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Excerpt:'The kitchen of the Carmody home on the outskirts of a manufacturing town in Connecticut. On the left, forward, the sink. Farther back, two windows looking out on the yard. In the left corner, rear, the icebox. Immediately to the right of it, in the rear wall, a window opening on the side porch. To the right of this, a china cupboard, and a door leading into the hall where the main front entrance to the house and the stairs to the floor above are situated. On the right, to the rear, a door opening on to the dining room. Further forward, the kitchen range with scuttle, wood box, etc. In the centre of the room, a table with a red and white cloth. Four cane-bottomed chairs are pushed under the table. In front of the stove, two battered wicker rocking chairs. The floor is partly covered by linoleum strips. The walls are papered a light cheerful colour. Several old framed picture-supplement prints hang from nails. Everything has a clean, neatly-kept appearance. The supper dishes are piled in the sink ready for washing. A saucepan of water simmers on the stove.'

Mrs. Pauline Manford is a busy woman, as any upstanding New York society lady should be. Parties, dinners, charity luncheons, balls, and strict exercise and beauty regimes fill her daily schedule to an exhausting degree. Her secretary can hardly keep up. To manage a modern household is to hold the family together, staying on trend with all things helpful, but her daughter has horrible taste in married men, her ex-husband is unwell, and her son is struggling to forge a career for himself while his postpartum wife refuses to settle down from lavish partying. Pauline can't decide if she should bob her hair, redecorate, or get a face lift, and she surely doesn't have time to notice her current husband's wandering eye as anything other than harmless flirtations. When a rakish Italian actor bound for Hollywood and a scandal with the local wellness guru threaten to tear her perfectly constructed life apart, Pauline moves on to new spiritually medicinal treatments, and the Manfords must navigate the fraught tensions that bind them together. Hopefully a vacation from NYC's ruthless grind to their quiet country house will deter any further worries. Twilight Sleep (1927), named for the early anesthetic that predates epidural and induces memory loss, is Edith Wharton's oft-forgotten novel of modern motherhood and the pressures that lead women to reconstruct or completely escape their lives. Sharp and humorous, it feels as relevant today as it did in the 1920s.

“No character was ever thrown into such strange relief as Gilliatt… here, indeed, the true position of man in the universe.” —Robert Louis StevensonThe Toilers of the Sea tells the tale of Gilliatt, an outcast fisherman who must rescue one of the engines from a wrecked steamship. If successful, he will win the hand of the shipowner's beautiful daughter, Deruchette. He will brave the harsh rocks, the freezing waves, and even the grasp of a sea monster to prove his worth. Both a fairytale and richly detailed study of early nineteenth-century Guernsey, The Toilers of the Sea is the oft-forgotten novel that completes Hugo's famed trilogy with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables. It is a tribute to the drama of nature and the insignificance of man against it, to solitude in exile, and the light we choose to carry in the darkness.

When their father's death leaves them with no money and a dim future, the Madden sisters, Alice, Virginia, and Monica, must negotiate the gender roles and class constraints of Victorian London in the 1890s. Virginia and Alice have aged out of the possibility of marriage and seemingly the idea of love itself and find themselves with few prospects and little hope. Remaindered in the marriage equation, these “odd women” face a great deal of scrutiny, stigma, and social pressure—it's at this time that Rhoda Nunn, childhood friend to the Madden sisters, arrives in London to challenge accepted norms and mores around the role of women in society. Rhoda's strong feminist passion draws a sharp contrast to the middle-class respectability of the Madden sisters'upbring, as the sisters watch a new world emerge around them. Hailed as a prescient and boldly political novel of the early feminist movement, Gissing's The Odd Women captures all of the absurdity, brutality, and even comedy of Victorian attitudes around gender and class, and the brilliant women who dared to be odd and to conceive of their role in society beyond their value on the marriage market.

Fiódor Dostoiévski Mikháilovitch was born in Moscow in 1821 and died in St. Petersburg in 1881. He is recognized as one of the greatest writers in Soviet and international literature.'Notes from Underground'is Dostoevsky's darkest and strangest work. The book offers a powerful refutation of Enlightenment and idealism, as well as the promises of socialist utopianism. It boldly rejects the ideas of'development'and'higher consciousness,'preferring to describe humans as irrational, rebellious, and uncooperative. According to Nietzsche, it's a work that expresses'the voice of blood.''Notes from Underground'is a challenging and irresistible novel that deserves recognition as much more than a mere critical prelude to Dostoevsky's later and more famous works. Rightly so, the work is included in the famous collection'1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.'

