Other books that might interest you

• 

  Amour Dure

  Vernon Lee

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Vernon Lee was born Violet Paget on 4th October 1856 in Boulogne, France to intellectual expatriate British parents.   
   
  In common with several other very talented literary women of the day she felt it necessary to publish under a masculine pseudonym in order for her writing to be taken seriously.  Indeed she seems to have adopted that persona across her whole lifestyle becoming personally known and acknowledged by all as Vernon Lee and accordingly dressed as a man.    
   
  Her first published work, in 1880, was taken from her collection of essays that had originally appeared in Fraser’s Magazine with the scholarly title of; ‘Studies of the Eighteenth Century in Italy.’ It reflected her passion for music and centered on the rich creative lives of poet-librettist Pietro Metastasio and dramatists Carlo Goldoni and Carlo Gozzi.   
   
  She wrote over a dozen volumes of essays on art, music, and travel with her scholarly appreciation animated by wit and imagination.  Lee was well-regarded as an expert on the Italian Renaissance and was a proponent of the Aesthetic movement. 
   
  Her literary talents were extensive and she wrote a number of novels and plays.  Perhaps her best remembered works are her haunting and powerful short stories exploring the supernatural.  Lee has often received accolades for these and glowingly compared to other authors such as M R James. 
    
  A committed pacifist she was resolved to protest against World War I. Her social activism in other areas was perhaps fueled by her feminist beliefs.  In her private life she was a lesbian and had long-term passionate relationships with three women including the doomed author and poet, Amy Levy.   
   
  Vernon Lee died on 13th February 1935 in San Gervasio Bresciano, Italy.

  Show book

• 

  The Palliser Novels Volume Two -...

  Anthony Trollope

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Three novels of an aristocratic British family and the world of parliamentary politics—the basis for the BBC adaptation.Also known as the Parliamentary Novels, the fourth, fifth, and sixth books in Anthony Trollope’s series follow the lives of an aristocrat, his wife, and the political and social circles in which they move.Phineas Redux: The ever-ambitious Irish rogue Phineas Finn, now widowed and restless, is pulled back into the game of parliamentary politics.The Prime Minister: With the Whigs and Tories at a standstill in their attempts to form a working government, a compromise is finally reached and Plantagenet Palliser is installed as prime minister—but it will soon bring turmoil, both personal and professional.The Duke’s Children: Plantagenet Palliser must face new challenges and a changing world if he is to hold his family together in the final installment of the Palliser Novels.

  Show book

• 

  Around the World in Eighty Days

  Jules Verne

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  "Around the World in Eighty Days" is one of the greatest adventure novels of all time by one of the greatest of all adventure novel writers, Jules Verne. It is the story of the eccentric English inventor Phileas Fogg who sets out to make it around the world in eighty days in order to win a bet. With his trusted French valet, Passepartout, Fogg hurries off in a mad dash around the world, encountering numerous obstacles and adventures along the way. Jules Verne's classic work, "Around the World in Eighty Days," still holds up today as a work a genuine creativity and sheer delight.

  Show book

• 

  Color out of Space The (Unabridged)

  H.P. Lovecraft

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  "The Colour Out of Space" is a science fiction/horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in March 1927. In the tale, an unnamed narrator pieces together the story of an area known by the locals as the "blasted heath" in the wild hills west of the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts. The narrator discovers that many years ago a meteorite crashed there, poisoning every living being nearby; vegetation grows large but foul tasting, animals are driven mad and deformed into grotesque shapes, and the people go insane or die one by one. Lovecraft began writing "The Colour Out of Space" immediately after finishing his previous short novel, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and in the midst of final revision on his horror fiction essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature". Seeking to create a truly alien life form, he drew inspiration from numerous fiction and nonfiction sources. First appearing in the September 1927 edition of Hugo Gernsback's science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, "The Colour Out of Space" became one of Lovecraft's most popular works, and remained his personal favorite of his short stories. It was adapted into feature films in 1965, 1987, and 2010.

  Show book

• 

  The Master & Margarita

  Mikhail Bulgakov

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Satan, Judas, a Soviet writer, and a talking black cat named Behemoth populate this satire, “a classic of twentieth-century fiction” (The New York Times).   In 1930s Moscow, Satan decides to pay the good people of the Soviet Union a visit.   In old Jerusalem, the fateful meeting of Pilate and Yeshua and the murder of Judas in the garden of Gethsemane unfold.   At the intersection of fantasy and realism, satire and unflinching emotional truths, Mikhail Bulgakov’s classic The Master and Margarita eloquently lampoons every aspect of Soviet life under Stalin’s regime, from politics to art to religion, while interrogating the complexities between good and evil, innocence and guilt, and freedom and oppression. Spanning from Moscow to Biblical Jerusalem, a vibrant cast of characters—a “magician” who is actually the devil in disguise, a giant cat, a witch, a fanged assassin—sow mayhem and madness wherever they go, mocking artists, intellectuals, and politicians alike. In and out of the fray weaves a man known only as the Master, a writer demoralized by government censorship, and his mysterious lover, Margarita.   Burned in 1928 by the author and restarted in 1930, The Master and Margarita was Bulgakov’s last completed creative work before his death. It remained unpublished until 1966—and went on to become one of the most well-regarded works of Russian literature of the twentieth century, adapted or referenced in film, television, radio, comic strips, theater productions, music, and opera.

  Show book

• 

  Weighed and Wanting

  George MacDonald

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  One woman rebels against society’s strictures to live a life of compassion in this thought-provoking Victorian novel by the author of Robert Falconer. This 1882 story of a dysfunctional family features another of MacDonald’s memorable female protagonists. Reminiscent of Mary St. John of Robert Falconer, Hester Raymount chooses a single life of ministry among London’s downtrodden (whose character and work were inspired by MacDonald friend and social activist Octavia Hill), and, like Mary Marston, uses her musical gifts to further that ministry. The poignant character of Hester’s brother Mark brings to life a moving portrait of MacDonald’s own son Maurice, whom he and Louisa lost at the age of fifteen but a short while before this book was written.

  Show book