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Halvard Solness is a master architect who has ruthlessly forged a preëminent career without regard for the feelings of those around him. In spite of this unscrupulous path of life, his conscience is still painfully alive, burdening him with guilt for past choices. He lives a tormented existence, fearful not only that he is going mad but also that he has unconsciously been in league with demonic powers in order to reach his present status. His long-suffering wife and his mistress try to deal with him in his fragile state while not being destroyed themselves. Into this fraught situation suddenly arrives the dangerous Hilda Wangel, an eldritch young woman claiming a special relationship with Solness from his past.One of the five great plays of Ibsen’s final period, “The Master Builder” is laden with layers of symbolic significance. Like most Ibsen works, it begins quietly with dialogue between quite ordinary people and only gradually reveals its depths of meaning and power.

World Classics

The Master Builder

The classic travelogue of one of America's most famous authors, Following the Equator was written when Twain had fallen on hard times. At the time, Twain found himself compelled to take a tour of the British Empire in 1895 and write about it. This account of that trip, published in 1897, is a classic example of Twain's ever-vigilant observational wit. He addresses ever timely topics such as racism, imperialism, and religion.

Following the Equator

Activist and abolitionist Frederick Douglass is one of the most famous anti-slavery writers in American history. Following 20 years of enslavement in Maryland, Douglass made a daring bid for freedom in 1838, travelling north via the ‘underground railroad’ before arriving in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he would settle. It was not long before Douglass took up the cause of black Americans, risking his freedom through writing and lecturing, and travelling the globe to spread his message. In My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) Douglass lays bare his story, illuminating the plight of slaves, the overwhelming prejudices of the time, and the dignity and determination that led to his emancipation.

My Bondage and My Freedom

Alcott in 1862 served as a nurse in Georgetown, D.C during the Civil War. She wrote home what she observed there. Those harrowing and sometimes humorous letters compiled make up Hospital Sketches.

Hospital Sketches

"A Simple Heart", also called Un cœur simple or Le perroquet in French, is a story about a servant girl named Felicité. After her one and only love Théodore purportedly marries a well-to-do woman to avoid conscription, Felicité quits the farm she works on and heads for Pont-l'Évèque where she immediately picks up work in a widow's house as a servant. She is very loyal, and easily lends her affections to the two children of her mistress, Mme Aubain. She gives entirely to others, and although many take advantage of her she is unaffected. She is the epitome of a selfless character, and Flaubert shows how true altruism – the reality of being truly selfless – is the reward in itself. Whatever comes her way she is able to deal with it.

A Simple Soul

The Trial is one of the great works of the twentieth century: an extraordinary vision of one man put on trial by an anonymous authority on an unspecified charge. Josef K, 30, lives in a large town in an unspecified country. He is summonsed to answer a charge and appears in the court room for his trial. Franz Kafka evokes all the reality of trial without any of the specifics in a society that seems to have degraded into chaos: squalid environment, rats, yellow liquid shooting out of a hole in the wall. Guards, claustrophobia, anxiety – this is a gripping story and an allegory of modern life. This text remains just as relevant a century after it was written.

The Trial

In Symposium, a group of Athenian aristocrats attend a party held by Agathon to celebrate his victory in the drama festival of the Dionysia. They talk about love until the drunken Alcibiades bursts in, and decides to talk about Socrates instead. Symposium gives a picture of the sparkling society that was Athens at the height of her empire. This classic discussion on love is presented in its ideal medium: a multi-voice recording.

Symposium

"Consequences" (1919) follows the life of Alexandra Clare, an upper class Catholic girl from London, after she turns down her only suitor. Alex is a misfit and having failed to meet her family’s expectations, she joins a convent. Partly autobiographical, Delafield writes this story in a deeply ironic tone, turning Alex’s plight into a condemnation of the suffocating expectations Victorian society had for women. E. M. Delafield was the pen name of Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture (1890-1943). She was a British author from Sussex and the daughter of a count and a novelist. Delafield was raised following Late Victorian upper class morals, and when at age 21 she found herself still single, she joined a French covenant in Belgium. But she soon tired of being a nun and left monastery life behind. During WWI, she volunteered as a nurse in Exeter. In 1919, she married civil engineer turned land agent Paul Dashwood, with whom she spent three years in Malaysia. She remains most famous today for her semi-autobiographical "Diary of a Provincial Lady," which had started as a column in the weekly woman’s magazine "Time and Tide."

