Book picks similar to
The Arsonist by Egon Hostovský
czech-literature
czech
fiction
bohemistika
The Altar Girl
Orest Stelmach - 2015
When the events around the seemingly accidental death of her estranged godfather don’t add up, Nadia is determined to discover the truth—even if she attracts the attention of dangerous men intent on finding out what she knows through any means possible.Her investigation leads her to her hometown and to the people least likely to welcome her back: her family.In this thrilling prequel to the Nadia Tesla series, Nadia must try to solve the mystery surrounding her godfather’s death—and his life. The answers to her questions are buried with the secrets of her youth and in post–World War II refugee camps. What Nadia learns will change her life forever.
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
Stephen King - 1982
He maintains his innocence over the decades he spends at Shawshank during which time he forms a friendship with "Red", a fellow inmate.Source: stephenking.com
Mother Courage and Her Children
Bertolt Brecht - 1941
Set in the seventeenth century, the play follows Anna Fierling -- "Mother Courage" -- an itinerant trader, as she pulls her wagon of wares and her children through the blood and carnage of Europe's religious wars. Battered by hardships, brutality, and the degradation and death of her children, she ultimately finds herself alone with the one thing in which she truly believes -- her ramshackle wagon with its tattered flag and freight of boots and brandy. Fitting herself in its harness, the old woman manages, with the last of her strength, to drag it onward to the next battle. In the enduring figure of Mother Courage, Bertolt Brecht has created one of the most extraordinary characters in the literature of drama.
The Ghosts of Varner Creek
Michael Weems - 2007
Left with his alcoholic and abusive father, Sol lived his life believing the story he'd been told, the story all the people of Varner Creek believed about what happened that summer. But in a plot of twists and family secrets that will leave the reader reaching for their jaw upon the floor, Sol is taken back to his childhood by the spirits he knew in life when he passes away so many years later . . . it is only then he learns what secrets The Ghosts of Varner Creek have been keeping so many years. "Very well written . . . this debut novel is a real page turner with some very interesting characters."-Jani Brooks, Romance Review Today This was a wonderfully woven story about an American family, their secrets, tragedies, love lost and redeemed. - Goodreads 5 Star Review from Robert Stadnik, author of Exodus Of The Phoenix, Phoenix Among The Stars, and Tales Of A Former Child Superhero. Terrific book! This story was haunting and chilled me to the core. I couldn't read fast enough to find out what happened to the characters. I was definitely hooked from the very beginning. I would recommend this book if you are looking for a great mystery. - Nook 5 Star Review Never anything but page-turning . . . I was hooked on this book right from the start. - Dr. Jon P. Bloch, Professor, Author, and Reviewer for The Kindle Book Review, blog website.
Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Speckled Band (On the Case With Holmes & Watson, #5)
Murray Shaw - 2010
The speckled band!" After her sister Julia dies suddenly, Helen Stoner worries that she is the killer's next target. With her last words, Julia insisted that the "speckled band" murdered her. Can Holmes and Watson discover the identity of the speckled band before Helen falls victim as well
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Patrick Süskind - 1985
As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.
The Hired Man
Aminatta Forna - 2013
With The Hired Man, she has delivered a tale of a Croatian village after the War of Independence, and a family of newcomers who expose its secrets.Duro is off on a morning’s hunt when he sees something one rarely does in Gost: a strange car. Later that day, he overhears its occupants, a British woman, Laura, and her two children, who have taken up residence in a house Duro knows well. He offers his assistance getting their water working again, and soon he is at the house every day, helping get it ready as their summer cottage, and serving as Laura’s trusted confidant.But the other residents of Gost are not as pleased to have the interlopers, and as Duro and Laura’s daughter Grace uncover and begin to restore a mosaic in the front that has been plastered over, Duro must be increasingly creative to shield the family from the town’s hostility, and his own past with the house’s former occupants. As the inhabitants of Gost go about their days, working, striving to better themselves and their town, and arguing, the town’s volatile truths whisper ever louder.A masterpiece of storytelling haunted by lost love and a restrained menace, this novel recalls Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee and Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje. The Hired Man confirms Aminatta Forna as one of our most important writers.
