The Eighth Day - A Novel

Thornton Wilder

Sinossi

Thornton Wilder’s renowned 1967 National Book Award–winning novel features a foreword by John Updike and an afterword by Tappan Wilder, who draws on such unique sources as Wilder’s unpublished letters, handwritten annotations in the margins of the book, and other illuminating documentary material. 
In 1962 and 1963, Thornton Wilder spent twenty months in hibernation, away from family and friends, in the town of Douglas, Arizona. While there, he launched The Eighth Day, a tale set in a mining town in southern Illinois about two families blasted apart by the apparent murder of one father by the other. The miraculous escape of the accused killer, John Ashley, on the eve of his execution and his flight to freedom triggers a powerful story tracing the fate of his and the victim’s wife and children. 
At once a murder mystery and a philosophical story, The Eighth Day is a “suspenseful and deeply moving” (New York Times) work of classic stature that has been hailed as a great American epic.

Disponibile da: 25/02/2015.

Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

The Open Boat

Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane (1871-1900) was a prolific American poet, novelist and short story writer. He is recognised by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation. 'The Open Boat' is probably Stephen Crane's best known and most admired story. It tells the adventure of four sailors, the captain, the oiler, the cook and the correspondent, who are sole survivors of a shipwreck at sea in a small rowing boat off the coast of Florida.The camaraderie of the four, juxtaposed against the individual struggles which each has with his own mortality and the complete indifference in which the universe holds their fate, creates an atmosphere and dramatic tension as they face their last battle for life.

Mostra libro

The Curious Circumstances of the...

Ernest Bramah

Ernest Bramah (1868-1942) was an English author of 21 novels and numerous short stories and features. His humorous works have been ranked with Jerome K. Jerome and W. W. Jacobs, his detective stories with Conan Doyle, his politico-science fiction with H. G. Wells, and his supernatural stories with Algernon Blackwood. 
In his stories of detection, Bramah hit on the idea of a blind detective, Max Carrados, whose triumphs are all the more amazing because of his disability. 
In this story Max Carrados solves a particularly peculiar case involving a burglary and a very peculiar pair of ladies' shoes.

Mostra libro

Haunted House The (Unabridged)

Charles Dickens

"The Haunted House" is a story series published in 1859 for the weekly periodical All the Year Round. It was "Conducted by Charles Dickens", with Charles Dickens writing the opening and closing stories, framing stories by Dickens himself and five other authors.The story appeared in the Extra Christmas Number on 13 December 1859. Dickens began a tradition of Christmas publications with A Christmas Carol in 1843 and his Christmas stories soon became a national institution. The Haunted House was his 1859 offering.In Dickens's opening story, The Mortals in the House, the narrator's ("John") health "required a temporary residence in the country." Knowing this, a friend of the narrator had chanced to drive by the house-situated close to a railroad stop mid-way between Northern England and London-and had written to the narrator suggesting he travel down from the North and look the place over. It was a large mid-eighteenth-century manor house on two square acres with a "sadly neglected garden," recently cheaply repaired, and "much too closely and heavily shadowed by trees." The house itself is "stiff ... cold ... [and] formal" and "in as bad taste, as could possibly be desired by the most loyal admirer of the whole quartet of [King] Georges." It was "ill-placed, ill-built, ill-planned, and ill-fitted." It was "damp ... not free from dry rot" and redolent with the "flavour of rats."

Mostra libro

Pride & Prejudice

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice is a masterpiece of wit and perception, ridiculing the superficial manners of Jane Austen’s time. But it is more than just social satire.  Notice, in particular, how the author’s close attention to detail makes the events and characters so true to life. Above all, enjoy the story – its sheer narrative force and humour – and enter a world of snobbery, romance and uncertainty, in which people behave casually, indifferently or even cruelly – in short just like people behave everywhere in the world today.

Mostra libro

Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoevsky

First published in 1880, "The Brothers Karamazov" is a philosophical novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. The story revolves around the morally complex Karamazov family: Fyodor, the debauched father, and his three sons—Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha. The novel delves deep into themes like faith, doubt, morality, and the complexities of human nature. Through a blend of narrative styles, including dialogues, monologues, and essays, the book grapples with existential and spiritual questions.

Mostra libro

The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allen Poe

A point of view of the proceeding madness of a friend. The mind ponders the possibility of madness and redemption upon the eve of ones family name. Usher shall be no more!

Mostra libro