Honoré de Balzac is considered the founder of Realism in modern literature. His magnum opus, La Comédie Humaine, consists of 95 novels, novellas, and short stories that seek to portray French society of his time. The Magic Skin, which is part of La Comédie Humaine, tells the story of young Raphael, who receives a piece of wild ass's skin from an old antique dealer. The skin grants Raphael's wishes, but also shortens his life. With the talisman in his possession, the protagonist fulfills all his desires, becomes wealthy, and a respected figure in society, all while living in terror as he watches the skin shrink and his life ebb away with each fulfilled wish. Like numerous other works by Balzac, The Magic Skin is a critique of a society focused solely on the accumulation of material goods and power.

Born in Russia, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837) is considered the greatest Russian poet and one of the founders of modern Russian literature. He was a pioneer in the use of colloquial language, creating a narrative style that blends romance, drama, and satire. His work'The Captain's Daughter'offers a faithful portrayal of Russian life in the 18th century, as well as the popular revolt that nearly shook the imperial throne of Catherine the Great. The setting is Tsarist Russia, where the story of Andrei Pietrovich Griniov unfolds, a young nobleman from the city of Simbirsk who is sent by his father, a former military man, to a barracks to learn about discipline and responsibility before taking control of his own life. It is a work in which the writer's genius transforms historical facts into vivid fiction, and with great stories and unimaginable twists, it intensely pleases the reader.

Written in 1870,'Venus in Furs'by Leopold Sacher-Masoch, narrates the dialogues and sexual practices of the protagonists: Severin and Wanda, a couple who formally records through a contract that Severin becomes Wanda's sexual slave. In his private life, Masoch signed a similar six-month contract with his lover, Baroness Fanny de Pistor, making Severin nothing more than the author's alter ego and Wanda a kind of replica of Fanny. We invite you to delve into the intriguing world of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch and explore his revolutionary work. Discover why his bold exploration of the darker aspects of sexuality and relationships has left a mark on literature and continues to challenge conventions to this day.

Natsume Soseki (1867–1916) é um dos escritores japoneses mais queridos em sua terra natal e o mais traduzido e estudado no mundo. Soseki foi o principal artista de sua geração, considerado o mais representativo intelectual de seu tempo. Pode-se dizer que sua importância na literatura japonesa equivale a importância de um Machado de Assis para a literatura brasileira. Sua obra-prima Coração'Kokoro'é um romance que capta as mudanças de mentalidade no Japão durante um período de rápida modernização no fim do século XIX. Transcorrendo em Tóquio em torno de 1910, esse romance em três partes descreve a relação entre um homem jovem, o narrador, e um senhor que ele chama de Sensei. Este é assolado por um estigma em seu passado, que paira sobre todo o romance. Na descrição do mal-estar de Sensei, o romance, além de um testemunho da rápida modernização do Japão, é também um exame de uma sensação torturada de fracasso e responsabilidade. Natsume, que criou a forma do romance em primeira pessoa, é, sem dúvida alguma, um dos maiores escritores da literatura japonesa.

Charles Dickens was an influential English writer, the most famous novelist of the Victorian era. Born in 1812 in the city of Portsmouth, even without the opportunity to receive a formal education, he became one of the great writers of world literature. Great Expectations, a classic by Charles Dickens published in 1861, is a kind of political fairy tale about'dirty money,'an exploration of memory and literature, and a disturbing portrait of identity instability. Shorter and written more quickly than the enormous social panoramas of the 1850s, Dickens is one of those writers every good reader should know, and Great Expectations is one of his literary successes. The work has been adapted several times for the screen and is part of the famous collection: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

Joseph Roth (1894-1939) was a Ukrainian journalist and novelist, considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. The book'Job: The Story of a Simple Man'was originally published in 1930 and, along with'The Radetzky March,'is one of Joseph Roth's most well-known works. The story of Job, a simple man, begins in a Jewish village in the region that is now Ukraine. There, Mendel Singer lives his life, obeying the precepts of the Torah, when his fourth son is born weak and epileptic, seen as a punishment from God to a man who had previously been devout. In'Job: The Story of a Simple Man,'Joseph Roth presents us with the ethical and moral dilemmas of a religious man, who sees the birth of his problematic son as a divine punishment. His novel is a humanistic plea, a profound treatise on the choices we all confront throughout life. It is one of those books that, once read, is never forgotten.