Consequences

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. MISS WINCHELSEA'S HEART: Miss Winchelsea was going to Rome. The matter had filled her mind for a month or more, and had overflowed so abundantly into her conversation that quite a number of people who were not going to Rome, and who were not likely to go to Rome, had made it a personal grievance against her.

Miss Winchelsea's Heart

Drawing on the experience of his own struggle to find enlightenment and a deeper spiritual understanding of life, Tolstoy in The Death of Ivan Ilyich takes us on the final journey towards death with Ivan Ilyich, who, falling victim to an incurable illness, ponders on his own life – its shallowness and lack of compassion, wondering what is the meaning of it all. At times sombre, at times satirical, Tolstoy’s novel raises questions about the way we live and how we should strive even at the end to seek final redemption. It is a powerful masterpiece of psychological exploration, and has influenced writers as diverse as Hemingway and Nabokov.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Gogol’s great Russian classic is the Pickwick Papers of Russian Literature. It takes a sharp but humorous look at life in all its strata, but especially the devious complexities in Russia with its landowners and serfs. We are introduced to Tchitchikov, a businessman who, in order to trick the tax authorities, buys up dead ‘souls’ or serfs whose names still appear on the government census. Despite being a dealer in phantom crimes and paper ghosts, he is the most beguiling of Gogol’s characters. Gogol’s obsession with attempting to display ‘the untold riches of the Russian soul’ eventually led him to madness, religious mania and death. Dismissed by him as merely ‘a pale introduction to the great epic poem which is taking shape in my mind’, Dead Souls is the culmination of Gogol’s genius.

Dead Souls

Jurgis Rudkus, an impoverished Lithuanian immigrant, takes a lowly job at Brown's slaughterhouse to support his young wife and their relatives. Once admiring America for its potential, Rudkus has found opportunities to be too far out of his reach. After being evicted, Rudkus is living in a slum and deeply in debt - unable to support his family. As he attempts to make ends meet, the oppressive working conditions and crippling poverty begin to take a toll on Rudkus and his family.

The Jungle

Polly Milton, a 14-year-old country girl, visits her friend Fanny Shaw and her wealthy family in the city for the first time. Poor Polly is overwhelmed by the splendor at the Shaws' and their urbanized, fashionable lifestyles, fancy clothes and some other habits she considers weird and, mostly, unlikable. However, Polly's warmth, support and kindness eventually win her the hearts of all the family members. Six years later, Polly comes back to the city to become a music teacher.

An Old-Fashioned Girl

First published in 1781, the "Critique of Pure Reason" is a work in which Kant attempts to understand the relationship between human knowledge and experience. In this book, Kant proposes a "Copernican revolution" in philosophy, arguing that it is the structure of our mind that determines the nature of our experience, not vice versa. The work addresses complex issues such as the possibility of metaphysics, the limitations of human knowledge, and the distinction between sensory perceptions and understanding. It is known for its depth and complexity.

The Critique of Pure Reason

Prince Stepan Kasatsky experiences a disappointment with his fiancé and decides to become a monk! There is a story line, but beneath it, Father Sergius struggles to find peace and, if not happiness, then at least contentment. But he is always disillusioned and ultimately unsatisfied. Only in the end does he find his way by letting go of what he struggled to attain all his life, i.e. to be better than everyone else in whatever he did, and settle for the mundane.

Father Sergius

The March sisters are among the most beloved characters in children’s literature, and Little Men picks up the story of fiery, headstrong Jo where Good Wives left off. Intelligent, funny, perceptive and genuinely touching, the novel is set at a rather unusual boarding school run by Jo and her husband, where the pupils are encouraged to pillow fight and keep pets. When the penniless but talented orphan Nat Blake shows up on her doorstep, Jo takes him in, and his arrival sets in motion a chain of events that will affect all their lives.

