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  Valentyna: The Foreign Connection

  Thomas Colburn

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  In this third book of the Maria series, young attorney Luke Smith enlists the help of Maria, now 16, to find his ex-fiancée Becca and her baby daughter who he thinks may be his. Mother and daughter are in the Philippines with the rogue federal agent Brent Danes, the man who broke up Luke's engagement to Becca through a series of missteps and accidental encounters. 
  Are Brent and Becca now together, together, or are they just two friends with big troubles helping each other out? Maria arranges a missionary trip to Manila to give Luke cover to travel discreetly. Luke needs to find Becca without outing Danes' location to the authorities. 
  Luke's hunt for his ex-fiancée and possible daughter begin to merge with events of the missionary trip raising the stakes for several of the players. Can Luke stay out of the crosshairs of the feds looking to catch Danes, while at the same time not break Becca's rules that he must follow if he wants to meet his possible child? 
  Meanwhile, Brent Danes needs to walk the tightrope of working with a Russian operative who is his current benefactor, without being forced to work for him. 
  If you've read books one and two, The Timing of Maria and The Gone Side of the Fence, this third installment will bring the excitement and suspense to even greater levels. Valentyna: The Foreign Connection, is also a thrilling stand-alone book.

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  Heroic Stanzas - The Age of...

  John Dryden

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  John Dryden was born on August 9th, 1631 in the village rectory of Aldwincle near Thrapston in Northamptonshire. As a boy Dryden lived in the nearby village of Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire. In 1644 he was sent to Westminster School as a King's Scholar.  
  Dryden obtained his BA in 1654, graduating top of the list for Trinity College, Cambridge that year.  
  Returning to London during The Protectorate, Dryden now obtained work with Cromwell's Secretary of State, John Thurloe. 
   At Cromwell's funeral on 23 November 1658 Dryden was in the company of the Puritan poets John Milton and Andrew Marvell.  The setting was to be a sea change in English history. From Republic to Monarchy and from one set of lauded poets to what would soon become the Age of Dryden. 
  The start began later that year when Dryden published the first of his great poems, Heroic Stanzas (1658), a eulogy on Cromwell's death.  
  With the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 Dryden celebrated in verse with Astraea Redux, an authentic royalist panegyric. 
   With the re-opening of the theatres after the Puritan ban, Dryden began to also write plays. His first play, The Wild Gallant, appeared in 1663 but was not successful. From 1668 on he was contracted to produce three plays a year for the King's Company, in which he became a shareholder. During the 1660s and '70s, theatrical writing was his main source of income.  
  In 1667, he published Annus Mirabilis, a lengthy historical poem which described the English defeat of the Dutch naval fleet and the Great Fire of London in 1666. It established him as the pre-eminent poet of his generation, and was crucial in his attaining the posts of Poet Laureate (1668) and then historiographer royal (1670). 
  This was truly the Age of Dryden, he was the foremost English Literary figure in Poetry, Plays, translations and other forms. 
  In 1694 he began work on what would be his most ambitious and defining work as translator, The Works of Virgil (1697), which was published by subscription. It was a national event.  
  John Dryden died on May 12th, 1700, and was initially buried in St. Anne's cemetery in Soho, before being exhumed and reburied in Westminster Abbey ten days later.

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  Ordinary Beast - Poems

  Nicole Sealey

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  ONE OF PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'S TOP 10 POETRY BOOKS OF FALL 2017 
  NPR'S MOST ANTICIPATED POETRY BOOKS OF 2017 
   
  A striking, full-length debut collection from Virgin Islands-born poet Nicole Sealey 
  The existential magnitude, deep intellect, and playful subversion of St. Thomas-born, Florida-raised poet Nicole Sealey’s work is restless in its empathic, succinct examination and lucid awareness of what it means to be human. 
  The ranging scope of inquiry undertaken in Ordinary Beast—at times philosophical, emotional, and experiential—is evident in each thrilling twist of image by the poet. In brilliant, often ironic lines that move from meditation to matter of fact in a single beat, Sealey’s voice is always awake to the natural world, to the pain and punishment of existence, to the origins and demises of humanity. Exploring notions of race, sexuality, gender, myth, history, and embodiment with profound understanding, Sealey’s is a poetry that refuses to turn a blind eye or deny. It is a poetry of daunting knowledge.  
  Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

