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"Stoddard was, next to Melville and Hawthorne, the most strikingly original voice in the mid-nineteenth-century American novel, a voice . . . that ought to gain a more sympathetic and perceptive hearing in our time than in her own."—from the Introduction The centerpiece of this volume is The Morgesons (1862), one of the few outstanding feminist bildungsromanae of that century. Additional selections include arresting short stories and provocative journalistic essays/reviews, plus a number of letters and manuscript journals that have never before been published. The texts are fully edited and documented.

Black Sunday marks the assured and exceptional arrival of a new literary voice; Tola Rotimi Abraham's debut is remarkable in its ambitious structure, in the characters she weaves together through this fraught dual history of family and modern urban Nigeria, as well as in the way she uses kaleidoscopic storytelling to slowly piece together her achingly realistic plot in a brilliant, refracted way For fans of We the Animals , The Twelve Tribes of Hattie , The God of Small Things , or A Kind of Freedom Set in Lagos, Nigeria, Black Sunday unfolds over twenty years, largely from the perspectives of twin sisters Bibike and Ariyike. As such, twinning and order (first, second), and othering hold powerful places of tension in the novel, as do the universal mythologies (Christian, Yoruba, biblical, etc.) around the power inherent in twins, and the risks inherent when you try to deny (or declare) your identity as separate from another. Abraham weaves a masterful blend of stories together (digesting, telling, and retelling family mythologies, Yoruba folktales, Old Testament parables, and remembered traumas) to build the world of her novel, to piece together the puzzle of the sisters' unraveled lives. And yet this same blend of stories (dark as they are) gives the reader a reprieve, the same way the characters might find a place of quiet or control there. Ariyike, one of the twins, reflects, “It is a common mistake, to hear a story about tragedy and disbelieve it because the telling is off. We think to ourselves, how does the storyteller know this? We are asking the wrong question. The right question is, why is the storyteller telling me this story?" The brilliant Black Sunday —like Susan Choi's Trust Exercise or works by Jenny Offill or Rachel Cusk—is as much about the purpose and uses of storytelling itself as it is a work of narrative art The novel also explores the messiness of family, sibling rivalry, and the role of the Christian Church (and older indigenous traditions) in modern Nigeria in the impossible separation of church and state, the roles of men and women, the shifting place of family in society there, and the race for money, power, and grace In Black Sunday , Abraham paints you into a scene with just a few key, absorbing sentences. Yet her sense of place never feels cliche or overwrought. Lagos street markets, powerful pastors' back offices, and the bedrooms of struggling middle-class Nigerian families all come alive in devastatingly realistic detail Acquired and edited by Catapult editor in chief Jonathan Lee, whose other debut acquisitions include Neon in Daylight , Welcome to Lagos , Rough Magic , and more Abraham lives in Iowa City, Iowa. She will tour nationally in the United States, with an emphasis on both bookstores and libraries. Bookseller Praise for Black Sunday «Although this book follows four siblings over a period of twenty years in Lagos, Nigeria, the story really centers on the oldest siblings, twin sisters Bibike and Ariyike. After losing their house in a church scam and being abandoned by their parents shortly thereafter, the siblings move in with their grandmother, who initially resents their presence. The book provides four snapshots of each of their lives—to me, each of these snapshots could stand alone as a short story. I loved Tola Rotimi Abraham's writing and her insight into the bond between two sisters as they grow apart, women's struggles in a patriarchal society, and the bargaining required in order to survive when many options have been taken away.» —Kate, Bookmarks, (Winston-Salem, NC)

For fans of Cristina Garca, Joan Silber, Michael Ondaatje, Amor Towles, Pete Fromm, or Alice McDermottWith the sweeping, personalized historical tone of DOWNTON ABBEY, and the heart and humanity of THIS IS USA sweeping novel of the 20th and early days of the 21st century, spanning the London Blitz to a Montana university campus struggling to understand 9/11 as it unfolds, 1980s Toronto to a cross-country road trip ending in Chile in homage to Pablo NerudaInspired in part by the author's mother’s experiences as a young girl in London during WWII and Hester's experiences as a 31-year old paperboy during the Reagan recession.A moving exploration of how we are haunted by our loved ones, our grief, and our own past decisions. Death and the Butterfly is a complex and magnificent piece of writing

