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  Anne's House of Dreams

  Lucy Maud Montgomery

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  "Anne's House of Dreams" is a delightful novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Published in 1917, it is the fifth book in the beloved "Anne of Green Gables" series. Let's step into the world of Anne Shirley once again:Anne's own true love, Gilbert Blythe, is finally a doctor, and in the sunshine of the old orchard, among their dearest friends, they are about to speak their vows. Soon the happy couple will be bound for a new life together and their own dream house, on the misty purple shores of Four Winds Harbor.

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  Chelkash by Maxim Gorky - A...

  Maxim Gorky

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  Alexei Maximovich Peshkov was born on 28th March 1868, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. 
   
  Better known as Maxim Gorky he was orphaned at 11 and ran away from home at 12.  At 19 he had already attempted suicide and thereafter travelled, by foot, across the Russian Empire for 5 years. 
   
  His first book ‘Essays & Stories’ in 1898 was a sensation and so began a long career as an author of short stories, novels and plays.  Gorky saw writing as a moral and political act that would help to change the unjust world around him.  He was an ardent early advocate of the emerging Marxist movement and publicly opposed the Tsarist regime leading several times to his arrest.  
   
  In 1904 he began his own theatre but the censor banned every play and Gorky was forced to abandon the project. 
   
  But Gorky was a financially successful author, editor, and playwright and gave monies to political parties as well as for civil rights and social reform.  The brutal shooting of workers, which set in motion the Revolution of 1905, pushed Gorky more decisively toward radical solutions.  
   
  In 1906 he went to the United States to raise funds for the Bolsheviks. Those experiences including a scandal over travelling with his lover and not his wife deepened his contempt for the ‘bourgeois soul.’ 
   
  Gorky now moved to Capri in Italy, both for health reasons and to escape the increasingly repressive times in Russia.  
   
  An amnesty for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty saw him return to Russia in 1914. His politics remained close to the Bolshevik cause.  But soon, after the 1918 revolution, his essays referred to Lenin as a tyrant for his senseless arrests and repression.  He was soon appealing to the outside world for food aid after the catastrophic crop failure. 
   
  In October 1921 Gorky returned to Italy, now in Fascist hands, and settled in Sorrento until 1932.  His health worsened with the onset of tuberculosis. 
   
  He wrote several successful books there but now decided to find an understanding with the communist regime. Stalin invited him home and his return was hailed as a major propaganda victory.  He was decorated with the Order of Lenin, and a province, a park, and various streets re-named in his honour. 
   
  But he had his faults too.  In 1933, Gorky co-edited a book on the White Sea-Baltic Canal and denied even a single prisoner died during its construction, but thousands had. As well, knowing that some Nazis were homosexual, a phrase was attributed to him that said ‘exterminate all homosexuals and fascism will vanish’.  Although he was himself was quoting another he was decidedly homophobic. 
   
  With the increase of Stalinist repression in 1935 Gorky was placed under unannounced house arrest. 
   
  Maxim Gorky died on the 18th June 1936 from pneumonia.  He was 68. 
   
  Stalin and Molotov were among those who carried Gorky's urn of ashes at his funeral.  
   
  In Gorky’s story, a thief, Chelkash, ensnares a young man into his scheme to steal silk from a ship.  When he then sells the stolen goods he is set upon by the young accomplice.  What happens then is as unexpected as it is remarkable.

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  The Picture of Dorian Gray

  Oscar Wilde

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  Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" immerses readers in a world where the pursuit of beauty and pleasure supersedes morality. The young, handsome Dorian Gray remains eternally youthful, while a portrait of him reflects his soul's decay, bearing the consequences of his hedonistic actions. As Dorian navigates high society with a sinister invulnerability, his external allure contrasts starkly with his internal corruption. A haunting and philosophical tale of vanity, obsession, and the dark depths of human nature.

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  The Adventure Of The Speckled band

  Arthur Conan Doyle

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  The Adventure Of The Speckled band is the eighth short story and tenth (after A Study in Scarlet and The Sign Of Four) Sherlock Holmes story by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the eighth story in the collection Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, it was published in Strand Magazine in February of 1892. The story tells of Helen Stoner, a soon to be married young woman who suspects her father may be trying to kill her in order to retain control of her inheritance. Convinced of her father's intentions, Helen turns to Holmes for help.Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson rise unusually early one morning to meet a young woman named Helen Stoner who fears that her life is being threatened by her stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott. Roylott is a doctor who practiced in Calcutta, India and was married to Helen's late mother when she was a widow living there. He is also the impoverished last survivor of what was once a wealthy but violent, ill-tempered and amoral Anglo-Saxon aristocratic family of Surrey, and has already served a jail sentence for killing his Indian butler in a rage.Helen's twin sister had died almost two years earlier, shortly before she was to be married. Helen had heard her sister's dying words, "The speckled band!" but was unable to decode their meaning. Helen herself, troubled by the perplexing death of her sister, is now engaged, and she has begun to hear strange noises and observe strange activities around Stoke Moran, the impoverished and heavily mortgaged estate where she and her stepfather live.Famous works of the author Arthur Conan Doyle's: "A Study in Scarlet", "Silver Blaze", "The Hound of the Baskervilles", "The Yellow Face", "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Red-Headed League", A Case of Identity", "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", "The Five Orange Pips", "The Man with the Twisted Lip", "The Blue Carbuncle", "The Speckled Band", "The Engineer's Thumb", "The Noble Bachelor", "The Beryl Coronet", "The Copper Beeches" and many more.

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  The Haunted Dolls' House and...

  M. R. James

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  This collection of three ghost stories, by master of the genre M. R. James, first appeared in "A Warning to the Curious" published in 1925. James wrote "The Haunted Dolls' House" in 1923 on a commission from Queen Mary who wanted miniature books from the most popular writers of the day to include in the library of her doll's house at Windsor Castle. Antique dealer Mr. Chittenden has an exquisite example of a doll's house in his shop. After a little haggling he manages to offload it onto one of his regular customers, a collector called Mr. Dillet. It becomes abundantly clear that Chittenden and his wife are all too glad to see the back of it, as whosoever owns the dolls' house is subject to supernatural visions every morning at one o'clock. Also included in this collection are "An Evening's Entertainment" and "A Neighbour's Landmark".

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  Temptation of Harringay The...

  H. G. Wells

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  Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography and autobiography. His work also included two books on recreational war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is often called the "father of science fiction", along with Jules Verne and the publisher Hugo Gernsback.
  THE TEMPTATION OF HARRINGAY: It is quite impossible to say whether this thing really happened. It depends entirely on the word of R.M. Harringay, who is an artist.

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