Book picks similar to
Les Mysteres de Paris, Tome V by Eugène Sue
classics
french-autors
got-it
gothic
Retribution (Witness, #2)
Christine Kersey - 2016
The following book description contains spoilers for the first book.After confessing to the police that she witnessed a murder, college student Courtney Hartford has relocated to what she hopes is a safe place. Hanging over her head is her commitment to testify against Dylan, the gang member she witnessed killing a man, as well as Baldy, a gang member who tried to kill her to keep her from testifying.In addition, her budding relationship with Tyler, who was beaten because of her, has been interrupted. Missing him, but worried about putting him in danger, she wars with herself over whether to convince him to move to where she is now living, or to stay far, far away as his parents advise him.Will Courtney be able to move past the fear she's been living with, or will the gang members track her down and silence her for good?Retribution does not contain any profanity or sexual content.
Nessa
Sara Jolene - 2018
After her father’s untimely death, Nessa and her sister Kara fled New York City for Creede, Colorado, where the change in scenery left more of an impact on Nessa than she ever could have imagined. Quickly realizing that the privileged life she once led as a debutante wasn’t all she’d once thought it to be, Nessa finds that that the things that are most important to her in life are ones you can’t buy. Spurred by watching a close friend find their soul mate, Nessa has boarded a train and is headed back to New York to reclaim all that she left behind, including the man she loves. Heartbroken after the love of his life disappeared; Henry Collins is moving on. He has found a new position working for one of the most influential families in New York City doing the only thing he’s ever wanted to do, taking care of horses, but all that is about to change. When the one person he never thought he’d see again, returns, Henry gets the shock of his life. One that makes him question everything he’s ever wanted. Nessa is determined not to let her past mistakes and prejudices influence her future but can she convince Henry to do the same?
The Holy Terrors
Jean Cocteau - 1929
Written in a French style that long defied successful translation - Cocteau was always a poet no matter what he was writing - the book came into its own for English-language readers in 1955 when the present version was completed by Rosamond Lehmann. It is a masterpiece of the art of translation of which the Times Literary Supplement said: "It has the rare merit of reading as though it were an English original." Miss Lehmann was able to capture the essence of Cocteau's strange, necromantic imagination and to bring fully to life in English his story of a brother and sister, orphaned in adolescence, who build themselves a private world out of one shared room and their own unbridled fantasies. What started in games and laughter became for Paul and Elisabeth a drug too magical to resist. The crime which finally destroyed them has the inevitability of Greek tragedy. Illustrated with twenty of Cocteau's own drawings.
Mail Order Marm (Brides of Beckham Book 24)
Kirsten Osbourne - 2018
She had a good job teaching school in the small town of Salmon, Oregon, and she finally had good friends she felt she could bare her soul to, but there was still something missing. When her friend Doris proposed sending for a mail order husband for Gretchen, who was seven months pregnant and unwed, she hoped for the best for her friend, but still felt badly for herself. Darryl Miller has always been known as one of the demon horde. He knows that if he stays in Beckham, Massachusetts, he will never rise above the reputation, but he has nowhere to go! When he receives a letter from his twin sister asking him to marry her pregnant friend, he only hesitates for a moment. Two weeks later, he arrived in Salmon to marry a stranger. The only trouble is the stranger refuses to marry him. Within an hour, he finds himself married to another friend of his sister’s. Will he be able to make a go of life with the beautiful straight-laced schoolteacher? Or has he made a huge mistake leaving everything to travel across country? This book was previously published in an anthology!
Snow
Maxence Fermine - 1999
Haiku.And snow."An international bestseller, "Snow "is "a novel that reads like a poem. Limpid, delicate, and pure like its title."* In nineteenth-century Japan, a young haiku poet named Yuko journeys through snow-covered mountains on a quest for art and finds love instead. Maxence Fermine's prose is hypnotic, and his sensuous love story envelops you as if you¹re wrapped in one of his dreams with your eyes wide open.Yuko has all the makings of greatness, but must learn to reach beyond the silent starkness of snow, his ultimate inspiration, to find the color pulsing through life. Color enhanced by love, without which he will remain invisible to the world. On his journey to enlightenment he learns how fragile the balance of life can be through the tragic story of his blind master, Soseki, and the love of his life, a French tightrope walker named Snow. Love and art finally converge in a most startling and exquisite way when a special young woman opens Yuko's heart to the purest of color and light."*Gala" (Italy)
Spirits of the Dead: Tales and Other Poems
Edgar Allan Poe - 1997
The poems are full of melancholic beauty whether in the disturbing images of death and events beyond the grave described in 'The Raven' and 'Lenore', or in the hypnotic fantasy of works such as 'The Bells', 'The City in the Sea' and 'Annabel Lee'.Possessed of a powerful, richly inventive imagination, Edgar Allan Poe explored the darkest corners of the human psyche and is recognized as one of the first writers to offer a genuine American voice.
