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  The Perennial Bachelor

  Anne Parrish

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  The Campion family of Delaware is living a genteel existence, even after the sudden, unexpected death of the family patriarch. When the family's first son, Victor, is born, he's doted on by his mother and three sisters. But as the days turn to decades the family's devotion to Victor, and their hopes that he'll be the key to their entrance into Gilded Age society, robs them of their own chances for happiness. Victor grows into a man of charm and social promise but little real urgency, drifting through opportunities and relationships while remaining the unquestioned center of the household. In the end, the Campions are left to confront the consequences of a life organized around possibility rather than fulfillment. The Perennial Bachelor is Anne Parrish's most acclaimed novel. It won the Harper Novel Prize in 1925, and was one of the top ten most popular books of the year. Anne Parrish (died 1957) was an influential writer of the modernist period. Their work has endured across generations and continues to be read and studied worldwide. As a work of classic literary fiction, The Perennial Bachelor exemplifies the narrative craft and social insight that defined great storytelling of its era. Literary fiction of this period was characterized by careful attention to character psychology, social milieu, and the moral questions that animated public discourse.

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  Debby's Debut

  Louisa May Alcott

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  Debby's Debut, written in 1863, is a delightful story that smells of the sea and summer, of joy and youthful innocence, of love, tenacity and courage to claim one's ideas, in which the typical themes of Alcott's production--the construction of female identity, the dignity of work, the importance of honesty and always remaining faithful to themselves, the safeguarding of the good values that modern society risks forgetting--find a lively, ironic and absolutely convincing expression. An unmissable gem for Alcott lovers. 
   
  Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was an American novelist. She is best known for the novels Little Women, published in 1868, and Little Men. Due to the family's poverty, she began work at an early age as an occasional teacher, seamstress, governess, domestic helper, and writer - her first book was Flower Fables (1854). As she grew older, she developed as both an abolitionist and a feminist. A lesserknown part of her work are the passionate, fiery novels and stories she wrote, usually under the pseudonym A. M. Barnard, such as A Long Fatal Love Chase (1866). Alcott also produced moralistic and wholesome stories for children, and a semi-autobiographical tale Work (1873). In her later life, Alcott became an advocate of women's suffrage and was part of a group of female authors during the Gilded Age to address women's issues in a modern and candid manner. Despite worsening health, Alcott wrote through the rest of her life. 
   
  Lyssa Browne makes her home in Seattle where she works as a voice actor, performs in regional theatre companies, as well as acts for TV and film. Her voice can be heard as many different characters in a variety of video games and audiobooks, and as the narrator of documentaries for the Discovery Channel and others.

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  Friska My Friend

  Patricia St John

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  You're mine and I'm going to call you Friska.  When Friska the dog came to live with Colin and his family, Colin thought that he and Friska would be friends for ever. But, when Friska disappears, Colin begins to find out what'You are mine' really means, and who is saying those words to him.  The stories of Patricia St John have been entertaining and challenging children and young people for generations. This new edition of Friska My Friend is as fresh as when it was first published in 1985.

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  Mutable Semper - From their pens...

  Kenneth Grahame

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  Kenneth Grahame was born on 8th March 1859 in Edinburgh. 
  At age 5 his mother succumbed to puerperal fever.  His father, who had a drinking problem, now sent his 4 children to live with their grandmother at her large house in Cookham, Berkshire. Here the children lived in large open grounds next to the river.  These early experiences would in later years, be retold in his writing through a myriad of characters. 
  Grahame loved being a pupil at St Edward's School, Oxford and wanted to enroll at the university there but his guardian demurred on account of the cost. 
  Instead, a banking career was chosen for him, starting in 1879 at the Bank of England, where he rose steadily to the rank of its Secretary until retiring, with a pension, in 1908 due to ill health. 
  Alongside his commercial career Grahame had written and published various stories and essays in several periodicals. Some were anthologized as ‘Pagan Papers’ in 1893, and two years later ‘The Golden Age’ and later still ‘Dream Days’ and its masterpiece ‘The Reluctant Dragon’ became part of many home libraries.  His ability to view life through the lens of a young and curious child was superb, enabling the reader to easily identify with the character.   
  Grahame married Elspeth Thomson in 1899 and they had one child; Alastair, born semi-blind and plagued by health problems.  In a heart-rending tragedy he would later take his own life whilst attending Oxford University in 1920.   
  In 1908 Grahame reworked many of the bedtime stories he had fashioned for his son into the enduring favourite; ‘The Wind in the Willows’, describing the heart-warming adventures of Mr Toad and his friends.   
  Kenneth Grahame died in Pangbourne, Berkshire, on 6th July 1932.

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  Metamorphoses

  Publius Ovidius Naso

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  Ovid's Metamorphoses is an epic poem written in Latin, composed of fifteen books, which explores the theme of transformation and change. The narrative follows a chronological order, beginning with the world's creation and ending with the reign of Julius Caesar. Ovid retells traditional Greek and Roman myths, focusing on the transformations of gods, heroes, and mortals as they undergo physical, emotional, and psychological changes that reflect the complexities of the human experience. Some of the most famous stories in the Metamorphoses include the tales of Apollo and Daphne, Pyramus and Thisbe, Narcissus and Echo, and the fall of Icarus.
  While modern scholars consider this epic poem to be Ovid's magnum opus, the work was not well received by its contemporaries; the Roman emperor Augustus went so far as to exile Ovid and ban his books from Rome's libraries. Today, this work is considered one of the most influential works in Western culture and has inspired countless authors like Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Dante.

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  Bread Givers

  Anzia Yezierska

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  'I felt I could turn the earth upside down with my littlest finger. I wanted to dance, to fly in the air and kiss the sun and stars with my singing heart. I, alone with myself, was enjoying myself for the first time as with grandest company.'
  
  A stunning coming-of-age tale, Bread Givers is a moving depiction of the Jewish–American experience in the early twentieth century.
  
  Set in New York's Lower East Side, Bread Givers recounts the early life of Sara Smolinksy and her complicated family, who have immigrated from Poland. Her father, an Orthodox Jew, has committed himself to studying the Torah, refusing to contribute to the family household's income in pursuit of his loftier endeavours. At first, Sara remains dutiful, selling herring on Hester Street to help pay rent. But after seeing her father's self-interested actions and their tumultuous consequences, Sara makes an oath to herself to forge her own path. Deeply poignant and masterfully crafted, Bread Givers remains a masterpiece of Jewish American fiction.
  Anzia Yezierska (1880 – 1970) was an American novelist and screenwriter. Born in Poland under the Russian Empire, she moved to New York as a child – an experience she drew upon in her writing. She is famed for her portrayals of Jewish-American life during the early twentieth century, for which she gained critical acclaim.

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