Editorial: Hans Wrang
A group of friends are followed during the time of the Franco regime, from The day the music died and until Franco died.The life and events affecting these friends are based on recollections by villagers but fictionally altered to protect both the innocent and the guilty.
Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 in the Russian province of Tula to a wealthy noble family. As a child, he had private tutors but he showed little interest in any formal education. When he went to the University of Kazan in 1843 to study oriental languages and law, he left without completing his courses. Life now was relaxed and idle but with some writing also taking place. Gambling debts forced an abrupt change of path and he joined the army to fight in the Crimean War. He was commended for his bravery and promoted but was appalled at the brutality and loss of life. He recorded these and other earlier experiences in his diaries which formed the basis of several of his works. In 1852 ‘Childhood’ was published to immediate success and was followed by ‘Boyhood’ and ‘Youth’. His experience in the army and the horrors he witnessed resulted in ‘The Cossacks’ in 1862 and the trilogy ‘Sevastopol Tales’. After the war he travelled around Europe, visiting London and Paris and meeting such luminaries as Victor Hugo and Charles Darwin. It was now that Tolstoy began his masterpiece, ‘War and Peace’. Published in 1869 it was an epic work that changed literature. He quickly followed this with ‘Anna Karenina’. These successes made Tolstoy rich and helped him accomplish many of his dreams but also brought problems as he grappled with his faith and the lot of the oppressed poor. These revolutionary views became so popular that the authorities now kept him under surveillance. He led a life of asceticism and vegetarianism and put his socialist ideals into practice by establishing numerous schools for the poor and food programmes. He also believed in giving away his wealth, which caused much discord with his wife. His writing continued to bring forth classics such as ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ and many brilliant and incisive short stories such as ‘How Much Land Does A Man Need’. In 1901 Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Church and controversially deselected for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Whilst undertaking a pilgrimage by train in October 1910 with his daughter Aleksandra he caught pneumonia in the nearby town of Astapovo. Leo Tolstoy died on November 9th, 1910, he was 82. 01 - Leo Tolstoy - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 02 - Diary of a Lunatic by Leo Tolstoy 03 - A Dialogue Among Clever People by Leo Tolstoy 04 - Aloysha The Pot by Leo Tolstoy 05 - God Sees The Truth But Waits by Leo Tolstoy 06 - How Much Land Does A Man Need by Leo TolstoyVer libro
Step into the opulent world of The Hotel Hamilton, where the chandelier sparkles while a maid’s aspirations fade into the woodwork. Vancouver, Canada, 1927. A hotel maid’s duty is to never be seen. That’s no problem for Clara, who finds safety in her station. But for her sister, Louisa, it’s cold outside the limelight. Clara is content being an obliging working girl, but she doesn’t feel worthy of the leadership responsibilities the hotel matron seems intent to thrust upon her. Torn between the unspoken limitations of her social standing and the demands of a fast-changing world, Clara is paralyzed by her fear of stepping out of line. Louisa, an aspiring actress, is grateful for her employment at the prestigious hotel, but the feeling that she is meant for more haunts her as she sleepwalks through her days. Though Louisa’s ambitious nature yearns for a life in the theatre, she hasn’t auditioned in months. When she finally steps back into the spotlight, she brings her demons along with her, unable to forget what happened the last time she was on stage. Already challenged with holding their family together, the sisters face the limits of their bond when prejudice and cruelty rear their dark heads. With Clara trapped in her comfortable cocoon and Louisa terrified of repeating the past, the sisters must learn from each other in order to stand against injustice and chart their own path through life.Ver libro
There is more than one way to save a life … In 1940, as the Nazis sweep toward Lithuania, Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara defies his own government and secretly issues thousands of visas to Jewish refugees desperate to flee. After the war, Sugihara is dismissed and disappears into obscurity. Three decades later, in Australia, Rachael Margolin, her father and her grandmother live disconnected from one another and haunted by unspoken tragedies. When Rachel announces her engagement to a Greek Orthodox man, it detonates a long-held secret. The Margolins are Jewish, and her family has concealed their identity from her and the world. But why? As Rachel struggles to understand this deception, an opportunity arrives to visit Chiune Sugihara, the man who risked his life to save them during World War II. Rachel becomes determined to meet him, but will a journey to Japan, and the secrets it uncovers, heal the Margolins or fracture them for good? An extraordinary novel inspired by the true story of Chiune Sugihara, and the thousands of people – including the author – who owe him their lives.Ver libro
Bristol - 1945 The war has ended; the men are returning home to their loved ones, but for some things have changed. Charlotte Hennessey-White's husband, David is no longer the gentle loving man he once was and Charlotte, so independent during the war, is devastated. Edna Burbage's strong fiancée, Colin has suffered appalling physical injuries. He won’t hold her to her promise of marriage, but she insists her feelings are unchanged. But is that true? Is she marrying him out of love or pity? And Polly Chandler's sweetheart, Gavin who’d she’d planned her whole future around, hasn’t come home at all. War and suffering have changed their men leaving the women to cope on their own. But they too are changed. They harbour secrets best kept that could do untold damage to these already fragile lives.Ver libro
A series of bizarre events lands Rozanne Rayvern in the emergency room. Gage Auburn, her lifelong best friend, steps up and pays a debt to help Rozanne. A headline in the local paper the following day unravels one of the bizarre events connecting Rozanne to a century old cold case. And by nightfall they find themselves at the center of small town gossip and immersed in a search for a missing girl. But to everyone’s surprise it all circles back to another closed case.Can they find the root of all the chaos before it ends an already broken Rozanne?Ver libro
Andrea Layne Black's LGBQT novella Dear FIN tells the story of Jack Wilson, a young man mourning his beloved dog, on the eve of his 17th birthday and the six-year anniversary of the tragic death of his parents, as he struggles with friends, family, sexuality, and his troubled feelings in the small coastal community of Old Riverdam. Dear FIN creates the dazzling, funny, and raw world of a troubled teenager; coming of age; coming out; coming to terms; and coming together with new friends and loves. The narrator Jack is an instant friend to the reader, too ― and Jack will make you look at life more differently than ever before. A book that dives deep into the pressures of how mental health and loss can take a toll on your life, Dear FIN is a fun heart-pounding novella that looks at coping with loss. To read Dear FIN is to step with Jack as he struggles with friends, family, sexuality, and his troubled feelings in the small coastal community of Old Riverdam. A funny and charismatic tale from Canada, Dear FIN is a satisfying and thoughtful novella, within which the reader can unusually participate.Ver libro
