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  Mutiny - A womans quest for...

  Dorothy Edwards

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  Dorothy Edwards, an only child, was born on the 18th August 1902 at Ogmore Vale in Glamorgan. 
   
  Her father was a headmaster and an early activist in the Independent Labour Party.  At age 9 Dorothy, dressed in red, welcomed Keir Hardy on to the stage at Tonypandy during the national coal strike of 1912. She was taught that revolution was at hand, that class barriers would be a thing of the past. 
    
  Dorothy won a scholarship and boarded at Howell's School for Girls in Llandaff before moving to University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire where she read Greek and philosophy. 
   
  Her early hopes to be an opera singer were set to one side after graduating and the death of her father. Instead she took on part-time work to supplement her mother’s pension with whom she now lived. 
   
  Dorothy managed to write a number of short stories which appeared in the literary journals of the day.  She spent several months with her mother in Vienna, all the time revising or writing before embarking on ‘Winter Sonata’, a short novel published in 1928. 
   
  Introductions to several members of the Bloomsbury Group meant a move to London and a division of her time between child-care for the family of Bloomsbury author David Garnett and the promise of an advance payment for her work on a new volume of stories. 
   
  However, Dorothy’s life was starting to spiral out of control; she was attracted to the Welsh nationalist movement but felt that her Welsh provincialism made her, in London at least, feel socially inferior. Leaving her mother dependent on a hired companion consumed her with guilt as did the end of an affair with a married musician. 
   
  On the 5th January 1934, having spent the morning burning her papers, Dorothy Edwards threw herself in front of a train near Caerphilly railway station.  
   
  Her suicide note read: "I am killing myself because I have never sincerely loved any human being all my life. I have accepted kindness and friendship and even love without gratitude, and given nothing in return."

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  The Battle of Life - A Love Story

  Charles Dickens

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  Dive into the poignant and uplifting tale of "The Battle of Life: A Love Story" by Charles Dickens. Set in an idyllic English village, this novella explores the intertwined lives of two sisters, Grace and Marion, and their suitors. Amidst life's trials and personal sacrifices, love and loyalty are put to the test. As secrets unfold and hearts are challenged, Dickens crafts a story of resilience, selflessness, and the enduring power of love, capturing the essence of human spirit and devotion.

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  A Story Without a Title

  Anton Chekhov

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  "A Story Without a Title"  is an 1888 humorous story by Anton Chekhov.
  In a remote 5th century monastery the monks live and toil, led by an elderly abbot. The old man likes to play the organ, write music and compose Latin verses but is famous most of all for his eloquence and fiery, inspirational monologues which leave everybody around him enchanted. Then one night a drunkard knocks the door of the gates, saying he'd got lost on his way and asking them to give him food and wine. After the supper, instead of thanks, he rather shames the monks for spending their lives away, while the townsfolk keep on drowning themselves in debauchery and vice. The guest's speech sounds offensive, but the abbot sees the point and suggests that he makes a trip to the town himself.
  The monks wait for the old man for three months. He returns silent and morose, then spends the next seven days fasting, playing the organ and crying. Back from his cell, he tells them the appalling story of the sin raging in the town, its people indulging in all manner of pleasures, drinking wine, visiting brothels, watching lustful harlots dancing on tables. Unfortunately, one of his bouts of inspiration hits him and the monks are transfixed. Having described the charms of evil, the old man curses the devil and departs to shut himself up in his cell. When he comes out in the morning, there is not a monk left in the monastery; they had all fled to the town.

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  Bartleby The Scrivener - A Story...

  Herman Melville

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  Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street is a novella by the American novelist Herman Melville (1819–1891). It first appeared anonymously in two parts in the November and December 1853 editions of Putnam's Magazine, and was reprinted with minor textual alterations in his The Piazza Tales in 1856. 
   
  Among Melville's best-known works are Moby-Dick; Typee , a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. Although his reputation was not high at the time of his death, the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival, and Moby-Dick grew to be considered one of the great American novels. 
   
  During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.

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  Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in...

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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  A Scandal in Bohemia was the first of Arthur Conan Doyle's 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories to be published in Strand Magazine. 
  Doyle ranked A Scandal in Bohemia fifth in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories. It was first published on June 25, 1891, and was later, the first of the stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1892. 
  Public Domain (P)2015 Listen & Live Audio

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  The Schoolmistress

  Anton Chekhov

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  The short story focuses on a schoolmistress who is returning home after collecting her salary from the town. The weather is terrible, and makes the journey far longer than it should be. She meets a man named Hanov, an aging man who is joyful and seemingly ignorant of the misery of life. On this journey, Marya Vassilyevna ponders her life, her happiness and the repetition of it all. When a train goes past, she sees a woman who looks much like her late mother, which fills her with joy she hasn't felt in a very long time.
  In 'The Schoolmistress' by Anton Chekhov, life is represented as meaningless, repetitive and dull. This is done by characterization and descriptive language.

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