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  Top 10 Short Stories The -...

  George Eliot, Jerome K. Jerome,...

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  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  In the heartlands of England, in its gritty and grimy industrial landscape, literary talent abounds.  Experiences learnt and observed here have found their way into many of the finest literary works this country has produced.  Genius has many names. 
   
  1 - The Top 10 - English Authors of the West Midlands - An Introduction 
  2 - The Lifted Veil - Part 1 by George Eliot 
  3 - The Lifted Veil - Part 2 by George Eliot 
  4 - The Absent Minded Man by Jerome K Jerome 
  5 - The Matador of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett 
  6 - The Last House in C Street by Mrs Craik 
  7 - Reality or Delusion by Mrs Ellen Wood 
  8 - The Ghost in the Clock Room by Hesba Stretton 
  9 - Blessed Are the Meek by Mary Webb 
  10 - The Dust of Death by Fred M White 
  11 - Alexander the Ratcatcher by Richard Garnett 
  12 - Her Murderer by Mary Cholmondeley

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  Windfall - Viola MacMillan and...

  Tim Falconer

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  Viola MacMillan had it all: success, money, and respect. Influence, even. But in 1964, after three decades in the mining industry, one of the most fascinating women in Canadian business history was the central character in one of the country's most famous stock scandals. 
   
   
   
  MacMillan, who started out as a prospector in the '30s, had developed lucrative mines and put together big deals. But she still wanted "a major discovery." Early in July 1964, shares in Windfall Oil and Mines, a company she and her husband controlled, traded for around 56 cents. Then one day, the stock took off. In the absence of any information from the company about what it had found near Timmins on its claims, rumors and greed pushed the share price to a high of $5.70. MacMillan stayed quiet. Finally, after three weeks, Windfall admitted it had nothing. 
   
   
   
  So many small investors lost money when the stock crashed that the Ontario government appointed a royal commission to examine what had happened, which led to changes at the Ontario Securities Commission and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Although MacMillan spent a few weeks in prison, she later received a pardon and the Order of Canada.

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  Same Ground - Chasing Family...

  Russell Wangersky

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  “Read him.” — George Elliott Clarke, author of I & I and George and Rue
  		 
  An award-winning author goes looking for the meaning of family and belonging on a glorious wild-goose-chase road trip across middle America
  		 
  Wangersky’s great-great-grandfather crossed the continent in search of gold in 1849. William Castle Dodge was his name, and he was 22 years old. He wrote a diary of that eventful journey that comes into the author’s hands 160 years later. And typically, quixotically, Wangersky decides to follow Dodge’s westward trail across the great bulging middle of America, not in search of gold but something even less likely: that elusive thing called family.
  		 
  What ensues becomes this story, by turns hilarious and profound, about a very long trip — by car, in Wangersky’s case, and on mule and foot in Dodge’s. Interweaving his experiences on the road with Dodge’s diary, the author contemplates the human need to hunt for roots and meaning as he — and Dodge — encounter immigrants who risk everything to be somewhere else, while only glimpsing those who are there already and who want to hold onto their claim in the stream of human migration.
  		 
  Same Ground is a story about what time washes away and what persists — and what we might find, unexpectedly, if we go looking.

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  My Secret Life Vol 7 Chapter 1

  Dominic Crawford Collins

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  My Secret Life is the longest autobiography ever written. Penned anonymously during the 1800s by a wealthy and sex obsessed English gentleman who refers to himself simply as 'Walter', it offers an eye and thigh opening account of life behind closed doors in the Victorian era. Banned from publication for its extreme and explicit content for nearly a century, My Secret Life is now being released as a fully scored immersive audiobook, with narration and music by film composer Dominic Crawford Collins.
  
  A candid memoir recounting the author's erotic experiences from childhood onwards, My Secret Life not only offers us a fascinating insight into the mind of someone whose entire life revolved around an epicentre of inescapable obsession, but a unique historic window through which we can approach and examine our own sexual psychology and behaviour.
  
  Volume 7 Chapter 1
  
  Gertrude's history continued. • Lusts roused. • The sister's confidences. • The wounded Captain. • Gertrude's nursing. • Antonio's greed. • Margaretta's moral views. • The Captain's lust. • The price of the watch. • Gertrude reckless. • The Captain's exhibition. • Success by the bedside. • Margaretta with child. • Gertrude and Captain at Paris. • Her disappointment. • Her love for me. • Our secret meetings. • The Captain's sodomitic wishes. • They separate. • She marries. • His death. • Her fine qualities. • Of my treachery.

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  Wild Shores - The Magic of...

  Richard Nairn

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  Following the Irish coast in a clockwise direction, acclaimed ecologist Richard Nairn travels by boat, on foot and sometimes by air to visit the best remaining wild places, including islands, cliffs, beaches and dunes.
  The result is a unique mix of nature, history, science and a reflection on the author's personal experiences of exploring Ireland's coast. By viewing the Irish coastline from the sea, Richard gains a unique perspective on the island. And along the way, he recalls a lifetime spent studying nature.
  'An affectionate and timely celebration of Ireland's richly varied coastline' Bryan Dobson
  'A great read – whatever part of the coast you visit' &Eacuteanna N&iacute Lamhna
  'A brilliant and timely odyssey around our precious, precarious shores' Professor John Brannigan, University College Dublin
  'An exhilarating journey right around our coastline' Paddy Woodworth, Journalist and author
  'An intimate, inspiring and lovely read about Ireland's shorelines: its places and spaces' Professor Robert Devoy, Lead Editor of The Coastal Atlas of Ireland

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  Golda Meir - 'Excellent' Mail on...

  Elinor Burkett

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  Golda Meir unexpectedly became Israel's Prime Minister—and the Western world's first female head of government—at the age of seventy. This gripping and authoritative biography of her extraordinary life draws on exclusive access to official papers, personal letters, and interviews with contemporaries to reveal Meir's magnetic personality, her defining role in the founding of Israel in 1948, and pivotal leadership during crises such as the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Drawing an often intimate portrait, Burkett traces Meir's personal life from birth in Ukraine to her formative years in the U.S, as well as the steep price she paid for her unwavering conviction amid Israel's turbulent struggles. Discover the legacy that shaped a nation and Middle Eastern politics."Burkett's meticulous research and vivid prose bring Meir's ironclad resolve to life."—The New York Times"Unflinching in its examination of Meir's triumphs and blind spots."—The Guardian"Definitive yet deeply humanizing."—The Times Literary Supplement"Riveting."—History Today"A masterful blend of political history and psychological insight."—The Washington Post"Grandmother of all battles… It was Golda who pulled victory from the jaws of defeat."—Sunday Times"Her engaging portrait of Meir shows history with a female, though not traditionally feminine, face." —Baltimore Sun"A solidly researched, highly readable portrait of a mesmerizing but, according to Burkett, ultimately lonely woman." —Publishers Weekly"Leavens the heavy-duty politics with intimate portraits of her personality . . . a welcome arrival to the history shelf." —Booklist"If anybody has written a better-researched, better-written biography [of Meir], I am unaware of it." —St. Petersburg Times

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