Praise for Earthlings : “I loved this book! It easily converted me to being an alien. A radical, hilarious, heartbreaking look at the crap we have all internalized in order to fit in and survive.” —Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot “ Earthlings takes the mood of colorful disquiet she honed in Convenience Store Woman and pushes it further out. The boy and a girl at the heart of her latest believe they have landed on earth from outer space. Raised by separate families, treated badly, they tack toward each other in this immensely charming, strange and heart-stomping tale. The imagination of this writer grows and grows like outer space. Earthlings should be one of the main fictional events of 2020.” —John Freeman, Literary Hub “From the author of 2018’s comic gem about a Japanese misfit, Convenience Store Woman , a new novel featuring a young woman who is convinced she is an alien.” — Guardian “This is one that should be on everyone’s wish list.” — Japan Times “In 2020, we finally get our hands on Sayaka Murata’s newest novel . . . A new statement by Murata that finding your own freedom is a struggle against family and society which takes sacrifice.” — Books and Bao Praise for Convenience Store Woman : “Keiko, a defiantly oddball 36-year-old woman, has worked in a dead-end job as a convenience store cashier in Tokyo for half her life. She lives alone and has never been in a romantic relationship, or even had sex. And she is perfectly happy with all of it . . . Written in plain-spoken prose, the slim volume focuses on a character who in many ways personifies a demographic panic in Japan.” —Motoko Rich, New York Times (profile) “A small, elegant and deadpan novel . . . Casts a fluorescent spell . . . A thrifty and offbeat exploration of what we must each leave behind to participate in the world.” —Dwight Garner, New York Times “Alienation gets deliciously perverse treatment in Convenience Store Woman . . . The book’s true brilliance lies in Murata’s way of subverting our expectations . . . With bracing good humor . . . Murata celebrate[s] the quiet heroism of women who accept the cost of being themselves.” —John Powers, NPR’s Fresh Air “The novel borrows from Gothic romance, in its pairing of the human and the alluringly, dangerously not. It is a love story, in other words, about a misfit and a store . . . Keiko’s self-renunciations reveal the book to be a kind of grim post-capitalist reverie: she is an anti-Bartleby, abandoning any shred of identity outside of her work . . . Tranquil—dreamy, even—rooting for its employee-store romance from the bottom of its synthetic heart.” —Katy Waldman, New Yorker “An exhilaratingly weird and funny Japanese novel about a long-term convenience store employee. Unsettling and totally unpredictable—my copy is now heavily underlined.” —Sally Rooney, Guardian “As intoxicating as a sake mojito . . . A literary prize-winner that’s also a page-turner.” —John Powers, Vogue “It’s the novel’s cumulative, idiosyncratic poetry that lingers, attaining a weird, fluorescent kind of beauty all of its own.” —Julie Myerson, Guardian “Brilliant, witty, and sweet in ways that recall Amélie and Shopgirl . . . Murata’s sparkly writing and knack for odd, beautiful details are totally her own.” — Vogue , “13 Books to Thrill, Entertain, and Sustain You This Summer” “A quiet masterpiece . . . Seldom has a narrator been so true to a lack of self, and so triumphantly other.” —David Wright, Seattle Times “A spare, quietly brilliant novel . . . Like being lulled into a soft calm.” —Arianna Rebolini, BuzzFeed “This magical little book performs this neat accordion track in sentences so clean and crisp it’s like they were laminated and placed before you, one at a time, in a well-windex’d cooler . . . The 7-11 Madame Bovary .” —John Freeman, Literary Hub “A personal favorite . . . The prose is as crisp as is the aesthetic of [Japan]” —Lauren Christensen, CBS This Morning “Knock-you-off-your-feet good, sucking you wholesale into the strange brain of its narrator . . . Like being beamed down onto a foreign planet, which turns out to be your own . . . May we buy out bookstores’ stocks of Convenience Store Woman , and yell Sayaka Murata’s name from the rooftops.” —Alison Tate Lewis, Electric Literature “A novel that proves sylphlike; spare in its contents, with a masterfully deceptive comic veneer that keeps the reader turning the page.” — Zyzzyva “Quirky, memorable.” — Times (UK) “Engaging . . . A sure-fire hit of the summer.” — Irish Times “Smart and sly . . . Moving, funny, and unsettling.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Dazzling.” — Booklist (starred review) “A unique and unexpectedly revealing English language debut.” — Kirkus Reviews “A gem of a book. Quirky, deadpan, poignant, and quietly profound, it is a gift to anyone who has ever felt at odds with the world—and if we were truly being honest, I suspect that would be most of us.” —Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being “What a weird and wonderful and deeply satisfying book this is. Sayaka Murata is an utterly unique and revolutionary voice. I tore through Convenience Store Woman[/i] with great delight.” —Jami Attenberg, New York Times bestselling author of The Middlesteins and All Grown Up “A darkly comic, deeply unsettling examination of contemporary life, of alienation, of capitalism, of identity, of conformity. We’ve all been to this convenience store, whether it’s in Japan or somewhere else.” —Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer “This is a story about what’s normal and not, a drama played on a stage so violently plain it becomes as vivid and surprising as an alien planet. I loved Convenience Store Woman: its brevity, its details, its opinions about life.” —Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore “I picked up this novel on a trip to Japan and couldn’t put it down. A haunting, dark, and often hilarious take on society’s expectations of the single woman. As an extra bonus, it totally transformed my experience of going to convenience stores in Tokyo.” —Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot “ Convenience Store Woman is a mighty fine book, completely charming. Sayaka Murata is a wonderful writer.” —Rabih Alameddine, author of An Unnecessary Woman “Instructions: Open book. Consume contents. Feel charmed, disturbed, and weirdly in love. Do not discard.” —Jade Chang, author of The Wangs Vs. the World “Murata creates an original and surreal world in the most unlikely places. Furukura, the convenience store woman, is a strange, complex, gripping protagonist who inadvertently propels her own story forth through a series of subtle actions yet it is through these actions and also the spareness of the author’s prose that we see what a master Murata truly is. This book is not only readable, it is fun, thought provoking and at times outrageous and outrageously funny. It is sure to be a standout of the year.” —Weike Wang, author of Chemistry “This novel made me laugh. It was the first time for me to laugh in this way: it was absurd, comical, cute . . . audacious, and precise. It was overwhelming.” —Hiromi Kawakami, author of The Nakano Thrift Shop

In Manhattan, an elderly lawyer's business is growing. Having two scriveners in his employ, the lawyer advertises for a third to meet demand. Enter Bartleby, a glum albeit quality scrivener. However, the lawyer quickly discovers that something is off with his new employee. When asked to perform any duties outside of copywriting, Bartleby responds with a canned 'I would prefer not to.' Soon Bartleby is living at the office and performing less and less at work. Finally fed up with his strange new scrivener, the lawyer asks Bartleby to leave, only to find himself on the receiving end of yet another 'I would prefer not to.'

Rudyard Kipling's thrilling science fiction novella follows the exploits of an intercontinental mail dirigible battling foul weather. Meanwhile, a planet-wide Aerial Board of Control enforces a rigid system of command and control in the skies and in world affairs, too. In Kipling's 1912 follow-up story, 'As Easy As A.B.C.,' set 65 years after With the Night Mail, the Aerial Board has complete control over the social and economic affairs of every nation. When a mob of disgruntled 'Serviles' in the District of Northern Illinois demands the return of democracy, the A.B.C. sends a team of troubleshooters and a fleet of 200 zeppelins to 'take such steps as might be necessary for the resumption of traffic and all that that implies.'

Chills race up and down young solicitor Jonathan Harker's spine as he enters the eerie castle of a Transylvanian count. His host, Count Dracula, is a curious creature that becomes enamored with the photograph of Harker's fiancee, Mina. Dracula decides he must find the enchanting Mina and have her as his own. He boards a boat and makes the long journey to find Mina as the ship's crew mysteriously disappears one by one. Van Helsing, called to care for Mina's friend Lucy, senses there is something different about Dracula. Mina is drawn to Dracula's seduction and tries to fight this overwhelming power. But can she?

Marley was dead, to begin with…' And yet, he manages to visit his old partner, the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, and send him on a transformative journey, led by three ghosts. First to his own past, where he sees again the love he spurned, then to the present, where he sees those around him going about their holiday preparations, and then into his own future, to see his just reward. A Christmas favorite, it will warm your heart with favorite memories, and remind you how the true Christmas spirit comes from giving with love.

When war breaks out in Europe – modern, aerial war whose tactics include displacing entire populations – British civilization collapses overnight. The ironically named Theodore Savage, an educated and idle civil servant, must learn to survive by his wits in a new Britain…one where science and technology swiftly come to be regarded with superstitious awe and terror.

The most beloved and oft-adapted work by Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow follows a love triangle in the New York countryside in 1790. Sleepy Hollow, a supposedly haunted glen on the outskirts of Tarry Town, is home to a particularly ghoulish fiend – the Headless Horseman – who is said to be the specter of a fallen soldier. Ichabod Crane, a schoolmaster from Connecticut, competes with local hero Abraham 'Brom Bones' Van Brunt for the affections of the young, beautiful, and wealthy Katrina Van Tassel. Crane, considered an outsider by the community, takes part in an annual harvest party in a bid to win Katrina's hand in marriage. His scheme fails, however, and Crane has a run-in with Sleepy Hollow's most infamous resident.

