Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  A Revolver to Carry at Night - A...

  Monika Zgustova

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  A captivating, nuanced portrait of the life of Véra Nabokov, who dedicated herself to advancing her husband's writing career, playing a vital role in the creation of his greatest works. 
   
   
   
  Véra Nabokov (1902-1991) was in many ways the epitome of the wife of a great man: keenly aware of her husband's extraordinary talent, she decided to make his success her ultimate goal, throughout fifty-two years of marriage until his death in 1977. The first reader of his texts, Véra worked as typist and editor. She organized their lives in exile, as they traveled to Berlin, Paris, Switzerland, and, most importantly, the US, where she convinced Vladimir to focus on writing novels in English. She not only controlled the family's finances and contract negotiations, but also attempted to control his friendships—particularly with women—going so far as to audit his classes. 
   
   
   
  In this rich, sweeping novel, Monika Zgustova immerses us in the daily life of this remarkable couple, offering insights into their complex personal and professional relationships, as well as the real people behind characters such as Lolita. Véra considered herself an independent woman, but was she really, when her husband took up so much space? And without Véra, could Nabokov have become one of the twentieth century's greatest writers?

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  Whiskey and Old Stogies

  Lisa Angle

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  In 1920s North Carolina young Rufus leaves his family knowing nobody will miss him. He carries haunting secrets buried deep in his memory. When he falls in with the O’Haras he believes he found a home. He learns to make white lightening and prospers in selling it. Running moonshine leads him to dark places where he encounters rough culprits. A scheme gone wrong lands him in prison where he confronts the demons in his past. 
  Fifteen year-old Jolene O'Hara witnesses her mother killed in a feud. She must then fend for her younger brothers by herself. To survive she delves into the whiskey trade, turning heat up on the feud. From the illegal liquor boom of Prohibition she rakes in a fortune. With her charismatic ways she dares to wear men’s clothes and wield a Smith and Wesson. She attracts admirers, both male and female. The arrival of the Great Depression sends Jolene on a downward spiral. She suffers the loss of her business and people close to her. 
  Now out of prison Rufus gets what he longed for, he’s the only person Jolene can turn to. The looming feud added to her heavy drinking puts their relationship on a track to disaster.

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  The Secret Garden

  Frances Hodgson Burnett

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  "The Secret Garden," written by Frances Hodgson Burnett in the late 19th century, tells the story of Mary Lennox, a spoiled and unhappy child who becomes orphaned and is sent to live with her reclusive uncle at the mysterious Misselthwaite Manor. As Mary explores the manor's enchanting yet neglected gardens, including a hidden garden that has been locked away for years, she begins a journey of self-discovery, healing, and friendship. 
  At the beginning of the book, we meet Mary Lennox, who is left alone in a foreign land after a cholera outbreak claims her parents' lives. Sent to England to live with her uncle, Mary soon realizes she is largely forgotten and left to her own devices. The opening chapters illustrate her initial experiences with the manor, highlighting her disdain for her new environment and her feelings of loneliness. This sets the stage for her growth and the adventures that lie ahead as she uncovers the garden's hidden beauty and forms connections with others, ultimately transforming her character and outlook on life.

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  The Short Stories of Jack London...

  Jack London

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  John Griffith Chaney was born on January 12th, 1876 in San Francisco.   
   
  His father, William Chaney, was living with Flora Wellman when she became pregnant.  Chaney insisted she have an abortion.  Flora's response was to turn a gun on herself.  Although her wounds were not severe the trauma made her temporarily deranged. 
   
  In late 1876 his mother married John London and the young child was brought to live with them as they moved around the Bay area, eventually settling in Oakland where now, calling himself Jack, he completed grade school. 
   
  Jack worked hard at several jobs, sometimes 12-18 hours a day, but his dream was university.  He studied hard and borrowed the money to enrol in the summer of 1896 at the University of California in Berkeley. 
   
