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  The Sphinx Without A Secret - An...

  Oscar Wilde

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  "The Sphinx Without a Secret" 
  An Etching by Oscar Wilde — Narrated by Stephen Byrne 
  In this exquisitely crafted tale of mystery and melancholy, Oscar Wilde draws us into the shadowed streets of Victorian London where secrets linger behind silk veils and whispered rumours. When Lord Murchison encounters the hauntingly beautiful Lady Alroy—a woman as enigmatic as a sphinx—he becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind her curious behaviour and frequent visits to a private lodging house. 
  But the deeper he digs, the more elusive the answer becomes. 
  Is Lady Alroy hiding a lover, or simply hiding herself? And what happens when the truth, once unearthed, leaves only a hollow echo in its place? 
  With Wilde’s trademark wit and tragic irony, The Sphinx Without a Secret is a meditation on love, illusion, and the terrible finality of truth.

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  White Fang

  Jack London

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  White Fang is a novel by American author Jack London and the name of the book's eponymous character, a wild wolfdog. First serialized in Outing magazine between May and October 1906, it was published in book form in October 1906. The story details White Fang's journey to domestication in Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush. It is a companion novel (and a thematic mirror) to London's best-known work, The Call of the Wild (1903), which is about a kidnapped, domesticated dog embracing his wild ancestry to survive and thrive in the wild. 
  Much of White Fang is written from the viewpoint of the titular canine character, enabling London to explore how animals view their world and how they view humans. White Fang examines the violent world of wild animals and the equally violent world of humans. The book also explores complex themes including morality and redemption.

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  The Sorrows of Young Werther

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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  The Sorrows of Young Werther is a classic novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1774. It tells the tragic story of Werther, a young man deeply in love with Charlotte, who is already engaged to another man. 
  Werther's passionate and introspective nature leads him to become increasingly isolated and consumed by his unrequited love. His emotional turmoil intensifies as he witnesses Charlotte's happiness with her fiancé. Struggling with despair and a sense of hopelessness, Werther ultimately makes a tragic decision. 
  The novel's exploration of romantic love, emotional intensity, and the complexities of human nature resonated deeply with readers of the time. It became a cultural sensation and is considered a seminal work of German literature.

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  Bliss

  Katherine Mansfield

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  "Bliss" is a modernist short story by Katherine Mansfield first published in 1918. It was published in the English Review in August 1918 and later reprinted in Bliss and Other Stories.
  The story follows a dinner party given by Bertha Young and her husband Harry.

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  The Scandal of Father Brown

  G. K. Chesterton

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  The Scandal of Father Brown was G.K. Chesterton's final set of Father Brown short stories. Also included in this collection is the short story "The Mask of Midas". 
  The enigmatic and diminutive priest continues to fathom the deepest of mysteries in a set of 11 fascinating stories which are set in such diverse locations as a Mexican Hotel, an English Seaside Pier, and an Oxford University Garden. Chesterton presents his humble and blinking detective as an almost childlike contrast to the bizarre and dark machinations of the fallen world. And yet Father Brown is far from a saintly figure; with his enjoyment of good wine and cigars, he is fully in the world but not of the world. Indeed, it is his accurate and insightful reading of Men and Women's souls that often lead him to understand their actions and motives. If any has taken to heart Christ's admonition to be as “wise as serpents and harmless as doves" it is Father Brown! 
  Head Stories Audio presents "The Scandal of Father Brown" :narrated by Simon Hester. With original music.

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  The Jew - Turgenev's...

  Ivan Turgenev

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  Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was born on 9th November 1818 in Oryol, Russia to parents from the nobility.  He and his two brothers were raised by their mother on the family estate.  Surrounded by foreign governesses he became fluent in French, German, and English.  Their father spent little time with them and this undoubtedly had an effect on him and his brothers.  When he was nine the family moved to Moscow to give their children a better education. 
   
  Turgenev studied for a year at the University of Moscow and then at the University of St Petersburg to study Classics, Russian literature, and philology.  During that time his father died from kidney stone disease.  In 1838 Turgenev studied philosophy and history at the University of Berlin for 3 years before returning to St Petersburg for his master's. 
   
  He started his career with the Russian Civil Service and it was only in 1852, after several earlier publications, that he made his name with his short story collection, ‘A Sportsman's Sketches’, based on his observations of peasant life and nature. 
    
  That same year he wrote an obituary for Nikolai Gogol: "Gogol is dead!... What Russian heart is not shaken by those three words?... He is gone, that man whom we now have the right (the bitter right, given to us by death) to call great."  The St Petersburg censor banned publication but the Moscow censor allowed it.  He was dismissed but Turgenev was held responsible and imprisoned for a month, and then exiled to his country estate.  
   
  Along with many other intellectuals Turgenev left Russia and settled in Paris in 1854.  During this period he wrote his finest stories and four novels.  
   
  Alexander II ascended the Russian throne in 1855, and the political climate relaxed.  Turgenev returned home.  
   
  ‘Fathers and Sons’, Turgenev's most famous and enduring novel, appeared in 1862. Its leading character is considered the first ‘Bolshevik’ in Russian literature. But the hostile reaction prompted Turgenev's decision to again leave Russia.  
   
  His health declined during his later years.  In January 1883, an aggressive malignant tumor was removed but by then it had metastasized in his upper spinal cord, causing him intense pain in his final few months of life.  
   
  Ivan Turgenev died on 3rd September 1883 of a spinal abscess, a complication of the metastatic liposarcoma, in his house near Paris.  He was buried in St Petersburg.  
   
  In ‘The Jew’ Turgenev explores a subject that is often treated abrasively by Russian authors.  In this heartbreaking tale an officer is begged by a Jew to help him.  He is even prepared to offer, with tragic consequences, a young girl as part of the bargain.

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