Other books that might interest you

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  Aunt Hettie on Matrimony - From...

  Fanny Fern

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  The bookshelves of American 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 Fanny Fern.

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  His Wife's Deceased Sister -...

  Frank R Stockton

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  Frank Richard Stockton was born in Philadelphia on 5th April 1834.  
  His father, a Methodist minister, discouraged Stockton’s literary career from an early age.  Feeling unable to go against those wishes it was for many years that Stockton’s income was maintained as a wood engraver.   
  His first work was published in 1867 and his first collection only appeared in 1870.  Despite this late arrival Stockton’s innovative and often far-fetched stories, with a gentle ‘poking fun’ humour were very popular.  Like his contemporary Mark Twain he avoided the scolding, hectoring and moral tones of many other authors and instead gently teased and cajoled his reader to open their eyes to the ills, the greed and the ambitions of the world around them.  His sci-fi stories in particular were far-seeing and inventive including a tale of negative gravity and a bloodless Anglo-US war won by technological feats.  
  Perhaps his most enduring tale though is ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’ from 1882.  A condemned man is given a choice of being eaten alive or marrying his princess lover.  But he has to choose which door each is behind. 
  Frank R Stockton died in Washington, DC, on 20th April 1902, of a cerebral haemorrhage.  He is buried at The Woodlands in Philadelphia.

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  Hayrettin

  Gökhan Tosun

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  Hayrettin is a storybook centered on the silent yet profound inner world of a young man with intellectual disability, who is introverted and lonely. It traces the marks of social exclusion and emotional invisibility. Born in a village and raised on the margins of society, the protagonist is neither fully loved nor entirely rejected; he builds his existence within his own silence. 
  The book consists of nine chapters. Each chapter represents a stop on Hayrettin’s inner journey. The early chapters portray his daily life in the village, his relationships with family, and the disconnected ties he struggles to form with society. In these parts, social loneliness becomes visible through childhood memories, holidays, school years, and the incomplete relationships the people around him have with him. 
  Around the middle of the book, with the arrival of an uncle from Germany, a “different possibility” emerges for the first time in Hayrettin’s life. He goes to Germany with his uncle. However, this departure is not a rescue but the beginning of a new form of loneliness. In this new world where he does not know the language, does not understand the rules, and where no one recognizes him, Hayrettin becomes invisible. His silence deepens, and even the inner dialogue he maintained through his notebook gradually ceases. 
  In the final chapters, Hayrettin’s silence turns into a decision, and he slowly withdraws from life. The phrase “ben gitttim” (“I have gone”) becomes the only trace he leaves behind. In the conclusion, the story returns to the village: although Hayrettin’s name is no longer known, the shadow of the stone where he used to sit remains. 
  Hayrettin avoids building a dramatic narrative. It creates an atmosphere through silence, muteness, and being overlooked. This text tells the story not of great events but of small diminishments and untold emotions.

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  Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge An

  Ambrose Bierce

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  Title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge 
  Author: Ambrose Bierce 
  Narrator: Jonathan Dunne 
  Original Publication: 1890 
  Public Domain: Yes 
  Series Placement: Number 19 in the Timeless Terrors series 
  Description: 
  An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce is a gripping Civil War-era psychological horror story first published in 1890. The narrative follows Peyton Farquhar, a Southern planter facing execution at Owl Creek Bridge. As the rope tightens, the boundary between reality and illusion blurs, revealing a haunting meditation on time, fate, and the fragility of life. 
  Narrated by horror author Jonathan Dunne, this recording captures Bierce’s suspenseful, eerie atmosphere, blending psychological dread with the tragic beauty of fleeting moments. While the text is in the public domain, this performance is an original work and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne. 
  This audiobook is part of Timeless Terrors, a dedicated series bringing classic horror back to life — stories from the great masters of the macabre, narrated afresh to haunt a new generation. 
  Listeners should be prepared for a tense, haunting journey into mortality, illusion, and the subtle horrors that dwell within human experience.

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  When Trying to Return Home -...

  Jennifer Maritza McCauley

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  Profoundly moving and powerful, the stories in this collection dig deeply into the question of belonging. A young woman is torn between overwhelming love for her mother and the need to break free from her damaging influence during a desperate and disastrous attempt to rescue her brother from foster care. A man, his wife, and his mistress each confront the borders separating love and hate, obligation and longing, on the eve of a flight to San Juan. A college student grapples with the space between chivalry and machismo in a tense encounter involving a nun. And in 1930s Louisiana, a woman attempting to find a place to call her own chances upon an old friend at a bar and must reckon with her troubled past. Forming a web of desires and consequences that span generations, Jennifer Maritza McCauley’s Black American and Afro–Puerto Rican characters remind us that these voices have always been here, occupying the very center of American life—even if we haven’t always been willing to listen.

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  Middlemarch

  George Eliot

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  Middlemarch is a complex tale of idealism, disillusion, profligacy, loyalty and frustrated love. This penetrating analysis of the life of an English provincial town during the time of social unrest prior to the Reform Bill of 1832 is told through the lives of Dorothea Brooke and Dr Tertius Lydgate and includes a host of other paradigm characters who illuminate the condition of English life in the mid-nineteenth century.America.

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