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  Two Little Soldiers - From their...

  Guy de Maupassant

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  Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5th, 1850 near Dieppe in France.  
  Maupassant’s early life was badly torn when at age 11 (his younger brother Hervé was then five) his mother, Laure, a headstrong and independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace in order to obtain a legal separation from her husband. 
  After the separation, Laure kept custody of her two boys. With the father now forcibly absent, Laure became the most influential and important figure in the young boy's life.   
  Maupassant’s education was such that he rebelled against religion and other societal norms but a developing friendship with Gustave Flaubert began to turn his mind towards creativity and writing. 
  After graduation he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian war. With its end he moved to Paris to work as a clerk in the Navy Department.  Gustave Flaubert now took him under his wing.  Acting as a literary guardian to him, he guided the eager Maupassant to debuts in journalism and literature.  For Maupassant these were exciting times and the awakening of his creative talents and ambitions. 
  In 1880 he published what is considered his first great work, ‘Boule de Suif’, (translated as as ‘Dumpling’, ‘Butterball’, ‘Ball of Fat’, or ‘Ball of Lard’) which met with a success that was both instant and overwhelming.  Flaubert at once acknowledged that it was ‘a masterpiece that will endure.’ Maupassant had used his talents and experiences in the war to create something unique.  
  This decade from 1880 to 1891 was to be the most pivotal of his career.  With an audience now made available by the success of ‘Boule de Suif’ Maupassant organised himself to work methodically and relentlessly to produce between two and four volumes of work a year.  The melding of his talents and business sense and the continual hunger of sources for his works made him wealthy. 
  In his later years he developed a desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death as well as a paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth.  
  On January 2nd, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat.  Unsuccessful he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris.  It was here on July 6th, 1893 that Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant died at the age of only 42.

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  The Old Man and The Sea

  Ernest Hemingway

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  "The Old Man and the Sea" is one of Ernest Hemingway's most enduring works, earning him the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 and contributing to his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. The novella tells the tale of Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman who has not caught a fish for 84 days. In his relentless pursuit of a great marlin, Santiago embarks on a solitary journey that becomes as much about his internal struggle and resilience as it is about the physical battle with the fish. The narrative delves into themes of man versus nature, pride, aging, and the eternal struggle for personal triumph against odds.

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  Obtaining Supplies - From their...

  Louisa May Alcott

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  Louisa May Alcott was born on 29th November 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. 
  She is most definitely a writer of her own experiences.  Her father was a transcendentalist, philosopher and educational experimenter who founded, Fruitlands, a utopian community. Although poor, her liberal and progressive parents provided Louisa with much of her education, which was enhanced by many family friends that included Thoreau, Hawthorne and Emerson, a neighbour whose library she was often found reading in.    
  She started writing stories as a way of providing the family with some financial stability. Times were difficult and the effects of poverty were always close at hand.  During the Civil War she went to Washington to be a nurse and became ill with typhoid fever although she continued to write and build her success.  However, the treatment for typhus gave her mercury poisoning which caused further health issues for the rest of her life and eventually contributed to her death.   
  Alcott visited her father on his deathbed in Boston. Two days later on 6th March 1888 she also died resulting in a joint funeral.

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  Splinter & Shard - Stories

  Lulu Keating

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  A smashing debut collection from award-winning filmmaker Lulu Keating
  		 
  Splinter & Shard is the debut story collection by acclaimed filmmaker-turned-writer Lulu Keating. Vivid and precise, the stories in this collection offer an uncompromising journey into what it means to be human.
  		 
  Keating catches her characters at their pivotal moments of discovery, self-reckoning, and change. A dutiful mother of grown children learns a life-shattering secret about two of her children that upends her life. A macho man in mid-life must reconcile himself to his new role as a cosmetics consultant. A young woman, pregnant and unhappy, travels to the Yukon to bury her husband. An old woman turns away from her family to bond with the convicts of the small jail next door. An orphaned girl stumbles onto an unexpected connection with a stranger.
  		 
  In these stories, flaws and strengths are writ large as characters fumble toward redemption.
  		 
  From flash fiction to deep-dive character studies, Splinter & Shard turns over the rocks of everyday experience to reveal the psychological and philosophical truths underneath. The stories range back and forth in time, from Nova Scotia to the Yukon (with a side trip to Florida), and explore universal themes — loss, infidelity, faith, mortality, and love.

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  Classic Science Fiction Short...

  Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury,...

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  Step into the golden age of imagination with Classic Science Fiction Short Stories, a powerful collection of visionary tales from the masters who defined the genre. Featuring works by Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Andre Norton, and E. E. Smith, this anthology explores humanity’s future, the limits of technology, distant worlds, and the nature of reality itself. From sweeping space opera and hard science speculation to philosophical mind-benders and haunting visions of tomorrow, each story delivers timeless ideas that still resonate today. Perfect for longtime science fiction fans and new readers alike, this collection is an essential journey into the origins of modern sci-fi storytelling.

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  Another Freak - From their pens...

  Mary Angela Dickens

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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 Mary Angela Dickens.

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