Other books that might interest you

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  The Taxidermist's Daughter -...

  Kate Mosse

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  'The world is stacked against women like me. But things are different now.'
  1912. In an isolated house on the Sussex salt marshes, Connie Gifford lives with her father. Robbed of her childhood memories by a mysterious accident, she is haunted by fitful glimpses of her past – whilst her father has become a broken man, taking refuge in the bottle, since the closure of his once-legendary Museum of Avian Taxidermy.
  A strange woman has been seen in the graveyard – and a few miles away, two patients have, inexplicably, disappeared from the local asylum. As a major storm hits the coastline, old wounds are about to be opened as one woman, intent on revenge, attempts to liberate another from the horrifying crimes of the past.
  The Taxidermist's Daughter is a thrilling Gothic story of violence, retribution and justice, adapted for the stage by Kate Mosse from her own internationally best-selling novel, and first performed at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2022, directed by Róisín McBrinn.
  'A superb, atmospheric thriller, its Gothic overtones commanding attention'Daily Mail on Kate Mosse's novel

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  I Was A Playboy Rabbit and Other...

  Jeff Rector

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  Jeff Rector is an American Actor, award-winning writer, director, producer, adventurer, stand-up comedian and Amazon best-selling author. He has appeared in over 150 television shows and motion pictures and has traveled to such exotic locations as Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi and Costa Rica.Jeff has worked with such stars Tom Cruise, Michael Douglas, Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, Charlie Sheen, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Susan Sarandon and Tom Hanks to name a few. But Jeff doesn't like to name drop.He is a certified ski instructor and scuba diver and was trained by the LA Fire Department as a certified emergency response technician (C.E.R.T.) Jeff swam with sharks in Tahiti, water skied in Kowloon Bay and almost killed himself skydiving when he pulled the wrong ripcord.Jeff was a state and National speech champion in college and is an award-winning speaker with Toastmasters. He continues his passion for acting, filmmaking, writing, public speaking and stand-up comedy. He also enjoys teaching acting workshops to educate and inspire others. His community involvement includes serving on the boards of the Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council and the Burbank Cultural Arts Commission.I was a Playboy Rabbit and Other Adventures is the first of many books based on Jeff's life. It chronicles the five year period in the 80's when he lived and worked in New York City to pursue his dreams.Unhappy with his career in Los Angeles, Jeff moved to New York and worked as an actor,  model and stand-up comedian. Little did he know this would all culminate with an opportunity to work with Playboy Enterprises and the iconic, legendary Hugh Hefner.Jeff unknowingly would become the envy of every guy in Manhattan when he landed the job of being a Playboy Rabbit, the male version of the a Playboy Bunny at the world-famous Playboy Empire Club. Jeff would enjoy all the celebrity that would come from that position.These are just a few of his interesting and often humorous stories.

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  The Poetry of Alexander Pope -...

  Alexander Pope

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  Alexander Pope was born on May 21st, 1688 into a Catholic family in London.  
  His education was affected by the then recent Test Acts, which upheld the status of the Church of England and banned Catholics from teaching.  In effect this meant his formal education was over by the age of 12 but Pope was to immerse himself in classical literature and languages and too, in effect, educate himself.   
  From this age too he also suffered from numerous health problems including Pott’s disease, a type of tuberculosis, which resulted in a stunted, deformed body.  Only to grow to a height of 4’ 6”, with a severe hunchback and complicated further by respiratory difficulties, high fevers, inflamed eyes and abdominal pain all of which served to further isolate him, initially, from society. 
  However his talent was evident to all. Best known for his satirical verse, his translations of Homer and the use of the heroic couplet, he is the second-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare. 
  With the publication of Pastorals in 1709 followed by An Essay on Criticism in 1711 and his most famous work The Rape of the Lock in 1712, Pope became not only famous but wealthy. 
  His translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey further enhanced both reputation and purse.  His engagement to produce an opulent new edition of Shakespeare met with a mixed reception. Pope attempted to "regularise" Shakespeare's metre and rewrote some of his verse and cut 1500 lines, that Pope considered to be beneath the Bard’s standard, to mere footnotes. 
  Alexander Pope died on May 30th, 1744 at his villa at Twickenham (where he created his famous grotto and gardens) and was buried in the nave of the nearby Church of England Church - St Mary the Virgin. 
  Over the years and centuries since his death Pope’s work has been in and out of favour but with this distance he is now truly recognised as one of England’s greatest poets. 
   This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing.  Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