Little Men

A Miss Pauline Marchrose applies for the position of "Lady Superintendent" at the Commercial and Technical College for South West England, where Sir Julian Rossiter is the college director. He is greatly impressed by her and soon this admiration turns to adoration. But his wife, Lady Edna Rossiter, discovers that Marchrose was the very same woman who jilted her cousin Clarence after he was paralysed in an accident. She starts a whispering campaign against her, without even trying to find out more about Marchrose’s motives and the peace of the local community is shattered by the ensuing tension. E. M. Delafield was the pen name of Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture (1890-1943). She was a British author from Sussex and the daughter of a count and a novelist. Delafield was raised following Late Victorian upper class morals, and when at age 21 she found herself still single, she joined a French covenant in Belgium. But she soon tired of being a nun and left monastery life behind. During WWI, she volunteered as a nurse in Exeter. In 1919, she married civil engineer turned land agent Paul Dashwood, with whom she spent three years in Malaysia. She remains most famous today for her semi-autobiographical "Diary of a Provincial Lady," which had started as a column in the weekly woman’s magazine "Time and Tide."

Tension

"One of Tolstoy’s most important shorter works, The Kreutzer Sonata presents a problematic view of the relationship between the sexes and promotes abstinence as the solution. Pozdnyshev jealously observes the intimacy that emerges between his wife and a violin player. Haunted by ‘The Kreutzer Sonata’ over which they bonded; it plays round and round in Pozdnyshev’s head driving him to distraction and to an unquenchable rage. The Kreutzer Sonata is a psychologically fascinating novella, offering interesting insights into the power play between the sexes."

The Kreutzer Sonata

After the death of his parents, Jim was sent to live with his grandparents in Black Hawk Nebraska. There he befriended Antonia, the daughter of Bohemian immigrants. Years later, Jim, now a successful lawyer in New York, returns to his childhood home and Antonia. Jim's love for Antonia has endured, much as she herself has endured tragic circumstances.

My Antonia

On the Greek island of Phrosos, Count Antonio has forsaken his rank and his Prince for what he thinks is Right. He now lives as an outlaw in the hill yet he is still remembered fondly by those who knew him. Ambrose the Franciscan goes through archives and to meet people who met him to learn more, and even the Prince would do well to listen to what he comes to discover. Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins (1863-1933), alias Anthony Hope, was a British barrister, author and playwright. He wrote many novels but is mostly remembered today for his Ruritanian trilogy, which falls under the "Ruritanian romance"-genre, characterised by a fictional country in Eastern or Central Europe (Ruritania), focusing on characters from the the ruling class, and full of adventures, intrigues, and high romance.

The Chronicles of Count Antonio

"You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit." One day, the artist Basil Hallward is painting a picture of his muse Dorian Gray with his friend Lord Henry watching. Dorian listens as Lord Henry confidentially presents his hedonistic world view, saying beauty is the only thing in life that truly matters. It makes Dorian wish that his painting would age instead of him. Not long thereafter, Dorian sees his girl perform Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and is so turned off by her bad performance that he rejects her. When he gets home, he notices a certain cruel sneer in his portrait. Told with flowery and snappy Jane Austen-like language, The Picture of Dorian Gray, about a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth, is Oscar Wilde’s most famous and popular work. It has been adapted for film and television many times, most recently in the 2009 film Dorian Gray starring Colin Firth and Ben Barnes. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet, famous for ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ to name a couple. He was believed to be gay and met a lot of resistance in his life on that account. He died in Paris at the age of 46.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

When Edgar plans to acquire his family’s ancient estate from the corrupt lord keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, he is met with the complexities of the legal and political situations following the 1707 Act of Union. To complicate matters further, Edgar is falling in love with his enemy’s beautiful daughter Lucy. First published in 1819, this enduring romantic tragedy presents insights into emotional and sexual politics and the shrewd way in which Sir Walter Scott presented his work.