In Heart of Darkness, Polish-British author Joseph Conrad deploys atmosphere, ambiguity and nuance to spin a languid tale of intrigue and madness in late 19th-century Colonial Africa. The story's narrator, Marlow, tells of a trip up the Congo River to rescue a legendary ivory trader, Kurtz, from a mysterious illness. Considered Conrad's masterpiece, and one of the greatest novels of the 20th century (it was written and serialized in 1899 but not published in book form until 1902), others have condemned the dehumanizing depictions of Africans as racist and outdated.

In the fifth book in the series, Anne's own true love, Gilbert Blythe, is finally a doctor, and, in the sunshine of the old orchard among their dearest friends, they are about to speak their vows. Soon, the happy couple will be bound for a new life together in their own dream house on the misty purple shores of Four Winds Harbor. But a new life means fresh problems to solve-and fresh surprises. As Anne and Gilbert begin to build that new life, some of those problems and surprises come in the form of their new neighbors: Captain Jim, the lighthouse attendant with sad stories about the sea, Miss Cornelia Bryant, the direct woman who still manages to speak from her heart, and Leslie Moore, the tragically beautiful girl who intrigues Anne…

When a man is found dead in a freshly dug grave adjacent to a golf course, Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings arrive on the scene only to be met by a hostile local police detective who is unwilling to share information. But Poirot's methodical investigation slowly and surely reveals the real killer amid a host of suspects and clues, including an impassioned love letter and heavy lead piping found near the body. However, as Poirot and Hastings rush to solve the murder, a similarly slain corpse and fresh clues are discovered.

A New York Times bestsellerThe original graphic novel adapted into the film Blue Is the Warmest Color, winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film FestivalIn this tender, bittersweet, full-color graphic novel, a young woman named Clementine discovers herself and the elusive magic of love when she meets a confident blue-haired girl named Emma: a lesbian love story for the ages that bristles with the energy of youth and rebellion and the eternal light of desire.First published in France by Glénat, the book has won several awards, including the Audience Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, Europe's largest.The live-action, French-language film version of the book, entitled Blue Is the Warmest Color, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2013. Directed by director Abdellatif Kechiche and starring Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos, the film generated both wide praise and controversy. It will be released in the US through Sundance Selects/IFC Films.Julie Maroh is an author and illustrator originally from northern France."Julie Maroh, who was just 19 when she started the comic, manages to convey the excitement, terror, and obsession of young love—and to show how wildly teenagers swing from one extreme emotion to the next … Ultimately, Blue Is the Warmest Color is a sad story about loss and heartbreak, but while Emma and Clementine’s love lasts, it’s exhilarating and sustaining." —Slate.com"A beautiful, moving graphic novel." —Wall Street Journal"Blue Is the Warmest Color captures the entire life of a relationship in affecting and honest style." —Comics Worth Reading"Delicate linework conveys wordless longing in this graphic novel about a lesbian relationship." —New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)"A tragic yet beautifully wrought graphic novel." —Salon.com"Love is a beautiful punishment in Maroh’s paean to confusion, passion, and discovery … An elegantly impassioned love story." —Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)"A lovely and wholehearted coming-out story … the illustrations are infused with genuine, raw feeling. Wide-eyed Clementine wears every emotion on her sleeve, and teens will understand her journey perfectly." —Kirkus Reviews «The electric emotions of falling in love and the difficult process of self-acceptance will resonate with all readers … Maroh’s use of color is deliberate enough to be eye-catching in a world of grey tones, with Emma’s bright blue hair capturing Clementine’s imagination, but is used sparingly enough that it supports and blends naturally with the story.» —Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)"It's not just the French who have a better handle on sexy material than Americans – Canadians do, too … Who's publishing it? Not an American publishing house but by Arsenal Pulp Press, a Canadian independent." —Los Angeles Times

What is the role of art in the world? And what is the responsibility of the artist? After the death of his wife, Michael Benchere, a well-respected sculptor and once-famous architect, looks for ways to redefine the meaning of his life through the purpose of his art. Determined to create a sculpture that celebrates nothing more than the pure beauty of art, Benchere heads into the Kalahari desert where he is followed quite unexpectedly by a ragtag mix of people. Over the course of his months in the desert, Benchere must address not only the relationship of his art to the world at large, but his own relationship to the world and how our responsibilities, our loves and dreams don’t ever fade in time but, in effect, become evermore defined.

Reluctantly back home in L.A. after 16 years in Africa, documentary filmmaker Mouse FitzHenry longs for the harsh, teeming jungle life her lens took in so lovingly. Wrenched Stateside by a family emergency, with her longtime boyfriend/collaborator in tow, Mouse is instantly beleaguered by a past she’d leapt continents to escape. In this rollicking novel, Karbo explores familiar subjects — the phony glitz of Hollywood, the fairy tale lure of love and marriage — with precision, compassion, and humor. Mouse’s paramour, Tony, a Brit who calls her “poppet,” adores L.A. and all that it can do for him and his screenplay. Mouse, meanwhile, caving in to maternal pressure, agrees to marry Tony and then proceeds, with the help of an old flame, to film around her unwitting fiancé a documentary on the entire process of their betrothal called Wedding March. A flawless, page-turning story emerges as Mouse and Tony manage — often with hilarious subterfuge — to keep their projects secret from one another. With its laugh-aloud moments and a cast of brilliantly drawn characters, this is a tale to treasure.

"Schloss Gripsholm" ist eine der hinreißendsten Sommergeschichten, die die deutsche Literatur zu bieten hat. Dieses innige, unnachahmlich elegante und amüsante Buch haben sich Liebende seit seinem Erscheinen 1931 immer wieder geschenkt, weil sie in ihm ihre eigene Verliebtheit mit all ihren Torheiten und Verzauberungen erkannten. In einer erstklassigen Lesung belebt Uwe Friedrichsen die Figuren mit seiner markanten Stimme. Und gelegentlich schnackt er auch ein bisschen «plattdütsch». So zeitlos wie die Romanvorlage ist auch diese Umsetzung als Hörbuch.

Finalist for the Believer Book Award for Fiction Named a Best Book of Fall by Vulture , New York Magazine , and more "A ravishing novel charged with the idea of the incommunicable." — The New Yorker Eleven-year-old Jane Grandison, tormented by her stutter, sits in the back seat of a car, letter in hand inviting her to live and study at the Sybil Joines Vocational School for Ghost Speakers & Hearing-Mouth Children. Founded in 1890 by Headmistress Sybil Joines, the school—at first glance—is a sanctuary for children seeking to cure their speech impediments. Inspired by her haunted and tragic childhood, the Headmistress has other ideas. Pioneering the field of necrophysics, the Headmistress harnesses the “gift” she and her students possess. Through their stutters, together they have the ability to channel ghostly voices communicating from the land of the dead, a realm the Headmistress herself visits at will. Things change for the school and the Headmistress when a student disappears, attracting attention from parents and police alike. Set in the overlapping worlds of the living and the dead, Shelley Jackson’s Riddance is an illuminated novel told through theoretical writings in necrophysics, the Headmistress’s dispatches from the land of the dead, and Jane’s evolving life as Joines’s new stenographer and central figure in the Vocational School’s mysterious present, as well as its future.

