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  Overcoat and Other Stories The -...

  Nikolai Gogol, Classic...

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  This collection brings together some of Nikolai Gogol's most unforgettable tales, including the haunting The Overcoat, the surreal The Nose, and the eerie Viy. Gogol blends absurdity with pathos, the supernatural with the grotesque, and comedy with quiet tragedy.Whether it's the tale of a downtrodden clerk whose stolen coat leads to a ghostly revenge, or the madman who believes he's the King of Spain, these stories dive into the depths of the human soul. The Overcoat and Other Stories is a mesmerizing introduction to Gogol's singular style and a cornerstone of Russian literary heritage.

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  Richard Bruce - Burglar - Former...

  Edgar Wallace

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  Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was born on the 1st April 1875 in Greenwich, London.  Leaving school at 12 because of truancy, by the age of fifteen he had experience; selling newspapers, as a worker in a rubber factory, as a shoe shop assistant, as a milk delivery boy and as a ship’s cook.  
   
  By 1894 he was engaged but broke it off to join the Infantry being posted to South Africa. He also changed his name to Edgar Wallace which he took from Lew Wallace, the author of Ben-Hur.  
   
  In Cape Town in 1898 he met Rudyard Kipling and was inspired to begin writing. His first collection of ballads, The Mission that Failed! was enough of a success that in 1899 he paid his way out of the armed forces in order to turn to writing full time.  
   
  By 1904 he had completed his first thriller, The Four Just Men. Since nobody would publish it he resorted to setting up his own publishing company which he called Tallis Press. 
    
  In 1911 his Congolese stories were published in a collection called Sanders of the River, which became a bestseller. He also started his own racing papers, Bibury’s and R. E. Walton’s Weekly, eventually buying his own racehorses and losing thousands gambling.  A life of exceptionally high income was also mirrored with exceptionally large spending and debts.  
   
  Wallace now began to take his career as a fiction writer more seriously, signing with Hodder and Stoughton in 1921. He was marketed as the ‘King of Thrillers’ and they gave him the trademark image of a trilby, a cigarette holder and a yellow Rolls Royce. He was truly prolific, capable not only of producing a 70,000 word novel in three days but of doing three novels in a row in such a manner. It was estimated that by 1928 one in four books being read was written by Wallace, for alongside his famous thrillers he wrote variously in other genres, including science fiction, non-fiction accounts of WWI which amounted to ten volumes and screen plays. Eventually he would reach the remarkable total of 170 novels, 18 stage plays and 957 short stories. 
   
  Wallace became chairman of the Press Club which to this day holds an annual Edgar Wallace Award, rewarding ‘excellence in writing’.  
   
  Diagnosed with diabetes his health deteriorated and he soon entered a coma and died of his condition and double pneumonia on the 7th of February 1932 in North Maple Drive, Beverly Hills. He was buried near his home in England at Chalklands, Bourne End, in Buckinghamshire.

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  Christmas Eve

  Nikolai Gogol

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  "Christmas Eve"  is the first story in the second volume of the collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka by Nikolai Gogol.
  The story opens with a description of the winter scenery of Dikanka, Ukraine, a witch flying across the night sky and the devil stealing the moon and hiding it in his pocket, first playing with it in the sky, which no one in the village notices. Since it is the night before Christmas, the devil is free to roam around and torment people as he pleases, so he decides to find a way to get back at the village blacksmith, Vakula, because he paints religious art in the church...
  The story is set in on Christmas Eve in the small Ukranian town of Dikanka. Since it's the night before Christmas, the devil is allowed to roam free in town. He steals the moon, which at first no one notices. Then he sets out to ruin the love interest of Vakula, the town blacksmith, who is hopelessly in love with the beautiful Oksana. The devil has a vendetta against Vakula because he also moonlights as an icon painter who had created mocking pictures of the devil. The devil finds an ally in Vakula's mother (a witch) who wants to marry Oksana's father. She fears that if her son marries Oksana, her love chances will be ruined.

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  Psychology

  Katherine Mansfield

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  "Psychology" is a 1920 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in Bliss and Other Stories.
  A man visits a woman for tea. He tells her this is the only place he pays attention to in terms of its furniture and so on. He also loves her 'little boy'. They then talk about the state of the novel as a literary genre - coming to the conclusion that the psycho-novel is shoddy. She feels anguished about possibly having failed in not following suit with that genre however, and he leaves...

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  The Turn of the Screw

  Henry James

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  "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James is a gripping and eerie tale of psychological suspense. A young governess is hired to care for two orphaned children, Miles and Flora, at a remote English estate. As she settles into her duties, she begins to see apparitions of the previous governess and a sinister servant, believing they seek to harm the children. As paranoia and fear escalate, James masterfully blurs the lines between reality and imagination, plunging readers into a haunting exploration of innocence, evil, and the human psyche.

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  Great Expectations

  Charles Dickens

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  A mysterious fortune. A chance to change his life. A love that may break his heart.
  When orphaned Pip is unexpectedly lifted from poverty into the world of gentlemen, he believes his dreams are finally within reach—especially the dream of winning the beautiful but cold Estella. But as secrets unravel and old ghosts return, Pip discovers that his "great expectations" come with painful lessons about loyalty, pride, and what true gentleness really means.
  
  Praised as "one of Dickens's most unforgettable masterpieces," this novel blends mystery, romance, betrayal, and emotional growth into a story that resonates across generations. Its vivid characters—Pip, Estella, Miss Havisham, Magwitch—remain icons of English literature.
  
  If you love coming-of-age stories filled with heart, tension, and moral depth, this classic will stay with you long after the final page.
  
  Open the book—and follow Pip on a journey that reshapes everything he thinks he wants.

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