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Harvard Classics, Vol. 18: Modern English Drama by Charles William Eliot
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Les Misérables
Victor Hugo - 1862
But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, when, owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place; and by the relentless investigations of the dogged Inspector Javert. It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty.
Arabian Nights: Volume 2
Marty Ross - 2018
Adapted by Marty Ross, whose previous audio dramas include Romeo and Jude, Doctor Who, Treasure Island and Arabian Nights: Volume 1, listeners can expect to hear Sinbad the Sailor as they've never done before. In volume 2 of Arabian Nights we return to Sultan Shahriyar’s palace, where Scheherezade is using her spellbinding storytelling abilities to save both her and her sister’s lives. As much as the Sultan wants to kill her, each night he is drawn in by her tales and spares them. Scheherezade weaves a long, winding and exciting tale about Sinbad the Sailor, a reckless young man who has inherited his father’s wealth and spends it foolishly. His debts eventually force him to leave Baghdad and find his way alone. However, his journey quickly takes a turn when he is led to sea by a mysterious woman dressed in blue, which begins his long and dramatic adventures at sea.Starring Abraham Popoola, Adam Sina, Akin Gazi, Alyssa Kyria, Anoushka Rava, Aso Sherabayani, Bamshad Abedi-Amin, Daniel Naddafy, David Ahmad, Firdous Bamji, Gisele Payvandi, Hakan Silahsiz Hemi Yeroham, Ian Abeysekera Jonathan Morrison, Josh Zare Karim Kronfli, Mandana Jones Nezar Alderazi, Raghad Chaar Richard Reed, Sammy Broly, Tara Jaffar and Walles Hamonde.[Please note this drama contains some explicit content.]
Mr. Rochester
Sarah Shoemaker - 2017
Rochester himself."Reader, she married me."For one hundred seventy years, Edward Fairfax Rochester has stood as one of literature's most romantic, most complex, and most mysterious heroes. Sometimes haughty, sometimes tender-professing his love for Jane Eyre in one breath and denying it in the next-Mr. Rochester has for generations mesmerized, beguiled, and, yes, baffled fans of Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece. But his own story has never been told.Now, out of Sarah Shoemaker's rich and vibrant imagination, springs Edward: a vulnerable, brilliant, complicated man whom we first meet as a motherless, lonely little boy roaming the corridors and stable yards of Thornfield Hall. On the morning of Edward's eighth birthday, his father issues a decree: He is to be sent away to get an education, exiled from Thornfield and all he ever loved. As the determined young Edward begins his journey across England, making friends and enemies along the way, a series of eccentric mentors teach him more than he might have wished about the ways of the men-and women-who will someday be his peers.But much as he longs to be accepted-and to return to the home where he was born-his father has made clear that Thornfield is reserved for his older brother, Rowland, and that Edward's inheritance lies instead on the warm, languid shores of faraway Jamaica. That island, however, holds secrets of its own, and not long after his arrival, Edward finds himself entangled in morally dubious business dealings and a passionate, whirlwind love affair with the town's ravishing heiress, Antoinetta Bertha Mason.Eventually, after a devastating betrayal, Edward must return to England with his increasingly unstable wife to take over as master of Thornfield. And it is there, on a twilight ride, that he meets the stubborn, plain, young governess who will teach him how to love again.It is impossible not to watch enthralled as this tender-hearted child grows into the tormented hero Brontë immortalized-and as Jane surprises them both by stealing his heart. Mr. Rochester is a great, sweeping, classic coming-of-age story, and a stirring tale of adventure, romance, and deceit. Faithful in every particular to Brontë's original yet full of unexpected twists and riveting behind-the-scenes drama, this novel will completely, deliciously, and forever change how we read and remember Jane Eyre.
Ancient Gods
Levon Shant - 1908
Here two worlds stand face to face, love for a woman and the longing for God. Both of them do not cease, for the inner conflict of feeling and thought is continuos.A drama of inner dreams and desires, lofty stubborn idealism and stormy, soul-searching upheaval.
Tales of King Arthur
Henry Gilbert - 1911
Henry Gilbert's classic collection includes the adventures of Arthur, Sir Lancelot, Merlin, Gwenevere, and many other famous characters. Filled with daring quests and chivalrous deeds, these stories will enchant readers of all ages. This edition features illustrations by the renowned artist, Walter Crane.
Butcher's Crossing
John Williams - 1960
With Butcher’s Crossing, his fiercely intelligent, beautifully written western, Williams dismantles the myths of modern America.It is the 1870s, and Will Andrews, fired up by Emerson to seek “an original relation to nature,” drops out of Harvard and heads west. He washes up in Butcher’s Crossing, a small Kansas town on the outskirts of nowhere. Butcher’s Crossing is full of restless men looking for ways to make money and ways to waste it. Before long Andrews strikes up a friendship with one of them, a man who regales Andrews with tales of immense herds of buffalo, ready for the taking, hidden away in a beautiful valley deep in the Colorado Rockies. He convinces Andrews to join in an expedition to track the animals down. The journey out is grueling, but at the end is a place of paradisal richness. Once there, however, the three men abandon themselves to an orgy of slaughter, so caught up in killing buffalo that they lose all sense of time. Winter soon overtakes them: they are snowed in. Next spring, half-insane with cabin fever, cold, and hunger, they stagger back to Butcher’s Crossing to find a world as irremediably changed as they have been.
Deadwood
Pete Dexter - 1986
Bill, aging and sick but still able to best any man in a fair gunfight, just wants to be left alone to drink and play cards. But in this town of played-out miners, bounty hunters, upstairs girls, Chinese immigrants, and various other entrepeneurs and miscreants, he finds himself pursued by a vicious sheriff, a perverse whore man bent on revenge, and a besotted Calamity Jane. Fueled by liquor, sex, and violence, this is the real wild west, unlike anything portrayed in the dime novels that first told its story.
The Haunting on West 10th Street
Helen Phifer - 2018
But a gruesome murder at a Greenwich Village brownstone seems to point straight to a paranormal source. Determined to unearth a rational explanation, she vows to find the culprit before he strikes again… But Maria is about to learn that this atrocious crime is far from unique. An identical slaughter rocked the same house decades ago, and Miller must determine if it’s the same culprit, a copycat, or something much darker… When Miller becomes the killer’s next target, will her stubborn cynicism save her or send her to the other side? The Haunting On West 10th Street is the first book in the chilling Ghosts of New York horror series. If you like terrifying tales, supernatural crime stories, and eerie mysteries that span decades, then you’ll love Helen Phifer’s nail-biting novel. Buy The Haunting to dive into the supernatural today!
Out of the Darkness
Anne Patrick - 2010
Hoping to put the past behind her, she sets off across country with a truck driver she barely knows. Royce McIntire knows Alex is on the run from something or someone, but he doesn’t care. He’s fallen in love with her and is finally getting his life back on track and wants to win back custody of his son. The killer is hot on Alex’s trail though. Determined to find the one victim who got away, he tracks Alex down and lies in wait. When Alex realizes the killer is drawing near, she has no choice but to tell Royce who she really is. Will the news destroy their relationship and can Alex stop the killer in time?
Montana Westward Brides Box Set #1-4
Amelia Rose - 2020
Desperate for her marriage to Dr. Sam Slater to finally bring her the good fortune she longs for, Lucy’s fears are confirmed when a tragic death clouds her journey to meet him. Just one look at the dashing doctor’s face, and Lucy knew their marriage was the right choice. But Lucy is devastated when their first picnic together ends with the discovery of Sam’s shepherd’s dead body. Her luck turns from bad to worse when she starts receiving anonymous threats: someone is trying to force them from the land. But who? Will Lucy’s love for Sam be enough to get them through the storm, or is she really destined for a life of misfortune and tragedy?◆◆◆Martha Walters has left the brothel behind her, but a new marriage seems to be her only way out. Desperate to find a suitable husband, Matha meets an older man: a handsome cattle rancher 10 years her senior.Gray Jenkins is certain he’s too old to attract a wife, but the gentle farmer tries his luck with a mail-order bride. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine someone as beautiful and charming as Martha would be interested in him.Martha falls head over heels for the wisecracking farmer, but she has a secret. The new life growing inside her and a dark enemy from her past threaten their one shot at happiness. Can Martha and Gray triumph over Martha’s past and the menace that follows her? Will they finally get their chance at true love?◆◆◆With his poor literacy and lack of formal education, ranch hand Eddie Murtaugh believes he’s destined for a life of loneliness. But when his friend helps him attract the attention of a mail-order bride, his luck begins to change.Fiona Wilkins is eager to leave her life in high society behind her and embark on an adventure on the frontier. She secretly replies to Eddie’s listing, but her father has other plans for her: she is to be auctioned off to a man she detests. Desperate to escape her parents and a future of certain unhappiness, Fiona escapes to Montana during the night.But her carriage is hijacked, and Eddie’s anxiety turns to dread when he hears that the woman of his dreams has been taken hostage. Can Eddie and Fiona escape fate’s plans for them and secure a life of love and happiness together? Only time will tell.◆◆◆Sheriff Josh Ryder is lonely, and longs for nothing more than someone to come home to after a long day. He has no shortage of replies to his listing for a mail-order bride, but can he really trust that it’s him that they want, or do they simply dream of being married to a notorious man of the law? There’s one beauty he can’t resist though: Emily Middleton.Her high society dreams shattered by her father’s bankruptcy, Emily looks for love in the West, and when she finally meets the sheriff, she’s certain she can get her life back on track. But Emily wants more than he can give her, and despite his charm and rugged good looks, she’s worried that her fresh start might not be the future she dreamed of. Is marriage truly on the cards for this fiery couple? Can they see past their forceful personalities to find the love between them?◆◆◆Four brides on four inspirational quests towards a future of freedom and love. But can they outwit their pasts? Is true love really within their grasp?In Montana Westward Brides: Book 1-4, you’ll find four captivating tales of love, danger, and destiny. Lose yourself in the lives of four passionate heroines as they each embark on the journey of a lifetime.To immerse yourself in four gripping tales of love and ambition, click “Buy Now” to see where your passions lead you.