Desiree's Baby
Kate Chopin - 1893
Today she is considered a forerunner of the feminist authors of the 20th century. This powerful little story concerns a Southern gentleman who disowns his wife because he fears she has "negro" blood. The truth makes for a dramatic ending.
Chess Story
Stefan Zweig - 1942
It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological.Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig's story.This new translation of Chess Story brings out the work's unusual mixture of high suspense and poignant reflection.
The Haunting of Gatesworld Manor
Cat Knight - 2019
All she had to do was stay at the manor and research the history of the house. She didn’t know she couldn’t leave…..
Novelist and freelancer Zandra Turner is finding it tough to get work when a mysterious envelope brings a job offer to research the history of Gatesworld Manor. The estate manager seems evasive, the housekeeper borders on rude, but that is not all that’s wrong with Gatesworld manor. How is it possible that the layout of the manor changes with rooms and hallways that come and go? And who is the woman that Zandra hears crying in the night? But more than anything how can it be day and night at the same time? As Zandra enters into a battle for her soul the world she finds herself in closes in around her, and Zandra’s existence hangs in the balance. Will she manage to find her way out of the manor and back to her life, or will the manor claim her life forever?
List of Books
The Ghosts and Haunting Collection - 16 Book Boxed SetThe Haunting of Elleric LodgeThe Haunting of Grayson HouseThe Haunting of Weaver HouseThe Haunting of Fairview HouseThe Haunting of Keira O’ConnellThe Haunting of Ferncoombe HouseThe Haunting of Highcliff HallThe Haunting of Stone Street CemeteryThe Haunting of Knoll HouseThe Haunting of Harrow HouseThe Haunting of Rochford HouseGhosts and Haunted Houses Vol OneThe Haunting of the Grey LadyThe Haunting of Blakely ManorThe Haunting on the Ridgeway (Ghost Sight Chronicles)Cursed to Haunt (Ghost Sight Chronicles)The Revenge Haunting (Ghost Sight Chronicles)The Haunting of Fort RecluseThe Haunting TrapThe Haunting of Montgomery HouseThe Haunting of Mackenzie HouseIf you read stories in the occult, occultism, horror, supernatural and paranormal genres then add these to your reading list.
The Dulwich Horror of 1927
David Hambling - 2013
To William Blake and his friends, the mystery of an underground chamber where no chamber should exist is an adventure to punctuate their round of champagne picnics and cocktail parties. But something dark and alien is seeping into this bright world, and shadows from the distant past are rising over Blake's glittering future. The church's congregation are being preyed on, body and soul. A deserted house reveals a disturbing secret. An unnatural and insatiable creature is lurking, madness is afoot...and a whirlwind of chaos and destruction is about to be unleashed from another dimensionBlake and his resourceful friends know archaeology, photography, esoteric lore and even non-Euclidean geometry. But can they even begin to understand the eldritch evil they are facing in time? Can they solve the riddle that lies behind the words Cthulu Fthagn before they are picked off one by one?An HP Lovecraft-inspired novella of madness and chaos to appeal to anyone familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos, and is sure to delight new readers and seasoned fans of the Call of Cthulhu alike.
Prague Spring
Simon Mawer - 2018
Having reached southern Germany, they decide on a whim to visit Czechoslovakia, where Alexander Dubček's "socialism with a human face" is smiling on the world.Meanwhile, Sam Wareham, First Secretary at the British embassy in Prague, is observing developments in the country with both a diplomat's cynicism and a young man's passion. In the company of Czech student Lenka Konečková, he finds a way into the world of Czechoslovak youth, its hopes and its ideas. For the first time, nothing seems off limits behind the Iron Curtain. Yet the wheels of politics are grinding in the background. The Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev is making demands of Dubček, and the Red Army is amassed on the borders. How will the looming disaster affect those fragile lives caught up in the invasion?With this shrewd, engrossing, and sensual novel, Simon Mawer cements his status as one of the most talented writers of historical spy fiction today.
