Other books that might interest you

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  Les Misérables: Volume 4: The...

  Victor Hugo

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  Victor-Marie Hugo (26 February 1802 - 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote abundantly in an exceptional variety of genres: lyrics, satires, epics, philosophical poems, epigrams, novels, history, critical essays, political speeches, funeral orations, diaries, and letters public and private, as well as dramas in verse and prose.
  BOOK 6: LITTLE GAVROCHE: Since 1823, when the tavern of Montfermeil was on the way to shipwreck and was being gradually engulfed, not in the abyss of a bankruptcy, but in the cesspool of petty debts, the Thénardier pair had had two other children; both males. That made five; two girls and three boys.

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  The Adventures of Captain Hatteras

  Jules Verne

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  An explorer obsessed with reaching the North Pole undertakes a harrowing expedition in this classic novel of adventure and survival in the Arctic.Capt. John Hatteras will stop at nothing to reach the North Pole. After having a steamship built for the purpose, he embarks for terra incognita. But when he encounters a frozen sea, mutiny and shipwreck leave Hatteras and his remaining crew stranded on an island in the harsh Arctic winter. Even in the face of death by starvation or polar bear attack, Hatteras knows that the sea must eventually thaw, opening a path to incredible discovery. First published in 1864, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras was written in two parts: The English at the North Pole and The Desert of Ice. It was later included in Jules Verne’s Extraordinary Voyages series, alongside Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days, and many others.

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  Lafcadio Hearn - A Short Story...

  Lafcadio Hearn

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  Lafcadio Hearn was born on the 27th June 1850 on the Ionian isle of Levkás in Greece to a British Army officer and a Greek Mother. 
   
  His father, fearing for his career prospects at being married to a Greek Orthodox wife, sent them to Dublin whilst he continued to advance his career with further postings.  Life there was difficult for mother and son.  His father returned, wounded and traumatised, when Lafcadio was three.  He annulled the marriage and she remarried but had to give up care of Lafcadio to her sister-in law.   
   
  After brief periods for Catholic education in England and France he emigrated to Ohio in the United States when he was 19, taking on a series of casual jobs before embarking on a career as a journalist, publishing poems and essays in Cincinnati.  It was whilst here that he began a side-line in translating, starting with Gautier and Flaubert.  He married in 1874 to a 20 year old African-American woman in violation of Ohio's anti-miscegenation law.  The marriage soon failed. 
   
  In 1877 he relocated to New Orleans to write on a variety of themes before picking up a two year assignment from Harper’s to write in the West Indies, where he also wrote his first novel. 
   
  In 1890 Harper’s sent him to Japan.  Here he left journalism and took the remarkable decision to become a schoolteacher in the north of Japan.   Enraptured by the culture he was driven to explain it in various Western publications to those who had little, if any, knowledge of its culture.  Within the year he had fallen in love with, and married, a high-born Japanese lady, together they would have four children.   
   
  In 1895 he became a Japanese national and took the name Koizumi Yakumo, Koizumi being his wife’s family name. 
   
  The following few years, whilst a professor of Literature at the Imperial University of Japan, were his most creative and admired period.   
   
  Lafcadio Hearn died of heart failure on the 26th of September 1904, in Tokyo, Japan shortly before leaving to deliver a series of lectures at Cornell University in New York State.  He was 54. 
   
  1 - Lafcadio Hearn - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  2 - A Dead Secret by Lafcadio Hearn 
  3 - Before the Supreme Court by Lafcadio Hearn 
  4 - Diplomacy by Lafcadio Hearn 
  5 - L'Amour Apres La Mort by Lafcadio Hearn 
  6 - Of A Promise Broken by Lafcadio Hearn 
  7 - Stranger Than Fiction by Lafcadio Hearn 
  8 - The Corpse Rider by Lafcadio Hearn 
  9 - The Ghostly Kiss by Lafcadio Hearn 
  10 - The Undying One by Lafcadio Hearn 
  11 - The Vision of the Dead Creole by Lafcadio Hearn

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  The Lonely God - A Short Story

  Agatha Christie

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  In the quiet halls of the British Museum, a forgotten stone idol sits unnoticed on a high shelf—its features eroded by time, its purpose long-lost. But for Frank Oliver, a lonely man recently returned to England, the little god becomes something more: a symbol of connection in a world that has passed him by. 
  When Frank notices a young woman visiting the same statue, day after day, something begins to shift. In their quiet devotion to a nameless figure, two strangers begin to find the possibility of something else—companionship, perhaps even love. 
  Agatha Christie’s The Lonely God is a tender and thoughtful departure from her usual crime stories. In this short tale, she explores isolation, identity, and unexpected human connection with quiet grace. 
  Perfect for fans of classic literature, character-driven stories, and emotional fiction with a hint of mystery.

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  The Outsider

  H. P. Lovecraft

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  Title: The Outsider 
  Author: H. P. Lovecraft 
  Narrator: Jonathan Dunne 
  Original Publication: 1926 
  Public Domain: Yes 
  Series Placement: Number 3 in the Timeless Terrors series 
  Description: 
  The Outsider by H. P. Lovecraft is a haunting short story that delves into themes of isolation, identity, and horror. First published in 1926 in Weird Tales, it follows a mysterious narrator who has spent his life in darkness, trapped within a desolate castle. Longing for freedom and connection, he ventures into the outside world—only to make a dreadful discovery about himself that forever alters his existence. 
  This recording is narrated by Amazon bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, capturing Lovecraft’s eerie atmosphere and the story’s descent into gothic terror. While the text is in the public domain, this performance is an original work and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne. 
  Listeners should expect an unsettling, unforgettable tale that remains one of Lovecraft’s most powerful meditations on loneliness, monstrosity, and the search for belonging.

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  The Picture of Dorian Gray

  Oscar Wilde

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  Step into a world of dazzling beauty, dark secrets, and moral ambiguity with The Picture of Dorian Gray, a timeless classic by Oscar Wilde. This haunting tale weaves the story of a young, strikingly handsome man who falls under the influence of two powerful forces: an enchanting portrait that mysteriously reflects the decay of his soul, and the corrupting philosophy of a hedonistic mentor.
   
  As Dorian Gray embarks on a reckless pursuit of pleasure, his decisions reveal the chilling consequences of vanity, indulgence, and the price of living without accountability. The novel’s themes of art, morality, and the nature of influence are as relevant today as when Wilde penned them, challenging listeners to question the boundaries of ethics and the essence of beauty.
   
  This audiobook, narrated with precision and passion, captures Wilde's sharp wit, poetic language, and profound exploration of human flaws. Perfect for lovers of Gothic fiction and philosophical drama, The Picture of Dorian Gray invites you to explore the shadows of the human psyche in a story that is as mesmerizing as it is unsettling.
   
  Prepare to be captivated by a tale where every word is a brushstroke, painting a vivid picture of a man who dares to defy time, consequence, and conscience.

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