Other books that might interest you

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  Candide

  Voltaire

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  "Candide, or Optimism" is a satirical novella written by the French philosopher Voltaire, first published in 1759. It follows the adventures of the young Candide, who is raised in a utopian world and taught that “all is for the best.” The narrative takes him through a series of misfortunes, exposing him to the harsh realities of the world, ultimately leading him to question his optimistic beliefs. Voltaire uses Candide’s journey to satirize religion, governments, the military, and the philosophy of optimism, particularly as espoused by Leibniz. "Candide" is considered one of the greatest achievements of Western literature

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  Ovington's Bank

  Stanley Weyman

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  Ovington's Bank is a forgotten masterpiece from peerless story-teller Stanley Weyman who was once as popular as Dickens, Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson.
  Ovington's Bank was written at the height of Weyman's powers, and is considered the finest of his 24 novels.
  
  Set in 1825, the novel's themes are as relevant today as then. The tale follows a run on a private bank: in the fall-out, the protagonists are challenged to examine their motives, their morals and their values as the surprising plot unfolds.
  
  This is a tale of tension between traditional values and modern opportunities; between ambition and love; self-denial and passion.
  
  In this fast-moving story, the unforgettable characters feature in a breathtaking stagecoach dash to London, a violent mugging, a cunning theft, a desperate bid to keep up appearances and the tenderest of love scenes.
  This elegantly designed Merlin Unwin Books edition is a fine jacketed hardback with navy endpapers, swell-rules and is set in caslon typeface.
  Jim Lawley's essay provides the most complete existing biography of Stanley Weyman (1855-1928), including Weyman's own unabridged account of his dramatic arrest and imprisonment on suspicion of spying in France in 1885.

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  The Outer Banks House - A Novel

  Diann Ducharme

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  As the wounds of the Civil War are just beginning to heal, one fateful summer would forever alter the course of a young girl's life. In 1868, on the barren shores of post-war Outer Banks North Carolina, the once wealthy Sinclair family moves for the summer to one of the first cottages on the ocean side of the resort village of Nags Head. Seventeen-year-old Abigail is beautiful, book-smart, but sheltered by her plantation life and hemmed-in by her emotionally distant family. To make good use of time, she is encouraged by her family to teach her father's fishing guide, the good-natured but penniless Benjamin Whimble, how to read and write. And in a twist of fate unforeseen by anyone around them, there on the porch of the cottage, the two come to love each other deeply, and to understand each other in a way that no one else does. But when, against everything he claims to represent, Ben becomes entangled in Abby's father's Ku Klux Klan work, the terrible tragedy and surprising revelations that one hot Outer Banks night brings forth threaten to tear them apart forever.

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  The Gardens of Consolation

  Parisa Reza

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  A novel of love, family, and a fight for freedom in Iran featuring a “formidable and hard-to-forget heroine” (Publishers Weekly).   In the early 1920s, in the remote Persian village of Ghamsar, two young people dreaming of a better life fall in love and marry. Sardar brings his bride, Talla, with him across the mountains to the suburbs of Tehran, where the couple settles down and builds a home. From the outskirts of the capital city, they will watch as the Qajar dynasty falls and Reza Khan rises to power as Reza Shah Pahlavi.   Into this family of illiterate shepherds is born Bahram, a boy whose brilliance and intellectual promise are apparent from a very young age. As he grows older, Bahram will become a fervent follower of reformer Mohammad Mosaddegh and will participate firsthand in his country’s political and social upheavals, putting himself in mortal danger, in this prize-winning, “compelling book [that] raises important questions about indulgence, gender, community, and the impact of politics on everyday life” (Kirkus Reviews).   “Exquisite . . . the narrative evolves from an intimate chronicle of Talla and Sardar’s provincial lives into a sweeping tour through early-20th-century Iran.” —The New York Times  

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  Now The War Is Over

  Annie Murray

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  The Second World War has finally come to a close. Birmingham is welcoming home its menfolk, and a new chapter is beginning in Rachel Booker's life. Her husband has returned, and the family that struggled for survival throughout the uncertain war years is now together. But family life settles into a routine and Rachel, unsatisfied, starts to yearn for more' 
  Melly, Rachel's eldest daughter, is a child of the war. She grew up in the bombed-out streets of Birmingham and has never known anything other than the hungry ration years and supporting her mother and younger brother Tommy. But times are changing and Melly now has a fresh future ahead of her. She's determined to make the most of life and her greatest wish is to become a nurse. 
  As the gloom of the 1940s passes by and the promise of the 1950s dawns, a whole new world of opportunity opens up to Rachel and Melly - but with this come new challenges and tough choices. They will each have to decide whether their loyalties still lie with the family and friends they clung to throughout the war years or if it's time to move on . . .

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  Scholars The (A Legacy Novella)

  Sheritta Bitikofer

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  Australia - 1791 
  Geoffrey and Adam Swenson are imprisoned on a ship, bound for Australia – then known as New Holland – under bogus criminal charges pressed against them in England. After they escape and flee from the budding settlement of New South Wales, they find that they are not the only werewolves on this strange and dangerous new continent. In desperate need to return home, they must align themselves with unlikely allies and set aside old grudges if they ever expect to survive. 
  The elements, the Aborigines, and the loose laws set down in the penal colony of Sydney all work against them. Death lurks behind every corner and even though a new ally appears, both are hesitant to trust a man who has already shown himself to be a flight risk in the past. But all Alfred Swenson wants is a chance at reconciliation with his family after being absent from their lives for over four hundred years. 
  ~From the author of the Loup-Garou Series, The Legacies Series takes you through history, revealing the events that lead up to the finale of the Loup-Garou Series. Backstories to pivotal characters like John, Michael, Darren, and Katey's parents, are told in intimate detail with each installment of the series.~

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