A hauntingly beautiful melodrama exploring the friendship between a young man and his mentor __________'Soseki is the representative modern Japanese novelist, a figure of truly national stature'Haruki Murukami'Kokoro is exactly what you would ask a novel to be... Sōseki manipulates every detail with the same thrilling mastery'Spectator'Sparsely populated, simple but perfect... it is a melancholy but stoical study in loneliness'Sunday Telegraph __________ In this melancholy and delicately written Japanese classic, a student befriends a reclusive elder at a beach resort, who he calls Sensei. As the two grow closer, Sensei remains unwilling to share the inner pain that has consumed his life and the shameful secret behind his monthly pilgrimages to a Tokyo cemetery. But when the student writes to Sensei after his graduation to seek out advice, the past rushes unbidden to the surface, and Sensei at last reveals the tale of romantic betrayal and unresolved guilt that led to his withdrawal from the world. Set at the end of the Meiji era and rife with subtle, psychological insight, Kokoro is one of Japan's bestselling novels of all time and a stunning meditation on the essence of loneliness.

Robert William Chambers was born on 26th May 1865 in Brooklyn. Chambers was educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and then the Art Students'League. From there he studied in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts, and at Académie Julian, from 1

Stella Benson was born on the 6th January 1892 in Easthope, Shropshire to parents who were landed gentry.Her early years involved frequent household moves which was difficult for the child as she suffered from ill-health. Some of her early education was spent at schools in Germany and Switzerland and by 10 she had developed a lifelong habit of keeping a diary.In the following years her parents separated, and she rarely saw her father. When she did, he encouraged to pause her writing until she had further experience and could better make sense of the world. When he died, she learned he had been an alcoholic.A winter spent in the West Indies provided material for her first novel ‘I Pose'published the following year in 1915.During the War years she became involved in the women's suffrage movement and dedicated time outside of writing to support the troops and help the poor.In 1918 she decided to travel spending much time in California, where she also tutored at the University of California, and continued to write. In China she met her future husband and after marrying in London, journeyed with him to his various Custom postings through Nanning, Beihai, and Hong Kong and the Far East.The works continued to flow novels, short stories, travel essays all helped to build a deserved and burgeoning reputation.Although her works are now in the forgotten and neglected department her writing style, characters, and narratives more than capably demonstrate her obvious talents. Stella Benson died of pneumonia on the 7th December 1933, at Hạ Long in the Vietnamese province of Tonkin. She was 40.

Robert William Chambers was born on 26th May 1865 in Brooklyn. Chambers was educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and then the Art Students'League. From there he studied in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts, and at Académie Julian, from 1

Robert William Chambers was born on 26th May 1865 in Brooklyn. Chambers was educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and then the Art Students'League. From there he studied in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts, and at Académie Julian, from 1

Robert William Chambers was born on 26th May 1865 in Brooklyn. Chambers was educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and then the Art Students'League. From there he studied in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts, and at Académie Julian, from 1

Robert William Chambers was born on 26th May 1865 in Brooklyn. Chambers was educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and then the Art Students'League. From there he studied in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts, and at Académie Julian, from 1

Ferguson Wright Hume was born in Powick, Worcestershire on the 8th July 1859.When he was three the family emigrated to Dunedin in New Zealand. Here he started his education at the Otago Boys'High School before studying law at the University of Ota

Ferguson Wright Hume was born in Powick, Worcestershire on the 8th July 1859.When he was three the family emigrated to Dunedin in New Zealand. Here he started his education at the Otago Boys'High School before studying law at the University of Ota

Ferguson Wright Hume was born in Powick, Worcestershire on the 8th July 1859.When he was three the family emigrated to Dunedin in New Zealand. Here he started his education at the Otago Boys'High School before studying law at the University of Ota

Ferguson Wright Hume was born in Powick, Worcestershire on the 8th July 1859.When he was three the family emigrated to Dunedin in New Zealand. Here he started his education at the Otago Boys'High School before studying law at the University of Ota

Alfred Lichtenstein was born on the 23rd August 1889, in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, the son of a Jewish manufacturer. He grew up in Berlin before studying law at Erlangen in Bavaria. A writer in the Expressionist style his poems and short stories are short but beautifully honed works. His tragically short life allowed only a small part of his talents to rest with us. Undoubtedly a full life would have given the world a very gifted literary force. Alfred Lichenstein volunteered for duty in the German Army for World War I. He died on the front at the Somme in the early months of the war on 25th September 1914. He was 25.

