Other books that might interest you

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  Pride and Prejudice

  Jane Austen

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  Pride and Prejudice is a romantic novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story charts the emotional development of the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, who learns the error of making hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between the superficial and the essential. The comedy of the writing lies in the depiction of manners, education, marriage, and money during the British Regency period.

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  incident at the apartment of...

  Alexander Grin

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  It is difficult to combine mysticism with humor, but Alexander Grin takes on the challenge and comes out with flying colors. For all its mystical and mythical references, An incident at the apartment of Madam Cerize, is quite a heartwarming story, giving all of us some hope that, sometimes, powers that be do care.

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  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn...

  Mark Twain

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  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: The Original 1884 Unabridged Edition by Mark Twain is a timeless American classic that follows the journey of a young boy named Huck Finn as he escapes the constraints of civilization and embarks on a raft voyage down the Mississippi River. Alongside Jim, a runaway slave seeking freedom, Huck confronts the moral dilemmas of society, friendship, and justice. Set in the pre-Civil War South, the novel blends satire, adventure, and social commentary, offering a vivid portrayal of 19th-century American life. Twain’s sharp wit and authentic voice make this work a powerful exploration of race, identity, and the meaning of freedom in a divided nation. This audiobook edition is vividly dramatized by Luke Erlenbusch, bringing the characters and atmosphere to life with dynamic narration and immersive storytelling.

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  The Altar of the Dead - A...

  Henry James

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  Henry James was born 15th April 1843 in New York City. 
   
  His youth was spent travelling with his family receiving what was an "extraordinarily haphazard and promiscuous" education as they journeyed through London, Paris, Geneva, Boulogne-sur-Mer and Newport, Rhode Island, according to the father's current interests and publishing ventures. James studied primarily with tutors and only briefly attended schools.    
   
  Undoubtedly the quality of his writing has ensured his name is enshrined in the American literary tradition.  
   
  James was a committed Anglophile and spent most of his adult life as an expatriate in Europe.  Many of his novels juxtapose the Old World with the New World. Classics such as ‘The Portrait of a Lady’, ‘Daisy Miller’ and ‘The Ambassadors’, display the entanglement between American and European cultures and mentalities. They highlight the differences between the two worlds through following the experiences of American expatriates in Europe.  
   
  A prolific author he was able to easily move across genres to create vivid and totally real worlds and situations and to offer sophisticated observations of human relations as well as realistic, social criticism. 
  As a critic James was unafraid to venture into reviews and essays of those other literary giants around him.  These together with his short stories and, of course, classic novels, make Henry James an author to be not only admired but read, and read often.  
   
  In 1915 Henry James became a British citizen. 
   
  On 28th February 1916, at the age of 72, Henry James died in Chelsea, London. 
   
  He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912 and 1916. He never won. 
   
  In this story James examines the effect that the death of a dearly loved person has on a man’s life.  How he copes, how he grieves and how he attempts to move forward.

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  The Harvester

  Gene Stratton-Porter

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  A man at one with nature finds himself enchanted by a vision in this classic Midwestern romance from the naturalist and author of The Keeper of the Bees.   David Langston, the Harvester, allows his dog to decide his fate every year—to join the money-making scramble in the noise and grime of the city, or continue harvesting the goldenseal, mullein, and ginseng in the woods around their country home. Every year, his dog Bel chooses correctly—for they are both creatures of the woods.   But this year, there is another matter to ponder. Should Langston remain alone—or should he go courting? There are pros and cons of course—mostly cons—that bang around in Langston’s mind. That is, until he sees a ghostly vision near the lake, a slender dark-haired woman wrapped in robes of white, lovelier than any he has ever seen in his twenty-six years. And then one day he sees her crying in the woods. Ruth Jameson is a girl caught in a bad situation, and Langston finds himself willing to do anything to help her and make her every wish come true.  Praise for the writing of Gene Stratton-Porter   “As famous in the early 1900s as J.K. Rowling is now . . . Her natural settings, wholesome themes and strong lead characters fulfilled the public’s desires to connect with nature and give children positive role models.” —Smithsonian Magazine   “Her narrative is entertaining, her enthusiasm catching.” —The New York Times

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  The Devil Light - Former soldier...

  Edgar Wallace

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  Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was born on the 1st April 1875 in Greenwich, London.  Leaving school at 12 because of truancy, by the age of fifteen he had experience; selling newspapers, as a worker in a rubber factory, as a shoe shop assistant, as a milk delivery boy and as a ship’s cook.  
   
  By 1894 he was engaged but broke it off to join the Infantry being posted to South Africa. He also changed his name to Edgar Wallace which he took from Lew Wallace, the author of Ben-Hur.  
   
  In Cape Town in 1898 he met Rudyard Kipling and was inspired to begin writing. His first collection of ballads, The Mission that Failed! was enough of a success that in 1899 he paid his way out of the armed forces in order to turn to writing full time.  
   
  By 1904 he had completed his first thriller, The Four Just Men. Since nobody would publish it he resorted to setting up his own publishing company which he called Tallis Press. 
    
  In 1911 his Congolese stories were published in a collection called Sanders of the River, which became a bestseller. He also started his own racing papers, Bibury’s and R. E. Walton’s Weekly, eventually buying his own racehorses and losing thousands gambling.  A life of exceptionally high income was also mirrored with exceptionally large spending and debts.  
   
  Wallace now began to take his career as a fiction writer more seriously, signing with Hodder and Stoughton in 1921. He was marketed as the ‘King of Thrillers’ and they gave him the trademark image of a trilby, a cigarette holder and a yellow Rolls Royce. He was truly prolific, capable not only of producing a 70,000 word novel in three days but of doing three novels in a row in such a manner. It was estimated that by 1928 one in four books being read was written by Wallace, for alongside his famous thrillers he wrote variously in other genres, including science fiction, non-fiction accounts of WWI which amounted to ten volumes and screen plays. Eventually he would reach the remarkable total of 170 novels, 18 stage plays and 957 short stories. 
   
  Wallace became chairman of the Press Club which to this day holds an annual Edgar Wallace Award, rewarding ‘excellence in writing’.  
   
  Diagnosed with diabetes his health deteriorated and he soon entered a coma and died of his condition and double pneumonia on the 7th of February 1932 in North Maple Drive, Beverly Hills. He was buried near his home in England at Chalklands, Bourne End, in Buckinghamshire.

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