Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Blessed Are the Meek - From...

  Mary Webb

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  Mary Gladys Meredith was born on 25th March 1881 at Leighton Lodge in the village of Leighton, near Shrewsbury in Shropshire.  
  Mary was home-schooled by her father before being sent to a finishing school in Southport in 1895. Her longs walks in the countryside helped her develop a heightened sense of observation and description, of both people and places, which later infused both her poetry and prose. 
  When she was 20 she developed symptoms of Graves' disease, a thyroid disorder that caused bulging protuberant eyes and throat goitre. This caused life-long ill health and was a possible contributor to her early death.  
  Mary was first published as a teenager when her brother sent to a local newspaper her poem on a recent rail accident.  Mary, who was in the habit of destroying her work was appalled though placated when she discovered that it had received some positive appreciation in readers letters. 
  1912 brought marriage to Henry Bertram Law Webb, a teacher. He supported her literary work which, in 1917, resulted in the publication of her novel ‘The Golden Arrow.’ 
  A few years later they acquired a property in London where, it was hoped, recognition of her literary talents would be more easily recognised.   
  Her 1924 novel, ‘Precious Bane’, won the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse, the prestigious French literary prize awarded by an all-female jury. 
  Most of her poetry and various other works were only published after her death. 
  By 1927 her health was deteriorating and her marriage failing.   
  Mary Webb died on 8th October 1927 at St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex.  She was 46.

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  Aristocratic Education - From...

  Stephen Leacock

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  Stephen P H Butler Leacock FRSC was born on the 30th December 1869 in Swanmore, near Southampton, England, the third of eleven children. 
  The family emigrated to Canada in 1876 to live on a 100-acre farm in Sutton, Ontario.  There Leacock was home-schooled and later enrolled into the elite private school Upper Canada College in Toronto.  Academically he was very strong and enrolled at the University of Toronto to study languages and literature.  He left there after his alcoholic father abandoned the family and finances were too stretched to continue his attendance.  He now enrolled in a three-month course at Strathroy Collegiate Institute to become a qualified high school teacher and with it a regular income. 
  Leacock published humorous articles in many Canadian and US magazines but his real passion was economics and political theory.  In 1899 he enrolled for postgraduate studies at the University of Chicago and earned his PhD in 1903. 
  His marriage to Beatrix Hamilton produced a single child 15 years later.  Over time father and son developed a love-hate relationship, partially caused by his son’s diminutive stature of only four feet.  
  He accepted a post at McGill University and kept it until he retired in 1936.  His work ‘Elements of Political Science’, was adopted as a standard textbook for two decades and was also his most profitable.  He now also began public speaking and lecturing.  
  In 1910, he privately printed some articles as ‘Literary Lapses’.  It was then released by a recognised publisher, and he became a commercially successful writer.  His collections of light-hearted whimsy, parody, nonsense, and satire were now frequently published along with biographies and several award-winning volumes on Canada. 
  Politically Leacock was a difficult creature.  He opposed women’s right to vote, was a champion of Empire but advocated social welfare legislation and wealth redistribution, but he often caused friction with his racist views. 
  Leacock has been forgotten as an economist, but it’s often said that in 1911 more people had heard of him than had heard of Canada.  For the decade after 1915 Leacock was the most popular humorist in the English-speaking world. 
  Stephen Leacock died on 28th March 1944 of throat cancer in Toronto, Canada.  He was 74.

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  Menehune

  Ernest Spencer

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  In this tale of "Menehune," we are introduced to Melvin, a young orphan with an eccentric appearance – his bald, oddly shaped and oversized head sets him apart and leaves him lonely and alone. Despite his physical differences, Melvin possesses an unyielding spirit and a heart brimming with curiosity. 
  Life takes an unexpected turn when Melvin, while running for his life, finds himself aboard a seedy pirate ship. The captain of the ship, a grizzled seafarer with a hidden softness beneath his tough exterior, takes a liking to him. Their friendship transcends the boundaries of age and circumstance. 
  The captain leaves Melvin at their next stop, on the shores of Tinian. Against a backdrop of turquoise waters and lush landscapes, his arrival in Tinian brings unforeseen challenges, leading him to a mental hospital outside of Honolulu. Within the hospital, Melvin befriends the compassionate case worker, Faith. The hospital staff, including the Tongan people, become his extended family, offering him the acceptance he's always yearned for. But Melody, another patient within the hospital, leaves an indelible mark on Melvin's heart. Despite her blindness, or maybe because of it, their friendship blooms. 
  A theme of love weaves through this story. Love that transcends appearances and defies societal norms, love that embraces differences and celebrates individuality. As Melvin's connections deepen and his relationships flourish, he discovers that true family isn't always defined by blood; it's found in the bonds we create with those who see us for who we truly are. 
  "Menehune" is a poignant exploration of the human experience – a tale of resilience, acceptance, and the transformative power of friendship. Through the eyes of Melvin, you'll look beyond the surface and embrace the beauty of the soul. This heartwarming journey reminds us that in a world often marked by division, the threads of connection and love are what truly bind us together.