The Nun
Denis Diderot - 1796
A novel mingling mysticism, madness, sadistic cruelty and nascent sexuality, it gives a scathing insight into the effects of forced vocations and the unnatural life of the convent. A succès de scandale at the end of the eighteenth century, it has attracted and unsettled readers ever since. For Diderot's novel is not simply a story of a young girl with a bad habit; it is also a powerfully emblematic fable about oppression and intolerance.This new translation includes Diderot's all-important prefatory material, which he placed, disconcertingly, at the end of the novel, and which turns what otherwise seems like an exercise in realism into what is now regarded as a masterpiece of proto-modernist fiction.
Lone Star
Paullina Simons - 2015
Their destination is Barcelona, but first they must detour through the historic cities of Eastern Europe to keep an old family promise.Here, in this fledgling post-Communist world, Chloe meets a charming American vagabond named Johnny, who carries a guitar, an easy smile—and a lifetime of secrets. From Treblinka to Trieste, from Karnikava to Krakow, from Vilnius to Venice, the unlikely band of friends and lovers traverse the old world on a train trip that becomes a treacherous journey into Europe’s and Johnny’s darkest past—a journey that jeopardizes Chloe’s plans for the future and all she ever thought she wanted.But the lifelong bonds Chloe and her friends share are about to be put to the ultimate test—and whether or not they reach Barcelona, they can only be certain that their lives will never be the same again.A sweeping, beautiful tale that mesmerizes and enchants, Lone Star will linger long in the memory once the final page is turned.
Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure Of The Primal Man
Derrick Belanger - 2016
This 'Primal Man' has been triumphantly transported back to England as proof of the 'missing link' in evolutionary theory. The upcoming auction of the specimen causes a stir amongst academics and the board of the British Museum. Whilst many are excited about bidding for this 'yeti', or 'mi-go', there are some with a more sceptical viewpoint. The story of the find just doesn't add up – neither does the fact that no one is prepared to insure the beast.Enter the great detective Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend Dr Watson. Sherlock is in no doubt about the Primal Man's authenticity and takes great pleasure in enlisting the assistance of his cousin, Professor Ellington Dynamo to prove the case.The fraud investigation takes a dark turn when it becomes one of murder, and Sherlock's powers of deduction and skill are once again put to the test in this exciting adventure.Full of the skulduggery and surprises you would expect from a Sherlock story, and with the fearsome Professor Dynamo and his delightful inventions to boot, The Adventure of the Primal Man will not fail to please.‘One thing is certain – nothing is as it seems, and Sherlock Holmes is the man to solve the case.’ David Marcum, author of The Papers of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and A Quantity of Debt, and Sherlock Holmes – Tangled Skeins‘Noted Sherlock Holmes author, Derrick Belanger, has outdone himself again. … a creative tour de force full of mystery, murder, bullet-less guns and electric super-cars shaped like torpedoes.’ GC Rosenquist, author of Sherlock Holmes: The Pearl of Death and Other Early Stories‘This excellent read from Derrick Belanger is sure to delight and enthral, not only fans of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, but will also excite and entertain the enthusiasts of general science fiction and Steampunk.’ Chuck Davis, author of Phantoms of the Skies, and the Sherlock Holmes short story “The Adventure of the White Bird” in The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories.‘Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson and Professor Dynamo are together in one thrilling adventure!’ Luke Kuhns, author of Sherlock Holmes and The Scarlet Thread of Murder and The Untold Adventures of Sherlock HolmesDerrick Belanger is an author and educator most noted for his books and lectures on Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Both volumes of his two volume anthology A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural were #1 best sellers on the Amazon Sherlock Holmes book list, and his MacDougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes chapter book, Attack of the Violet Vampire! was also a #1 bestselling new release in the UK. Mr. Belanger’s academic work has been published in The Colorado Reading Journal and Gifted Child Today. Mr. Belanger is also a teacher at Century Middle School in the Adams 12 Five Star School District, and he resides in Broomfield, Colorado with his wife, Abigail Gosselin, and their daughters, Rhea and Phoebe. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher.