Tolly's great grandmother isn't a witch, but both she and her old house, Green Knowe, are full of ghosts, children from centuries before. For a summer, Ida, Oscar and Ping canoe on the river at Ida's great-aunt's ancient, river-encircled house of Green Knowe.

    With a determined commitment to the history of his native land, Nathaniel Hawthorne revealed, more incisively than any writer of his generation, the nature of a distinctly American consciousness. The pieces collected here deal with essentially American matters: the Puritan past, the Indians, the Revolution. But Hawthorne was highly – often wickedly – unorthodox in his account of life in early America, and his precisely constructed plots quickly engage the reader’s imagination. Written in the 1820s, 30s, and 40s, these works are informed by themes that reappear in Hawthorne’s longer works: The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables and The Blithedale Romance. And, as Michael J. Colacurcio points out in his excellent introduction, they are themes that are now deeply embedded in the American literary tradition.--back coverHollow of the Three HillsSir William PhipsMrs. HutchinsonWives of the DeadMy Kinsman, Major MolineuxRoger Malvin's BurialPassages from a Relinquished WorkMr. Higginbotham's CatastropheHaunted MindAlice Doane's AppealGray ChampionYoung Goodman BrownWakefieldNotch of the White MountainsAmbitious GuestMay-Pole of Merry MountMinister's Black VeilSunday at HomeMan of AdamantEndicott and the Red CrossNight SketchesLegens of the Province-HouseHall of FantasyBirthmarkEgotism; or the Bosom-SerpentChristmas BanquetCelestial RailroadEarth's HolocaustArtist of the BeautifulRappacini’s DaughterEthan Brand

    His impressionistic depictions of Russian life and the human condition resound with emotional honesty, focusing on character rather than plot and revealing subtle but important truths. Thomas Mann held Chekhov in highest esteem, declaring, "His short stories rank with all that is greatest and best of European literature." This compilation of seven tales attests to the timeless appeal of the Russian author's short fiction.Selections include "Misery," an account of a sleigh-driver's attempts to communicate his overwhelming grief; "A Father," a meditation on the conflict between rejecting a monstrous parent and giving him his respectful due; "A Problem," which proposes that criminals cannot reform unless they pay for their misdeeds; and "In Exile," an examination of whether it is better to dream of happiness or to accept a living hell. Other tales include "Ward No. 6," relating a conflict between an asylum inmate and the institution's director; "My Life: The Story of a Provincial," in which a rebellious young bourgeois joins the working classes; and "Peasants," an exposé of the dehumanizing effects of poverty.

    When he asked why, he was told: “This Poland doesn’t exist.” Long out of print, The Graveyard is Hłasko’s portrait of a system built on such denial and willful blindness. Factory worker Franciszek Kowalski is on his way home one evening after drinking with an old friend from the People’s Army when he unthinkingly yells some insults at a policeman. His outburst is taken as criticism of the government, and he is arrested and then expelled from the Party. Kowalski attempts to rehabilitate himself by gathering testimonies from the men he had fought alongside, but each meeting with his former comrades takes him further into the underworld that he realizes has been there all along.Written midway through Hłasko’s meteoric career, The Graveyard set its author and the Polish Communist government implacably against each other, and it’s easy to see why: Hłasko pulls no punches in portraying a regime that is maintained by constant surveillance, intimidation, and profound psychological manipulation.A classic novel of political disillusionment from one of Poland’s seminal writers, an original “Angry Young Man” who lived fast, died young, and wrote brilliantly.

    Two rival ninja clans, the Kouga and the Iga, will meet in a battle to the death. The victor will rule Japan for the next thousand years. But in the midst of this bloody war, an unlikely romance blooms between Gennosuke of the Kouga clan and Oboro of the Iga clan. Gennosuke and Oboro are the next leaders of their clans and their fates are inextricably bound with that of their families. In the colossal fight, the star-crossed lovers are faced with a fatal choice between true love and destiny. Can romance conquer a four-hundred-year-old rivalry? Or is their love fated to end in death?

    Waugh at his devastatingly best in two great novels: "A Handful of Dust" and "Decline and Fall," coupled together in a "Laurel Edition" from Dell Publishing.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.