Other books that might interest you

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  Mydidae

  Jack Thorne

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  One bathroom. Two people. One day. A relationship witnessed in minute, devastating detail.
  A story of intimacy, fragility and the darker side of love, Jack Thorne's Mydidae exposes the private and disturbing moments a couple share, and explores what becomes of a relationship when it is held together not only by love, but by fear, guilt and despair.
  'A two-hander full of unexpected menace that probes and chips at its characters, peeling back layers of skin... a potent piece of writing' Exeunt Magazine
  'Like a punch in the gut... what makes all of this not only bearable but completely transfixing is the unmistakeable honesty of the writing' Whatsonstage.com

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  The Artist and the Beautiful -...

  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.  
   
  In his short story ‘The Artist of the Beautiful’ Hawthorne creates a work, now considered early science fiction, that weaves an unrequited life-long love with the creation of a beautiful miniature object that is both breath-taking and heart-breaking.

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  The Presence of Love

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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  Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan.  His critical work, especially on Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture. He coined many familiar words and phrases, including the celebrated suspension of disbelief. He was a major influence on Emerson, and American transcendentalism.Throughout his adult life, Coleridge suffered from crippling bouts of anxiety and depression; it has been speculated by some that he suffered from bipolar disorder, a condition not identified during his lifetime. Coleridge suffered from poor health that may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and other childhood illnesses. He was treated for these concerns with laudanum, which fostered a lifelong opium addiction. (Summary from Wikipedia)

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  Poems by Paul Verlaine

  Paul Verlaine

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  Alongside Baudelaire, Mallarmé, and Rimbaud, with whom he had a stormy relationship, Paul Verlaine is one of the most influential poets of the fin de siècle. He was one of the greatest representatives of the Decadent movement that began in the 1870s, and a leader of the Symbolists. His stylistic innovations brought a new musicality to French poetry; it was he who paved the way for modern poetry with its experiments in free verse and new techniques. Verlaine produced exquisitely crafted verse, conveying the strongest emotions and appetites. This translation by Gertrude Hall, herself a recognized poet, is one of the best rendering of Verlaine's work in English language.

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  Down the Bayou

  Mary Ashley Townsend

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  LibriVox volunteers bring you 12 recordings of Down the Bayou by Mary Ashley Townsend. This was the Weekly Poetry project for September 27th, 2009.

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  Signature

  Bob Davidson

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  Award-winning play Signature is a suspenseful thriller focusing on Fiona. She is hiding in a rented room in Cornwall after running away from the events that took place six weeks ago. Now that the government has found her and is in question, will we find out what caused the mysterious death of her husband, son, and sister-in-law? Why did she run? Who is to blame?

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