Other books that might interest you

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  Iliad The (Unabridged)

  Homer

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  Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer's timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb introduction that although the violence of the Iliad is grim and relentless, it coexists with both images of civilized life and a poignant yearning for peace.

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  Estranged - A Novel

  P. O. Dixon

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  Spirited Miss Elizabeth Bennet finds herself drawn to the dashing Mr. Darcy. Though initially spellbound by his taciturn charm, a compromising situation, duty, and desperation compel their hasty marriage, binding two virtual strangers. But misunderstandings soon divide them, leaving them estranged and living separate lives. Even after circumstances bring them back together under the same roof, the gulf between them seems only to widen. When unforeseeable heartbreak forces Elizabeth and Darcy to confront the truth of what happened one fateful night at Pemberley, will the path bring them closer, or are some divides too deep to bridge?

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  The Selfish Giant

  Oscar Wilde

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  The Selfish Giant owns a beautiful garden which has 12 peach trees and lovely fragrant flowers, in which children love to play after returning from school. On the giant's return after visiting his friend the Cornish Ogre for seven years, he takes offence at the children and builds a wall to keep them out.

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  Top 10 Short Stories The -...

  F Scott itzgerald, H G Wells,...

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  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  Within these ten stories our authors including Edgar Allan Poe, H G Wells, Guy de Maupassant and a host of others demonstrate the power and the motivation that revenge demands.  Yes, the pen is mightier and more brutal than the sword. 
   
  01 - The Top 10 - Revenge - An Introduction 
  02 - Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F Scott Fitzgerald 
  03 - The Cone by H G Wells 
  04 - The Hand by Guy de Maupassant 
  05 - The Cask of Amontillardo by Edgar Allan Poe 
  06 - The Signal by Vsevolod Garshin 
  07 - The Caballero's Way by O Henry 
  08 - The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 
  09 - The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane 
  10 - The Scapegoat by Paul Laurence Dunbar 
  11 - A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell

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  A Somewhat Improbable Story -...

  G K Chesterton

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  G K Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was a poet, novelist, playwright, literary commentator, editor, biographer, journalist, orator and theologian.  He was often dubbed as the “prince of paradox” for his light whimsical style that often addressed serious issues such as politics and religion.  The latter was as a member and defender of the Christian faith and the former was shaped by a distrust of concentrated wealth and power.  He advocated Distributionism and said that every man should be allowed to own "three acres and a cow."  These political views have spread round the world, crediting Chesterton as the father of the “small is beautiful” movement.  It is also said to have influenced Gandhi in seeking a genuine nationalism for India rather than imitating the British state.   
  Chesterton was remarkably prolific but perhaps his most famous creation is Father Brown.  Within this character Chesterton’s clever writing and profound ideas reveal truths, often with humour as the detective priest pursues the answers to his cases.

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  The Story of B24 - From their...

  Arthur Conan Doyle

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  Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 22nd May 1859.  His childhood was blighted by his father’s heavy drinking which for some years broke up the family. Fortunately, wealthy uncles were willing to support them by paying for education and clothing.  
  He was accepted at the University of Edinburgh to study medicine and also began to write short stories the first, ‘The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe’, was published in Blackwood’s Magazine.  Despite several other stories and some articles in the British Medical Journal his medical studies took priority. 
  When these finished he was appointed as Doctor on the Greenland whaler ‘Hope of Peterhead’ in 1880 and then, after graduation, as ship’s surgeon on the SS Mayumba on its voyage to West Africa. 
  1882 saw a move to Plymouth and his own independent practice. With few patients he resumed writing and completed his first novel, ‘The Mystery of Cloomber’, although most of his output was short stories based on his experiences at sea.  
  He married Louisa Hawkins in 1885. However, two years later he met and fell in love with Jean Elizabeth Leckie, though they remained platonic out of respect for, and loyalty to, his wife. 
  His literary career suddenly burst into life in November 1886 with ‘A Study In Scarlet’, the first of the fabulously successful Sherlock Holmes stories.  
  With two children to support he now revisited his haphazard commercial arrangements and curtailed everything save for commissions from the Strand Magazine.  
  As a sportsman he was remarkably proficient. He was goalkeeper for Portsmouth Association Football Club and played ten first-class cricket matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club as well as captain of the Crowborough Beacon Golf Club in East Sussex.  
  In 1891 tired of writing Holmes stories, he began a series of historical novels and even went so far as to apparently kill off Holmes in a lethal brawl with his arch-nemesis Moriarty. 
  Despite heavy and sustained criticism he continued to write in support of the Boer War, a fact he thought contributed to his knighthood in 1902.  The following year to great relief and acclaim he brought Sherlock Holmes back from the dead in his first outing for a decade. 
  Sadly, his wife Louisa died from TB in 1906 and, a year later, he at last married Jean.  
  During the War and for several years after family deaths had left him depressed. In a search for solace and answers he alighted upon spiritualism and, such was his interest, that he wrote several books on the subject. 
  On 7th July 1930 Conan Doyle was discovered in the hall of Windlesham Manor, his house in East Sussex, clutching his chest dying of a heart attack.  He was 71.

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