Publisher: Krill Press
Arthur Scott Bailey was one of the most prolific and popular authors of kids books in the early 20th century. He wrote several dozen books, many of which are still read today.
"The best crime novel of all time" (British Crime Writers Association" Filled with shocking twists and subtle clues that will keep listeners guessing until the very end. When Roger Ackroyd is found dead in his study the day after his fiancée’s unexpected suicide, the illustrious detective Hercule Poirot comes out of retirement to take on the complicated case. Only a handful of close friends and family saw Roger Ackroyd the day he died, but almost all have solid alibis and were seemingly nowhere near him at his time of death. But as Poirot’s investigation uncovers new details, the suspects’ alibis begin to unravel, and nearly everyone reveals themselves to have ample motive and opportunity to be the culprit. Was it for his money? For revenge? For keeping dangerous secrets hidden? Only one of the untrustworthy parties can be the real killer, and it is up to Poirot to sort through every clue and red herring to find the truth of who killed Roger Ackroyd.Show book
The Men in the StormThe Men in the Storm is a warm story by Stephen Crane relating to the struggles of homeless men against the cold, the elements, and hunger, while trying to keep a certain level of human dignity and optimism. Crane is best known for three short stories, The Open Boat, thought by many to be the best short story ever written, The Blue Hotel, and The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky. The Men in the Storm follows the storms and forces of nature Crane uses so well as in The Blue Hotel and The Open Boat. This story deserves to be right up there with the top three. As Simply says, this is not an NFL Power ranking, or a compare and contrast assignment. This is your opportunity to enjoy many of Crane's other illuminating and moving works.The men are wandering during the day and now must seek rest for the night. They line up, pushing and shoving, to get into the magical place for warmth and comfort. A policeman joins them and rather gently keeps the peace while the men wait to be let in when the door opens for the night. When it finally opens, the men push and shove until, at the last moment, they are about to enter and each one regains a dignity, moment of self-worth, and happiness. Another remarkable Stephen Crane ending.Show book
When young Agnes Grey’s family falls on hard financial times, she decides to take a job as a governess with the wealthy Bloomfield family, and then later the even-wealthier Murray family. But they are cruel and unkind, and with them Agnes is lonely isolated, and very aware of how vulnerable she is. What Agnes wants is happiness and fulfilment, but are they out of reach for her? Agnes Grey is Anne Brontë’s first novel and based on the author’s own experiences of the challenges faced by young women born without many opportunities.Show book
"The Emperor's New Clothes" (Danish: Kejserens nye Klæder) is a short tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about two weavers who promise an emperor a new suit of clothes that they say is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. When the emperor parades before his subjects in his new clothes, no one dares to say that they don't see any suit of clothes on him for fear that they will be seen as "unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent". Finally, a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!" The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.Show book
This gripping and powerful work by A. P. Herbert draws on the author's own experiences participating in WWI, first at Gallipoli, then in Somme. It is a shattering study in how the effects of war physically and mentally changes the soul of a young and well educated officer of the infantry, as he tries to save himself and the men under his command amidst the brutality and ruthlessness of the war and the deep cynicism of his superior officers as well... (Published in 1919)Show book
These British Isles, moored across from mainland Europe, are more often seen as a world unto themselves. Restless and creative, they often warred amongst themselves until they began a global push to forge a World Empire of territory, of trade and of language. Here our ambitions are only of the literary kind. These shores have mustered many masters of literature. So this anthology’s boundaries includes only those authors who were born in the British Isles - which as a geographical definition is the UK mainland and the island of Ireland - and wrote in a familiar form of English. Whilst Daniel Defoe is the normal starting point we begin a little earlier with Aphra Behn, an equally colourful character as well as an astonishing playwright and poet. And this is how we begin to differentiate our offering; both in scope, in breadth and in depth. These islands have raised and nurtured female authors of the highest order and rank and more often than not they have been sidelined or ignored in favour of that other gender which usually gets the plaudits and the royalties. Way back when it was almost immoral that a woman should write. A few pages of verse might be tolerated but anything else brought ridicule and shame. That seems unfathomable now but centuries ago women really were chattel, with marriage being, as the Victorian author Charlotte Smith boldly stated ‘legal prostitution’. Some of course did find a way through - Jane Austen, the Brontes and Virginia Woolf but for many others only by changing their names to that of men was it possible to get their book to publication and into a readers hands. Here we include George Eliot and other examples. We add further depth with many stories by authors who were famed and fawned over in their day. Some wrote only a hidden gem or two before succumbing to poverty and death. There was no second career as a game show guest, reality TV contestant or youtuber. They remain almost forgotten outposts of talent who never prospered despite devoted hours of pen and brain. Keeping to a chronological order helps us to highlight how authors through the ages played around with characters and narrative to achieve distinctive results across many scenarios, many styles and many genres. The short story became a sort of literary laboratory, an early disruptor, of how to present and how to appeal to a growing audience as a reflection of social and societal changes. Was this bound to happen or did a growing population that could read begin to influence rather than just accept? Moving through the centuries we gather a groundswell of authors as we hit the Victorian Age - an age of physical mass communication albeit only on an actual printed page. An audience was offered a multitude of forms: novels (both whole and in serialised form) essays, short stories, poems all in weekly, monthly and quarterly form. Many of these periodicals were founded or edited by literary behemoths from Dickens and Thackeray through to Jerome K Jerome and, even some female editors including Ethel Colburn Mayne, Alice Meynell and Ella D’Arcy. Now authors began to offer a wider, more diverse choice from social activism and justice – and injustice to cutting stories of manners and principles. From many forms of comedy to mental meltdowns, from science fiction to unrequited heartache. If you can imagine it an author probably wrote it. At the end of the 19th Century bestseller lists and then prizes, such as the Nobel and Pulitzer, helped focus an audience’s attention to a books literary merit and sales worth. Previously coffeehouses, Imperial trade, unscrupulous overseas printers ignoring copyright restrictions, publishers with their book lists as an appendix and the gossip and interchange of polite society had been the main avenues to secure sales and profits.Show book
