Other books that might interest you

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  They Were Sisters

  Dorothy Whipple

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  When three sisters marry very different men, the choices they make determine whether they will flourish, be tamed or be repressed. Set in 1930’s middle-class England, the classic domestic drama, They Were Sisters, is a compelling but harrowing novel by Dorothy Whipple. Meet three women with contrasting partners: Lucy's husband is her beloved companion; Vera's husband bores her and she turns elsewhere; and Charlotte's husband is a horrifying bully who turns a high-spirited naive young girl into a deeply unhappy woman. This is the story of how those marriages shape the sister’s lives, the consequences of their decisions, and the sisterly love that hopes to save them from tragedy.They Were Sisters is part of the Persephone Audiobook Collection, a series of forgotten classics that includes neglected fiction and non-fiction by women writers. This audiobook of a novel first published in 1943 breathes new life into Whipple's work; with a fascinating introduction by novelist Celia Brayfield.

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  Agnes Grey

  Anne Brontë

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  When young Agnes Grey’s family falls on hard financial times, she decides to take a job as a governess with the wealthy Bloomfield family, and then later the even-wealthier Murray family. But they are cruel and unkind, and with them Agnes is lonely isolated, and very aware of how vulnerable she is.
   
   
   
  What Agnes wants is happiness and fulfillment, but are they out of reach for her?
   
   
   
  Agnes Grey is Anne Brontë’s first novel and based on the author’s own experiences of the challenges faced by young women born without many opportunities.
   
   

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  Great Gatsby The - Audiobook

  Francis Scott Fitzgerald,...

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  The Great Gatsby is a dazzling portrayal of the American Dream—and its disillusionment—set during the roaring 1920s. Narrated by the reflective Nick Carraway, the novel centers around the mysterious and fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby, who throws lavish parties in hopes of rekindling a lost romance with the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. Beneath the glamour and jazz-age extravagance, the story unfolds as a haunting critique of ambition, love, and the pursuit of happiness in a world driven by materialism.Fitzgerald's lyrical prose captures both the enchantment and emptiness of high society, making The Great Gatsby a profound and enduring classic. With its themes of longing, illusion, and social decay, the novel continues to resonate as a cautionary tale about the cost of chasing dreams in a world where reality rarely matches fantasy.

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  A Very Short Romance - From...

  Vsevolod Garshin

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  Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin was born on 14th February 1855 in what is now Dnipro in the Ukraine, but then part of the Russian Empire. 
  After attending secondary school he studied at the Saint Petersburg Mining Institute.  
  Wars between and on behalf of Empires were a regular feature of the decades then.  Garshin volunteered to serve in the Russian army at the beginning of the Russo-Turkish War in 1877.  
  He began as a private in the Balkans campaign and was wounded in action.  By the end of the war, in 1878, he had been promoted to officer rank.  
  By now Garshin, having previously published some articles and reviews in newspapers, wished to devote himself to a literary career.  The decision made he resigned his army commission. 
  His time as a soldier provided rich experiences for his early stories. His first ‘Four Days’ was related as the interior monologue of a wounded soldier left for dead on the battlefield for four days, face to face with the corpse of a Turkish soldier he had killed, gained him early admiration as an author of note.  
  He wrote perhaps only 20 stories, but their influence was immense, although in these more modern times he is barely remembered and lives in the more prolific shadows of others.  His characters are superbly worked into stories that come alive in the intensity and reality of his prose.   
  Garshin’s most well-known story is ‘The Red Flower’, also known as ‘Scarlet Blossom’ and is easily amongst the first rank of stories dealing with mental health issues.  
  Despite early literary success, he himself experienced periodical bouts of mental illness.   
  In one such bout Garshin attempted to commit suicide by throwing himself down the stone stairs leading into his apartment building.  Although not immediately fatal, Vsevolod Garshin died as a result of his injuries in a St Petersburg hospital on 5th April 1888.  He was 33.

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  In a German Pension - 13 Stories

  Katherine Mansfield

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  'One cannot go about in a German pension without coming to the conclusion that life is very full of mysterious things.'
  
  First published in 1911, In a German Pension is the first collection of short stories from one of the modernist masters of the form, Katherine Mansfield.
  
  Written during Mansfield's stay in Bad Wörishofen after her unfortunate marriage and subsequent miscarriage, the stories in this emotionally acute collection offer sharp, satirical observations of German society, noting everything from proper etiquette to gender role expectations and the repression of women. Taking place within a boarding house, each story centres around a semi-autobiographical female figure. Mansfield expertly explores themes such as cultural misunderstandings and the absurdity of societal conventions, all told through what would become her trademark dry humour and nuanced critique. This audiobook edition is brilliantly brought to life by Eve Karpf.
  Katherine Mansfield (1888 – 1923) was a New Zealand writer and critic. She was an important figurehead of the modernist movement, befriending the likes of Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence amongst others. Her works regularly explored themes such as sexuality, religion and existentialism, and have been translated into twenty-five different languages across the world.

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  Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein -...

  Simon Foster

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  Simon Foster’s short & sweet edition cuts out the fluff from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and gets straight to the good part. Savor the best literature of all time without spending years of your life treading through endless pages of traditional books. 
  Simon Foster books are suitable for the human attention span, helping you to remember the key details of every book and maximize enjoyment. By the end, you’ll be able to impress your friends, family, or even a professor with your knowledge of Frankenstein without spending hours reading the original edition. 
  Stop wasting hours trying to dissect complex english from old classic books. English has changed over time, and books from hundreds of years ago feel like a different language than modern English.  
  There is no shame in enjoying classics the modern way. Once you discover the joy of listening to classics with Simon Foster, you will never want to go back to old stuffy paperback classics. Welcome to the future of literature!

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