Other books that might interest you

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  The Solitary Summer

  Elizabeth Von Arnim

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  Published in 1899, The Solitary Summer is a charming companion to von Arnim’s earlier novel Elizabeth and Her German Garden. As with its prequel, the novel is semi-autobiographical and in the form of a series of diary entries. The narrator decides to spend one summer alone in her country house far away from the demands and distractions of the world. She offers us a witty and lyrical account of a solitary summer, filled with reading and reflections on her beloved garden. However, her months removed from society turn out to be less solitary than planned: there is her husband, ‘the Man of Wrath’, to pacify, three young children to amuse, and the arrival of a regiment of soldiers. Light-hearted in tone, The Solitary Summer describes a voyage of self-discovery set against the idyllic backdrop of an ever- changing summer garden.

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  A Foggy Evening

  A. J. Alan

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  A. J. Alan was the pseudonym of Leslie Harrison Lambert (1883-1941), an English magician, intelligence officer, short story writer, and radio broadcaster. He was hugely popular in the '20s and '30s for his radio broadcasts, when he performed his own humorous and often macabre short stories, which he always delivered wearing full evening dress.A Foggy Evening tells of a night when A. J. Alan is mistaken by a stranger for someone else, and decides to play along with the mistake. He is dragged along to a mysterious party, which turns out to be the meeting of a very odd secret society. All narrated with A. J. Alan's infection humour.

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  Why Herbert Killed His Mother

  Winifred Holtby

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  Winifred Holtby (1898-1935) was an English novelist, short story writer and journalist. 'Why Herbert Killed His Mother' is the story of a perfect baby who wins a beautiful baby contest and becomes a tiny celebrity, bringing fame and fortune to his family. When Herbert grows up, he spends most of his life trying to leave 'Baby Herbert' behind him...but his mother cannot quite relinquish the glory days when she was hailed as the perfect mother.

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  Ivanhoe

  Sir Walter Scott

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  Set in the 12th century, during the reign of Richard the Lionheart, Ivanhoe tells of the love of Wilfred of Ivanhoe for the Lady Rowena, his father Cedric’s ward. Cedric intends Rowena for the oafish Athelstane, and banishes his son. 
  'The love of battle is the food upon which we live – the dust of the mêlée is the breath of our nostrils! We live not – we wish not to live – longer than while we are victorious and renowned. Such … are the laws of chivalry to which we are sworn, and to which we offer all that we hold dear.' 
  Set in the twelfth century, during the reign of Richard the Lionheart, Ivanhoe tells of the love of Wilfred of Ivanhoe for the Lady Rowena, his father Cedric's ward. Cedric, who is dedicated to the liberation of the Saxon people from Norman oppression and to the revival of the Saxon royal line, intends Rowena – a descendant of King Alfred – for the oafish Athelstane, and he banishes his son. Ivanhoe joins King Richard on his crusade in the Holy Land, and eventually the two men return secretly to England – Ivanhoe to regain his inheritance and the hand of Rowena, Richard to secured his kingdom from his scheming brother John who has ruled in Richard's absence. 
  With a gallery of memorable characters, high and low, Ivanhoe is a powerful and exciting evocation of a medieval world of jousting, baronial rivalry, siege warfare and trial by combat, and makes no attempt to gloss over the violence and brutality that lay behind the chivalric ideals. 
  As a historical fiction, Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, is a top bestseller that vividly brings to life the brutality and chivalry of the 12th century. The bestselling author masterfully weaves a tale of love, rivalry, and warfare that has stood the test of time. 
  For fans of Enoch Abiodun (The Story of a Lover), Anthony Trollope (The American Senator), Mike Gagnon (A Western Gentleman), Rocket Classic Collection (Pride and Prejudice), and Marco Pedulla (The Flying Inn).

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  The Honest Thief

  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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  Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1822-1881) was Russia's greatest mystic who wrote of the contest between the rebellious uncertain human and the mystery of divine omnipresence which is revealed to the enlightened in the midst of life's bitterest wrongs and suffering. 
  
  
  His work is defined by a pity and compassion that shines from all his writing. "The Honest Thief" is one of Dostoyevsky's tale's of pity, in which he reveals that compassionate sympathy of the Russian mind for all suffering, the pure and noble conscience awakened in the spirit of a fallen man. The central relationship - between the poor peasant and the even poorer old alcoholic tramp who he has taken into his home - is beautifully described and characterized, as they go from a reluctant emerging friendship, through frustration and mistrust, to the final and tragic reconciliation.

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  Lord Jim

  Joseph Conrad

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  Lord Jim is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine from October 1899 to November 1900. An early and primary event is the abandonment of a ship in distress by its crew including the young British seaman Jim. He is publicly censured for this action and the novel follows his later attempts at coming to terms with himself and his past.

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