Ferguson Wright Hume was born in Powick, Worcestershire on the 8th July 1859.When he was three the family emigrated to Dunedin in New Zealand. Here he started his education at the Otago Boys'High School before studying law at the University of Ota

Ferguson Wright Hume was born in Powick, Worcestershire on the 8th July 1859.When he was three the family emigrated to Dunedin in New Zealand. Here he started his education at the Otago Boys'High School before studying law at the University of Ota

Ferguson Wright Hume was born in Powick, Worcestershire on the 8th July 1859.When he was three the family emigrated to Dunedin in New Zealand. Here he started his education at the Otago Boys'High School before studying law at the University of Otago. Hume was admitted to the New Zealand bar in 1885. He moved to become a barrister's clerk to Melbourne and once there also began writing plays. The local theatres were not interested in his works, and it was only after one was stolen and presented as being by someone else that his stock rose at all. Hume now moved in a different direction and wrote a novel based on those that were proving popular in Melbourne at that time. The result ‘The Mystery of a Hansom Cab'with its vivid descriptions of poor urban life was initially self-published and became a great success, albeit that was only after he had sold the copyright for a mere £50. This Victorian age detective novel pre-dated Sherlock Holmes but is said to have inspired Conan Doyle. Shortly thereafter Hume returned to England and began a writing career that would eventually exceed over 130 novels as well as short story collections, plays, song lyrics and even book reviews for the plethora of literary journals of the day. Most of his output was detective stories, thrillers and mysteries.Hume was known to be deeply religious as well as intensely private and avoided almost all publicity, except in later life, when he lectured at debating societies and young people's clubs. He travelled regularly to Europe and primarily to Italy, France and Switzerland. Fergus Hume died on the 12th July 1932 at Thundersley in Essex. He was 73 and was buried in an unmarked grave.

Virginia Woolf's satirical, prescient novel Orlando, published in 1928, is a groundbreaking work that explores themes of gender, identity, and time. The narrative features a nobleman named Orlando who lives over three centuries, beginning in the Elizabethan era and ending in the twentieth century, and, remarkably, changes from man to woman at the midpoint. With its fusion of masculinity and femininity, this transformation allows Woolf to critique societal norms and expectations tied to gender and class in different periods. Through Orlando's unique life span and gender fluidity, Woolf suggests that gender is not fixed or binary, challenging the traditional concepts of gender roles and stereotypes. A complex and multilayered novel that defies easy categorization, Orlando is lauded for its rich prose and its pioneering representation of gender and queer identity. It is a work of literature that continues to resonate with readers today.

Set against the dramatic upheavals of the years after Napoleon, Alexandre Dumas's epic tale of betrayal and revenge is one of the most thrilling and enduringly popular adventure novels ever written.On the eve of his wedding, a young sailor named Edmond Dantès is wrongly accused of treason and imprisoned for life in the Château d'If, a reputedly impregnable island fortress. After a daring escape, Dantès unearths a treasure revealed to him by another prisoner and devotes the rest of his life to tracking down and punishing the enemies who wronged him, in disguise as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo.

The only novel of the twentieth century's most acclaimed surrealist painter, a richly visual depiction of a group of eccentric aristocrats in the years preceding the Second World War __________'Start the first page and you are in the presence of an old-fashioned baroque novel, intelligent, extravagant, as photographically precise as his paintings'P. J. Kavanagh, Guardian'So full of visual invention, so witty, so charged with an almost Dickensian energy that it's difficult not to accept the author's own arrogant valuation of himself as a genius'Observer'What really strikes the reader is the abounding physical detail of objects, light, spaces, and materials'The Times __________ In swirling, surreal prose, the iconic artist Salvador Dalí portrays the intrigues and love affairs of a group of eccentric aristocrats who, in their luxury and extravagance, symbolize decadent Europe in the 1930s. In the shadow of encroaching war, their tangled lives provide a thrilling vehicle for Dalí's uniquely spirited imagination and artistic vision.

