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  Fat and Thin

  Anton Chekhov

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  "Fat and Thin" is a satirical short story by Anton Chekhov, first published in the No. 40, 1 October 1883 issue of Oskolki magazine, signed A. Chekhonte (А. Чехонте). The plot of the short story "Fat and Thin" in its original version was based on an anecdote, and the conflict between the characters arose accidentally, due to the involuntary oversight of the "Thin". At a railway station the fat one, Mischa, accidentally meets the thin one, Porfiri. The thin man travels accompanied by his wife and son. The two old school friends greet each other in an exuberant and informal manner. A conversation follows, and it is about careers of both of them as government officials.

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  The Ambassadors

  Henry James

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  "The Ambassadors" is a 1903 novel by Henry James, originally published as a serial in the North American Review (NAR). This dark comedy follows the journey of the protagonist, Lewis Lambert Strether, to Europe. His mission is to bring back the son of his widowed fiancée to the family business. The novel is entirely told from Strether's point of view, chronicling his transformation from an American to a European perspective.

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  Morella

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  An unnamed narrator marries Morella, a woman who delves into mysticism. As a result of her experimentations her soul can never die, but her physical form continues to deteriorate. She spends her time in bed and teaches her husband the black arts. Realizing her curse, her husband, the narrator, becomes frightened and wishes for his wife's death and eternal peace. She dies in childbirth but her soul passes into the new baby. As the daughter gets older the narrator notices she bears an uncanny resemblance to her mother, but he refuses to give the child a name. By her tenth birthday the resemblance to Morella is frightening. Her father decides to have her baptized to release any evil from her, but this event brings the mother's soul back into her daughter. At the ceremony, the priest asks the daughter's name, to which the narrator replies, "Morella." Immediately, the daughter replies, "I am here!" and dies. The narrator himself bears her body to the tomb and finds no trace of the first Morella where he lays the second.

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  Poor Folk

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

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  In 1840s St. Petersburg the ageing copyist Makar Dievushkin is, with various degrees of subtlety, trying to woo Barbara Dobroselova, a young woman who has had a swift fall in fortunes. Told in alternating letters to each other, their past stories and current hopes play out in raw and personal detail, as the daily realities of an uncaring and expensive town take hold.
  Poor Folk was Fyodor Dostoevsky's first novel and was written to try and cover his escalating debts from his expensive lifestyle and gambling addiction. Luckily for Dostoevsky, it was an immediate success when it was published in the St. Petersburg Collection, and the accolades from critics such as Belinsky and Herzen propelled him into the high echelons of Russian literary society. This edition is the 1915 translation by C. J. Hogarth.

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  The Adventures of Gerard

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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  The Adventures of Gerard is a compilation of short stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote regarding a French Brigadier named Etienne Gerard who thinks very highly of himself as can be reflected in how he told his stories. The book is divided into chapters containing different segments of his life as a soldier under the leadership of Napoleon together with his personal exploits and the romance that swept his way in between.

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  Agnes Grey

  Anne Brontë

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  When young Agnes Grey’s family falls on hard financial times, she decides to take a job as a governess with the wealthy Bloomfield family, and then later the even-wealthier Murray family. But they are cruel and unkind, and with them Agnes is lonely isolated, and very aware of how vulnerable she is.
   
   
   
  What Agnes wants is happiness and fulfillment, but are they out of reach for her?
   
   
   
  Agnes Grey is Anne Brontë’s first novel and based on the author’s own experiences of the challenges faced by young women born without many opportunities.
   
   

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