Editorial: Charles River Editors
W. E. B. Du Bois was a historian and a leading civil rights activist. Du Bois formed the Niagara Movement which was a group of African-American activists that demanded full civil rights. Du Bois was also an influential writer in African-American literature. This edition of The Quest of the Silver Fleece: A Novel includes a table of contents.
This story of James Grant, his family and the class they belong to is not of our time. That class still exists and its prosperity is unabated. But its position in the American national psyche is greatly diminished, its glitter dulled by the passage of time – and a change in the mores of society as a whole. But I have written it because I believe the foibles of the human heart and its redeeming strengths possess a universality which overcomes the angst of changing times. I have set the stage in an unfamiliar time to mine. Whether my characters that stride upon that cluttered stage would remain credible in a stark, modern setting, I cannot judge. I had no one in particular in mind in devising them. They are as the ghosts that populate our dreams – a compendium of hints and reflections of those who have crossed our consciousness in the ill-remembered past.Ver libro
A forbidden friendship turns to love amidst the social and economic turmoil that would lead to the Populist Uprising. As women seek political equality with men, an unlikely herione steps forward to make history. When her father's death forces Laurel McBryde to leave her beloved childhood home in the Flint Hills to live with the Hartmoors, a prosperous banking family, she feels like a lonely outcast among the prim and proper Victorians of Chisholm, Kansas. Soon a growing attraction to radical politics and to Carey Fairchild, a tenant farmer on Hartmoor land, change Laurel's life forever.Ver libro
"Mansfield Park" is a novel by Jane Austen, published in 1814. It centers on Fanny Price, a young woman from a poor family who is sent to live with her wealthy relatives at Mansfield Park. Unlike other Austen heroines, Fanny is shy and reserved, and she struggles with the ethical and social dilemmas presented to her. As she navigates love, betrayal, and moral complexity within the confines of upper-class society, Fanny grows into her own person. The novel delves into themes of social class, morality, and the complexities of human relationships.Ver libro
“Baldwin again proves himself to be a writer uniquely adept at bridging high art with the wild ride of a page-turning southern yarn.” —Bret Lott, national bestselling author of Jewel Once deemed “the most powerful man in the South,” Charleston newspaper editor Frank Dawson met his violent death on March 12, 1889, at the hands of his neighbor, a disreputable doctor who was attempting to seduce the Dawson family governess. With a southern storyteller’s passion for intricate emotional and physical details, Baldwin, through the fictional guise of Capt. David Lawton, chronicles editor Dawson’s fated end. Having survived three years of bloody Civil War combat and the decade of violent Reconstruction that followed, the liberal-minded Lawton is now an embattled newspaperman whose national importance is on the wane. Still, he remains a celebrated member of Charleston’s elite, while in private life moving amid a pantheon of proud and beautiful women—Sarah, his brilliant wife; Abbie, his sensual sister-in-law; Mary, the all-knowing prostitute; and Hélène, the discontented Swiss governess—each contributing to an unfolding drama of history-haunted turmoil. War, earthquake, political guile, adultery, illegitimacy, lust, and murder—all the devices of gothic romance—play a role in this tale closely based on the lives of Charlestonians who lived these events over a century ago. “William Baldwin is that rare southern writer who writes for all people of all time. As I read his beautiful words in A Gentleman in Charleston and the Manner of His Death I walked the Holy City’s streets with my ancestors and, believe me, I never wanted the trip to end. This is an important book and a wonderful rich story.” —Dorothea Benton Frank, New York Times–bestselling authorVer libro
The Gold Sickle; or, Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen. A Tale of Druid Gaul is the first part of Eugène Sue's The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a Proletarian Family Across the Ages, in which he intended to produce a comprehensive "universal history," dating from the beginning of the present era down to his own days. Sue's own socialist leanings made this history that of the "successive struggles of the successively ruled with the successively ruling classes".In the first volume we meet the Gallic chief Joel, whose descendants will typify the oppressed throughout the suite of novels. Joel and his son invite a traveller to share their supper one evening, curious as they are to hear his stories. When he refuses, they capture him; the exchange of stories around the hearth turns into a debate about freedom and what freedom is worth.(Summary by Petra, partly adapted from the Translator's Preface)Ver libro
Step into the opulent world of The Hotel Hamilton, where the chandelier sparkles while a maid’s aspirations fade into the woodwork. Vancouver, Canada, 1927. A hotel maid’s duty is to never be seen. That’s no problem for Clara, who finds safety in her station. But for her sister, Louisa, it’s cold outside the limelight. Clara is content being an obliging working girl, but she doesn’t feel worthy of the leadership responsibilities the hotel matron seems intent to thrust upon her. Torn between the unspoken limitations of her social standing and the demands of a fast-changing world, Clara is paralyzed by her fear of stepping out of line. Louisa, an aspiring actress, is grateful for her employment at the prestigious hotel, but the feeling that she is meant for more haunts her as she sleepwalks through her days. Though Louisa’s ambitious nature yearns for a life in the theatre, she hasn’t auditioned in months. When she finally steps back into the spotlight, she brings her demons along with her, unable to forget what happened the last time she was on stage. Already challenged with holding their family together, the sisters face the limits of their bond when prejudice and cruelty rear their dark heads. With Clara trapped in her comfortable cocoon and Louisa terrified of repeating the past, the sisters must learn from each other in order to stand against injustice and chart their own path through life.Ver libro
