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  Spiritualism - A tale from the...

  Marcel Schwob

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  Mayer André Marcel Schwob was born in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, France on 23rd August 1867 into a cultivated Jewish family.  
   
  As a child he devoured the works of Poe and Stevenson in French and then again in English.  His attachment to the bizarre and dark was already forming. 
   
  His education at the Lycée of Nantes earned him the 1st Prize for Excellence.  In 1881, he was in Paris with his maternal uncle to study at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.  Schwob quickly developed his multilingual abilities and then studied philology and Sanscrit at the École pratique des hautes études before completing his military service in Vannes with the artillery. 
   
  After completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1888 he became a professional journalist and worked for the Phare de la Loire, the Événement and L'Écho de Paris. 
   
  The 1890’s marked his establishment as a brilliant writer with the publication of six short story collections.   
   
  He fell ill in 1896 with a chronic, incurable intestinal disorder.  He also suffered recurring bouts of influenza and pneumonia.  Intestinal surgery was given several times, at first with success but, by 1900, after two more surgeries, he was told that nothing more could be done for him.  Schwob now existed on kefir and fermented milk. 
   
  By the turn of the century, despite failing health, and often too ill to write, he embarked on several long travels, including to Vailima in the South Pacific where his literary hero Stevenson had died.  
   
  Schwob was regarded as a symbolist writer and a ‘precursor of Surrealism’.  He wrote over a hundred short stories, journalistic articles, essays, biographies, literary reviews and analysis, translations and plays.  
   
  Marcel Schwob died on 26th February 1905 of Pneumonia.  He was 37.

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  When the Tamarind Tree Blooms

  Elaine Russell

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  Geneviève (Vivi) Dubois, a métisse, half-Lao/half-French, turns eighteen and leaves the French orphanage in Vientiane where she has been trapped for fourteen unhappy years. With only a distant memory of being torn from her mother’s arms at age four, she is determined to uncover what happened to her parents and locate her missing twin brother. But where to start? Orphanage and government officials refuse to reveal her origins. She leaves her strict, Catholic upbringing behind and emerges into the deeply divided world of 1931 French colonial Laos. Neither French colons nor native Lao readily accept her mixed heritage. Where does she fit in as she navigates her way, one foot stuck in each world? She is grateful for the kindness of her former French teacher, who offers her shelter and support. But she meets with prejudice, mistreatment, and rejection at every turn. Even falling in love is fraught with the cultural restrictions of two dissonant societies. A long circuitous route leads her to the past and a way forward to a better future, one where she is proud of who she is and rightfully claims her life as her own.

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  The Letter - Rural tale of...

  Viola Meynell

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  The bookshelves of British literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From these Isles their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them are the intriguing and tender narratives tackling delicate social subjects of Viola Meynell.

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  Flower in the River - A family...

  Natalie Zett

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  Martha Pfeiffer, age 19, was one of 844 persons who perished when a ship chartered for the Western Electric annual picnic capsized in Chicago in 1915. Martha's surviving family members never recovered from their grief. The Eastland Disaster has been mostly overlooked in recent years. 
  In 1997, Pearl Pospisil, a retired Chicago writer, and third-generation Pfeiffer, composed a family history and delivered it to her niece, Zara Vrabel, in St. Paul, who was completely unfamiliar with its contents. Pearl had one request: "Do something with this." 
  Zara, also a journalist, was cut off from her family and had no interest in genealogy. However, learning of her great-aunt's death on the Eastland Disaster made Zara's heart sink. 
  Zara's life unravels as she becomes entangled in the plot and realizes that she and her great-aunt shared more than blood. After discovering that the accident was preventable, Zara initially seeks redress. And the release of another Titanic movie poured salt on a fresh wound. So why was the Eastland consigned to oblivion while the Titanic got all the glory? 
  Flower in the River interweaves the past and present of four generations of an Eastern-European immigrant family. It suggests that even an unknown trauma can affect a family for generations.

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  City of Silk

  Glennis Virgo

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  Bologna, 1575. A talented seamstress. A powerful merchant. A fierce battle of wills Elena Morandi has gained a fragile foothold in a master tailor's workshop, despite the profession being barred to women. But then Antonio della Fontana, a powerful man from her past, crosses her path and threatens everything she has built. Fontana has every corner of the city in his pocket and Elena knows all too well of his past abuses, but driven to fight for justice, she hatches a daring plan to get retribution for herself, a lost friend and his other victims. The sights, sounds and textures of Renaissance Italy are brought to vivid life in this breathtaking historical fiction debut.

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  Persuasion

  Jane Austen

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  Persuasion" is a novel by Jane Austen, published posthumously in 1818. The story centers around Anne Elliot, a woman in her late twenties who once broke off her engagement to Captain Frederick Wentworth under the influence of her family and friends who deemed him unworthy. Years later, Wentworth returns, now wealthy and successful, and Anne must navigate complex emotions, societal pressures, and the intricacies of second chances. The novel is often praised for its mature and nuanced exploration of love, regret, and the passing of time, and it's considered one of Austen's most sophisticated works.

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