Genre-subverting mystery. Should have crossover appeal to noir fans.This is Kirby's third novel. His previous novel, Our Napoleon in Rags, received good nice critical attention.Can expect a good amount of local attention in KY, as Kirby was subject of a PBS documentary on Kentucky writers and previous book was nominated for Kentucky Book Award.

Eine Liebeserklärung an die Welt, wie sie hätte sein können. Die Welt ist untergegangen, aber Hig hat überlebt. Ebenso sein einziger Nachbar, ein menschenfeindlicher Waffennarr mit dem Herz auf dem rechten Fleck, der ihn – brutal, aber verlässlich – beschützt. Hig lebt im Hangar eines verwilderten Flughafens und tuckert mit einer alten Cessna übers Gelände, sein Hund Jaspar ist sein treuer Copilot. Man schlägt sich halt so durch. Dann empfängt er plötzlich ein Funksignal. Gibt es doch noch Leben, jenseits seines kleinen Flughafens? Hig beginnt eine abenteuerliche Reise, und was er entdeckt, übertrifft seine schlimmsten Ängste – und seine größte Hoffnung.

Edited and introduced by Douglas Gifford. The Three Perils of Man is regarded as Hogg’s most ambitious work of fiction. The book’s extraordinary combination of the fantastic, the funny, the serious and the historically realistic must be unique in literature. The adventures of its characters, told with the author’s characteristically bold simplicity, are many, mad, and breathtakingly fast. Ranging from Galloway to Northumberland, the main focus of the book is to be found in the Scottish Borders. Hogg knew and loved the Borders well, and the book is full of their oral tradition and local lore. In his attempt to synthesise this material with history, romance and the high literary ideals of his time, Hogg’s nearest modern parallels would be a combination of Tolkien and Iain Banks. Hogg’s fusion of traditional folklore and innovative style was viewed as an anachronism by his contemporaries, and it is only now that his work is recognised s one of the most original and masterly in the Scottish canon.

Dit is Ierland aan die einde van die agtiende eeu: ’n Ierland onder die hiel van die Engelse heerser, sy volk onderdruk, magteloos, sonder regte. Die opstandsgevoel neem toe, ook onder invloed van die Franse Rewolusie en Napoleon se opkoms. Teen hierdie agtergrond maak David, jonger broer van sir Arthur, heer van Donore, onverwags kennis met die Ierse volk. Hy raak bevriend met die skoolmeester Liam O Néill, die verarmde Séamas Bán, die priester O Floinn, met die meisies Nóra en Eilís . . . en hy bevind hom in ’n posisie waar ’n keuse aan hom opgedwing word, teen sy sin. “Een ding het hy egter besef, dat niks hierna meer dieselfde kan wees nie . . . Soos op ’n golf is hy voortgespoel deur die gang van sake, en die gety sou nie bly staan in sy stroming of hom terugkeer nie.” David weier om hom by enige groep te skaar – hy wil alleen homself bly en met sy vriende verkeer – maar dit is nie moontlik nie en onverbiddelik beweeg omstandighede hom om tog daadwerklik die Iere te probeer help. Die uiteinde is vir David tragies en ironies: “Geen mens wat begryp nie, en ná sy dood ook geen mens wat sal weet hoe dit was nie; indien daar ’n beeld van hom bly voortbestaan, sal dit iets wees wat geen verband hou met die werklikheid nie.” By fakkellig is ’n ontroerende roman waarin die Ierse landskap, die rustige leefwyse van die adel, die verbitterde bestaan van die boerevolk en die vertwyfeling van Arthur uitgebeeld word op ’n wyse wat herinner aan Yeats se woorde van byna twee eeue later: “A terrible beauty is born”.

Mit der Novelle «Bahnwärter Thiel» verfasste Gerhart Hauptmann 1887 eines der Hauptwerke des Naturalismus. In eindringlicher Sprache schildert der Autor darin das fatale Schicksal von Bahnwärter Thiel: einem Mann, der innerlich hin- und hergerissen ist. Erinnerungen an seine tote Ehefrau Minna und das jetzige, harsche Leben mit seiner zweiten Frau Lene zermürben Thiel. Nur Tobias, sein Sohn aus der Ehe mit Minna, gibt ihm Halt. Doch eines Tages geschieht bei einem Ausflug zum Arbeitsplatz des Bahnwärters ein schrecklicher Unfall…

Nordspanien 1813: Die Engländer versuchen mit einheimischen Widerstandskämpfern gegen die Franzosen Kontakt aufzunehmen. Ein erster Bote namens Kuba-Tom kehrt von seinem Erkundungsgang nicht zurück. Besorgt macht sich Marineoffizier Byrne auf die Suche nach ihm. Toms Spur führt zu einem Gasthaus mit zwei unheimlichen Wirtinnen…

Introduced by Edwin Morgan. A ‘gowk storm’ is an untimely fall of snow in early Spring – a fitting symbol for the anguished story that unfolds. Nearly a hundred years ago, three girls were born to a minister and his wife in a remote Highland manse; the rigid patriarchal structure of the times is set against their approaching womanhood and growing awareness of life beyond the safety of home. After the disposal by marriage of the eldest, the sisters’ lives reach a new level of intensity. Emmy, the middle sister, finds to her horror that she is falling in love with her best friend’s fiancée. The unfortunate couple become estranged and a tragic outcome seems inevitable in the brooding symbolism of this disturbing story. The Gowk Storm, published in 1933, was one of many award-winning books written by Nancy Brysson Morrison. It was a Book Society Choice, went into eight impressions and was successfully dramatised. ‘Haunting, lyrical, passionate and a real page-turner, The Gowk Storm is definitely one of my favourite Scottish novels.’ Anne Donovan

Introduced by Douglas Gifford. This hilarious novel charts the rise and fall (and perhaps the rise again) of Magnus Merriman—would-be lover, writer, politician, idealist and crofter—moved by dreams of greatness and a talent for farcical defeat. Convinced that ‘small nations are safer to live in than big ones’, Magnus becomes a Nationalist candidate for the parliamentary seat of ‘Kinluce’. With details based on Linklater’s own experiences in an East Fife by-election in 1933, the way is set for a satirical and irreverent portrait of Scottish life, literature and politics in the 1930s. Nothing is sacred and no-one is spared. ‘A book full of remarkable passages . . . [with a] breathless tempo . . . it is wonderful writing.’ Herald

Experience a wonderfully complex world of characters and cultures as you explore modern Damascus with a spirited teenage boy.Amid the turmoil of modern Da­mascus, one teenage boy finds his political voice in a message of re­bellion that echoes throughout Syria and as far away as Western Europe. Inspired by his dearest friend, old Uncle Salim, he begins a journal to record his thoughts and impressions of family, friends, life at school, and his growing feelings for his girlfriend, Nadia. Soon the hidden diary be­comes more than just a way to re­member his daily adventures; on its pages he explores his frustration with the government injustices he witnesses. His courage and ingenuity finally find an outlet when he and his friends begin a subversive under­ground newspaper.Warmed by a fine sense of humor, this novel is at once a moving love story and a passionate testimony to the difficult and committed actions being taken by young people around the world. This book is not only suited for teenagers, it is also quite exciting to read for adults!

