Other books that might interest you

• 

  Désirée's Baby - From their pens...

  Kate Chopin

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Katherine O'Flaherty was born on the 8th February 1850 in St Louis, Missouri to parents of French and Irish descent. 
  At age 5, she was sent to the Sacred Heart Academy and, apart from a 2 year period at home when her father died, remained there until graduating in 1868.  Whilst there she began writing and became an avid reader of almost anything that crossed her path.   
  Kate married Oscar Chopin in 1870 and the couple moved to New Orleans, and later to the rural setting of Cloutierville, Louisiana to raise their 6 children.  
  In 1882 her husband died leaving her in a deep trench of debt.  Despite her best efforts to turn the businesses around they were sold, and she moved the family back to St Louis and the financial help of her mother.  Sadly, her mother died within the year.  Kate, now struggling with depression, pushed herself to write and gained a local reputation as a writer of short stories that captured the local color and vibrancy of her surroundings.  
  By the early 1890’s her short stories were published nationally.  With this widespread audience also came negative reviews, controversy, and cries of immorality as themes such as interracial relationships, the rights of women and other burning issues of the day were written about. 
  Despite the criticism, which unnerved her, she continued to write though in the main her works, around 100 short stories and two novels, were not attributed with any literary worth. 
  Kate Chopin died from a brain haemorrhage in St Louis Missouri on the 22nd of August 1904.  She was 54. 
  For much of the 20th Century her work was forgotten and out of print.  It was only in early 1970’s, with the rise of feminism and the call for a more just society that she was given the status her works had long described and shone a literary light at.  She is now safely revered as one of America’s great authors.

  Show book

• 

  Ethan Frome

  Edith Wharton

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A masterpiece by Edith Wharton, author of The Age of Innocence.Winter in a Massachusetts village serves as a backdrop to Edith Wharton' s masterpiece about a man with little hope of escaping his bleak future. Married to an older woman named Zeena, Ethan Frome finds himself drawn to his wife' s cousin, Mattie. Although he dreams of fleeing his loveless marriage and stealing away with Mattie, Ethan has neither the means nor the will. Mattie offers another solution, a desperate act borne out of despair that may result in even greater tragedy.

  Show book

• 

  Bartleby the Scrivener

  Herman Melville

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The narrator, an elderly Manhattan lawyer with a very comfortable business helping wealthy men deal with mortgages, deeds, and bonds. One day, Bartleby, a relatively new employee is asked to help proofread a document and Bartleby answers with what soon becomes his stock response: I would prefer not to. To the dismay of the narrator and to the irritation of the other employees, Bartleby performs fewer and fewer tasks around the office.

  Show book

• 

  Cane

  Jean Toomer

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Narrated by six-time Tony Award-winning actress Audra McDonald, Jean Toomer’s revolutionary masterpiece Cane is exemplary of the era we now know as the Harlem Renaissance, and has come to be considered one of the classic works of American literary modernism. A boldly experimental “novel” mixing prose, poetry, and dramatic sketches, the book’s hallmark is its formal sophistication; sexuality, racism, and industrialization are among its major themes. Above all else it offers unforgettably evocative portraits of the African American lives Toomer encountered in rural Georgia, by turns down-to-earth, heartfelt, hauntingly lyrical. 
   
  Cover illustrated by: Laylie Frazier 
  Laylie is a digital illustrator from Houston, Texas. She combines texture, color, and pattern to create warm and expressive portraits. She often pulls inspiration from nature, utilizing abstract plant, mountain, and sun motifs in her backgrounds. She is currently illustrating middle grade and YA covers for publishing as well as working in advertising.

  Show book

• 

  The Living Dead

  Seymour Le Moyne

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The bookshelves of American literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From this continent their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is the talent but obscure Seymour Le Moyne.

  Show book

• 

  Two Tales From Anton Chekhov

  Anton Chekhov

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (January 29, 1860 - July 15, 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who, though a doctor by profession, is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high-esteem by writers and critics. The following recording includes the short stories, "The Trousseau" and "Champagne (A Wayfarer's Story)."

  Show book