.

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  The 12 Chairs

  Yevgeny Petrov, Ilya Ilf

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  In Soviet Russia of the 1920s, a dying woman reveals a tantalizing secret: her family’s fortune in jewels has been hidden inside one of twelve ordinary chairs. This confession sets off a madcap treasure hunt that spans small provincial towns, the bustling streets of Moscow, and the glittering resorts of the Caucasus. 
  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  
  4.39 on Goodreads with 24,400+ ratings  
  Here's what reviewers had to say:  
  "According to a twenty-something friend who recently immigrated to the U.S. from Russia, this 1927 satirical-comic novel is still so popular in Russia that not only has everyone read it (on their own—not in school!) but everyone quotes from it in their everyday speech." 
  "The funniest book ever written." 
  "A thousand kind of people are living in this book. Rich, poor, old, young, crafty, deceived, brave, coward, intellectual, ignorant... But the thing that brings them together is the same: pursuit of money. Ilf and Petrov successfully and colourfully portrays one of the most important passions of mankind - getting rich."  
  "An absolute masterpiece! This was an audiobook for me this time and while I have read it before the audio experience has just amplified my admiration to this book."

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  The Rendezvous - From their pens...

  Ivan Turgenev

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  Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was born on 9th November 1818 in Oryol, Russia to parents from the nobility.  He and his two brothers were raised by their mother on the family estate.  Surrounded by foreign governesses he became fluent in French, German, and English.  Their father spent little time with them and this undoubtedly had an effect on him and his brothers.  When he was nine the family moved to Moscow to give their children a proper education. 
  Turgenev studied for a year at the University of Moscow and then at the University of St Petersburg to study Classics, Russian literature, and philology.  During that time his father died from kidney stone disease.  In 1838 Turgenev studied philosophy and history at the University of Berlin for 3 years before returning to St Petersburg for his master's. 
  He started his career with the Russian Civil Service and it was only in 1852 that he made his name with his short story collection, ‘A Sportsman's Sketches’, based on his observations of peasant life and nature. 
  That same year he wrote an obituary for Nikolai Gogol: "Gogol is dead!... What Russian heart is not shaken by those three words?... He is gone, that man whom we now have the right (the bitter right, given to us by death) to call great."  The St Petersburg censor banned publication but the Moscow censor allowed it.  He was dismissed but Turgenev was held responsible and imprisoned for a month, and then exiled to his country estate.  
  Along with many other Russian intellectuals Turgenev left and settled in Paris in 1854.  During this period he wrote his finest stories and four novels.  
  Alexander II ascended the Russian throne in 1855, and the political climate became more relaxed, Turgenev returned home.  
  ‘Fathers and Sons’, Turgenev's most famous and enduring novel, appeared in 1862. Its leading character is considered the first ‘Bolshevik’ in Russian literature. But the hostile reaction prompted Turgenev's decision to again leave Russia.  
  His health declined during his later years. In January 1883, an aggressive malignant tumor was removed but by then it had metastasized in his upper spinal cord, causing him intense pain in his final few months of life.  
  Ivan Turgenev died on 3rd September 1883 of a spinal abscess, a complication of the metastatic liposarcoma, in his house near Paris.  He was buried in St Petersburg.

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  The Maltese Falcon

  Dashiell Hammett

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  Sam Spade and his partner Miles are private detectives in San Francisco. When the mysterious Miss Wonderly walks into their office begging them to trail a man who has run off with her sister, Sam finds himself embroiled in a complex web of violence, greed, and deceit, all revolving around a mysterious artifact—the titular Maltese Falcon. The Maltese Falcon is a jewel in the crown of the "hardboiled" crime genre, and one of its best-known works. Hammett writes a tight and lean story in which no character, not even the hero or the police, can be said to be "good." It was first serialized in Black Mask magazine in 1929, before undergoing edits for publication as a novel in 1930. The novel was adapted into several movies, including the 1941 film starring Humphrey Bogart, in which his portrayal of Sam Spade went on to become the core archetype for all film noir detectives to come. Dashiell Hammett (died 1961) was a significant literary figure of the 20th century. Their work has endured across generations and continues to be read and studied worldwide. As a work of classic literary fiction, The Maltese Falcon exemplifies the narrative craft and social insight that defined great storytelling of its era. Literary fiction of this period was characterized by careful attention to character psychology, social milieu, and the moral questions that animated public discourse.

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