The story of three different young women marks the literary debut of an amazing writer from LebanonAlways Coca-Cola is the story of three very different young women attending university in Beirut: Abeer, Jana, and Yasmine. The narrator, Abeer Ward (fragrant rose, in Arabic), daughter of a conservative family, admits wryly that her name is also the name of her father’s flower shop. Abeer’s bedroom window is filled by a view of a Coca-Cola sign featuring the image of her sexually adventurous friend, Jana. From the novel’s opening paragraph—“When my mother was pregnant with me, she had only one craving. That craving was for Coca Cola”—first-time novelist Alexandra Chreiteh asks us to see, with wonder, humor, and dismay, how inextricably confused naming and desire, identity and branding. The names—and the novel’s edgy, cynical humor—might be recognizable across languages, cultures, and geographies. But Chreiteh’s novel is first and foremost an exploration of a specific Lebanese milieu. Critics in Lebanon have responded in a storm, calling the novel “an electric shock” and finding that the problems of its characters reflect grave “social anomalies.” Read Chreiteh and see what the storm is all about.

Ursula K. Le Guin selected Crazy Weather for her contribution to Pharos Editions citing Charles McNichols “offhanded skill, the ease with which (he) takes us deep into a complex society and the complex minds and hearts of its people.” In four days of «glory-hunting» with an Indian comrade, South Boy, who is white, realizes he must choose between two cultures. Le Guin explains how she finds Crazy Weather to be “about a soul not at home and not at peace: South Boy, who on the verge of manhood is living in and between two worlds, without a clear way to go in either.” Crazy Weather is a unique tale of American identity that serves as “an important document in our cultural history.”

First published in Germany in 1901 and translated into English in 1924, Thomas Mann’s “Buddenbrooks” is the story of the decline of a wealthy German family over four generations which takes place in the years 1835 to 1877. Mann began writing the novel, his first, when he was only twenty-two years old and based much of his critically acclaimed work on the story of his own family and their peers. Mann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929 and the Nobel Committee cited “Buddenbrooks” as the principal reason for the prize. Mann’s masterpiece is at its surface a story of commonplace family events, such as births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and personal triumphs and failures. With each successive generation these seemingly mundane occurrences subtly vary and the family’s decline happens in bits and pieces until their downfall is all but certain. “Buddenbrooks” is a nuanced and layered study of the effect of modernity on the traditions and institutions taken for granted by aristocratic families such as the Buddenbrooks. Mann’s detailed and satisfyingly human novel continues to be read and cherished all over the world. This edition follows the 1924 translation of H. T. Lowe-Porter.

A story about one all-inclusive resort, the ghost of an unknown father, and the tragedies we can’t forget. What’s it like when everyone’s dream vacation is your job? Ameera works at a Mexican all-inclusive resort, where every day is paradise – if “paradise” means endless paperwork, quotas to meet, and entitled tourists. But it’s not all bad: Ameera’s pastime of choice is the swingers scene, and the resort is the perfect place to hook up with like-minded couples without all the hassle of having to see them again. Despite Ameera’s best efforts to keep her sideline a secret, someone is spreading scandalous rumours about her around the resort, and her job might be at stake. Meanwhile, she’s being plagued by her other secret, the big unknown of her existence: the identity of her father and why he disappeared. Unbeknownst to Ameera, her father, Azeez, is looking for her, and they both must come to terms with the reason why he abandoned her. A moving new work from award-winning author Farzana Doctor, All Inclusive blurs the lines between the real world and paradise, and life and death, and reminds us that love is neither easily lost nor found. Now Magazine Best Author • Kobo Best Book of the Year – Canadian Favourites Category

* The Believer Book Awards, 2019: Editors' Longlists in Fiction *The Northern California ‘Golden Poppy’ Book Awards 2019, Fiction longlist*A Best Book of 2019 — Vulture, Entropy, Buzzfeed, Thrillist "Etter brilliantly, viciously lays bare what it means to be a woman in the world, what it means to hurt, to need, to want, so much it consumes everything.” —Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist "I loved every page of this gorgeous, grotesque, heartbreaking novel." —Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties A surreal exploration of one woman's life and death against a landscape of meat, office desks, and bad men. The Book of X tells the tale of Cassie, a girl born with her stomach twisted in the shape of a knot. From childhood with her parents on the family meat farm, to a desk job in the city, to finally experiencing love, she grapples with her body, men, and society, all the while imagining a softer world than the one she is in. Twining the drama of the everyday – school-age crushes, paying bills, the sickness of parents – with the surreal – rivers of thighs, men for sale, and fields of throats – Cassie’s realities alternate to create a blurred, fantastic world of haunting beauty.

"Cross García Márquez and Simenon and set the piece on the Sea of Japan, and you’ll have a feel for Ono’s latest… Fans of Kenzaburo Oe’s Death by Water and Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 will enjoy Ono’s enigmatic story.” — Kirkus (starred review) All societies, whether big or small, try to hide their wounds away. In this, his Mishima Prize-winning masterpiece, Masatsugu Ono considers a fishing village on the Japanese coast. Here a new police chief plays audience for the locals, who routinely approach him with bottles of liquor and stories to tell. As the city council election approaches, and as tongues are loosened by drink, evidence of rampant corruption piles up—and a long-held feud between the village’s captains of industry, two brothers-in-law, threatens to boil over. Meanwhile, just out of frame, the chief’s teenage daughter is listening, slowly piecing the locals’ accounts together, reading into their words and poring over the silence they leave behind. As accounts of horrific violence—including a dangerous attempt to save some indentured Korean coal mine workers from the Japanese military police and the fate of a group of Chinese refugees—steadily come into focus, she sets out for the Bay, where the tide has recently turned red and an ominous boat from the past has suddenly reappeared. Populated by an infectious cast of characters that includes a solemn drunk with a burden to bear; a scarred woman constantly tormented by the local kids’ fireworks; a lone communist; and the “Silica Four,” a group of out-of-work men who love to gossip— Echo on the Bay is a quiet, masterful epic in village miniature. Proof again that there are no small stories—and that History’s untreated wounds, no matter how well hidden, fester, always threatening to resurface.

Considered one of the most important and widely read novels ever written in the Italian language, “The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi)” is Alessandro Manzoni’s 1827 historical novel, which details the terribly oppressive rule of the Spanish over Italy in the early 1600s. At the center of the novel is the story of two young lovers, Renzo and Lucia, whose marriage is forbidden by the local baron, who wishes to wed the lovely Lucia himself. Forced to flee their homes, Renzo and Lucia are separated and must struggle against the ravages of war, famine, and the plague to be reunited again. While in essence a simple and affecting love story, “The Betrothed” is also a fascinating and detailed glimpse into a dramatic and tumultuous period in Italy’s history. Famed for its depiction of young love, devotion, and fidelity, the novel is also noted for its incredibly realistic depictions of the real-life plague that ravaged Milan, as well as the subsequent bread shortages and violent unrest. Manzoni’s “The Betrothed” is an epic Italian masterpiece.

First published in 1917, “Growth of the Soil” is the epic and seminal work by Knut Hamsun, the Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian writer. Originally published in Norwegian and subsequently translated into numerous languages and read around the world, “Growth of the Soil” has been lauded as one of the twentieth-century’s most important and ground-breaking novels. Hamsun was a pioneer in a new more realistic style of literature and was one of the first to use a stream of consciousness writing technique that would have a profound influence on such writers as Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, and Henry Miller. “Growth of the Soil” is the lyrical and intensely subjective story of Isak, a rural farmer, his family, and his local community members. Isak represents the agrarian and primitive lifestyle that Hamsun idealized as opposed to the increasingly urban and modernized world around him. Isak and his family resist the obligations and complexities of the regimented world of rules and machines, but are also perplexed and confused by it when they are forced to interact with its realities. A thought-provoking examination of the tension between the old primitive world and the new modern one, “Growth of the Soil” endures as one of literature’s modern masterpieces.

The town of New Eden, peopled with hereditary oddities, has arrived at its last days. As two near-centenarian citizens prepare for their annual birthday tea, a third vows to interrupt the proceedings with a bold declaration. The Remnants cartwheels rambunctiously through the lives of wood-splitters, garment-menders, and chervil farmers, while exposing an electrical undercurrent of secrets, taboos, and unfulfilled longings. With his signature wit and wordplay, Robert Hill delivers a bittersweet gut-buster of an elegy to the collective memory of a community.

A man in his early forties is unable to sleep as he contemplates the decision of running for mayor of his small town. While considering his options, his thoughts drift to his wife and their devoted relationship. As he reflects on his good fortune, one fact becomes apparent—his relationship with his wife originated even before it began. In 1992, life is anything but predictable for fifteen-year-old Scott Furman as he comes of age in his Midwestern small lower-class town of South Hillside. An incident that happened when he was born haunts his parents, making his mother’s emotional turmoil a mystery. While dealing delicately with his mother, Scott’s sensation of being an incomplete person also mystifies him. On the first day of summer vacation, Scott meets a girl named Briana from the adjacent wealthy town of North Hillside. Intelligent hardworking Scott and shy reserved Briana quickly realize their true love is authentic. When they learn of their family and friends’ stereotypical feelings of the other one’s town, Scott and Briana wisely keep their relationship a secret. However, when Scott’s best friend, Derek, learns about Briana, the boys’ friendship becomes a battle of wits. Self-centered and competitive, Derek takes pleasure in charming the girls of Scott’s interest. One girl unmoved by Derek’s charm is Scott’s sister-like friend, Felicia. Growing up together, Scott and Felicia have a special bond, but Scott’s overprotectiveness of Felicia causes additional complications, especially when Felicia realizes she has always loved Scott. With the love of two girls, Scott’s life is full of twists and surprises.

Światowy bestseller amerykańskiej pisarki Louisy May Alcott. Dalsze losy bohaterów Małych kobietek i Dobrych żon (książka jest trzecią częścią tetralogii Małych kobietek). Książka opowiada o życiu Jo Bhaer, jej męża i dzieciaków ze szkoły w Plumfield. Bezpośrednią inspiracją tej historii była śmierć szwagra Alcott, który pojawia się w jednym z ostatnich rozdziałów. Wszystkie książki cyklu, choć tak uroczo bajkowe, były jednak w dużej mierze oparte o prawdziwe wydarzenia z życia autorki, co dodaje im większego znaczenia i kolorytu.

Юные сестры Дэшвуд мечтают устроить свое будущее. Каждая находит избранника сообразно характеру: Марианна увлекается легкомысленным Уиллоби, а Элинор предпочитает надежного Эдварда Феррарса. Девушки по-разному проявляют свои чувства. Марианна настойчиво пишет своему возлюбленному письма, которые остаются без ответа; Элинор спокойно, но с горечью, принимает известие о помолвке Эдварда с Люси Стил. Романтические переживания вкупе с традициями английского общества становятся настоящим испытанием для сестер, однако семейное счастье ожидает их обеих.

Big Hig gehört zu den Wenigen, die eine verheerende Epidemie überlebt haben. Ebenso wie sein einziger Nachbar, ein menschenfeindlicher Waffennarr mit dem Herz auf dem rechten Fleck, der ihn – brutal, aber verlässlich – beschützt. Hig lebt im Hangar eines verwilderten Flughafens und tuckert mit einer alten Cessna übers Gelände, sein Hund Jasper ist sein treuer Copilot. Eines Tages empfängt er plötzlich ein Funksignal von weit her. Gibt es doch noch weitere Überlebende, jenseits seines kleinen Flughafens? Hig beginnt eine abenteuerliche Reise, und was er entdeckt, übertrifft seine schlimmsten Ängste – und seine größte Hoffnung. Hig liebt die Welt, wie sie einmal war, und wie sie hätte sein können. Und weil er zudem die Poesie liebt, wird sein Bericht aus dem Innersten der Kampfzone zu einem herzzerreißenden, anrührenden Dokument.

Despite a declining popularity throughout his career, Anthony Trollope has become one of the most notable and respected English novelists of the Victorian Era. His penetrating novels on political, social and gender issues of his day have placed him among such nineteenth century literary icons as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot. Trollope penned 47 novels in his career, in addition to various short stories, travel books, and biographies. First published in 1858, “Doctor Thorne” is the third novel in Trollope’s series known as the “Chronicles of Barsetshire”, and is argued to be one of Trollope’s best works. It tells the story of Mary Thorne, the niece of Dr. Thomas Thorne, whose illegitimacy remains a secret for much of the novel as she is raised by her kind uncle and falls in love with the rich Frank Gresham. This melodramatic novel displays Trollope’s brilliant management of plot and dialogue while exploring themes of illegitimacy, class division and the practice of marrying for money. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

Chretien de Troyes was a French poet in the late 12th century whose work represents some of the best examples of Arthurian legend from medieval times. Contained in this volume are the author’s four completed Arthurian romances. The first of these stories is that of “Erec and Enide”, which recounts the story of Erec, one of King Arthur’s knights, and the conflict between love and knighthood he experiences in his marriage to Enide. The second romance is the tale of the knight “Cligès” and his love for his uncle’s wife, Fenice. The third romance is that of “Yvain, the Knight of the Lion”, in which Yvain seeks to avenge his cousin Calogrenant, who had been defeated by an otherworldly knight. Lastly is the tale of “Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart”, which centers on Lancelot’s rescue of Guinevere, King Arthur’s queen. These classic medieval poems form some of the earliest and most prominent examples of the legend of King Arthur. This edition follows the prose translation of William Comfort.

