Other books that might interest you

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  Julius Caesar

  William Shakespeare, E.A. Copen,...

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  At the heart of this tragic history is one of Shakespeare's most noble characters, the statesman Brutus, who is caught in a devastating conflict between private affection and public duty. 
  Julius Caesar has become the most powerful man in the Rome. Does his power now threaten the very existence of the Republic itself? A conspiracy is hatched, one that will have fatal consequences not only for Caesar and the conspirators but for the future history of the ancient world.  
  Brutus is played by John Bowe and Mark Antony by Adrian Lester. Michael Feast is Caesar.

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  The Wizard

  H. Rider Haggard

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  The Wizard is a novel by Henry Rider Haggard, first published by Longmans, Green, and Co., in 1896.[1] The Wizard is one of the many examples of imperialist literature. According to Rebecca Stott, author of the article "The Dark Continent: Africa as Female Body in Haggards Adventure Fiction," Haggards fiction is still popular today and attempts to expose a "cultural and historical definition of white masculinity at its most rugged and its most terrified."[2]The story is a third-person narrative that follows the journey of Reverend Thomas Owen as he seeks to carry out missionary work in south central Africa, specifically in the tribe of Amasuka. The novel starts in England in the parish of Reverend Thomas Owen and moves to South Central Africa, where the tribe of Amasuka (People of Fire) is located, which is where the majority of the novel takes place.

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  The Alteration in Mr Kershaw -...

  William Pett Ridge

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  William Pett Ridge was born at Chartham, near Canterbury, Kent, on 22nd April 1859. 
  His family’s resources were certainly limited. His father was a railway porter, and the young Pett Ridge, after schooling in Marden, Kent became a clerk in a railway clearing-house. The hours were long and arduous, but self-improvement was Pett Ridge’s goal.  After working from nine until seven o’clock he would attend evening classes at Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institute and then to follow his passion; the ambition to write.  He was heavily influenced by Dickens and several critics thought he had the capability to be his successor. 
  From 1891 many of his humourous sketches were published in the St James's Gazette, the Idler, Windsor Magazine and other literary periodicals of the day. 
  Pett Ridge published his first novel in 1895, A Clever Wife. By the advent of his fifth novel, Mord Em'ly, a mere three years later in 1898, his success was obvious.  His writing was written from the perspective of those born with no privilege and relied on his great talent to find humour and sympathy in his portrayal of working class life. 
  Today Pett Ridge and other East End novelists including Arthur Nevinson, Arthur Morrison and Edwin Pugh are being grouped together as the Cockney Novelists.   
  In 1924, Pugh set out his recollections of Pett Ridge from the 1890s: “I see him most clearly, as he was in those days, through a blue haze of tobacco smoke. We used sometimes to travel together from Waterloo to Worcester Park on our way to spend a Saturday afternoon and evening with H. G. Wells. Pett Ridge does not know it, but it was through watching him fill his pipe, as he sat opposite me in a stuffy little railway compartment, that I completed my own education as a smoker... Pett Ridge had a small, dark, rather spiky moustache in those days, and thick, dark, sleek hair which is perhaps not quite so thick or dark, though hardly less sleek nowadays than it was then”. 
  With his success, on the back of his prolific output and commercial success, Pett Ridge gave generously of both time and money to charity. In 1907 he founded the Babies Home at Hoxton.  This was one of several organisations that he supported that had the welfare of children as their mission.  
  His circle considered Pett Ridge to be one of life's natural bachelors. In 1909 they were rather surprised therefore when he married Olga Hentschel.  
  As the 1920’s arrived Pett Ridge added to his popularity with the movies. Four of his books were adapted into films.  
  Pett Ridge now found the peak of his fame had passed. Although he still managed to produce a book a year he was falling out of fashion and favour with the reading public and his popularity declined rapidly.  His canon runs to over sixty novels and short-story collections as well as many pieces for magazines and periodicals. 
  William Pett Ridge died, on 29th September 1930, at his home, Ampthill, Willow Grove, Chislehurst, at the age of 71. 
  He was cremated at West Norwood on 2nd October 1930.

