Other books that might interest you

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  To the Lighthouse

  Virginia Woolf

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  The Ramsay family is on holiday on the Isle of Sky in Scotland. As the family and their guests decide on whether or not to visit a nearby lighthouse, Virginia Woolf spins a tale that focuses on the intricate web of family life and the conflict that occurs between genders.

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  Alice Adams

  Booth Tarkington

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  Alice Adams follows the day-to-day life of a young woman who dreams of climbing the social ladder and escaping from her middle-class background. 
  She struggles with the constant tension between her parents and her older brother. When a wealthy young man becomes interested in her, she weaves a fictional life during their discussions—but how long can she maintain the façade?

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  Treasure Island - Set Sail on...

  Robert Louis Stevenson

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  “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest—Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” 
  When young Jim Hawkins discovers a mysterious treasure map in the sea-chest of a deceased, rum-soaked pirate, his quiet life at the Admiral Benbow Inn is instantly shattered. Thrust into a perilous voyage across the unforgiving ocean aboard the Hispaniola, Jim is soon racing against time to uncover the legendary loot of the bloodthirsty Captain Flint. But he is not alone. The ship’s charming yet treacherous one-legged cook, Long John Silver, is secretly plotting a ruthless mutiny. Surrounded by cutthroats and trapped on a remote, savage isle, Jim must rely on his wits, courage, and sheer luck to outsmart the deadliest buccaneers in history. It is a desperate battle for survival where every shadow hides a blade, and trust is the quickest path to the grave. 
  Listeners will devour this cornerstone of Adventure Fiction. With its quintessential tropes of hidden maps, isolated islands, and high-seas mutiny, this timeless classic defined the pirate genre forever. Whether you are drawn to the swashbuckling suspense, the rich nautical atmosphere, or the complex, morally grey archetype of Long John Silver, this audio experience delivers an unforgettable journey into danger and discovery. 
  Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer who cemented his legacy as a master storyteller. Blending vivid imagination with psychological depth, his works like this masterpiece and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde have influenced generations of writers and captivated millions of readers worldwide.

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  Some Ways of Love - From their...

  Charlotte Mew

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  Charlotte Mary Mew was born on 15th November, 1869 in London to professional parents – her father was responsible for the design of Hampstead Town Hall. 
  Charlotte, one of seven children; three of whom died in early childhood, was educated at Lucy Harrison's School for Girls and attended lectures at University College, London. 
  In 1898 her father died but failed to make provision for the family. Her mother, anxious about the family's social standing, did not want that known even though there was heavy ongoing expense for two other siblings who were in mental institutions. 
  However for Charlotte helping to support this overhead and her mother and sister, Anne, meant that her ambition to be a paid writer must now become a reality. Initially this meant prose - her poetry was to gestate until later in life. 
  During this time Charlotte and Anne made a pact never to marry for fear of passing on insanity to their children. 
  As a writer Charlotte was a modernist, resisting the shackles of Victorian society's suffocating demands on behaviour especially for women. Despite her diminutive figure and dainty feet, she wore trousers, kept her hair short, smoked roll ups, was a Lesbian and tried to appear masculine. 
  Her difficult family life, although her close relationship with Anne was a constant source of comfort and companionship until her death in 1927, was coupled with rejection in her personal life but also provided inspiration for her wonderfully insightful and original poetry that you can read here. 
  Despite her fans including Thomas Hardy, Virginia Woolf and Siegfried Sassoon, Charlotte's works have been shamefully neglected.  
  Charlotte Mew died on 24th March in 1928 and was buried at Hampstead Cemetery.

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  David Swan - From their pens to...

  Nathaniel Hawthorne

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  Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on 4th July 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, a town synonymous with the earlier Salem Witch Trials. It was instrumental in Hawthorne’s later use of American Gothic and dark romanticism in his writing. 
  He was a mere four years old when his father died and his mother took him and his two sisters to live with her family and then on to their own home in Raymond, Maine. The young Hawthorne had a passion for fiction and poetry and voraciously read the works of Ann Radcliffe, Henry Fielding and Lord Byron.  
  He was sent to college at his maternal uncle’s insistence. During these years he met and befriended Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future U S president Franklin Pierce. These friendships were lifelong and to have a crucial impact on his writings and career.  
  At college Hawthorne had made attempts at writing short stories and essays but without opportunities to publish. It was only in 1828 that he finally published his novel ‘Franshawe’ to little success and so he began work as editor for the American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge.  
  Hawthorne’s short stories were first published in magazines but in 1837 were collected and published as ‘Twice-Told Tales’. A steady literary career still did not come his way and so he worked in a good position at Salem’s port and married the love of his life Sophia Peabody. They moved to live in ‘The Old Manse’ at Concord, Massachusetts.   
  Finally. in 1850 came spectacular literary and commercial success with ‘The Scarlet Letter’ followed by ‘The House of the Seven Gables’ the following year.  
  In 1852, Hawthorne published a biography of presidential candidate Franklin Pierce. After Pierce’s victory he was appointed consul in Liverpool, a position that offered prestige, money and fame. At the end of this appointment he returned several times to Europe before settling in Massachusetts and resuming writing and publication. 
  During the early 1860’s his health declined and on 19th May 1864 during a trip to Plymouth, New Hampshire. He was 59 and was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.

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  Madame Bovary - The Classic Tale

  Gustave Flaubert

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  Written over a century and a half ago, Madame Bovary is still an extraordinarily fresh, exciting and shockingly frank novel, at once an acute psychological study of a woman drawn into adultery through circumstances we can partly understand, and a sharply-observed comedy that offers a fascinating glimpse of the social and cultural divisions running through French provincial society in the mid nineteenth century. This translation is by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, a prominent social activist and literary translator. She was the youngest daughter of Karl Marx. 
   
  Gustave Flaubert was a highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realism strives for formal perfection, so the presentation of reality tends to be neutral, emphasizing the values and importance of style as an objective method of presenting reality".He is known especially for his debut novel Madame Bovary (1857), his Correspondence, and his scrupulous devotion to his style and aesthetics. The celebrated short story writer Guy de Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert. On the occasion of Flaubert's 198th birthday (12 December 2019), a group of researchers at CNRS published a neural language model under his name.

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