Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself - From...

  Radclyffe Hall

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  The bookshelves of British literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From these Isles their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is Radclyffe Hall, who wrote several classic novels, poems and was a leading social activist for women's rights.

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  The House of the Seven Gables

  Nathaniel Hawthorne

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  The House of the Seven Gables is one of Nathaniel Hawthorne's most enduring and atmospheric novels, blending Gothic mystery, family drama, and moral reflection into a powerful exploration of the past's hold over the present. Set in a decaying New England mansion steeped in ancestral sin, the novel examines how guilt, greed, and injustice can echo across generations.
  
  At the center of the story is the Pyncheon family, whose ancestral home—the House of the Seven Gables—stands as a symbol of both wealth and corruption. Built on land wrongfully taken, the house is haunted not by ghosts alone but by the moral consequences of past crimes. Hepzibah Pyncheon, a reclusive and impoverished descendant, struggles to preserve dignity and survival, while the arrival of her gentle cousin Phoebe brings warmth and hope into the gloomy household. Their lives become entangled with the sinister Judge Pyncheon and the mysterious Holgrave, whose presence challenges the family's dark legacy.
  
  Hawthorne masterfully weaves symbolism and psychological insight throughout the novel, exploring themes of inherited guilt, revenge, social class, and the possibility of moral renewal. The contrast between decay and regeneration, shadow and light, reflects Hawthorne's belief that while the past exerts powerful influence, individuals are not entirely bound by it.
  
  Rich in Gothic atmosphere and philosophical depth, The House of the Seven Gables stands alongside The Scarlet Letter as a cornerstone of American literature. Its evocative setting, memorable characters, and moral complexity continue to resonate with readers across generations.
  
  The House of the Seven Gables is an essential classic for readers who appreciate literary fiction, Gothic romance, and profound reflections on history, justice, and the enduring struggle between sin and redemption.

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  The Shot - From their pens to...

  Alexander Puskin

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  Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was born on 26th May 1799 in Moscow into a family of Russian nobility. 
  Raised by nursemaids and French tutors in French he learnt Russian only via the household staff. 
  He graduated from the prestigious Imperial Lyceum, near St Petersburg and plunged into the vibrant and raucous intellectual youth culture of what was then the capital of the Russian Empire.  
  In 1820, he published his first long poem, ‘Ruslan and Ludmila’, with much controversy about both subject and style.  Pushkin was heavily influenced by the French Enlightenment and gravitated, with other literary radicals, towards social reform angering the Government. 
  His early literary work and reputation was poetic and written as he travelled around the Empire or engaged himself in various rebellions against the Ottoman Empire.  A clash with his own government after his poem, ‘Ode to Liberty’, was found among the belongings of the Decembrist Uprising rebels meant two years of internal exile at his mother's rural estate.  His friends and family continually petitioned for his release, sending letters and meeting with Tsar Alexander I and then Tsar Nicholas I.   
  In 1825, whilst at his Mother’s estate, Pushkin wrote his most famous play, the drama ‘Boris Godunov’.  
  Upon meeting with Tsar Nicholas I, Pushkin obtained his release and began work as the Tsar's Titular Counsel of the National Archives.  However, because of the earlier problems the tsar retained control of everything Pushkin published, and he was banned from travelling at will. 
  Around 1828, Pushkin met the 16-year-old Natalia Goncharova, one of the most talked-about beauties of Moscow.  After much hesitation, Natalia accepted his marriage proposal after she received assurances that the government had no intentions to persecute the libertarian poet.  When the Tsar gave Pushkin the lowest court title, Gentleman of the Chamber, he became enraged, feeling that the Tsar intended to humiliate him. 
  In the year 1831, during Pushkin's growing literary influence, he met Nikolai Gogol.  Recognising his gifts Pushkin supported him and published his short stories in his own magazine ‘The Contemporary’. 
  By the autumn of 1836, Pushkin was falling into greater and greater debt and facing scandalous rumours that his wife was having an affair.  
  In January 1837, Pushkin sent a ‘highly insulting letter’ to his wife’s pursuer, Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès.  The only answer could be a challenge to a duel. 
  It took place on 27th January.  D'Anthès fired first, critically wounding Pushkin; the bullet entered at his hip and penetrated his abdomen.  Two days later Alexander Pushkin died of peritonitis.  He was 37.

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  Washington Square

  Henry James

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  "Washington Square" by Henry James delves into the quiet yet intense world of Catherine Sloper, a plain but tender-hearted young woman living under the shadow of her domineering father, Dr. Austin Sloper, in 19th-century New York. When the charming but fortune-seeking Morris Townsend courts her, Catherine's hopes for love clash with her father's stern disapproval. Through keen social observation and psychological depth, James unravels a poignant tale of love, deception, and self-discovery in the heart of Washington Square.

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  Many Waters Cannot Quench Love -...

  Louisa Baldwin

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  Louisa MacDonald was born in 1845, one of eleven children of part Scottish descent.  Together with three of her sisters they were known as the ‘MacDonald sisters’ primarily because of their marriages to well-known men.   
  In 1866 she married the wealthy industrialist Alfred Baldwin in a double wedding with her sister Anne.   
  After giving birth to Stanley on the 3rd August 1867, who would go on to become Prime Minister, she drifted into an unhappy life in her then residence in Worcestershire.  She had at least one miscarriage and days alone depressed and in darkness. 
  During the 1870’s the couple travelled to find a lasting cure and tried a variety of treatments which led to her recovery in 1883.  She now became a leading figure in her local village of Wilden, near Stourbridge. 
  Her writing career of novels, short stories and poetry is often overlooked, as was the case with so many women, yet her works reveal many talents and a gift for melding odd and weird circumstances into seemingly everyday life.   
  Louisa Baldwin died in 1925.

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  The Mark on the Wall

  Virginia Woolf

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  The narrator notices a mark on the wall, and there starts his monologue on religion, self-reflection, nature, and uncertainties of life.

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