The Bride of Lammermoor

""Alexander's Bridge" is the first novel by the American author Willa Cather. It was initially published in 1912 and later re-released with an author's preface in 1922. The novel also ran as a serial in McClure's magazine, providing Cather with some free time from her work for that publication1.    Here's a brief summary of the novel:    Plot Introduction:  The protagonist, Bartley Alexander, is a construction engineer and a world-renowned builder of bridges.  Bartley is undergoing a mid-life crisis and is married to Winifred.  Despite his marriage, Bartley resumes his acquaintance with a former lover, Hilda Burgoyne, in London.  The affair gnaws at Bartley's sense of propriety and honor.  Plot Summary:  Professor Lucius Wilson arrives at the Alexanders' house in Boston. Bartley had persuaded him to attend a Congress of Psychologists in the city.  Bartley's wife, Winifred, greets Professor Wilson.  Bartley discusses his trouble with a bridge in Canada.  Bartley's relationship with Hilda becomes a central conflict.  The novel takes a tragic turn when Bartley is called to inspect the failing bridge in Canada.  While on the bridge, he realizes its structural integrity is compromised, but it collapses before he can prevent disaster.  Bartley dies along with many workers.  The aftermath involves Winifred making arrangements for her husband's corpse, and Professor Wilson reflecting on the consequences of Bartley's actions.  "Alexander's Bridge" explores themes of love, ambition, and the impact of choices. Cather's portrayal of human connections and their fragility resonates throughout the novel."

Alexander's Bridge

Upon its first publication in 1846, Poor Folk was an immediate critical triumph. The influential critic Vissarion Belinsky wrote that 'the novel reveals secrets about life and character-types in Russia of a kind never dreamt of by anyone else,' and the unknown twenty-five-year-old author was hailed as 'the new Gogol.' Composed entirely of an exchange of letters between a middle-aged copy clerk and a young seamstress who live on opposite sides of a Petersburg tenement courtyard, the novel explores the emotional and psychological effects of a threatening urban environment on the psyches of poor people struggling to survive.

Poor Folk

Great literature and science merge in this masterpiece of adventure, thrillingly retold by Jim Weiss.  A century before Jacques Cousteau, Jules Verne took readers for a whirlwind journey beneath the sea in the submarine Nautilus. Accompany brilliant scientist, Pierre Aronnax; his faithful servant, Conseil; bold mariner, Ned Land; and mysterious Captain Nemo as they walk on the ocean floor, journey beneath polar ice, and fight for their lives against sharks, giant squid, and one another. Verne's famous gift for prophesying future events still startles us throughout this electrifying voyage, adapted and narrated by Jim Weiss. Come aboard!

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Mr. Hoopdriver is a frustrated draper’s assistant in Putney, London. He is badly paid, over-worked, and he needs a holiday. He also owns a bicycle—though he is an awkward rider. When his annual ten days’ holiday comes around, Mr. Hoopdriver sets out on a bicycling tour of the “Southern Coast.” Will this adventure be enough to shake up the dreariness of his ordinary life? Will his escapist flights of fancy end in disaster? And what should he make of the constant reappearance of the “Young Lady in Grey”? Wells wrote this story at the height of the bicycling craze and before the automobile. The bicycle gave freedom to the working class, weakened the English class structure and gave a boost to female emancipation. In his story he explores these changes.

The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll

Alexandra Bergsons, the daughter of Swedish immigrants, inherits her family's ailing farm in Hanover, Nebraska upon the death of her father. Over the years, she turns the farm into a successful enterprise. However, success has not brought peace, as passion and love intervene.

O Pioneers!

"Lucretius was born in 99 BC, and On the Nature of Things is his only surviving work. His aim was to free the Roman world from its two great terrors – the gods and death. Lucretius argues that the gods are not actively involved in life, so need not be appeased; and that death is the end of everything human – body and soul – and therefore should not be feared. But On the Nature of Things is also a poem of striking imagery, intimate natural observation and touching pathos. It is one of the most influential writings in Western thought."

On the Nature of Things

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Poe’s only full novel, is one of his most unusual works. A riveting story, in the first person, it tells of a disastrous sea voyage involving storms, mutiny, starvation, thirst and a mysterious conclusion. Jorge Luis Borges and Baudelaire were among those who rated it highly. The recording is timed to mark the 200th anniversary of Poe’s birth.

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym

After a brief romance, the 17 year old Marya falls in love with the much older Sergyei Mikhailitch, an old family friend, and the two are married. They share an initially blissful life but after moving to St. Petersburg, Marya becomes enchanted with society and a rift opens between the two.