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  The Oasis

  Charles Lang

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  Pulsing with the energy of urban life, these poems traverse the gritty, playful and tender moments that shape our lives. From the thrill of evading the police in 'The Chase' to the nostalgia of 'New Shoes' and the sheer abandon of 'The Amusements', we are pulled deep into a world where chaos and community intersect.
  With a clarion and uncompromising voice, Charles Lang maps a labyrinth of memories, blending sharp wit with darker undercurrents as he explores identity, masculinity, class and ecology. Whether reflecting on family, friendships or fleeting moments of euphoria, Lang offers an authentic snapshot of working-class lives, where beauty is found in both the mundane and the extraordinary; in the human and the more-than-human.
  A sonorous celebration of language and place, The Oasis is a vivid ode to the city's streets and stories, a testament to resilience and belonging.

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  The Poetry of Elizabeth Siddal -...

  Anonymous

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  Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall was born on the 25th July, 1829 in London into a working-class family where she received an ‘ordinary education’.   
  Whilst accounts differ, it is clear that she met the Pre-Raphaelite painter William Deverell whilst working in a millinery shop and he asked her to model for him, describing her as "magnificently tall, with a lovely figure, and a face of the most delicate and finished modelling ... she has grey eyes, and her hair is like dazzling copper, and shimmers with luster."  She personified female beauty for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and her face became well known in Victorian Britain, gracing many famous paintings such as John Everett Millais's Ophelia, where she is portrayed drowned, floating in a pond. From the experience she also caught pneumonia.  
  Although Siddal (she later changed the spelling of her name) endured a toxic and probably controlling relationship with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who wouldn’t allow her to model for anyone but himself, she made great strides under his tuition and in her endeavours as an artist.  She was the only woman to exhibit with the Pre-Raphaelites in 1857 where she sold one of her paintings to an American collector. 
  She created many paintings, often inspired by Medieval themes, but her output of poetry was scant despite the positive reception to her verse.  Their motifs were sad and often tragic, dwelling on lost or doomed love.  As well they suggest a strong connection with nature and often plead with God with a haunting yet evocative simplicity. 
  Allied to this was a laudanum addiction which may have contributed to a still-born birth in 1861 and from which she never fully recovered.   
  Elizabeth Siddal committed suicide by an overdose, whilst pregnant, on the 11th February 1862.  She was 32.

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  Duino Elegies

  Rainer Maria Rilke

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  We have a marvelous, almost legendary image of the circumstances in which the composition of this great poem began. Rainer Maria Rilke was staying at Duino Castle, on a rocky headland of the Adriatic Sea near Trieste. 
  One morning, he walked out onto the battlements and climbed down to where the cliffs dropped sharply to the sea. From out of the fierce wind, Rilke seemed to hear a voice: Wer, wenn ich schriee, horte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen? (If I cried out, who would hear me up there, among the angelic orders?). 
  He wrote these words, the opening of the first Duino Elegy, in his notebook, then went inside to continue what was to be his major opus—completely only after another ten, tormented years of effort—and one of the literary masterpieces of the century.  
  Duino Elegies speaks in a voice that is both intimate and majestic on the mysteries of human life and our attempt, in the words of the translator David Young, “to use our self-consciousness to some advantage: to transcend, through art and the imagination, our self-deception and our fear.”

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