Persuasion was the last novel completed by Jane Austen and was first published posthumously in December, 1817.The story represents an interesting configuration of Austen’s characteristic narrative patterns. The heroine, Anne Eliot, is something of an old maid—she is twenty-seven years old, still single and is considered by family and friends to have lost her youthful beauty. Several years earlier, her engagement to Captain Frederick Wentworth had been broken off, due to th...

First published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice is the most polished of Jane Austen’s novels, with a humorous and upbeat mood. It was written at a time when the author’s narrative powers were fully developed and the story flows with an ease that conceals the skill of its construction.The plot line follows the sequence of a love relationship apprehended, misunderstood, and finally realized, which has since become a standard format of the romcom genre. However, Austen complicat...

This collection of short stories by notable Australian author, Mary Grant Bruce (1878-1958), reflects on Australian experiences of summertime. Infused with the smells, sounds and textures of Australian life during the Christmas season, these stories also highlight the strengths and yearnings of their characters. This unique collection includes a foreword by Ian Bruce, grandson of Mary Grant Bruce, and includes the following six stories:* A Gentleman by Accident* An Australi...

This collection of 35 short poems was first published in 1927, and is a sequel to When We Were Very Young, which was the first anthology of verse dealing with the domestic adventures of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh.As the author explains in the introduction: “We have been nearly three years writing this book. We began it when we were very young … and now we are six. So, of course, bits of it seem rather baby-ish to us, almost as if they had slipped out of some other book b...

This play is a dramatization of Boccaccio’s story of Gillette of Narbonne. Only the comic parts were of Shakespeare’s invention; he added the characters of the pusillanimous Parolles, the lofty courtier Lafew, the Clown Lavatch, and the long suffering Countess. He gave new depth and vitality to the leading characters, who are mere outlines in Boccaccio’s tale.The comedy has for its heroine a young woman who loves the haughty Bertram with an unrequited and despised passion,...

This collection follows on from Australian Christmas Yarns Volume I and consists of ten stories by notable Australian author Mary Grant Bruce (1878-1958). These stories sketch challenges of landscape, relationship, loss and hope.This collection includes:A Coastwise ChristmasSanta Claus, HelperSanta Claus, JuniorSanta Claus, MediatorThe Christmas CookIn Great WatersThe HammockA New Year's Dawn 1A New Year's Dawn 2A...

This collection of sixteen poems features several notable examples of Tennyson’s early work, including “Oenone” and “The May Queen”, as well as two of his most iconic works, “The Lady of Shalott” and “The Lotus Eaters."All the poems are marked by the euphony and ease of versification for which Tennyson has become famous.

Emma was written after the publication of Pride and Prejudice and was the last novel of Jane Austen to be published in her lifetime.Of the title character, Austen wrote: “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” Emma is a vivacious twenty-year-old, who has spent her life in the pleasant seclusion of a village community and who lives with her widowed valetudinarian father. Most of the neighbors admire and approve of her, except for Georg...

Accusation is the unperceived catalyst for this dramatic narrative; Job is framed by the accusation that his self-invested allegiance to God will evaporate if he is exposed to adversity. Job is unaware that this wager against his integrity has taken place. The drama that ensues on an epic scale resonates with universal experiences of human suffering—from Job's searching questions, to the grating interventions of Job's friends, and the sense that human misfortune can seem contingent on the ...

This book is a critical analysis by an ex-Muslim activist of religion in general and of Islam in particular.It describes the author's journey out of Islam and discusses in depth many common misconceptions about Islam that are prevalent both within and outside the Islamic world.Production copyright 2020 Voices of Today.

Diary of a Madmanby Nikolai GogolTranslated by Ethel VoynichNarrated by Denis DalyMany of Gogol's stories feature ineffectual individuals who are overwhelmed by the caprices of fate. In Diary of a Madman, one of his most colourful tales, the narrator, a humble and obscure office worker, veers from mere eccentricity into full blown lunacy, and finds that the delusions fostered by madness are anything but comforting.

The Castle of Indolence was published early in the summer of 1748, four months after the poet’s death. The work was a slow and leisurely composition, which took nearly fifteen years to complete.The poem consists of 158 stanzas, divided into two cantos. It is presented as an allegory and was professedly written in imitation of The Faerie Queene.The origin of the poem appears to be the frequent remonstrances of Thomson’s friends about the poet’s well-known indolence, regardin...