Family Happiness

An oriental philosophical tale, ´Zadig´ traces the adventures of the titular character, a man renowned for his 'just and moderate mind' and 'sincere and noble heart'. But his gifts give rise to jealousies in others that expose him to the vagaries of fate... Appointed prime minister, then disgraced and driven out of Babylon, Zadig, like all the heroes of fairy tales, is drawn into an initiatory journey that will take him from the banks of the Euphrates to Egypt; reduced to slavery, then freed by his master, he will cross Arabia and Syria. Faced with a thousand obstacles that put his reason and his optimism to the test, Zadig discovers that it is not easy to be happy. With this book, Voltaire, faithful to his theological concerns, poses the problem of evil and Providence, as he traces the life of this character who will come to say: 'that there is no evil from which good is not born.' ´Zadig´ is perfect for fans of Voltaire's ´Candide´. Voltaire (1694-1778) is a renowned writer and philosopher. A universal spirit who marked the century of the "Enlightenment" and a fierce defender of individual freedom and tolerance, Voltaire was very successful with the liberal bourgeoisie. He left behind a great legacy. Due to censorship, most of his writings were banned. They were published anonymously, printed abroad and smuggled into France.

Zadig

Guy de Maupassant's scandalous tale of an opportunistic young man corrupted by the allure of power, "Bel-Ami" is translated with an introduction by Douglas Parmee in "Penguin Classics". Young, attractive and very ambitious, George Duroy, known to his admirers as Bel-Ami, is offered a job as a journalist on La Vie francaise and soon makes a great success of his new career. But he also comes face to face with the realities of the corrupt society in which he lives - the sleazy colleagues, the manipulative mistresses, and wily financiers - and swiftly learns to become an arch-seducer, blackmailer and social climber in a world where love is only a means to an end. Written when Maupassant was at the height of his powers, "Bel-Ami" is a novel of great frankness and cynicism, but it is also infused with the sheer joy of life - depicting the scenes and characters of Paris in the belle epoque with wit, sensitivity, and humanity. Douglas Parmee's translation captures all the vigour and vitality of Maupassant's novel. His introduction explores the similarities between Bel-Ami and Maupassant himself and demonstrates the skill with which the author depicts his large cast of characters and the French society of the Third Republic.

Bel Ami

O. Henry wove several stories together into this highly episodic narrative, taking his title and inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter” in Alice in Wonderland. The stories are set in the fictional country of Anchuria in Central America, a banana republic where larceny is rampant and revolution is lurking in every impoverished back alley. O. Henry offers a cutting satire of contemporary politics and prejudices. Nevertheless, an essential middle-class morality prevails, in which lovers are reunited, poverty obliterated, character rewarded, and sentiment satisfied.

Cabbages and Kings

John Milton is renowned for his poetry, yet during most of his lifetime he was best known as a writer of prose, both celebrated and denounced for his fiery polemics in an era of religious and political controversy, radical pamphleteering and civil war. This annotated edition of his major English prose writings includes Milton's tractates in favour of divorce, on progressive education, in defence of the execution of Charles I and the new Republican state, and Areopagitica, his famous attack on censorship and call for a free press. Rhetorical, powerful, heterodox, these are monuments to the ideals of liberty and free speech from a master of English prose.

Areopagitica

Inspired by the true story of a political murder that horrified Russians in 1869, Dostoevsky conceived of Demons as a "novel-pamphlet" in which he would say everything about the plague of materialist ideology that he saw infecting his native land. What emerged was a prophetic and ferociously funny masterpiece of ideology and murder in pre-revolutionary Russia. Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a Russian novelist, journalist, and short-story writer who had an immense influence on 20th-century fiction. He is commonly regarded as one of the finest novelists who ever lived, penning classics that include: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov. His ideas profoundly shaped literary modernism, existentialism, and various schools of psychology, theology, and literary criticism.

Demons

In The Social Contract, Rousseau explores the concept of freedom and the political structures that may enable people to acquire it. He argues that the sovereign power of a state lies not in any one ruler, but in the will of the general population. Rousseau argues that the ideal state would be a direct democracy where executive decision-making is carried out by citizens who meet in assembly, as they would in the ancient city-state of Athens. The thoughts contained in the work were instrumental to the advent of the American Revolution and became sacred to those leading the French Revolution. With traces of Aristotle and echoes of Plato’s Republic, The Social Contract is an exhilarating look at society and the definition of democracy.