The finest work by the great Russian writer Teffi, in a new selection by the acclaimed Robert Chandler __________'Heartbreaking as well as very funny. I wish she were still alive, and I could have met her... I can't recommend her strongly enough'Guardian'Teffi is one of the great writers of early 20th century Russia, from Nicholas II's reign to the Revolution afterwards. Her writing, whether stories or reportage or memoir is witty, elegant, fantastical, yet sharp and acute and playful'Simon Sebag Montefiore'One of the great twentieth-century writers. At their best her short stories are to my mind the equal of Chekhov's'John Gray __________ Teffi's literary genius made her a star in pre-revolutionary Russia, beloved by Tsar Nicholas II and Vladimir Lenin alike. An extremely funny writer with a scathing critical eye, she was also capable of Chekhovian subtlety and depth of character. Ranging from humorous sketches of a vanished Russia to ironic, melancholy evocations of post-revolutionary exile, And Time Was No More showcases the full range of Teffi's gifts. A new selection by the celebrated Robert Chandler, it includes previously untranslated stories alongside more famous work, demonstrating the enduring freshness of one of the great wits of Russian literature.

Die Anthologie'Die größten britischen Klassiker'ist eine umfassende Sammlung, die das reiche literarische Erbe Großbritanniens durch die Werke seiner berühmtesten Autoren feiert. Von den dramatischen Stücken Shakespeares über die lebensnahen Romane Charles Dickens'bis hin zu den tiefgründigen Erzählungen Virginia Woolfs vereint diese Sammlung eine beeindruckende Vielfalt literarischer Stile und Epochen. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit verdient die Einbeziehung genreprägender Werke wie Mary Shelleys'Frankenstein'oder Arthur Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes-Geschichten sowie die lyrischen Beiträge Lord Byrons, die allesamt den kulturellen und literarischen Reichtum dieser Ära widerspiegeln. In den Biografien der Autoren spiegelt sich ein Querschnitt der britischen Gesellschaft und ihrer Geschichte. Von adeligen Dichtern wie Lord Byron bis zu Autodidakten wie Charles Dickens zeugen die Hintergründe dieser Schriftsteller von den sozialen Umwälzungen und kulturellen Strömungen ihrer Zeit. Gemeinsam bieten sie ein faszinierendes Panorama der britischen Literaturgeschichte, das durch persönliche und gesellschaftliche Themen wie Liebe, Identität, soziale Ungerechtigkeit und den menschlichen Drang nach Erkenntnis bereichert wird. Diese Sammlung empfiehlt sich Lesern als einzigartige Gelegenheit, die facettenreiche Welt der britischen Literatur zu entdecken.'Die größten britischen Klassiker'laden dazu ein, ein tiefgreifendes Verständnis für die literarischen Werke und Kulturen zu entwickeln, die das moderne Denken und die künstlerische Ausdrucksweise geprägt haben. Die Zusammenstellung fördert einen Dialog zwischen den verschiedenen Epochen und bietet einen umfassenden Bildungswert durch die Vielfalt der Perspektiven, Stile und Themen.

Die Anthologie'Meisterwerke der britischen Literatur'bietet eine faszinierende Reise durch die Zeit und präsentiert eine Sammlung, die von den frühen Werken Shakespeares bis zu den modernen Reflexionen Virginia Woolfs reicht. Dieses Kompendium ist eine umfassende Feier der diversen literarischen Stile und epochalen Stimmen, die die britische Literatur über Jahrhunderte geprägt haben. Besonderes Augenmerk wird auf die Transformation der erzählerischen Formen und Themen über die Zeit gelegt, wobei jedes ausgewählte Werk tiefe Einblicke in die sozialen, kulturellen und politischen Dynamiken seiner Ära bietet. Die Autoren hinter diesen Meisterwerken gehören zu den prägendsten Figuren der englischen Literaturgeschichte. Ihre Lebenswege und literarischen Ambitionen spiegeln die Entwicklung und die Vielfalt der britischen Gesellschaft wider, von den turbulenten Zeiten der englischen Renaissance bis zu den introspektiven Momenten des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die Anthologie knüpft an die verschiedenartigen Hintergründe der Autoren an und bietet Lesern eine umfassende Perspektive auf die literarischen Bewegungen, die durch Werke von Charles Dickens'tiefgehenden sozialen Kommentaren bis zu Mary Shelleys bahnbrechenden Beiträgen zur Science-Fiction definiert wurden.'Meisterwerke der britischen Literatur'ist nicht nur für Literaturbegeisterte, sondern auch für all jene empfehlenswert, die die Breite und Tiefe der britischen Kultur durch ihre bedeutendsten literarischen Stimmen erkunden möchten. Diese Sammlung lädt dazu ein, die Dialoge zwischen den Epochen nachzuvollziehen und sich von der Vielfalt an Perspektiven, die diese Meisterwerke bieten, bereichern zu lassen. Die Anthologie ist eine unverzichtbare Lektüre für alle, die den Wert und die Schönheit der britischen Literatur in ihrer ganzen Vielfalt schätzen und verstehen möchten.

