Publisher: Bu Classics Books
A Scottish tutor finds employment in a grand house, only to discover a web of supernatural intrigue and mesmeric control. The humble, faithful David Elginbrod stands as a spiritual anchor against the dark forces threatening the family. This early work combines Gothic mystery with a deep, earnest exploration of faith and protection.
In “The Assignation” — we have the most romantic story Poe ever wrote. A discerning critic well said that it is “such a mixture of bitter and sweet that it clings to one's memory like a ballad. The characters are sharply and consistently drawn, motives clear and convincing the more incredible the action grows.” Ill-Fated and mysterious man! — bewildered in the brilliancy of thine own imagination, and fallen in the flames of thine own youth! Again in fancy I behold thee! Once more thy form hath risen before me! — not — oh not as thou art — in the cold valley and shadow — but as thou shouldst be — squandering away a life of magnificent meditation in that city of dim visions, thine own Venice — which is a star-beloved Elysium of the sea, and the wide windows of whose Palladian palaces look down with a deep and bitter meaning upon the secrets of her silent waters. Yes! I repeat it — as thou shouldst be. There are surely other worlds than this — other thoughts than the thoughts of the multitude — other speculations than the speculations of the sophist. Who then shall call thy conduct into question? who blame thee for thy visionary hours, or denounce those occupations as a wasting away of life, which were but the overflowings of thine everlasting energies?Show book
A great bridge-builder, a Boston marriage, a first love found again in London, and a cantilever span over the St Lawrence that his firm has been asked to build cheaper than it can safely be built. Cather moved to the Nebraska prairie at nine and made the homesteaders her subject; this was her first novel, and she later half-disowned it as an imitation of Henry James — which is unfair, because the bridge is entirely hers.Show book
Louisa May Alcott was born on 29th November 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. She is most definitely a writer of her own experiences. Her father was a transcendentalist, philosopher and educational experimenter who founded, Fruitlands, a utopian community. Although poor, her liberal and progressive parents provided Louisa with much of her education, which was enhanced by many family friends that included Thoreau, Hawthorne and Emerson, a neighbour whose library she was often found reading in. She started writing stories as a way of providing the family with some financial stability. Times were difficult and the effects of poverty were always close at hand. During the Civil War she went to Washington to be a nurse and became ill with typhoid fever although she continued to write and build her success. However, the treatment for typhus gave her mercury poisoning which caused further health issues for the rest of her life and eventually contributed to her death. Alcott visited her father on his deathbed in Boston. Two days later on 6th March 1888 she also died resulting in a joint funeral.Show book
"The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton masterfully captures the intricate social tapestry of 1870s New York, where rigid societal norms dictate the lives of its elite. Centered on the conflicted Newland Archer, who is betrothed to the lovely but conventional May Welland, the novel deepens as he falls for the free-spirited Countess Ellen Olenska. Through lush prose and keen social critique, Wharton explores themes of duty, desire, and the suffocating constraints of tradition.Show book
"Agamemnon" is the first of the three linked tragedies which make up "The Oresteia" trilogy by the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus. Trilogy as a whole, originally performed at the annual Dionysia festival in Athens in 458 BCE, where it won first prize, is considered to be Aeschylus' last authenticated, and also his greatest, work. "Agamemnon" describes the homecoming of Agamemnon, king of Argos, from the Trojan War, and his return to his wife, Clytemnestra, who had been planning his murder (in concert with her lover, Aegisthus) as revenge for Agamemnon's earlier sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia.Show book
Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), published as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning in 1908 with Anne of Green Gables. The book was an immediate success. The title character, orphan Anne Shirley, made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following. The End of the Young Family Feud: A week before Christmas, Aunt Jean wrote to Elizabeth, inviting her and Alberta and me to eat our Christmas dinner at Monkshead. We accepted with delight. Aunt Jean and Uncle Norman were delightful people, and we knew we should have a jolly time at their house.Show book
