A young countess saves her tenants from starvation, but only by selling her soul to the Devil. The sleepy parish of Nyadnanave sees a vision of a cockerel that dares the inhabitants to break the shackles of Church and State. All these plays were met with moral outrage and rioting in their native Ireland.Yeats's 'The Countess Cathleen' (1892), J. M. Synge's 'The Playboy of the Western World' (1907) and O'Casey's 'Cock-a-doodle Dandy' (1949) emerged from a period of traumatic change for Ireland. While the plays bear witness to the immmense social upheavals of the turn of the twentieth century, they also represent a new age of Irish drama that rose from the turmoil, and their lessons ring true to this day.

    • Four complete works: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Dubliners, Collected Poems (including Chamber Music) and Exiles, James Joyce's only drama• A generous sampling from Ulysses • Selections from Finnegans Wake (including the famous "Anna Livia Plurabelle" episode)• “A volume that makes Joyce easily available, in compact form, to peripatetic Joyceans”—Leon Edel

    In the three tales featuring Auguste Dupin (The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget and The Purloined Letter) he created the Great Detective, not to mention the locked-room mystery, the notion of armchair detection and the secret-service story; The Gold Bug revolved around the use of cyphers; and Thou Art the Man made use of false clues and the least likely suspect.

    His death has brought into her midst both her sister, Claire, who wants to take Catherine back to New York with her, and Hal, a former student of Catherine's father who hopes to find some hint of Robert's genius among his incoherent scribblings. The passion that Hal feels for math both moves and angers Catherine, who, in her exhaustion, is torn between missing her father and resenting the great sacrifices she made for him. For Catherine has inherited at least a part of her father's brilliance -- and perhaps some of his instability as well. As she and Hal become attracted to each other, they push at the edges of each other's knowledge, considering not only the unpredictability of genius but also the human instinct toward love and trust.

    He is sent to Italy by a wealthy financier to try and coax home the rich man's son. In the process Ripley becomes both attracted and seduced, finding the murder the only way to deal with the situation. From that point Ripley tries to cover up his crime. Patricia Highsmith's beguiling tale of morality and amorality is given a dramatic rendering by contemporary dramatist Phyllis Nagy, who knew Highsmith in her later years in Paris."Each play I see by Phyllis Nagy confirms me in the belief that she is the finest playwright to have emerged in the 1990s" (Financial Times)

    Designed to provide insight and an overview about each text for students and teachers, these guides endeavor to develop knowledge and understanding rather than just provide answers and summaries.

    Sweet recollections of driving with her beloved uncle intermingle with lessons about the darker sides of life. Balmy evenings are fraught with danger; seductions happen anywhere. Li'l Bit navigates a narrow path between the demands of family and her own sense of right and wrong.

    But Donn longs for a wider kingdom. He deserts his bride, roams the world, fights in wars, is footloose - yet finds that he is homesick. Sixteen years later he returns to take up the threads of his old life, to learn to love his afflicted daughter, and to bring progress to the neglected green valley. Light comes, water flows, the land prospers. Then, on a night of innocent festivity, a monstrous crime is perpetrated. His kingdom violated, Donn dedicates himself to a terrible revenge that can only destroy the avenger as well as the hunted

    A satire on big business, the media and product exploitation. Designer air proves to be the marketing phenomenon of the decade, but as demand outstrips supply, Lockheart Industries plunders the Third World for resources. The world is starting to gasp, and only the biggest suckers survive.Lockheart Industries are making big money - if God wanted to buy into their stock he'd have to think twice and talk to his people. They have a profit curve wound so far round the room that it looks like a "Blue Peter" Christmas appeal. But they want more.

    Molly has been blind since birth, but now a surgeon Mr. Rice believes he may be able to restore her sight. In a series of interwoven monologues, Molly Sweeney takes us into the minds of three people with very different expectations of what will happen when Molly regains her vision. A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Jenny Bacon, Robert Breuler, Rick Snyder

    This fine example of the French realist novel contrasts the social progress of an impoverished but ambitious aristocrat with the tale of a father, whose obsessive love for his daughters leads to his personal and financial ruin.

    This modern section has been overhauled to reflect the diversity of American writing since 1945. A section on 19th-century women's writing is included.

    As victims of political action, powerless to initiate change, what can they do? How do they live and survive?Frank McGuinness explores the daily crisis endured by hostages whose strength comes from communication, both subtle and mundane, from humour, wit and faith.Someone Who'll Watch Over Me premiered at the Hampstead Theatre, London, in 1992 before transferring to the West End. On Broadway, it was awarded the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play and nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play in 1993.

    By one of America's most talented playwrights, this play won the Dramatists Guild's prestigious Hull-Warriner Award, four Tony nominations, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize in 1983. 'night, Mother had its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in December 1982. It opened on Broadway in March 1983, directed by Tom Moore and starring Anne Pitoniak and Kathy Bates; a film, starring Anne Bancroft and Sissy Spacek, was released in 1986.

    His worldview and his common sense are being defied by an adversary who seems to know everything about him.From the moment he discovers an obscure icon on his desktop, everyday life seems to unravel. Everything he holds dear appears to slip through his fingers and is about to disappear from his life. Unless he manages to make the right defining decisions while working on a challenging drug trafficking case from this point forward. Is knowledge true power?This gripping novel simultaneously plays with your imagination, the fringes of theoretical physics and philosophy. You will be devouring every word, absorbing page by page, positioned on the edge of your seat. Buckle up! "Tomc uses an intriguing story to question the impact of every decision a person can make." - Independent Book Review"The book is truly captivating and unique in the way it weaves genres together." - Literary Titan"You should expect to be impressed and pleasantly shocked." - Indie Book UprisingFinalist in the 2019 IAN Book of the Year Awards in the "Novella" category.Winner of 2018 Breakthrough Fiction Award in the Suspense/Thriller category.