Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Mutiny - A Novel of the Bounty

  John Boyne

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  “Enthralling . . . Boyne’s novel can stand comparison with William Golding’s Rites of Passage . . . Mutiny is storytelling at its most accomplished.” —The Independent (UK) 
   
  Internationally bestselling author John Boyne has been praised as “one of the best and original of the new generation of Irish writers” by the Irish Examiner. With Mutiny, he’s created an eye-opening story of life—and death—at sea. 
   
  Fourteen-year-old pickpocket John Jacob Turnstile has just been caught red-handed and is on his way to prison when an offer is put to him—a ship has been refitted over the last few months and is about to set sail with an important mission. The boy who was expected to serve as the captain’s personal valet has been injured and a replacement must be found immediately. 
   
  Given the choice of prison or a life at sea, John soon finds himself on board, meeting the captain, just as the ship sets sail. The ship is the Bounty, the captain is William Bligh, and their destination is Tahiti. Their journey, however, will become one of the most infamous in naval history. 
   
  Mutiny is the first novel to explore all the events relating to the Bounty’s voyage, from the long passage across the ocean to their adventures on the island of Tahiti and the subsequent forty-eight-day expedition toward Timor. This vivid retelling of the notorious mutiny is packed with humor, violence, and historical detail, while presenting an intriguingly different portrait of Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian than has ever been presented before. 
   
  “The writing grows into a mesmerizing tour-de-force . . . this is a remarkable and compelling piece of storytelling.” —The Irish Times

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  Margaret in Hollywood - A Novel

  Darcy O'Brien

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  A novel of a rebellious young actress in the early twentieth century, by the PEN/Hemingway Award–winning author of A Way of Life, Like Any Other.Back in the days when Shakespeare still meant something to a lot of people, I wanted to be a great dramatic actress. Before I knew it I was in Hollywood . . .   So begins this remarkable novel, in which Margaret Spencer tells us of her own journey from the vaudeville stage of the Midwest, to performing as a child in Buenos Aires, through sexual awakenings to Broadway success, and her arrival, against her will, in the Hollywood of 1927.   I was only one among numberless hordes of fatherless girls who, with mothers pinching at their elbows, had descended onto Hollywood as the fruit flies on the citrus groves.   But Margaret is anything but ordinary. Feisty, lusty, tart-tongued, willing to use her body as well as her brains to stay afloat, Margaret has her mind and heart set on liberation in every sense of the world. She demands freedom—sexual, artistic, and financial—and her battle to achieve it makes her a heroine well ahead of her time. Margaret in Hollywood is the tale of a young woman who refuses to be owned and will not be cowed, and whose love of life propels her onward.

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  The Burning Sky

  Sherry Thomas

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  This YA fantasy “combines one of the most creative magical systems since Harry Potter, with sizzling romance and characters who will win your heart” (Cinda Williams Chima, New York Times–bestselling author of the Seven Realms series). 
   
  Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's been told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of the Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the most powerful tyrant and mage the world has ever known. This would be a suicide task for anyone, let alone a reluctant sixteen-year-old girl with no training. 
   
  Guided by his mother's visions and committed to avenging his family, Prince Titus has sworn to protect Iolanthe even as he prepares her for their battle with the Bane. But he makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the tyrant closing in, Titus must choose between his mission—and her life. 
   
  “A vividly realized fantasy world.” —School Library Journal 
   
  “It’s . . . easy to be absorbed by the delicious, troubled romance between Titus and Iolanthe and their desperate situation. . . . [A] fantasy saga to watch.” —Booklist 
   
  “A wonderfully satisfying magical saga.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

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  Descent into Hell - [Illustrated...

  Charles Williams

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  Descent Into Hell is a novel written by Charles Williams, first published in 1937. Williams is less well known than his fellow Inklings, such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Like some of them, however, he wrote a series of novels which combine elements of fantasy fiction and Christian symbolism. Forgoing the detective fiction style of most of his earlier supernatural novels, most of the story's action is spiritual or psychological in nature. It fits the "theological thriller" description sometimes given to his works. For this reason Descent was initially rejected by publishers, though T. S. Eliot's publishing house Faber and Faberwould eventually pick up the novel, as Eliot admired Williams's work, and, though he did not like Descent Into Hell as well as the earlier novels, desired to see it printed.
  
  SHORT SUMMARY:
  
  The action takes place in Battle Hill, outside London, amidst the townspeople's staging of a new play by Peter Stanhope. The hill seems to reside at the crux of time, as characters from the past appear, and perhaps at a doorway to the beyond, as characters are alternately summoned heavenwards or descend into hell.
  
  Pauline Anstruther, the heroine of the novel, lives in fear of meeting her own doppelganger, which has appeared to her throughout her life. But Stanhope, in an action central to the author's own theology, takes the burden of her fears upon himself—Williams called this The Doctrine of Substituted Love—and enables Pauline, at long last, to face her true self. Williams drew this idea from the biblical verse, "Ye shall bear one another's burdens. And so Stanhope does take the weight, with no surreptitious motive, in the most affecting scene in the novel. And Pauline, liberated, is able to accept truth. On the other hand, Lawrence Wentworth, a local historian, finding his desire for Adela Hunt to be unrequited, falls in love instead with a spirit form of Adela, which seems to represent a kind of extreme self-love on his part. As he isolates himself more and more with this insubstantial figure, and dreams of descending a silver rope into a dark pit, Wentworth begins the descent into Hell.
  
  HARROWING of HELL:
  
  "Christ in Limbo" and "Descent into Hell" redirect here. For the novel by Charles Williams, see Descent into Hell (novel). For the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon liturgical play, see Harrowing of Hell (drama).

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  The Last Viking Trilogy - The...

  Poul Anderson

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  The complete trilogy in one volume: An epic saga by an award-winning author about the daring life of the fierce Norse warrior-king Harald Hardrede. Harald Hardrede, last and greatest of the Norse kings, matures from an uncrowned young man hungry for battle to a ruler with dreams of expansion he is determined to realize.  The Golden Horn: Only seventeen, Harald Sigurdharson—one day to be called Hardrede—covets the throne he is still too young to take. Restless, the warrior journeys to Constantinople where he becomes a member of the fabled Varangian Guard entrusted with the safety of the Byzantine emperor and romances an enticing beauty from a powerful clan.  The Road of the Sea Horse: Harald Hardrede, who has spent years serving foreign rulers in faraway realms, returns to Norway, undefeated and ready to grow his empire. Harald’s task to unite the northlands will be difficult and require great sacrifice, for the people will adamantly resist his invasion. But Harald will not be deterred; he is determined to carve out his place in history.  The Sign of the Raven: Harald has become a great king and a powerful conqueror, but his rule has become unstable. Treachery is brewing in the North and his conquest of Denmark is still out of reach. Unable to raise his wife’s downtrodden spirits or identify with his illegitimate sons, he sets out on his final adventure to seize the prize he has coveted above all others: the fortified island called Britannia.  

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  Joan Haste

  H. Rider Haggard

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  "Joan Haste" is a novel by H. Rider Haggard, first published in 1895. It is a romantic story set in rural England in the late 19th century. The plot revolves around Joan Haste, a young woman who is the daughter of a village drunkard. Despite her humble beginnings, Joan is beautiful and intelligent, and catches the eye of a wealthy local landowner named Sir Edward Leithen. Sir Edward falls in love with Joan and begins to court her, despite the disapproval of his family and friends. Joan is hesitant to accept his advances, knowing that their difference in social status could make their relationship impossible. However, she finds herself drawn to him and eventually agrees to marry him.

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