“The Last Vial,” written by Sam McClatchie, M.D., is a grim statement about the possibilities of biological warfare. The year was 1962. John McDonald was a veteran of the Korean War and now maintained a quiet career as a pathologist. Upon his return from a much-needed vacation, he found his co-workers struggling with the after-effects of a sudden and overwhelming flu epidemic that had struck the entire North American continent. Careful analysis showed that this was no ordinary flu virus, but a man-made mutation that was unleashed on America's West Coast and quickly distributed across the continent. Was it the communists, or someone else? Whoever it was, they had started a quiet but deadly game of germ warfare and it was up to the recently reinstated Colonel McDonald to find the perpetrators—and the antidote! (Amazon)

Interesting original mystery novel, with a quartet of amateur detectives that mess things up in a hilarious way. Synopsis: four men are golfing when one of them slices his drive. They discover a body below a railroad viaduct and set out to solve the murder.

Hardtack and Coffee is one of the few to give a vivid, detailed picture of what ordinary soldiers endured every day—in camp, on the march, at the edge of a booming, smoking hell. John D. Billings of Massachusetts enlisted in the Army of the Potomac and curvived the conditions he recorded.

A Timeless Classic of Societal Customs, Cultural Disputes, and The Cost of Non-ConformityHenry James'novella Daisy Miller, features one of his greatest heroines. At first glance it seems to be a simple story of a lovely young, independent American girl traveling through Europe. But her flouting of social conventions has the potential to lead to catastrophe as she disrupts the rigid social rules of the Old World, attracting and scandalizing all she meets.Her willful yet innocent flirtation with a young Italian has unfortunate consequences. His pursuit of Daisy is hampered by her own flirtatiousness, which is frowned upon by the other expatriates they meet in Switzerland and Italy. Her lack of understanding of the social mores of the society she so desperately wishes to enter ultimately leads to tragedy. Throughout the narrative, James expertly navigates the complexities of human nature, morality, and the consequences of one young woman's defiance of societal expectations as he portrays the clash between American innocence and European sophistication in the late nineteenth century. He contrasts American customs and values with European manners and morals in a tale which is rich in psychological and social insight. It is the clash between the old world and the new, Europe and America.This classic in American literature is a timeless analysis of societal customs, cultural disputes, and the cost of non-conformity. Daisy Miller was an immediate and widespread success upon publication and it continues to be one of Henry James'most popular works.

Utopia is a fascinating novel that tells the story of a visitor to a distant island home to a community that has established an ideal society. Based on harmony, justice, rationality, virtue, equality and the pursuit of happiness, it presents a sharp contrast with sixteenth century England. This remarkable novel is complex, insightful and far-sighted, and has, for centuries, been of great interest to scholars, politicians, writers and readers who have sought to untangle its mysteries and bring to life their own utopias.

Spring, 1974. After twelve years abroad, Natàlia Miralpeix returns to Barcelona and her family. Change is in the air: revolution sexual, political and artistic is simmering. Franco may still be in power, but his death is only two years away. The younger generation write poetry, listen to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, and talk of a freer future. The older generation, though, carry the hidden wounds of the Civil War, their divided loyalties, and their own thwarted dreams, rebellions and desires. Translated here for the first time into English, Montserrat Roig's The Time of Cherries is a beloved classic of Catalan literature, bold and startlingly fresh. As it dips in and out of timelines, stories and voices, it evokes a gritty and headily captivating Barcelona; a city and a people striving to leave the ghosts of the past behind, find a place in this invigorating new world and bring in the time of cherries, the springtime of joy.