The Child
Jules Vallès - 1878
Jules Vallès, an anarchist and a bohemian, dedicated his book "to all those who were bored stiff at school or reduced to tears at home, who in childhood were bullied by their teachers or thrashed by their parents," and it tells the (autobiographical) tale of a young boy constantly scapegoated and abused, emotionally and physically, by his peasant mother and schoolteacher father, whose greatest concern is to improve their social status. But the young hero learns to stand up to his parents, even to love them, in time, and for all the intense pain the book registers it is anything but dreary. To the contrary, Vallès’s book is one of the funniest in French literature, a triumph of insubordinate comedy over the forces of order and the self-appointed defenders of decency.
Candide
Voltaire - 1759
Fast, funny, often outrageous, the French philosopher's immortal narrative takes Candide around the world to discover that -- contrary to the teachings of his distinguished tutor Dr. Pangloss -- all is not always for the best. Alive with wit, brilliance, and graceful storytelling, Candide has become Voltaire's most celebrated work.
Five Weeks in a Balloon
Jules Verne - 1863
3 Waterloo Place, London. The president, Sir Francis M -, made an important communication to his colleagues, in an address that was frequently interrupted by applause. This rare specimen of eloquence terminated with the following sonorous phrases bubbling over with patriotism: "England has always marched at the head of nations" (for, the reader will observe, the nations always march at the head of each other), "by the intrepidity of her explorers in the line of geographical discovery." (General assent). "Dr. Samuel Ferguson, one of her most glorious sons, will not reflect discredit on his origin." ("No, indeed!" from all parts of the hall.)
A Heart of a Duke Collection: Volume Two
Christi Caldwell - 2017
You'll be enchanted by the glittering world of Regency England, where dukes, rogues, and dashing gentlemen will do anything to win the hearts of their ladies! To Trust a Rogue Marcus, the Viscount Wessex has carefully crafted the image of rogue. Under that façade, however, dwells a man whose dreams were shattered almost eight years earlier by Eleanor Collins. Now, that same woman who captured his heart and broke it has returned... The Lure of a Rake Lady Genevieve Farendale has a scandalous past. Jilted at the altar years earlier and exiled by her family, she’s now returned to London to prove she can be a proper lady. Even though she’s not given up on the hope of marrying for love, she’s wary of trusting again. Then she meets Cedric Falcot, the Marquess of St. Albans whose seductive ways set her heart aflutter. To Woo a Widow Years ago, Miles Brookfield, the Marquess of Guilford, made a frivolous vow he never thought would come to fruition--he promised to marry his mother's goddaughter if he was unwed by the age of thirty. Now, to his dismay, he's faced with honoring that pledge. But when he encounters the beautiful and intriguing Lady Philippa, Miles knows his true path in life. To Redeem a Rake Society's most infamous scoundrel, Daniel Winterbourne, the Earl of Montfort, has been promised a small fortune if he can relinquish his wayward, carousing lifestyle. But then he's reunited with his childhood friend Miss Daphne Smith and he must resist his desire for a woman tarnished by scandal... One Winter with a Baron Content with her spinster lifestyle, Miss Sybil Cunning wants to prove that a future as an unmarried woman is the only life for her. As a bluestocking who values hard, empirical data, Sybil needs help with her research. Nolan Pratt, Baron Webb, one of society's most scandalous rakes, is the perfect gentleman to help her. To Enchant a Wicked Duke From the moment Justina Barrett makes her Come Out, she is labeled a Diamond. Her ruthless father is determined to sell her off to the highest bidder but Justina never gives up on her hope for a good, honorable gentleman who values her wit more than her looks...and then she meets Nick Tallings, the Duke of Huntly, a scoundrel with plans for her... Beguiled by a Baron Bridget Hamilton is content with her life, even if she’s been cast out of her family. But her peaceful existence—expanding her mind with her study of rare books—is threatened with an ultimatum from her evil brother—steal a valuable book from Vail Basingstoke, Baron Chilton, the infamous book seller--or give up her son. The last thing she expects is to fall in love with the man she's set to betray... To Tempt a Scoundrel When Lord Rhys Brookfield and Lady Alice Winterbourne enter into a pretend courtship meant to spite Alice’s former betrothed and prevent any matchmaking attempts toward Rhys, either expect that a pretense can become so much more. Or that a burning passion can heal… and hurt.