When an aspiring street artist by the name of Grafity watches the tenements outside his home being razed, he finds an unlikely canvas at the one wall still left standing in the debris. Over the next weeks, he begins creating a mural on the wall, one that chronicles the lives of his friends: a local low-level fixer named Jay who harbours dreams of being a rapper. A brilliant and awkward boy named Chasma who writes love letters between shifts waiting tables at a local Chinese restaurant. And Saira, an aspiring actress with ambitions so fierce that they threaten to consume her and all those around her. As the mural progresses, the story gives us glimpses into these incandescent lives, their hopes and dreams both inspired and impeded by the impossible city that they live in.

A renewed interest in “Moby-Dick” in the early 20th century would help to establish it as an outstanding work of Romanticism and the American Renaissance, firmly placing it amongst the greatest of all American novels. Based on the real life events depicted in the “Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex” and the legend of “Mocha Dick”, an albino sperm whale whose killing is described in the May 1839 issue of “The Knickerbocker” magazine, it is the story of a wandering sailor by the name of Ishmael and his voyage aboard the whaling ship the “Pequod.” Commanded by the monomaniacal Captain Ahab, a man who is obsessed with revenge against a white whale of enormous size and ferocity, the “Pequod” and its crew are tasked with the singular goal of the capture and killing of the whale, whatever the cost. “Moby-Dick” is a novel rich with symbolism, full of complex themes, whose composition defies convention. A commercial and critical failure during the author’s lifetime, this classic whaling adventure would ultimately secure the literary legacy of Herman Melville. This edition includes an introduction by William S. Ament, a biographical afterword, and is illustrated by Mead Schaeffer.

One of the most popular novels of early American literature, “The Last of the Mohicans” helped to establish James Fenimore Cooper as one of the first great and world-famous American authors. The second and best known novel in the “Leatherstocking Tales” series, “The Last of the Mohicans” is set in the British province of New York during the French and Indian War. It concerns the rescue and transport to safety, of two sisters, Alice and Cora, daughters of British commander Colonel Munro, who are kidnapped following a Huron massacre of Anglo-American soldiers. They are escorted by frontiersman Natty Bumppo, Major Duncan Heyward, and the Indians Chingachgook and Uncas, the titular sole surviving member of the Mohican tribe. A fantastic tale of adventure set during the middle of the 18th century, “The Last of the Mohicans” is a true American classic, which has captivated readers ever since its original publication. This edition includes an introduction and notes by John B. Dunbar.

First published in 1922, “Captain Blood” is an entertaining tale of pirates by Rafael Sabatini, the Italian-English author of adventure and romance novels. “Captain Blood” tells the story of Dr. Peter Blood, an Irish physician who had traded his past life as a sailor and a soldier for a quiet life tending to his garden and patients in Somerset, England. Dr. Blood attends to the wounds of rebels injured in the Battle of Sedgemoor during the Monmouth Rebellion and is soon arrested for treason. While he did not actually participate in the rebellion and merely did what he felt he must, he is tried and convicted nonetheless. The sentence for treason is death, but King James II has the sentence commuted and instead sells Dr. Blood and his fellow rebels into slavery in the Caribbean. Dr. Blood continues to demonstrate his bravery and decency after he is bought by the cruel Colonel Bishop and takes advantage of a raid by Spanish forces to escape his new owner. Dr. Blood acquires a ship and quickly becomes the most successful pirate in the Caribbean, ultimately triumphing over his enemies and misfortune. “Captain Blood” remains a gripping and entertaining tale of pirates and high sea adventures. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

Меня мачеха убила, Мой отец меня же съел. Моя милая сестричка Мои косточки собрала, Во платочек их связала И под деревцем сложила. Чивик, чивик! Что я за славная птичка! (Сказка о заколдованном дереве. Якоб и Вильгельм Гримм) Впервые в России: полное собрание сказок, собранных братьями Гримм в неадаптированном варианте для взрослых! Многие известные сказки в оригинале заканчиваются вовсе не счастливо. Дело в том, что в братья Гримм писали свои произведения для взрослых, поэтому сюжеты неадаптированных версий «Золушки», «Белоснежки» и многих других добрых детских сказок легко могли бы лечь в основу сценария современного фильма ужасов. Сестры Золушки обрезают себе часть ступни, чтобы влезть в хрустальную туфельку, принц из сказки про Рапунцель выкалывает себе ветками глаза, а «добрые» родители Гензеля и Гретель отрубают своим детям руки и ноги. Таких сказок вам еще не доводилось читать… В этом издании впервые публикуются все, включая самые мрачные и пугающие истории оригинального сборника братьев Гримм. Издание дополнено гравюрами и иллюстрациями XIX века.

Thomas Hardy’s fourth novel, “Far from the Madding Crowd,” is a classic portrayal of 19th-century rural English life. It is the story of Gabriel Oak, a would-be shepherd, who falls for Bathsheba Everdene, a vain young woman, who comes to live with her aunt and uncle in the country. A set of unfortunate circumstances brings Gabriel into the employment of Bathsheba, an awkward situation given that she has already refused his offer of marriage. Bathsheba has no shortage of suitors. Amongst them include William Boldwood, a wealthy middle-aged farmer, whose affection she toys with, and Sergeant Francis Troy, a dashing young soldier whom she eventually marries. She soon learns that Francis is a thoughtless gambler with little interest in farming and likely does not really love her. The struggles of the heart are brilliantly depicted in this masterpiece of romantic literature as Bathsheba wrestles with the quest for true love versus the choice of a compatible match. A tragic tale of love, “Far from the Madding Crowd” is one the greatest romantic novels ever written, rich with the emotion and pathos that is characteristic of Thomas Hardy’s work. This edition includes a biographical afterword and an introduction by William T. Brewster.

Charles Brockden Brown was an American novelist, historian, and editor, who has been recognized as one of the first American novelists and an early proponent of the Gothic romance genre. Brown’s works are a combination of his own Romantic imagination and Enlightenment ideals, and are often characterized by elements of the sensational and violent. His work also reflects an interest in the early feminist movement, and frequently draws on Enlightenment-era medical writings by authors like Erasmus Darwin. “Wieland”, Brown’s most highly regarded novel, is deemed to be the first gothic novel by an American. This epistolary and highly psychological novel details the horrible events that befall siblings Clara and Theodore Wieland and their family. “Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist” was published in fragments in Brown’s Literary Magazine later, and tells the story of Carwin prior to his involvement in “Wieland”. This unfinished story clarifies some of the uncertainty surrounding Carwin’s character in “Wieland”. These two works, Brown’s most important, are collected together here in this volume.

