Publisher: Bu Classics Books
A wealthy American traveling in Italy decides to play a mischievous game of deception to win the heart of a woman who despises his privilege. Disguised as a commoner, he finds that love is far more complicated than any prank he could devise. This lighthearted romance is filled with scenic charm, witty banter, and Mediterranean sunshine.
Alun Lewis was born on the 1st July 1915 in Cwmaman in South Wales. He studied history at Aberystwyth and Manchester Universities before beginning a career as a teacher. In 1940, despite his pacifism, he enlisted to serve in the Royal Engineers and later received a commission in the South Wales Borderers. His first poetry collection ‘Raider’s Dawn’ was published in 1942 as was his short story collection ‘The Last Inspection’. Both brought him critical acclaim and an admiring audience. Later that year he was posted to India where his conscience and morality wrestled with suffering and poverty that so was so evident all around him. Alun Lewis died on the 5th March 1944 in Rakhine, Myanmar, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, that was officially declared accidental. He was 28. His second poetry collection, ‘Ha! Ha! Among the Trumpets’, was published posthumously in 1945.Show book
Wuthering Heights is a haunting story of passion, vengeance, and love that defies time and convention. Set amid the windswept moors of northern England, the tragic tale of Catherine and Heathcliff unfolds—a bond so intense it borders on the supernatural. Though their souls are inseparable, fate tears them apart, leaving a trail of obsession and madness. Can love be as destructive as it is powerful? The answer waits within the walls of Wuthering Heights.Show book
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families.Show book
Arthur Llewelyn Jones was born in Caerleon, Monmouthshire on the 3rd March 1863. Machen came from a long line of clergymen, and when he was two, his father became vicar of a small parish about five miles north of Caerleon, and Machen was brought up at the rectory there. In his early years he received an excellent classical education, but family poverty ruled out university, and he was sent to London to sit exams to attend medical school but failed the exams. He did show literary promise with the publication of the poem ‘Eleusinia’ in 1821. But life in London was difficult and it was only in 1884 that he published again and was taken on to translate several French works which thereafter became the standard editions for many years. In 1887, his father died. That same year he married Amelia Hogg, a maverick music teacher with a passion for the theatre. He also began to receive legacies from Scottish relatives which allowed him to devote more time to writing. After publishing in literary magazines in 1894 he published his first book ‘The Great God Pan’. Its sexual and horrific content very much helped sales. Over the next decade or so he wrote some of his best work but was unable to find a publisher mainly due to the collapse of the decadent market over Oscar Wilde’s scandalous trial. In 1899, his wife died and during his long recovery he took up acting and travelled around the country as part of a travelling company. Three years later he was publishing again and had remarried. Re-publishing of earlier works helped anchor both his reputation and his income. By the time the Great War opened Europe’s wounds he returned to the public eye with ‘The Bowmen’ helped by the publicity around the ‘Angel of Mons’ episode. However, by the late 20’s new works had dried up and his back catalogue was no longer a source of regular income. In 1932 he received a Civil List pension of ₤100 per annum but other work was not forthcoming. His finances finally stabilised with a literary appeal in 1943 for his eightieth birthday and allowed him to live his remaining years in relative comfort. Arthur Machen died on 15th December 1947 in Beaconsfield. He was 84.Show book
Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White is one of the earliest and finest examples of the Victorian sensation novel, blending mystery, romance, and psychological intrigue. The story begins with a haunting midnight encounter: a young woman dressed all in white, fleeing through the darkness. From there, the narrative unfolds into a tale of mistaken identities, sinister conspiracies, and forbidden secrets.What distinguishes this work is Collins' innovative use of multiple narrators, each offering their own perspective on the events. This layered storytelling not only heightens suspense but also questions the nature of truth itself. A gripping mixture of gothic atmosphere and social commentary, the novel set the stage for the modern detective and mystery genre, ensuring its lasting influence.Show book
A ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s, Joan Didion's Play It as It Lays captures the mood of an entire generation, the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the reader. Set in a place beyond good and evil—literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul—it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis and stunning in the still-startling intensity of its prose.A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Show book
