Other books that might interest you

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  Flowering of the Strange Orchid...

  H. G. Wells

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  A short story from the British Library Tales of the Weird collection Evil Roots. The Victorian era saw orchids become one of the most expensive and collectable plants, and this short story follows orchid collector Wedderburn, who gets more than he bargained for with his latest floral specimen.

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  In Search of Lost Time

  Marcel Proust

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  Unlock the Secrets of the Human Heart and the Architecture of Memory.
  
  Marcel Proust's monumental work is widely considered the greatest novel of the 20th century—a vast, shimmering tapestry of life in Belle Époque France. This is not merely a story, but a profound philosophical journey that explores how we experience time, how we love, and how the smallest sensory detail can unlock an entire forgotten world.
  
  Inside this definitive collection, you will discover:
  
  The Revolution of Involuntary Memory: Witness the birth of one of literature's most famous concepts—where a simple taste or scent acts as a key to the treasure house of the past.
  
  A Panorama of High Society: Experience a meticulous and often satirical look at the aristocrats, social climbers, and artists of Parisian salons, exploring the shifting boundaries of class and prestige.
  
  The Complexity of Desire: Dive into one of the most thorough investigations of love, jealousy, and obsession ever written, told with a psychological depth that remains unmatched.
  
  The Transfigurative Power of Art: Explore Proust's belief that life only truly finds its meaning and permanence when it is translated into the realm of art and literature.
  
  Proust's prose is famous for its winding, beautiful complexity, inviting the reader to slow down and notice the intricate beauty of a single moment. This collection is an essential cornerstone for any library of world literature, modernist thought, and philosophical fiction.
  
  Step into the flow of time. Buy "In Search of Lost Time" today and experience the ultimate achievement in literary history.

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  Babylon Revisited - Like his...

  F. Scott Fitzgerald

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  Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on 24th September 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota into an upper-middle class family. Whilst his mother was pregnant with him, his two young sisters tragically died.  Fitzgerald once said this was when his destiny as a writer was ordained. 
   
  His intelligence and talent was recognised from an early age, with his first story, about a detective being published in the school magazine when he was just 13.   
   
  In 1913 he enrolled at Princeton but his devotion to his own literary pursuits resulted in him leaving and, rather bizarrely, joining the Army.  In 1918, stationed at Fort Sheridan near Montgomery, Alabama he met and became infatuated and then inseparable from Zelda Sayre.  Initially though she refused to marry him but with the success of ‘This Side of Paradise’, the fame and the flow of money enabled them both to begin a gilded life.  For them this was The Jazz Age.  For Fitzgerald he was already an alcoholic. 
   
  He continued to write with great mastery and the titles of his novels and many of his 164 short stories are household names.  The Great Gatsby, often cited as The Great American Novel was published to mixed reviews.  As America moved from the Great Depression to the slaughter of the Second World War his works and himself were seen as far too entwined with the decadent twenties. The world had moved on and he hadn’t.   
   
  Further tragedy was never far from his life. Zelda after years of erratic and now intolerable behaviour was committed to an institution in 1936.  His own sales began to decline and he became a hack for hire in Hollywood, dependent on increasing amounts of booze and the weekly pay check.  His drunken state had often resulted in arrest or hospitalisation, further imperiling his talents.   Despite his contribution to many MGM films he received only one credit. 
   
  The end came all too soon for one of America’s greatest ever writers.  On 21st December 1940, at only 44 years of age in Hollywood, F Scott Fitzgerald succumbed to a heart attack. 
   
  In this bittersweet story of a man who enjoyed the boom years of la dolce vita and now, in more straitened times, is unable to get what he really wants; the custody of his daughter.  He returns to Paris to meet the ghosts of those good times and to make amends for his past.

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  David Swan - From their pens to...

  Nathaniel Hawthorne

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  Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on 4th July 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, a town synonymous with the earlier Salem Witch Trials. It was instrumental in Hawthorne’s later use of American Gothic and dark romanticism in his writing. 
  He was a mere four years old when his father died and his mother took him and his two sisters to live with her family and then on to their own home in Raymond, Maine. The young Hawthorne had a passion for fiction and poetry and voraciously read the works of Ann Radcliffe, Henry Fielding and Lord Byron.  
  He was sent to college at his maternal uncle’s insistence. During these years he met and befriended Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future U S president Franklin Pierce. These friendships were lifelong and to have a crucial impact on his writings and career.  
  At college Hawthorne had made attempts at writing short stories and essays but without opportunities to publish. It was only in 1828 that he finally published his novel ‘Franshawe’ to little success and so he began work as editor for the American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge.  
  Hawthorne’s short stories were first published in magazines but in 1837 were collected and published as ‘Twice-Told Tales’. A steady literary career still did not come his way and so he worked in a good position at Salem’s port and married the love of his life Sophia Peabody. They moved to live in ‘The Old Manse’ at Concord, Massachusetts.   
  Finally. in 1850 came spectacular literary and commercial success with ‘The Scarlet Letter’ followed by ‘The House of the Seven Gables’ the following year.  
  In 1852, Hawthorne published a biography of presidential candidate Franklin Pierce. After Pierce’s victory he was appointed consul in Liverpool, a position that offered prestige, money and fame. At the end of this appointment he returned several times to Europe before settling in Massachusetts and resuming writing and publication. 
  During the early 1860’s his health declined and on 19th May 1864 during a trip to Plymouth, New Hampshire. He was 59 and was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.

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  Meditation - Sounds of...

  H. G. Wells

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  Meditation: Sounds of Thunderstorms – The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
   
  A Journey Through Time, Set to the Rhythm of the Storm
   
  Travel through the ages with a soundscape designed to transport your mind and soothe your senses. Meditation: Sounds of Thunderstorms – The Time Machine brings H.G. Wells’ groundbreaking science fiction tale to life with the added ambiance of rolling thunder and gentle rain.
   
  This immersive audio experience pairs a full reading of the classic novel with the calming, atmospheric presence of a thunderstorm—perfect for nighttime listening, meditative focus, or quiet moments of reflection.
   
  Follow the Time Traveller across millennia, from the distant future to the strange and forgotten ruins of civilization—all while surrounded by the relaxing sound of nature’s storm.
   
  
   
  •	A timeless science fiction adventure read with clarity and feeling
   
  •	Thunderstorm effects create a meditative, immersive atmosphere
   
  •	Ideal for relaxation, study, or introspective listening
   
  •	A unique blend of classic literature and mindful sound design

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  Ben Hur A Tale Of The Christ -...

  Lew Wallace

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  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.

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