First published in 1909, “A Girl of the Limberlost” is American author and naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter’s sequel to her 1904 novel “Freckles” and continues the stories of many of the same characters. Also set in Indiana near the Limberlost Swamp at the beginning of the 20th century, it tells the tale of Elnora Comstock, a young girl who is just entering high school at the outset of the novel. The story is one of Elnora’s emerging adulthood and her struggles: to overcome her poverty; to win the love of her mother, who blames Elnora for her husband’s death; to afford an education and a more secure future; and to find a romantic love of her own. Elnora is an admirable heroine, hard-working and diligent, respectful and resourceful. She collects moths and artifacts from the Limberlost to sell and uses the money to better herself and save for college. Like the rare moths she finds, Elnora too undergoes a transformation from a shy and reticent young girl into an intelligent and charming young lady, who earns the admiration of all she meets and eventually the love and acceptance she so desires. A classic and romantic coming of age story, “A Girl of the Limberlost” will delight readers of all ages. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

Begun as an ambitious project by the versatile English courtier, diplomat, philosopher, and author Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, “The Canterbury Tales” follows a group of people on their pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Saint Thomas á Becket. The Prologue introduces all of the pilgrims in great detail, and through these descriptions Chaucer provides the entire spectrum of social classes and professions of his time. When the group stops at an inn and the innkeeper introduces a competition for a free dinner, the pilgrims begin telling each other stories that reflect their stations, genders, purity, corruption, humor, tragedy, cynicism, and innocence. From the noble Knight and his Squire to the spunky Wife of Bath, from the antagonistic Miller and Reeve to the Prioress, Nun, and Pardoner, Chaucer reveals for modern readers a wonderfully vivid picture of medieval life in an impressive array of literary styles that uphold his reputation as the father of English literature. This edition includes a preface and biography of Chaucer by D. Laing Purves.

Few author’s personal lives have been as intertwined with their writing as that of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The author’s popularity may have as much to do with the interest in his personal life as with his writing itself. The story behind “This Side of Paradise” certainly lends credence to this idea. When Fitzgerald’s future wife, Zelda Sayre, broke of their courtship in the summer of 1919, the author returned home to finish work on his first novel in hopes that its publication would bring him a literary fame and financial success that would change Zelda’s mind about the prospects of a life together as husband and wife. Despite being nearly rejected by editors at Scribner’s the novel was accepted and as a result Zelda agreed to marry him. Set during World War I and immediately following, the novel is the story of Amory Blaine, a young Midwesterner who leaves his home to attend boarding school and eventually Princeton. The book examines the lives and morality of the era’s youth through Amory’s character, who has a series of romances that eventually lead to his disillusionment. An immediate success ever since its original publication, “This Side of Paradise” would cement Fitzgerald’s position as one of America’s premier literary talents of the first part of the 20th century.

James Hogg was a Scottish author known primarily for his poetry, short stories, ballads, songs and historical narratives. Raised by a tenant farmer in the Ettrick hills of Scotland, Hogg was mostly self-educated, teaching himself to read with only the Bible, and developing an early interest in literature through his mother’s recitation of Scottish ballads, songs, and fairy tales. Although his 1824 novel, “The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner”, was released to disappointing sales, it was “rediscovered” in 1924 by André Gide and is now recognized as a masterpiece of prose fiction. The “Justified Sinner” of the title is the novel’s protagonist, Robert Colwan-Wringham, who as an Antinomian Calvinist is convinced of his own divine salvation, regardless of sin. This complex novel features elements of the Gothic and supernatural, a duel narrative, and has been praised for its sophisticated technique, psychological complexity, and elements of irony.

First published in 1908, E. M. Forster’s “A Room with a View” is the story of a young English middle-class girl named Lucy Honeychurch. As the novel opens we find Lucy touring Italy with her overbearing older cousin and chaperone, Charlotte Bartlett. The two are upset over the views from their rooms. Having been promised views that overlook the river Arno, the two instead receive views of the courtyard. Their complaints are overheard by Mr. Emerson, who offers to swap rooms with them, citing the fact that he and his son George both have rooms that overlook the Arno. After a brief romantic encounter between George Emerson and Lucy while they are in Florence, the two travel on to Rome where Lucy is wooed by her friend from England Cecil Vyse. When Lucy learns from the vicar that a local cottage has been rented she discovers that the Emersons have arrived in Rome. Again the prospect of romance with George entices Lucy but she is torn between the more acceptable prospect of a union with Cecil. “A Room with a View” is the classic human struggle of choosing a partner who is the most socially acceptable versus the desire for true love. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

First published in 1922, “Babbitt” is Sinclair Lewis’ satire of American culture in the early part of the 20th century. In the years following World War I Americans began to idealize the middle-class lifestyle as a symbol of success, one crucial to the American identity. The successful self-made family man living in a Midwestern town began to symbolize the “American Dream”. The titular character of this novel, George F. Babbitt, is one such man. Babbitt is a successful middle-aged partner in a real estate firm who is married with three kids living in the fictional Midwestern town of Zenith. While having achieved the “American Dream” Babbitt gradually begins to feel a lack of fulfillment with how his life has turned out. He is a man unaware of the contemporary social and economic conditions that exist outside his own small circle. This lack of awareness begins to become increasingly apparent to him and a feeling of consternation sets in. Controversial upon its first publication for its criticism of what many Americans believed to be the ideal life, “Babbitt” is at once the tale of a middle-life crisis and a satirical critique of the vacuity of middle-class American life. This edition includes an introduction by Hugh Walpole and a biographical afterword.

What begins as the story of a middle-aged country gentleman absorbed with novels of chivalry deliberately evolves into a tale of purely imaginative knight-errantry in this highly influential work of the Spanish Golden Age. This first of modern novels was written in the experimental episodic form, allowing Don Quixote and his ‘squire’ Sancho Panza to go on quests that just as often as not land them in trouble or earn them the incredulity of those fully engaged in reality. While initially farcical, the novel slowly reveals a more philosophical thread exploring the theme of deception, all the while creating emotional and mental reversals in the two main figures that take them from tilting at windmills to fully comprehending reality. A work that frequently appears on lists in the highest echelon of published fiction, “Don Quixote” is a novel that has deeply influenced a host of notable writers and readers for hundreds of years. This edition follows the highly regarded translation by John Ormsby along with his complete original introduction.

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos produced “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”, or “Dangerous Liaisons”, in an effort to “write a work which departed from the ordinary, which made a noise, and which would remain on this earth after his death”. He did just that. First published in 1782 in four volumes, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” was an immediate success, and has since inspired a large number of literary commentaries, plays, and films. The novel is an epistolary piece, written as letters between members of the French noble class. An egotistical battle for control ensues between the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, with the promise of sexual gratification to the victor. The primary victims are Cecile, a naïve but pretty young girl, her admirer, the Chavelier Danceny, and Madame de Tourvel, a virtuous married young woman. This scandalous web of sexual desire, intrigue, infidelity, the struggle for power, and the corruption of the French upper class is a masterpiece from one of the most subtle and skillful novelists of the 18th Century.