Excerpt:'The establishment of Yeh Ling was just between the desert of Reed Street, and the sown of that great and glittering thoroughfare which is theatreland. The desert graduated down from the respectable, if gloomy, houses where innumerable milliners, modistes and dentists had their signs before the doors and their workrooms and clinics on divers landings, to the howling wilderness of Bennet Street, and in this particular case the description often applied so lightly is aptly and faithfully affixed, for Bennet Street howled by day and howled in a shriller key by night. Its roadway was a playground for the progeny of this prolific neighbourhood, and a “ring” in which all manner of local blood-feuds were settled by waist-bare men, whilst their slatternly women squealed their encouragement or vocalized their apprehensions Yeh Ling's restaurant had begun at the respectable end of the street and he had specialized in strange Chinese dishes. Later it had crept nearer and nearer to The Lights, one house after another having been acquired by the unhappy looking oriental, its founder. Then, with a rush, it arrived on the main street, acquired a rich but sedate facia, a French chef and a staff of Italian waiters under the popular Signor Maciduino, most urban of maitres d'hotel, and because of gilded and visible tiles, became “The Golden Roof.” Beneath those tiles it was a place of rosewood panelling and soft shaded lights. There was a gilded elevator to carry you to the first and second floors where the private dining-rooms were—these had doors of plate glass, curtained diaphanously. Yeh Ling thought that this was carrying respectability a little too far, but his patron was adamant on the matter.'

Two action short stories from'The Golden Age of Science Fiction'by Keith Laumer. Featured here:'Worlds of the Imperium', and'The Walls'.

Excerpt:'High up in the pale Flemish sky aeroplanes were wheeling and darting like bright-coloured insects, catching from one moment to another the glint of sun on metallic body or translucent wing. To any pilot or observer who had opportunity or gift for mere speculation, the sight that lay spread out below might have appeared wonderful. From far away on the seaboard with its coming and going of ships, there led rail, road, and wire, and by these three came material, human material, and human thought, up to that point just behind the battle-line where in dumps, camps (dumps of men) and Head-quarters (dumps of brains) they eddied a little, before streaming forward again, more slowly and covertly, by night, or below ground, up to the battle itself. There they were lost in that gap in life—that barren lane where the Irresistible Force dashing against the Immovable Post ground such a fine powder, that of material, very little, of men, very few, and of thought, nothing came splashing back.'

Excerpt:'Primarily, there were the conditions under which she was brought to fifteen years of age: the crowded, scummy tenements; the narrow green-painted halls with their dim gas-jets, making the entrance look more like that of a morgue than a dwelling-place; the dirty halls and rooms with their green or blue or brown walls painted to save the cost of paper; the bare wooden floors, long since saturated with every type of grease and filth from oleomargarine and suet leaked from cheap fats or meats, to beer and whiskey and tobacco-juice. A little occasional scrubbing by some would-be hygienic tenant was presumed to keep or make clean some of the chambers and halls. And then the streets outside—any of the streets by which she had ever been surrounded—block upon block of other red, bare, commonplace tenements crowded to the doors with human life, the space before them sped over by noisy, gassy trucks and vehicles of all kinds. And stifling in summer, dusty and icy in winter; decorated on occasion by stray cats and dogs, pawing in ashcans, watched over by lordly policemen, and always running with people, people, people—who made their living heaven only knows how, existing in such a manner as their surroundings suggested.'

Excerpt:'The wide hilly street was lined by noble and imposing residences, that looked as if they had quitted country parks and pleasure grounds, and flocked together for company liberally planned gardens celebrated for fruit and roses - sloped away from French Windows at the rear of these mansions, to the very brink of a slow brown canalmonce glorified by fly boats galloping teams and gay passengers, but now abandoned to lethargic barges, bear ing freights of turf and manure. In the good old days the town was peopled by retired oflicers (naval and military), wealthy widows, and well-born spinsters, and actually numbered a baronet, and the brother of a Viscount among its tenants.'

