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  Beware of Dogs

  Koushik Majumder

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  About the Book 
  Have you ever considered the fact that what if your own pet dog or cat starts talking like humans? And not only just talk, they claim for their rights on every sphere of life which we humans thought was only in our control. What if they ask to represent their species in elections of different countries, give suggestions on politics, science and organizational behaviour. "Beware of Dogs" is a story which tries to explore how the world might transform if something like this happens in the near future. 
  About the Author 
  Koushik is a business consultant by profession and a writer by passion. He likes writing stories and poems and making them into audio stories and films. His stories are published in “Ai: Love on the Rocks” by Ukiyoto Publishing and are selected for “The Fallen Leaf” to be published by Half Baked Beans. His short film Cycle Thief is selected among top 30 short films in Bengali nationally for the Short films of the decade festival organised by Clubby. Koushik likes to travel and communicate with different types of people to understand their cultures and their perspectives towards life and this helps him in creating better stories.

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  César Birotteau

  Honoré de Balzac

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  César Birotteau is one of Honoré de Balzac's most powerful and psychologically intricate novels, offering a profound exploration of ambition, pride, financial speculation, and moral redemption in post-Napoleonic France. As part of Balzac's monumental series La Comédie Humaine, this novel stands as a vivid portrait of Parisian society and the fragile nature of success in a rapidly modernizing world.
  
  The story follows César Birotteau, a modest and honest perfume merchant in Paris who has risen from humble beginnings to respectable prosperity. A devoted husband, loyal royalist, and proud shopkeeper, Birotteau embodies middle-class virtue and unwavering belief in hard work and social advancement. His business thrives, his reputation is solid, and he dreams of securing an even grander future for himself and his family. But beneath his optimism lies a dangerous naiveté.
  
  Encouraged by flattery and seduced by the promise of rapid wealth, Birotteau embarks on ambitious financial ventures — including risky real estate speculation and lavish social events meant to elevate his social standing. In a society driven by appearances, ambition, and fierce competition, he becomes entangled in schemes far beyond his understanding. Manipulated by more cunning and calculating figures, Birotteau's fortunes begin to unravel with devastating speed.
  
  Balzac masterfully captures the mechanics of financial speculation, the ruthless nature of Parisian commerce, and the intricate web of social hierarchies that define the era. The novel provides an almost forensic look at bankruptcy — not just as a financial event, but as a moral and social catastrophe. As Birotteau's empire collapses, he faces humiliation, betrayal, and public disgrace. Yet, even in ruin, he clings to his principles of honor and integrity.
  
  At its heart, César Birotteau is not merely a story of financial downfall but a deeply human tale about dignity, perseverance, and redemption. Unlike many of Balzac's more cynical portrayals of society, this novel offers a moving study of a fundamentally decent man crushed by forces he scarcely comprehends. Birotteau's determination to repay his debts and restore his honor becomes a testament to moral resilience in a world increasingly ruled by greed and speculation.
  
  Balzac's richly detailed narrative brings 19th-century Paris to life — from bustling shops and glittering salons to legal offices and shadowy backrooms where fortunes are made and destroyed. Through sharp social observation and psychological depth, the author exposes both the aspirations and the vulnerabilities of the rising bourgeois class.
  
  Poignant, ironic, and deeply realistic, César Birotteau remains strikingly relevant today. It speaks to the timeless dangers of overreaching ambition, the volatility of financial markets, and the enduring value of personal integrity. Balzac transforms the fall of one small businessman into a universal meditation on success, failure, and the true cost of dreams.
  
  For readers interested in classic literature, economic drama, or penetrating social commentary, César Birotteau offers an unforgettable journey into the heart of human ambition and the fragile architecture of fortune.

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  Better Dead - From their pens to...

