Publisher: Sovereign
Rudin was written by Turgenev in the immediate aftermath of the Crimean War, when it became obvious to many educated Russians that reform was needed. The main debate of Turgenev's own generation was that of East versus West. Rudin depicts a typical man of this generation, aka the men of forties, intellectual but ineffective. Rudin is often compared to Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and Lermontov's Pechorin.
In Sodom and Gomorrah, Part II, Marcel continues his voyage of discovery through the homosexual world, where the affairs of the ageing Baron de Charlus lead to unexpected and hilarious adventures. But the discovery of a secret in the past of his mistress, Albertine, fills Marcel with fear and forces him to change his plans. Sodom and Gomorrah – Cities of the Plain addresses the subject of homosexual love with insight and understanding.Show book
The Secret of the Island is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1874. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat. The novel is a crossover sequel to Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways, though its themes are vastly different from those books.During the American Civil War, five Northern prisoners of war escape during the siege of Richmond, Virginia by hijacking a hot air balloon. The escapees are Cyrus Smith, a railroad engineer in the Union army (named Cyrus Harding in Kingston's version); his ex-slave and loyal follower Neb (short for Nebuchadnezzar); Bonadventure Pencroff, a sailor (who is addressed only by his surname; in Kingston's translation, he is named Pencroft); his protégé and adopted son Harbert Brown (called Herbert in some translations); and the journalist Gedéon Spilett (Gideon Spilett in English versions). The company is completed by Cyrus' dog "Top".Show book
"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson in Love and Friendship, a collection of essays on relationships. "Before him, I may think aloud. I do then with my friends as I do with my books. I would have them where I can find them, but I seldom use them."Show book
Of Men And Women is an anthology of short stories by the great Russian writer Alexander Kuprin focusing on various types of relationships between the two genders. Traditional marriages, friendships, obsessions, submissions, and much more - brought to life through the exquisite writing of a true literary master. This collection includes the following works:The Lilac BushThe ToyAt the StationForgotten KissThe PetitionerA Terrible MomentSacred LoveThe Night OrchidLenochkaUntitledLegendMarianneSea SicknessThe TelegrapherInnaNatalia DavidovnaVioletsShow book
Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic American story of Hester Prynne, accused of adultery, ostracized by her Puritan community, and abandoned by both her lover and her husband The story opens in Puritan Boston, a settlement only fifteen or twenty years old. A young woman stands on a scaffold clasping a three-month-old baby. As a married woman with a missing husband and a new baby, Hester Prynne could have been sentenced to death for the crime of adultery. Instead she is condemned to always wear the letter A as a badge of her shame. As she stands there, she sees her long-missing husband, who has been held captive by Indians. While the town chorus is murmuring against her and her old and unattractive husband stares silently at her, the young and handsome clergyman publicly demands the name of her partner in crime-while desperately praying that she won't reveal him. The Scarlet Letter rightfully deserves its stature as the first great novel written by an American, the novel that announced American literature equal to any in the world. This novel is part of Brilliance Audio's extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.Show book
'Goose Fair' was written by D H Lawrence in 1910. Lawrence sets his story against the backdrop of the industrial troubles caused by the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. A young woman is torn between her need for a lover and her contempt for what she perceives to be his dishonesty in the burning down of a mill. Is all love a compromise between the ideal and the reality of life?Show book