  In 1897, at 21, Jack searched out newspaper accounts of his mother's suicide attempt and for the name of his biological father. He wrote to Chaney, then living in Chicago, who claimed he could not be Jack’s father because he was impotent and casually asserted that London's mother had relations with other men.  Jack, devastated by the response, quit Berkeley and went to the Klondike. Other accounts suggest that his dire finances presented Jack with the excuse he needed to leave. 
   
  In the Klondike Jack began to gather material for his writing but also accumulated many health problems, including scurvy, which together with hip and leg problems he would carry for the rest of his life. 
   
  During the late 1890's Jack was regularly publishing short stories and by the turn of the century full blown novels. 
   
  By 1904 Jack had married, fathered two children and was now in the process of divorcing.  A stint as a reporter on the Russo-Japanese war of 1904 was equal amounts trouble and experience. But that experience was always put to good use in a continuing and remarkable output of work. 
   
  In 1905 he married Charmian Kittredge who at last was a soul and companion who brought him some semblance of peace despite his advancing alcoholism and his incurable wanderlust. 
   
  Twelve years later Jack had amassed both wealth and a literary reputation through such classics as ‘The Call of the Wild’, ‘White Fang’ and many others. He had a reputation as a social activist and was a tireless friend of the workers.   
   
  Jack London died suffering from dysentery, late-stage alcoholism and uremia, aged only 40, on November 22nd 1916 at his property in Glen Elen in California. 
  01 - Jack London - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  02 - To Build a Fire by Jack London 
  03 - A Wicked Woman by Jack London 
  04 - The Unparallelled Invasion by Jack London 
  05 - A Thousand Deaths by Jack London

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  Finessing Clarissa

  M. C. Beaton

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  Lovely, wealthy, and well bred, Clarissa Vevian has been unable to find a suitable husband because of her terrible clumsiness. Her petite and fastidious mother, the Lady Clarendon, has tried to mold Clarissa into a dainty miss to fit the fashion, but until the fashions fit tall Clarissa, her mother's efforts are doomed to fail. 
  Enter Amy and Effy Tribble, chaperones-for-hire, who have seen three charges through the perils of three seasons and into the waiting arms of eligible gentlemen. Can they do this for Clarissa? Only if they can prevent her falling down the nearest available staircase instead of into the embrace of an appropriate suitor. 
  At Clarissa's approach, tea tables totter, curtains and carriages erupt into flames, and prospective suitors fall to their knees not to profess undying love but to howl in pain after being decked by an errant elbow or felled by a misplaced foot. And when Clarissa enters their home, the Tribbles fear their reputations for matchmaking success, as well as their carpets and furniture, may go up in smoke. 
  Confidence is what Clarissa needs, the kind of confidence that accompanies the friendly attentions of someone like the graceful Earl of Greystone, who rescues the accident-prone Clarissa from an ambush by a would-be highwayman. 
  The earl's feelings for Clarissa seem no more than brotherly, however, and Amy and Effy—when they're not keeping tabs on their own eligible gentlemen—are determined to help Clarissa become the stately, graceful woman that will win the earl's heart—and a few other battles too.

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  Sherlock Holmes and the Rosetta...

  Linda Stratmann

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  Before Dr. Watson, there was Mr. Stamford . . .  
   
   
   
  London, 1876 
   
   
   
  Mr. Stamford meets Sherlock Holmes while studying at St. Bartholomew's Medical College in London. With his intense stare and unorthodox methods of doing things, Holmes has already gained a reputation as an eccentric but brilliant man. 
   
   
   
  When suspected intruders are sighted at the British Museum, Holmes is called upon to give his opinion of what happened. 
   
   
   
  But before he can come to any conclusions, something horrifying happens—one of the great treasures of the world, the priceless Rosetta Stone, is stolen from the museum. 
   
   
   
  The thieves have left a note demanding a ransom. And if it is not fulfilled they threaten to cast the Stone into the ocean so it can never be found again. 
   
   
   
  With the police on the wrong track, it is down to Holmes to solve the complex case. And when the burglary case turns into a murder investigation, it becomes a race against time before more victims are killed.

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