  J M Barrie

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  Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM, was born in Kirriemuir, Angus on 9th May, 1860.  
  Barrie knew from an early age that he wished to be an author. His family wished otherwise. The compromise was that he would attend university to study literature at the University of Edinburgh. He graduated with an M.A. in April, 1882. 
  His first job was as a staff journalist for the Nottingham Journal. The London editor of the St. James's Gazette "liked that Scotch thing" in Barrie’s work and he wrote several stories for them and later several novels based on his mother’s early life.  
  Barrie though was increasingly drawn to working in the theatre.  His first plays achieved little attention but in 1901 and 1902, Barrie had back-to-back theatre successes with Quality Street and The Admirable Crichton. 
  The character of ‘Peter Pan’ first appeared in The Little White Bird in 1902. This most famous and enduring of his works; Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up had its first stage performance on December 27th, 1904.  
  Peter Pan would overshadow all his other works.  But his short stories cannot be overlooked.  Indeed, from today’s vantage point they are excellent gems of social manners, of class and the way characters, sometimes in the most mundane of circumstances, react in the most surprising of ways.

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  Sun Also Rises The: The...

  Ernest Hemingway

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  The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is a landmark novel of the 20th century that captures the disillusionment and aimlessness of the post–World War I generation, often referred to as the "Lost Generation." The story follows Jake Barnes, an American journalist living in Paris, and his circle of expatriate friends—including the charismatic and troubled Lady Brett Ashley—as they travel from the cafés of Montparnasse to the bullfighting arenas of Pamplona. With Hemingway's signature sparse prose and understated emotional depth, the novel explores themes of love, identity, masculinity, and the quest for meaning in a world forever changed by war. A poignant reflection on human resilience and vulnerability, this novel remains one of Hemingway’s most enduring and influential works.

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  Adeline Mowbray

  Amelia Opie

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  "Adeline Mowbray, or, The Mother and Daughter, is a novel by Amelia Opie that was published in 1804. The experiences of the heroine, Adeline, are loosely based on the unconventional life of Mary Wollstonecraft, an acquaintance of Opie. In the novel, Opie explores what might happen when a woman's idealistic philosophical beliefs conflict with society's notions about female sexuality.    The philosophically minded Adeline decides that marriage is an outmoded institution. She refuses marriage to Frederic Glenmurray (modeled on William Godwin) and instead chooses to live with him as his sexual equal. Although Adeline is honorable, clever, and honest, she faces social condemnation. She is disowned by her mother and respectable friends and harassed by men who assume she is sexually available. After Glenmurray dies, Adeline seeks protection by marrying the abusive Mr. Berrendale, who ultimately abandons her and their daughter, Editha. At the end of the novel, the ill Adeline is finally reunited with her mother. Adeline repents having transgressed society's expectations of women and, before she dies, leaves instructions on how Editha is to be educated."

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  Suicides - From their pens to...

  Guy de Maupassant

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  Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5th, 1850 near Dieppe in France.  
  Maupassant’s early life was badly torn when at age 11 (his younger brother Hervé was then five) his mother, Laure, a headstrong and independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace in order to obtain a legal separation from her husband. 
  After the separation, Laure kept custody of her two boys. With the father now forcibly absent, Laure became the most influential and important figure in the young boy's life.   
  Maupassant’s education was such that he rebelled against religion and other societal norms but a developing friendship with Gustave Flaubert began to turn his mind towards creativity and writing. 
  After graduation he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian war. With its end he moved to Paris to work as a clerk in the Navy Department.  Gustave Flaubert now took him under his wing.  Acting as a literary guardian to him, he guided the eager Maupassant to debuts in journalism and literature.  For Maupassant these were exciting times and the awakening of his creative talents and ambitions. 
  In 1880 he published what is considered his first great work, ‘Boule de Suif’, (translated as as ‘Dumpling’, ‘Butterball’, ‘Ball of Fat’, or ‘Ball of Lard’) which met with a success that was both instant and overwhelming.  Flaubert at once acknowledged that it was ‘a masterpiece that will endure.’ Maupassant had used his talents and experiences in the war to create something unique.  
  This decade from 1880 to 1891 was to be the most pivotal of his career.  With an audience now made available by the success of ‘Boule de Suif’ Maupassant organised himself to work methodically and relentlessly to produce between two and four volumes of work a year.  The melding of his talents and business sense and the continual hunger of sources for his works made him wealthy. 
  In his later years he developed a desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death as well as a paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth.  
  On January 2nd, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat.  Unsuccessful he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris.  It was here on July 6th, 1893 that Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant died at the age of only 42.

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