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  Guy de Maupassant - A Short...

  Guy de Maupassant

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  Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5th, 1850 near Dieppe in France.  
   
  Maupassant’s early life was badly torn when at age 11 (his younger brother Hervé was then five) his mother, Laure, a headstrong and independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace in order to obtain a legal separation from her husband. 
   
  After the separation, Laure kept custody of her two boys. With the father now forcibly absent, Laure became the most influential and important figure in the young boy's life.   
   
  Maupassant’s education was such that he rebelled against religion and other societal norms but a developing friendship with Gustave Flaubert began to turn his mind towards creativity and writing. 
   
  After graduation he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian war. With its end he moved to Paris to work as a clerk in the Navy Department.  Gustave Flaubert now took him under his wing.  Acting as a literary guardian to him, he guided the eager Maupassant to debuts in journalism and literature.  For Maupassant these were exciting times and the awakening of his creative talents and ambitions. 
   
  In 1880 he published what is considered his first great work, ‘Boule de Suif’, (translated as as ‘Dumpling’, ‘Butterball’, ‘Ball of Fat’, or ‘Ball of Lard’) which met with a success that was both instant and overwhelming.  Flaubert at once acknowledged that it was ‘a masterpiece that will endure.’ Maupassant had used his talents and experiences in the war to create something unique.  
   
  This decade from 1880 to 1891 was to be the most pivotal of his career.  With an audience now made available by the success of ‘Boule de Suif’ Maupassant organised himself to work methodically and relentlessly to produce between two and four volumes of work a year.  The melding of his talents and business sense and the continual hunger of sources for his works made him wealthy. 
   
  In his later years he developed a desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death as well as a paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth.  
   
  On January 2nd, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat.  Unsuccessful he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris.  It was here on July 6th, 1893 that  
  Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant died at the age of only 42. 
  1 - Guy de Maupassant - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  2 - The Piece of String  
  3 - Two Little Soldiers  
  4 - Two Friends 
  5 - Suicides  
  6 - The Grave 
  7 - An Uncomfortable Bed 
  8 - Regret 
  9 - Love 
  10 - The Kiss 
  11 - The Dowry 
  12 - The Vendetta 
  13 - A Dead Woman's Secret 
  14 - Mother Sauvage

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  Sense and Sensibility

  Jane Austen

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  Jane Austen's first published novel, Sense and Sensibility is a wonderfully entertaining tale of flirtation and folly that revolves around two starkly different sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. While Elinor is thoughtful, considerate, and calm, her younger sister is emotional and wildly romantic. Both are looking for a husband, but neither Elinor's reason nor Marianne's passion can lead them to perfect happiness-as Marianne falls for an unscrupulous rascal and Elinor becomes attached to a man who's already engaged.   Startling secrets, unexpected twists, and heartless betrayals interrupt the marriage games that follow. Filled with satiric wit and subtle characterizations, Sense and Sensibility teaches that true love requires a balance of reason and emotion.

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  The Return of Sherlock Holmes

  Arthur Conan Doyle

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  "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" is a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle. This was the first Holmes collection since 1893, when Holmes had "died" in "The Final Problem." Having published "The Hound of the Baskervilles" in 1901-1902 (although setting it before Holmes' death) Doyle came under intense pressure to revive his famous character.
   
  The first story is set in 1894 and has Holmes returning in London and explaining the period from 1891-94, a period called "The Great Hiatus" by Sherlockian enthusiasts. Also of note is Watson's statement in the last story of the cycle that Holmes has retired, and forbids him to publish any more stories.

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  Cricket On The Hearth The...

  Charles Dickens

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  The Cricket on the Hearth is a novella by Charles Dickens, written in 1845. It is the third of Dickens' five Christmas books, the others being A Christmas Carol (1843), The Chimes (1844), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted Man (1847). John Peerybingle, a carrier, lives with his young wife Dot, their baby boy and their nanny Tilly Slowboy. A cricket chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel to the family. One day a mysterious elderly stranger comes to visit and takes up lodging at Peerybingle's house for a few days.

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  The Last Chronicle of Barset

  Anthony Trollope

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  A clergyman’s daughter falls in love with a member of high society while her father stands accused of a terrible crime in this classic Victorian novel. The final installment of the Chronicles of Barsetshire provides a fitting close to the delightful tales author Anthony Trollope developed over the course of six unforgettable and influential novels.   When Rev. Josiah Crawley, the perpetual curate of Hogglestock, is accused of stealing a check, the allegation hinders the romantic aspirations of his daughter, Grace, who hopes to marry the archdeacon’s widowed son, Maj. Henry Grantly. Grace must overcome the objections raised by Grantly’s family and win their favor while her father stands accused.   The final masterwork in a groundbreaking saga that did much to elevate the status of the English novel, The Last Chronicle of Barset is one of the most beloved novels in the Barsetshire treasury, as well as Trollope’s personal favorite. The author ties together many of the loose threads from the series, turning an attentive eye to some of the Chronicles’ most beloved—and most loathed—characters. Readers will delight in visiting Barsetshire’s cathedral and hamlets one last time.  This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.    

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  Gulliver's Travels (Unabridged)

  Jonathan Swift

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  "Gulliver's Travels" is a novel by Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is a prose satire of 1726 by the Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, satirising both human nature and the "travellers' tales" literary subgenre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English literature. Swift claimed that he wrote Gulliver's Travels "to vex the world rather than divert it".

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