The Social Contract

Lily Bart enjoys an equitable standing within the New York City elite. Although she desires a comfortable life and has received generous proposals from wealthy suitors, Lily remains single with hope for an honest and loving marriage. However, her life takes an unexpected twist when a nasty bit of gossip instigates her long descent down the social ladder. With her reputation plummeting, Lily escapes the city by joining an acquaintance on a European cruise. But this, too, causes irreparable damage to her reputation, and soon Lily finds herself disowned and friendless.

The House of Mirth

Dissolute, disenchanted Dmitri Olénin decides to join the Army as a cadet and is despatched to the Caucasus. There, he is transformed by seeing how the indigenous people live in harmony with nature, how their lives have more meaning than those of the superficial social elite in Moscow, and he finds a new sense of self and purpose. But nothing is ever quite that simple. Love and loyalty are tested to the very limits in this semi-autobiographical novella, which is one of Tolstoy’s best-loved works.

The Cossacks

When Jack and Jill tumble off of their sled on the first good snow of the season, their injuries cause them to be bedridden for many months putting an end to their fun and frolics. Their parents and friends fill their days with the joys of Christmas preparations, a theatrical production and many other imaginative events. Both learn how to become better friends to each other and their other school mates through their many trials. This is sure to become a family favorite!

Jack and Jill

This story is told by Theodor Fischer, a boy who lives in a small Austrian village and quietly exists with his friends, relatives and community. One day a stranger appears in the village and befriends Theodor and his chums. He tells them that his name is Satan and he is the nephew of "the Satan". He is capable of all types of magic, predictions and apparitions that he reveals in various ways to the boys. But throughout the story Satan expels his wisdom on the character and futility of mankind. While the book contains the wit and humor typical of Mark Twain, the story line is considered a serious social commentary on Twain's criticism of organized religion.

The Mysterious Stranger

The Double centers on a government clerk who goes mad. It deals with the internal psychological struggle of its main character, Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin, who repeatedly encounters someone who is his exact double in appearance but confident, aggressive, and extroverted, characteristics that are the polar opposites to those of the toadying "pushover" protagonist. The motif of the novella is a doppelgänger (Russian "dvoynik"), known throughout the world in various guises such as the fetch.

The Double

This book contains excerpted anecdotes from the biographies of Swift, Curran, O'Leary and O'Connell, relating humorous snippets of politics in 18th and 19th century Ireland. For some these may be poignant in addition to being humorous and for others they may be humorous in addition to being poignant.

Irish Wit and Humour

"In his blue gardens, men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." It’s the height of the roaring 20’s. Every Saturday, the doors to Gatsby’s gothic mansion are flung wide to the bright young things of New York - the music is loud, the dancing is wild, and the champagne flows freely. Gatsby’s new neighbor, Nick Carraway, is fascinated by the spectacle. But when he pushes beyond the shimmering, glistening veneer of Gatsby’s charmed life, Nick discovers his new friend is tortured by a profound yearning for the one thing – and one person – he can’t have. A vibrant tale of obsession and opulence, corruption and canapes. The promise of the American Dream set against the glittering chaos of the Jazz Age. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is considered one of the greatest American novelists of the 20th century and the author of 'Tender is the Night’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’. He and his wife, Zelda, were prominent socialites and spent much time moving in famous literary circles across Europe.

The Great Gatsby

After "Little Women's" immediate commercial and critical success readers demanded to know more about Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. In "Good Wives", Louisa May Alcott follows the dinamic life of the beloved March sisters and their further character development. The novel together with its sequels "Little Men", and "Jo's Boys", has been one of the most widely read in the world. It has inspired numerous adaptations including a 2019 movie starring Emma Watson with six Academy Award nominations. Louisa May Alcott (1832 – 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer and poet.Having grown up in poverty, May Alcott was a passionate advocate for women's rights and abolitionist. She is best known as the author of the March Family Series: "Little Women", "Good Wives", "Little Men" and "Jo's Boys". The story of the March sisters has inspired numerous adaptations including a 2019 movie starring Emma Watson with six Academy Award nominations.