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  The Rainbow and the Rose

  Edith Nesbit

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  Although Edith Nesbit is best known for her innovative children's books and classic ghost stories, her passion was poetry. She published over 20 volumes of poetry during her lifetime. Her timeless poetry was praised by authors and poets such as Algernon Swinburne, Oscar Wilde, and literary critic, Andrew Lang. 
  Part I: The Things That Matter; The Confession; Work; The Jilted Lover; The Will to Live; and The Beatific Vision. 
  Part II: Mummy Wheat; The Beech Tree; In Absence; Silence; Raison d'être; The Onlookers; The Tree of Knowledge; At Parting; Song; and Renunciation. 
  Part III: The Veil of Maya; Song; To Vera; The Poet to His Love; The Maiden's Prayer; Song; The Magic Flower; La Derniere Rose de Soie; The Least Possible; En Tout Cas; Appeal; St. Valentine's Day; Chagrin d'Amour; Bridal Eve; Love and Life; and From the Italian. 
  Part IV: Out of the Fulness of the Heart; Summer Song; The Lower Room; Song; and May Song. 
  Part V: To Iris; To a Child; Birthday Talk for a Child; To Rosamund; From the Tuscan; and Mother Song, from the Portuguese. 
  Part VI: The Island; Possession; Accession; The Destroyer; The Egoists; The Way of Love; To One Who Pleaded for Candour in Love; The Enchanted Garden; The Poor Man's Guest; In the Shallows; And the Rains Descended and the Floods Came; and The Star. 
  Part VII: The Prodigal Son; Despair; The Temptation; Second Nature; and De Profunis. 
  Part VIII: At the Gate; Via Amores; Retro Sathanas; The Old Dispensation; The New Dispensation; and The Three Kings. 
  Part IX: After Death; Chloe; Invocation; The Last Betrayal; A Prayer for the King's Majesty; True Love and New Love; Death; In Memory of Saretta Deakin; and A Parting. 
  copyright 2022 (P) alenbeebooks 
  AnnaLisa Bodtker is the narrator of the popular audiobook Flame and Shadow by Sara Teasdale and Christmas in the Forest.

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  Love's Labour's Lost

  William Shakespeare

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  King Ferdinand and his three friends, Biron, Longaville, and Dumain, plan to study philosophy for the next three years. During their academic pursuits, they must vow to sleep only three hours a night and not let any woman within a mile of court. These strict rules will prevent any distractions from their work - but their promises are soon put to the test when a princess and her three companions arrive for a state visit.

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  The Narrative Poetry - Listen to...

  William Shakespeare

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  Despite William Shakespeare being regarded as the most significant figure in the Western literary canon, relatively little is known about his early life and his later ‘lost years’.  Even the exact date of his birth is uncertain. 23rd April generally accepted to be the date of his birth, could be a scholarly mistake amplified by the coincidence of it also being the date of his death.  
   
  What is known for certain is that Shakespeare was born to middle class, but probably illiterate parents, John and Mary, in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1565 and baptised there on the 26th April.  He was the third of eight children and the first and eldest surviving son of the remaining five.  
   
  It’s assumed he attended, King’s New School the nearby grammar school, but no records from the time still exist.  However, information on the standardised curriculum that did exist, introduced the young Shakespeare to the disciplines of mathematics, Greek, law, classical history and Latin which greatly influenced his writing. 
   
  At 18, in some haste, he married Anne Hathaway, his senior by 8 years and pregnant with their first child Susanna who was to be followed by the twins, Hamnet and Judith.   Little else is known until in 1590 Shakespeare probably comes to London as by 1592 he becomes relatively well known – first as an actor and then, of course, as a playwright despite some early criticism for having a writing style of his better educated contemporaries and not of his own lower status.  
   
  His iconic status now spans global literature and stems directly from the magnitude of his plays, both tragedies and comedies, and his poetry which is often cited as some of the greatest love poetry ever written.  His legacy endures despite the passing of centuries. 
   
  William Shakespeare died at Stratford-upon-Avon on the April 23rd, 1616.  He was 52. 
   
  01 - The Narrative Poetry of William Shakespeare - An Introduction 
  02 - Venus and Adonis - Part 1 by William Shakespeare 
  03 - Venus and Adonis - Part 2 by William Shakespeare 
  04 - A Lovers Complaint by William Shakespeare

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