Her Favorite Mistake
Barbara Lohr - 2013
Sometimes he's hard to forget. When Vanessa Randall appears on "Eye of the Tiger," a popular reality TV show, she isn't prepared to see her Vegas Hunky Hottie from four years earlier. She needs the Chicago Internet mogul's help, but he's the last man she wants back in her life. Oh, Alex recognizes her all right. The long-legged brunette had called herself Vivien Leigh before slipping out before dawn. More than a little ticked off, he becomes Vanessa's mentor to help her ramp up Randall's Whipped Cream Cakes. Revenge can be sweet. When business becomes personal, things get complicated. He wasn't counting on her toddler stealing his heart. His beach house on Lake Michigan doesn't impress her. Will sand castles and cinnamon toast win her trust? No way in hell does he want to be her favorite mistake. Subtle, sexy love scenes. "Her Favorite Mistake" is the first novel in the Windy City Romance series.
Keep the Aspidistra Flying
George Orwell - 1936
Gordon Comstock has declared war on the money god; and Gordon is losing the war. Nearly 30 and "rather moth-eaten already," a poet whose one small book of verse has fallen "flatter than any pancake," Gordon has given up a "good" job and gone to work in a bookshop at half his former salary. Always broke, but too proud to accept charity, he rarely sees his few friends and cannot get the virginal Rosemary to bed because (or so he believes), "If you have no money ... women won't love you." On the windowsill of Gordon's shabby rooming-house room is a sickly but unkillable aspidistra--a plant he abhors as the banner of the sort of "mingy, lower-middle-class decency" he is fleeing in his downward flight.In Keep the Aspidistra Flying, George Orwell has created a darkly compassionate satire to which anyone who has ever been oppressed by the lack of brass, or by the need to make it, will all too easily relate. He etches the ugly insanity of what Gordon calls "the money-world" in unflinching detail, but the satire has a second edge, too, and Gordon himself is scarcely heroic. In the course of his misadventures, we become grindingly aware that his radical solution to the problem of the money-world is no solution at all--that in his desperate reaction against a monstrous system, he has become something of a monster himself. Orwell keeps both of his edges sharp to the very end--a "happy" ending that poses tough questions about just how happy it really is. That the book itself is not sour, but constantly fresh and frequently funny, is the result of Orwell's steady, unsentimental attention to the telling detail; his dry, quiet humor; his fascination with both the follies and the excellences of his characters; and his courageous refusal to embrace the comforts of any easy answer.
The Reef
Edith Wharton - 1912
This narrative primarily follows George Darrow and Anna Leath, a young gentleman and a widowed lady who plan to marry. Both of them experience doubts about their union, with surprising outcomes. Darrow has a brief liaison with the delicate, generous Sophy Viner, a kind woman of the working class. She later meets Anna's stepson Owen Leath, who wishes to upset social conventions and marry her. When Anna's discovers the intimate history of Darrow and Sophy, she worries about her stepson's affections and feels concerned about the alliance she herself is about to create. Wharton's talent for balancing emotional turmoil and all the social manners of her time is blended into this philosophical work that explores the metaphorical reefs in the hearts of women.
Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Poems
Edgar Allan Poe - 2000
Orphaned by the age of two, he was brought up by foster-parents, Following his expulsion from both the University of Virginia and West Point, he led a precarious existence as an editor, critic and writer. In 1844 his poem 'The Raven' caused a sensation, but after his wife's death in 1847 he drank heavily and died mysteriously in Baltimore.