Publisher: Fractal Press
Take my word for it, there is no such thing as an ancient village, especially if it has seen better days, unillustrated by its legends of terror. You might as well expect to find a decayed cheese without mites, or an old house without rats, as an antique and dilapidated town without an authentic population of goblins.
Magna Moralia (English: Great Ethics) discusses topics including friendship, virtue, happiness and God. It is disputed whether Aristotle wrote Magna Moralia. This author concludes that it is absurd to suggest that God contemplates only God but does not propose an alternative activity for God. (Summary by Geoffrey Edwards)Show book
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy: "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" tells the tragic story of Tess Durbeyfield, a young woman from a poor rural family who discovers her aristocratic heritage. The novel explores themes of fate, morality, and the rigid social norms of Victorian England. As Tess's life is shaped by events beyond her control, including a tumultuous romance with the charismatic Alec d'Urberville and her relationship with the compassionate Angel Clare, Hardy's narrative examines the harsh consequences of society's judgment on female purity. With its powerful critique of societal double standards and its portrayal of a flawed yet resilient heroine, "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" remains a timeless classic in English literature.Show book
Jane Austen's first published novel, Sense and Sensibility is a wonderfully entertaining tale of flirtation and folly that revolves around two starkly different sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. While Elinor is thoughtful, considerate, and calm, her younger sister is emotional and wildly romantic. Both are looking for a husband, but neither Elinor's reason nor Marianne's passion can lead them to perfect happiness-as Marianne falls for an unscrupulous rascal and Elinor becomes attached to a man who's already engaged. Startling secrets, unexpected twists, and heartless betrayals interrupt the marriage games that follow. Filled with satiric wit and subtle characterizations, Sense and Sensibility teaches that true love requires a balance of reason and emotion.Show book
“One of MacDonald’s best and most satisfying books”—a Victorian-era fairy tale featuring a lonely princess and a miner’s son (Tor.com). As editor of the magazine Good Words for the Young, MacDonald had a ready audience for “fairy tale” and “children’s” stories and produced some of his most famous titles during this period of his writing life. The third of his stories for the magazine, The Princess and the Goblin, published in 1872, is universally acclaimed as MacDonald’s best pure fairy tale, and has been enchanting readers for well over a century. This story of princess Irene, her mysterious ageless namesake “grandmother,” and miner’s son Curdie surely provided inspiration for C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. G.K. Chesterton wrote of it in 1924, “I can really testify to a book that has made a difference to my whole existence, which has helped me to see—a vision of things—so real. Of all the stories I have read, it remains the most real, the most realistic, in the exact sense of the phrase the most like life. It is called The Princess and the Goblin, and it is by George MacDonald.” This edition for The Cullen Collection is unedited in any way. “A little-known, girl-powered fairy tale that should be on your radar.”—Bustle “A rich, vibrant tale.”—Minneapolis Star TribuneShow book
Ben-Hur is a story of two very different heroes. Judah Ben-Hur, a prince of Jerusalem, is involved in an accident to the Roman procurator which is taken to be intentional. He is seized and sent to the fleet as a galley-slave, while his family is imprisoned and the family goods confiscated. When Ben-Hur saves the fleet captain from drowning after his ship is sunk in a fight with pirates, that officer adopts him as son and heir. With Roman training, Ben-Hur distinguishes himself in the arena and the palistrae and appears to be on the way to high military command. With the help of a faithful family retainer and a generous Arab sheik, Ben-Hur is enabled to take part in a widely touted chariot race, where one of the other charioteers is the boyhood friend who connived to punish him for the accident and split his estate. That rival is crippled, financially and bodily, in a no-holds-barred race (memorable from the 1959 movie with Charlton Heston). Ben-Hur turns his attention to the prophesied King of the Jews, when through the sheik he meets Balthasar, one of the Three Wise Men, and hears of the child born years ago. Will Ben-Hur be the general who brings victories to the King, and finally liberates Israel from the oppressive Roman yoke? In his quest for the answer, Ben-Hur seeks out the Nazarene, now rumored to be The Messiah. THAT hero needs no introduction. Curious about the lack of kingly trappings and ambitions about this man, Ben-Hur begins to suspect that his kingdom is not of this world. And with him, we receive a gut-wrenching eye-witness view of Jesus’ arrest, humiliation, and crucifixion. Lewis Wallace was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of the New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, and author from Indiana.Show book
George Cupples (2 August 1822 - 17 October 1891) was a Scottish journalist and a writer, who became famous at the end of 19th century for his maritime novels. In particular, his novel The Green Hand: adventures of a naval lieutenant was considered "one of the best sea stories ever written" at the time. His wife, Anne Jane Cupples, also became a famous writer of juvenile and children books.A TORNADO AT SEA: "What was my horror when I saw the quicksilver had sunk so far below the mark, probably fixed there that morning, as to be almost shrunk in the ball! Whatever the merchant service might know about the instrument in those days, the African coast was the place to teach its right use to us in the old Iris.Show book