Good Wives

One of the key works of world philosophy, Plato’s The Republic sets out to consider the principles behind an ideal city state. This is the first audio recording of Plato’s great classic in a new translation by the Greek scholar Tom Griffith. No sooner than Bruce Alexander had left the studio having recorded Thomas Hardy, he was back at his Oxfordshire home studying hard for the next Naxos AudioBooks project Plato’s The Republic. ‘There couldn’t have been a greater contrast – the deeply emotional Hardy, and the rationalist character of Socrates,’ admitted Bruce Alexander. And both are about as far away possible from the character for which he is probably best known, Superintendent Mullett in the British TV series A Touch of Frost. ‘That is what being an actor is all about,’ declared Alexander. ‘The worst thing for us is when are typecast, which can happen so easily.’ Fortunately, this happens less the Audiobook/radio medium than on or film where visual concerns can be paramount.’ This recording of The Republic uses the new translation by Tom Griffith, who prepared it for Cambridge University Press. It will be released by CUP in the near future, but is ‘previewed’ by this abridgement made by the translator himself. ‘I started translating because I found that when I was teaching, and read from existing translations, I could see the interest fade from my pupils’ eyes, explained Griffith. ‘But I know this can capture the imagination and thoughts of young people, and so I started translating passages in language which was as contemporary as the original would have been in the fifth century B. C.’ The Republic is one of a number of translations he has now included – among others is Symposium.

The Republic

Undoubtedly one of the most celebrated tales of all time, this is both high-octane thriller and fascinating travelogue. Phileas Fogg, intrepid Victorian gentleman-about-town, accepts a wager that he cannot travel around the world in 80 days. Naturally, he immediately sets off, accompanied by his French manservant Passepartout. They are pursued by a police officer, Detective Fix, who is foolishly convinced that Fogg is a bank robber. Much hilarity ensues. On the way, Fogg bravely rescues Aouda, a beautiful Indian princess, from a ceremony of ritual sacrifice. Unexpectedly, our thriller becomes a love story.

Around the World in Eighty Days

Encamped in the Holy Land, the crusaders are torn by the dissensions and jealousies of their leaders. The army’s impotence is accentuated by the illness of their chief, Richard I of England. Meanwhile, a poor but doughty Scottish crusader known as Sir Kenneth, on a mission far from the camp, encounters a Saracen Emir. After an inconclusive combat, he strikes up a friendship with the Emir, who turns out to be Saladin himself. His alliance with the Moor will save him from more than one misfortune. Carrying a mystical talisman, Saladin enters the camp of the crusaders in disguise and cures Richard. When Sir Kenneth is later falsely dishonored, Saladin is in a position to intervene in his execution and receive him as his slave. Presenting the knight with the talisman, Saladin then arranges a plot for Sir Kenneth’s vindication.

The Talisman

Originally published in 1866 under the pseudonym "A. M. Barnard." Louisa May Alcott's novel of romance and sexual intrigue is one of her lesser-known gems. Its tone and characterizations strike a markedly different chord from her best-known works, such as "Little Women" and "Little Men," and it remains a popular addition to her oeuvre.

Behind a Mask

CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Written over three decades as a series of instalments for magazines and newspapers, The Devil’s Dictionary is a charmingly eccentric satirical dictionary that tackles all aspects of life with caustic humour and cutting observation. Few are safe as Bierce targets everything from politics (‘A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage’), marriage (‘A household consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two’) and religion (‘A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable’) to lawyers (‘One skilled in circumvention of the law’). This audiobook edition contains over 1,000 entries, combining the complete first edition published in 1911 with definitions attributed to Bierce’s earlier ‘Demon’s Dictionary’ column.

The Devil's Dictionary

Tobias Smollett, in his creation of the Scot Roderick Random, exposes the sheer incompetence and injustice of the Royal Navy, as well as the snobbery and hypocrisy prevalent in English middle-class society at the time. Set in the mid-18th century, this picaresque novel follows the life and adventures of Roderick, the eponymous hero who has been shunned by his gentleman father’s family on the basis of the lowliness of his mother’s family. Expelled from school, Roderick falls back on his natural wit and the support of his maternal uncle. Embarking on a global voyage, hindered by his naivete and with only a few friends to help him, he pursues the rich ladies of the world in order to rise into the high society from which he was rudely ejected. He ends up twice serving on British ships, latterly a warship onto which he is press-ganged. Where will his travels take him?

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