Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  The Seven Dials Mystery

  Agatha Christie

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  From the Queen of Crime, a Golden Age detective mystery featuring friends sharing a country house and the practical joke that becomes a heinous crime. During a weekend party at The Chimneys, a historic English country house, a group of friends decide to play a prank on a friend infamous for oversleeping. Only the eight alarm clocks they set up in his room don't wake him up and, in the morning, they discover Gerald isn't just dead asleep. He's dead. Was it an overdose of the sleeping draught beside his bed? Or is there a murderer afoot? Led by Lady Eileen Brent, the houseguests investigate. But their efforts have them stumbling on a spy plot. What sort of killer are they after? And will they find him before he strikes again?

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  The Lost Reflection - From their...

  E T A Hoffmann

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  Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffman was born on the 24th January 1776, the youngest of three children, in Königsberg, then in Prussia but now part of the Kaliningrad Russian enclave. 
  His parents separated when he was two and for many years life was to be provincial and, despite his talents for the creative arts and the classics, much was passing him by. 
  At 20 Hoffman obtained employment as a clerk and to the art that now surrounded him.  Two years later he was in Berlin attempting a career as a composer with an operetta called ‘Die Maske’.  His gift for drawing caricatures and sharing them often got him into trouble that was easier to avoid. 
  The years of Napoleon ravaging Europe were bad for Hoffman; he moved often and took on works as varied as theatre management and music critic.  In this his talents were now more evident.  His works on Beethoven where highly regarded by the master himself. 
  His literary breakthrough came in 1809, with ‘Ritter Gluck’, about a man who believes he has met the composer 20 years after his death.  However the various jobs and the wars continued and plagued any career advancement despite his constant travel for opportunities, often through dangerous territories. 
  In the wake of Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, Hoffmann returned to Berlin where his opera ‘Undine’ was performed by the Berlin Theatre.  Life was now more settled and many of his most famous works were written at his time. 
  From 1819, Hoffmann was struggling with both legal disputes and ill health.  Alcohol abuse and syphilis were physically weakening him and from 1822 paralysis set in.  His last works were dictated to his wife or to a secretary as all around him society descended into an anti-liberal agenda, stifling dissent with threats of legal action and even treason.  The ailing Hoffman was among them. 
  E T A Hoffmann died on the 25th June 1822 in Berlin of syphilis.  He was 46.

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  Seated One Day at the Organ -...

  Sir Andrew Caldecott

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  Sir Andrew Caldecott was born on the 26th October 1884 in Boxley, Kent. 
  After studying at Uppingham school in Rutland he was awarded several scholarships that allowed him to accept a place for Exeter College at Oxford University. 
  After graduation in 1907 he joined the Colonial Office and was posted to Malaya.  His career in administration now followed a path of rising through the ranks till he eventually served as the Chief Secretary of the Federated Malay States from 1931. 
  In 1935, he was appointed as Governor of Hong Kong, and a year later, such was his reputation at handling difficult positions, he was reassigned to Ceylon as its Governor. 
  Caldecott was a writer of both histories, as in ‘History of Jelebu’ but is perhaps better known for his supernatural short story fiction in the collections ‘Not Exactly Ghosts’ and ‘Fires Burn Blue’. 
  He received numerous honours for his services including a Knighthood and a GCMG (Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George) in 1941.  
  Andrew Caldecott died on the 14th of July 1951 at Itchenor in Sussex.  He was 66.

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  The Lillies - From their pens to...

  Kate Chopin

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  Katherine O'Flaherty was born on the 8th February 1850 in St Louis, Missouri to parents of French and Irish descent. 
  At age 5, she was sent to the Sacred Heart Academy and, apart from a 2 year period at home when her father died, remained there until graduating in 1868.  Whilst there she began writing and became an avid reader of almost anything that crossed her path.   
  Kate married Oscar Chopin in 1870 and the couple moved to New Orleans, and later to the rural setting of Cloutierville, Louisiana to raise their 6 children.  
  In 1882 her husband died leaving her in a deep trench of debt.  Despite her best efforts to turn the businesses around they were sold, and she moved the family back to St Louis and the financial help of her mother.  Sadly, her mother died within the year.  Kate, now struggling with depression, pushed herself to write and gained a local reputation as a writer of short stories that captured the local color and vibrancy of her surroundings.  
  By the early 1890’s her short stories were published nationally.  With this widespread audience also came negative reviews, controversy, and cries of immorality as themes such as interracial relationships, the rights of women and other burning issues of the day were written about. 
  Despite the criticism, which unnerved her, she continued to write though in the main her works, around 100 short stories and two novels, were not attributed with any literary worth. 
  Kate Chopin died from a brain haemorrhage in St Louis Missouri on the 22nd of August 1904.  She was 54. 
  For much of the 20th Century her work was forgotten and out of print.  It was only in early 1970’s, with the rise of feminism and the call for a more just society that she was given the status her works had long described and shone a literary light at.  She is now safely revered as one of America’s great authors.

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  A Waiter Made of Glass - Stories...

  Verlyn Flieger

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  Award-winning author Verlyn Flieger takes readers through a series of insightful short stories exploring tragic aspects of human nature. A few of the tales are dark, others a bit lighter, but all celebrate the creativity of storytelling. The second part of the book is a collection of new poetry unearthing the wonders of language, the mundane, and grief and mourning as part of life—the dark spot within the light. Death is the inevitable, inescapable result of mortality, and grief is the price the living pay for that condition. Readers are invited to join in the journey, take some comfort in the knowledge of shared darkness, and know that even within the dark moments, there is always at least a speck of splintered light.

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  The Only Son of Aoife A chapter...

  Lady Gregory Isabella Augusta

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  The bookshelves of European literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From this continent their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory.

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