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  The Custom of the Country

  Edith Wharton

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  "The Custom of the Country, a novel by Edith Wharton, was first published in 1913. This work delves into the complexities of social climbing, ambition, and relationships in early 20th-century New York City.    Here are the key details about this captivating novel:    Setting:  The story unfolds in New York City during the Gilded Age.  The glittering world of high society serves as the backdrop for the characters' ambitions and desires.  Plot Summary:  The novel follows the journey of Undine Spragg, a beautiful and ambitious Midwestern girl.  Undine arrives in New York City with her family, seeking advantageous marriages and social ascension.  Her beauty attracts attention, but breaking into the circles of old-money elites proves challenging.  Undine's relationships with several men offer glimpses into their worlds, including Ralph Marvell, who comes from an old-money family.  Despite financial constraints, Ralph is drawn to Undine and marries her.  Their honeymoon in Europe reveals cracks in their relationship, exacerbated by Undine's extravagance and Ralph's limited funds.  As their marriage deteriorates, Undine's pursuit of social status continues, leading to further complications.  The novel explores themes of love, ambition, and the clash between old and new money.  Legacy and Themes:  The Custom of the Country remains relevant today, as it dissects the human desire for upward mobility and the sacrifices made for social acceptance.  Edith Wharton's keen observations and sharp critique of society resonate with readers across generations.  Whether you're drawn to tales of ambition, love, or the intricacies of social dynamics, The Custom of the Country offers a compelling exploration of human nature and the pursuit of happiness."  Support us at https://manifoldmedia.net/donate

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  A Fight with a Cannon - From...

  Victor Hugo

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  Victor Marie Hugo was born on 26th February 1802 in Besançon, France.   
  There can be no doubt that Hugo is ranked as the greatest of French authors and poets. In addition to this he fought against social injustice throughout his life and from his frequent elections to the French Assembly. 
  Hugo published his first novel, Han d’Islande (1823), the year after his marriage and so began an immense canon of fiction and poetry not only for France but to World literature.  
  He was elected to the Académie Française in 1841 and the same year came a peerage and entrance to the Higher Chamber as a pair de France, where he spoke against the death penalty, social injustice and in favour of press freedom.  
  In the years leading up to the Revolution of 1848 Hugo began to lean towards Republicanism and greater freedoms.  With the formation of the Second Republic, he was again elected to the Assembly. 
  When Napoleon III seized power in 1851, and established an anti-parliamentary constitution, Hugo openly declared him a traitor to France. This, of course, meant exile where he remained until 1870.  In exile he published his greatest work ‘Les Misérables’, and further widely honoured collections of poetry. 
  Returning home he was again elected to the National Assembly and the Senate.  It was the time of the Franco-Prussian war and with Paris under siege and food ever more scarce, he wrote in his diary that he was now "eating the unknown". 
  Later he was instrumental in strengthening the rights of artists and copyright, steps which led to the international protections of the Berne Convention.  
  Victor Hugo died on 22nd May 1885, aged 83.

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  The Adventures of Maya the Bee -...

  Waldemar Bonsels

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  Maya is born into a hive in the middle of a revolution, and on her very first flight she decides never to go back to carrying honey and making wax: she wants to see the world in bloom. Alone among the grasses, the garden and the lake, she meets a beetle who lives in a rose, a fly called Puck who is always in a hurry, and a good many creatures who would gladly eat her, and has to learn to live on her wits. What she wants most of all is to meet a human being. Waldemar Bonsels published the story in Germany in 1912; it sold in millions and was translated everywhere, long before the cartoon. Forty-eight plates of painting, from Carl Spitzweg to Wilhelm Leibl, gather the small world of the meadow and the open air that Maya crosses on her summer out.

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