The Mothers of Sweet Cheyenne
Caroline Lee - 2016
These stories are meant to be read after the rest of the Quartet. Christmas Wishes: Molly struggles with her toddler's feelings towards his new baby brother and her sister's decision to leave for St. Louis. Meanwhile, she's determined to create the perfect Christmas for all of them... but can Mothers really do everything?[Note: this story has appeared in publication in the Christmas Caring Anthology of 2015]Spring Fever: Wendy aches to become a mother, but their efforts have ended in heartbreak so far. Is there anything Nate can say to convince her that it isn't either of their faults, so that he can enjoy the spring with his wife?Summer Lovin': Tess knows she still has a month to go in this pregnancy, so when the contractions start, she doesn't want to alarm her precious family. But with Cam's love and support, she'll learn that to appreciate God's blessings she needs to first go through Hell. ***************************Heat Level: 0 out of 5 References to infertility and childbirth
Maisie Dobbs
Jacqueline Winspear - 2010
It is #25 in their Mysterious Profiles" series. In this book, Jacqueline Winspear tells about the "origins" of Maisie Dobbs, the heroine of her popular mystery series. This booklet is NOT to be confused with her full-length mystery with the same title.
The King's Mother
M.J. Porter
The widowed Lady Elfrida has achieved the impossible. She’s ensured her twelve-year-old son has become king, despite the gruesome murder of his predecessor and half-brother. While many blame the king’s mother, she looks to two rival noblemen as the real perpetrators. Even with the reappearance of an unwelcome enemy on England’s shores, Viking warriors, who attack and threaten the safety and security of England, and specifically, the young king, the two noblemen are far from resigned to Lady Elfrida’s power. As her son takes the final steps to become king in actions as well as name, she’s increasingly isolated by the deaths of allies and the scheming ways of others, including the king. Resentful of her continuing influence, Lady Elfrida faces banishment from Court with both fierce determination and acquiescence. The King's Mother is the first part in a new trilogy. Suggested reading order: The Mercian Brexit (short story and prequel) The First Queen of England The First Queen of England Part 2 The First Queen of England Part 3 The King's Mother
Dreams of My Russian Summers
Andreï Makine - 1995
Every summer he visits his grandmother in a dusty village overlooking the vast steppes. Here, during the warm evenings, they sit on Charlotte's narrow, flower-covered bacony and listen to tales from another time, another place: Paris at the turn of the century. She who used to see Proust playing tennis in Neuilly captivates the children with stories of Tsar Nicholas's visit to Paris in 1896, of the great Paris flood of 1910, of the death of French president Felix Faure in the arms of his mistress. But from Charlotte the boy also learns of a Russia he has never known, of famine and misery, of brutal injustice, of the hopeless chaos of war. He follows her as she travels by foot from Moscow half the way to Siberia; suffers with her as she tells of her husband - his grandfather - a victim of Stalin's purges; shudders as she describes her own capture by bandits, who brutalize her and left her for dead. Could all this pain and suffering really have happened to his gentle, beloved Charlotte? Mesmerized, the boy weaves Charlotte's stories into his own secret universe of memory and dream. Yet, despite all the deprivations and injustices of the Soviet world, he like many Russians still feels a strong affinity with and "an indestructible love" for his homeland.
Sultana
Prince Michael of Greece - 1982
Fearing a shame worse than death, she found instead undying love...a glorious love invincible against jealous intrigues, treachery and the clash of armies.