Publisher: Classica Libris
In the long slog of the Hundred Years’ War, the English forces’ decisive victory in the Battle of Agincourt proved to be a key turning point. In this gripping historical novel from G. P. R. James, a tender human drama unfolds against the backdrop of the epic battle.
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 this volume we examine one of the great names from the past whose works invite life, rituals and the spirit world together to fashion dramatic and chilling unforeseen happenings. 1 - The Top 10 Short Stories - Lafcadio Hearn - An Introduction 2 - The Ghostly Kiss by Lafcadio Hearn 3 - L'Amour Apres La Mort by Lafcadio Hearn 4 - The Undying One by Lafcadio Hearn 5 - Stranger Than Fiction by Lafcadio Hearn 6 - Diplomacy by Lafcadio Hearn 7 - Before the Supreme Court by Lafcadio Hearn 8 - Of A Promise Broken by Lafcadio Hearn 9 - A Dead Secret by Lafcadio Hearn 10 - The Corpse Rider by Lafcadio Hearn 11 - The Vision of the Dead Creole by Lafcadio HearnShow book
There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes. Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating. From their pens to your your ears.Show book
Jack's quest for happiness is thwarted by heartbreak in Book Two of the Portraits in Blue Series As Jack leaps onto the train to Malaga, he has no thought for the responsibilities that await him on the other side of the world. All he knows is that he isn’t ready to leave Sofia, the girl who captured his heart in Paris, nor her talented twin brother, Andres. The twins’ idyllic farm offers sweeping views of the Mediterranean, days spent painting for the Galleria Toulouse, and the enduring charm of Spanish village life. Even so, the trio’s happiness is soon plagued by misunderstandings and complications. Tragedy, heartbreak and declining economic circumstances force Jack and Sofia to leave the life they love and travel across the world to Australia to seek financial security and family connections. There, the heady lure of Melbourne’s art world beckons them and they fall under the spell of the charismatic but dominating Justus Jorgensen. Jack and Sofia enthusiastically embrace the visionary’s dreams. Tirelessly, they commit to the creation of Montsalvat, an art enclave whose buildings are modelled on seventeenth century Europe, where residents live free from the bonds of social conventions. While the bohemian lifestyle of Montsalvat proves stimulating, Jack is increasingly disturbed when a darker side of Jorgensen’s personality emerges. Even utopian dreams have costs. What Jack does not anticipate is that everything he loves will be threatened, with tragic consequences that test his very sanity. The second of the four book Portraits in Blue SeriesShow book
Finished listening to all of Bridgerton? Discover your next favourite regency romance novelist, Beth Andrews. While her older sister is being presented to London Society for the season, Lydia Bramwell is sent to her Aunt Camilla in the Sussex countryside. High-spirited Lydia expects a very dull visit, but her sojourn to the village of Diddlington is not as idyllic as she anticipates . . . A charred and bludgeoned corpse is found in the woods, and suspicion falls on Lydia’s aunt’s suitor, an intriguing Frenchman. Convinced of his innocence, Lydia enlists the help of her new friend, John Savidge, to catch the real killer. But before their dangerous adventure ends there will be more than one unexpected discovery. Fans of Julia Quinn, Wendy Soliman, Mary Balogh, Jenny Hambly, Lisa Kleypas, Jean Rowden’s historical mysteries or Jane Austen will love this romantic regency murder mystery.Show book
Some folks will do anything to break the wild spirit of a Carolina girl For fourteen-year-old Leah Payne, life in her beloved coastal Carolina town is as simple as it is free. Devoted to her lumberjack father and running through the wilds where the forest meets the shore, Leah’s country life is as natural to her as the loblolly pines that rise to greet the Southern sky. When an accident takes her father’s life, Leah is wrenched from her small community and cast into a family of strangers with a terrible secret. Separated from her only home, Leah is kept apart from the family and forced to act as a helpmate for the well-to-do household. When a moment of violence and prejudice thrusts Leah into the center of the state’s shameful darkness, she must fight for her own future against a world that doesn’t always value the wild spirit of a Carolina girl. Set in 1935 against the very real backdrop of a recently formed state eugenics board, The Last Carolina Girl is a powerful and heart-wrenching story of fierce strength, forgotten history, autonomy, and the places and people we ultimately call home.Show book
"North and South" is a social novel by English writer Elizabeth Gaskell, published in 1855. The story is set in the fictional industrial town of Milton in the North of England and contrasts the way of life in the industrial North with that in the rural South. The novel follows Margaret Hale, a young woman from rural southern England, who moves to the northern industrial town and encounters the stark realities of industrialization, class conflict, and social upheaval. The novel explores themes of industrialization, class differences, gender roles, and societal change. Margaret’s evolving relationships, particularly with the mill owner John Thornton, form the crux of the narrativeShow book
