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  The Murders In The Rue Morgue -...

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  With this absorbing and surprising story, Edgar Allan Poe introduced amateur Parisian sleuth C. August Dupin to the world, and invented the modern detective story. This classic tale has lost none of its ability to startle and intrigue. 
  Narrated by Robin Reads.

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  The Great Gatsby

  Anonymous

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  An undisputed masterpiece of twentieth-century literature, perfect for Fitzgerald lovers and classics collectors alike. 
   
  Set against a backdrop of jazz music, bootlegging, and lavish parties, The Great Gatsby is the story of Midwesterner Nick Carraway’s curious introduction to the decadent world of his mysterious, wealthy neighbor Jay Gatsby, whose thirst for riches is matched only by his tragic obsession with the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. 
  Penned in the “roaring twenties,” the novel continues to be the subject of numerous film and stage adaptations and has become a fixture in the American classroom. This dangerously propulsive tale of glitz and glamour continues to be relevant as readers long for escapist novels—a chance to flee into Gatsby’s famed mansion and lose oneself in the rush of opulence. 
  The Great Gatsby audiobook is brought to life by Tim Robbins, famed American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, and musician.

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  Beryl the Croucher and the Rest...

  Thomas Burke

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  Thomas Burke was born Sydney Thomas Burke on November 29th, 1886 in Eltham, London (at the time it was part of Kent). 
  An author in the early years of the 20th Century Burke brought his skills of pen and eye to parts of London, specifically the Limehouse district of the East End, to write with drive and vigour about the characters he met and the places that he knew.  Whether he turned that material into fiction or non-fiction the words seep quality.  His publications ranged from these wonderful vignettes of down-at-heel London to writings on homosexuality and the English Countryside. 
  Thomas Burke died in the Homeopathic Hospital in Queens Square, Bloomsbury on 22 September 1945.

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  A Somewhat Improbable Story -...

  G K Chesterton

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  G K Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was a poet, novelist, playwright, literary commentator, editor, biographer, journalist, orator and theologian.  He was often dubbed as the “prince of paradox” for his light whimsical style that often addressed serious issues such as politics and religion.  The latter was as a member and defender of the Christian faith and the former was shaped by a distrust of concentrated wealth and power.  He advocated Distributionism and said that every man should be allowed to own "three acres and a cow."  These political views have spread round the world, crediting Chesterton as the father of the “small is beautiful” movement.  It is also said to have influenced Gandhi in seeking a genuine nationalism for India rather than imitating the British state.   
  Chesterton was remarkably prolific but perhaps his most famous creation is Father Brown.  Within this character Chesterton’s clever writing and profound ideas reveal truths, often with humour as the detective priest pursues the answers to his cases.

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  A Hunger Artist - A study in...

  Franz Kafka

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  Franz Kafka was born on 3rd July 1883 in Prague, then in Bohemia, the eldest of 6, into a middle-class Jewish family. 
   
  Life for the young Kafka and his passion for literature was often made an ordeal by his over-bearing and domineering entrepreneur of a father.   
   
  In 1889 Kafka was sent to the Deutsche Knabenschule, an elementary school in Prague. His father would only allow him to be educated in German-speaking schools and even went so far as to limit visits to the synagogue to four a year. 
   
  In 1901 he graduated from the classics-oriented Altstädter Gymnasium. Kafka did well there and across a large range of subjects.  He now enrolled at the Charles Ferdinand University, to study chemistry, but quickly switched to law for which he obtained his degree in June 1906 and then performed the mandatory year of unpaid service as clerk at the civil and criminal courts. 
   
  A job at an Italian insurance company left him little time to write and after a year he took another job with the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia where he stayed until ill health led to his resignation in 1922. 
   
  Although he saw work as a means to pay the bills and to allow him time to write, he received several promotions and was noted as a good employee. 
   
  By 1917 Kafka was suffering from tuberculosis, which required frequent periods of convalescence. Interspersed with this, were several intense affairs before he settled in Berlin with Dora Diamant, a 25-year-old kindergarten teacher who herself having left the ghetto now influenced Kafka's interest in the book of Jewish law, the Talmud. 
   
  Kafka’s on-going health was littered with problems. Apart from TB there were several other ailments, including migraines, insomnia, boils, depression, all usually brought on by excessive stresses and strains. He attempted to counteract all of this by naturopathic treatments, a vegetarian diet and consuming large quantities of unpasteurized milk. 
   
  His tuberculosis still worsened. He returned to Prague, where he died on 3rd June 1924. He was 40. 
   
  His literary works are few in number but towering in influence.  His masterpieces include ‘The Trial’, ‘The Metamorphosis’ as well as a number of short stories which reveal facets of humankind that truthfully could only be born from Kafka’s brain and pen.

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  Poor Folk

  Fyodor Dostoyesky

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  "Poor Folk" is the debut novel of Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky, first published in 1846. It's presented in epistolary form, primarily comprising letters between two distant relatives, Makar Devushkin and Varvara Dobroselova, who are both poor inhabitants of St. Petersburg. Through their correspondence, the book explores the life of the urban poor in Russia and the challenges they face. The novel delves into themes of poverty, societal class structures, and the emotional toll of destitution. The relationship between the two characters, rooted in genuine concern but tainted by their challenging circumstances, provides a heartfelt, tragic view into 19th-century Russian society.

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