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  Conan Doyle - More Selected...

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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  A further selection of short tales from the master storyteller Arthur Conan Doyle containing all the imagination and intrigue he brought to his famous detective. 
  Headstories Audio presents Conan Doyle - More Selected Short Stories, narrated by Simon Hester, with original music.

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  Diplomacy - From their pens to...

  Lafcadio Hearn

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  Lafcadio Hearn was born on the 27th June 1850 on the Ionian isle of Levkás in Greece to a British Army officer and a Greek Mother. 
  His father, fearing for his career prospects at being married to a Greek Orthodox wife, sent them to Dublin whilst he continued to advance his career with further postings.  Life there was difficult for mother and son.  His father returned, wounded and traumatised, when Lafcadio was three.  He annulled the marriage and she remarried but had to give up care of Lafcadio to her sister-in law.   
  After brief periods for Catholic education in England and France he emigrated to Ohio in the United States when he was 19, taking on a series of casual jobs before embarking on a career as a journalist, publishing poems and essays in Cincinnati.  It was whilst here that he began a side-line in translating, starting with Gautier and Flaubert.  He married in 1874 to a 20 year old African-American woman in violation of Ohio's anti-miscegenation law.  The marriage soon failed. 
  In 1877 he relocated to New Orleans to write on a variety of themes before picking up a two year assignment from Harper’s to write in the West Indies, where he also wrote his first novel. 
  In 1890 Harper’s sent him to Japan.  Here he left journalism and took the remarkable decision to become a schoolteacher in the north of Japan.   Enraptured by the culture he was driven to explain it in various Western publications to those who had little, if any, knowledge of its culture.  Within the year he had fallen in love with, and married, a high-born Japanese lady, together they would have four children.   
  In 1895 he became a Japanese national and took the name Koizumi Yakumo, Koizumi being his wife’s family name. 
  The following few years, whilst a professor of Literature at the Imperial University of Japan, were his most creative and admired period.   
  Lafcadio Hearn died of heart failure on the 26th of September 1904, in Tokyo, Japan shortly before leaving to deliver a series of lectures at Cornell University in New York State.  He was 54.

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  Murder in America - A Coast to...

  John L Breen

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  An entertaining collection by seven renowned American mystery writers— including Mary Higgins Clark and Whitley Strieber— this anthology offers a delightful mix of mystery, suspense, and murder. The stories include
  • " Starstruck" by Jon L. Breen, read by James Stacy: A group of aging actors is fatally haunted by the consequences of the McCarthy-era blacklist.
  
  • " Gee Whiz, My Lovely" by Betty Buchanan, read by Joan Rivers: A bouncy private investigator is invited by a " gorgeous nut" to find an elusive figure named Harvey.
  
  • " Lucky Day" by Mary Higgins Clark, read by Betsy Palmer: A young bride suspects her husband is somehow involved in a strange disappearance.
  
  • " It Was Bad Enough" by Ron Goulart, read by Arte Johnson: A comedian trying to make his comeback learns his ex-wife's tell-all book is about to be filmed.
  
  • " Pirate' s Moon" by William F. Nolan, read by Perry King: A psychic working for the LAPD fails to foresee that a stone-age cannibal cult may be terrorizing the city.
  
  • " Vaudeville" by Whitley Strieber, read by Roddy McDowall: An aging vaudeville comedienne dies— but not laughing.
  
  • " Snookered" by Gerald Tomlinson, read by David Birney: A story about a new breed of football coach and a team the sportswriters can't ignore.

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