Excerpt:'Upon most of the people who thronged the rooms the incident was lost. Of those who saw it many did not understand its meaning, and the rest were too much absorbed in their own affairs to give it any attention. The scene was the Casino at Monto Carlo; every chair was occupied, and behind every chair men and women were standing, all intent upon the play, all consumed by the feverish thirst of winning money born of the atmosphere of the place. The brilliant light flashed in jewels and gleamed in eager eyes, heightened the colour of flushed cheeks and emphasised the pallor of haggard faces; against the black evening coat of one man sitting down was outlined the bare arm of a woman, who laid her stake upon the table, and when the hand was withdrawn it still hesitated over the black coat until the fortune of the stake should be declared. Dominating everything was the monotonous sound of the croupiers'voices and the noise of the money as it was raked to and fro upon the tables.'

This is a great collection of action short stories from'The Golden Age of Science Fiction'. Featured here are five stories by Herbert D. Kastle:'The York Problem','The Outer Quiet','The First One','Breakdown', and'The God On The 36th Floor'.

Excerpt:'A farmer stood watching a battalion of infantry filing into his pasture. A queerer mixture of humanity could not have been imagined. The farmer wore a Dutch cap, spoke Flemish by preference, but could only write French. His farm was called Ferme l'Espagnole—The Spanish Farm—and stood on French soil. The soldiers were the usual English mixture—semi-skilled townsmen, a number of agricultural and other laborers, fewer still of seafaring and waterside folk, and a sprinkling of miners and shepherds, with one or two regulars.'

Excerpt:'She sat at her window overlooking the wide and dreary expanse of marshland. A faint streak of light near the horizon was all that could be seen of the sea. No trees or buildings broke the monotonous scene, and Jean's deep inquiring blue eyes sought in vain for anything to brighten her landscape. She was young, she was vigorous and healthy, and her spirits were good as a rule; yet to-day she was in the depths of depression, and the grey mist that was slowly rolling in from the ocean and obliterating the russet-brown rushes and the coarse dank grass that stretched for so many miles in front of her, only seemed a fit emblem of the cloud over her soul. She threw up her head at last with a weary sigh.'He is my grandfather!'she exclaimed aloud.'My father's father! But oh! If he had been my mother's father, how differently I should feel!'She looked round her room, which was a large one, though barely and insufficiently furnished. Her eyes fell on a small oil painting on the wall. It was the portrait of her mother. The broad white brow, the delicately chiselled little nose, and sweet tremulous lips with their pathetic droop, and the deep earnest, soul-searching eyes, all combined to portray a sweet and beautiful woman. Jean inherited her mother's brow and eyes; her nose and mouth were more decided in character, her chin round and determined, and humour lightened the corners of her closely-shut lips. As her eyes met the ones in the portrait, she suddenly saw a scene before her. It had been enacted in this very room many years ago. A tiny curly-headed girl in black frock and white pinafore stood hugging a picture to her breast, and defying a stern old man before her.'

Excerpt:'When I was a lad of 12 years of age my father had a red-headed overseer, good-natured, loquacious and fond of telling stories, the kind that suited the understanding and tickled the fancy of a boy. His stories were always related as being truthful accounts of actual occurrences, although I suspected they were frequently creatures of his own imagination. This overseer, a Westerner born and bred, had driven an ox wagon in a train across the plains to New Mexico; had made two trips across—in 1847 and 1848—one extending as far as Chihuahua, in Old Mexico. His observation was keen, and his memory unexcelled, so that, years afterwards, he could relate, in minute detail, the events of every day's travel, from the beginning to the end of the journey. I was charmed with his accounts of the Indians and buffalo, wolves, antelope and prairie dogs. Reaching the age of 18 in 1857, with indifferent health, my father acquiesced in my determination to cross the plains4 to New Mexico. The doctor said the journey would benefit my health. Already an expert with a gun or pistol, I had killed all kinds of game to be found in Missouri, and had read Gordon Cumming's book of his hunting exploits in South Africa, so that I felt as if nothing less than killing big game, like buffalo and elk, could gratify my sporting proclivities.'

Odds and Ends is a collection of short stories written by B. M. Croker. This anthology presents a diverse array of narratives, each exploring different aspects of life, society, and human nature. B. M. Croker was an Irish-born British novelist who wrote during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and her works often depicted aspects of British colonial life in India.

This is a great collection of action short stories from'The Golden Age of Science Fiction'. Featured here are five stories by Philip José Farmer:'They Twinkled Like Jewels','Rastignac The Devil','Heel','Daughter', and'How Deep The Grooves'.