In terms of literature the Russian author is almost a class apart. In this volume we bring together the Holy Trinity of Russian Romance from its Golden Age with short stories from the very talented pens of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostovesky and Ivan Turgenev.1 - The Golden Age of Russian Literature - The Romantics - An Introduction2 - The Cloak by Nikolai Gogol also known as 'The Overcoat'3 - The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin4 - The Fatalist by Mikhail Le...

The Top 10 – Eastern Europe - An IntroductionFrom the Central plain of Europe to the Urals, many thousands of miles away, the nations of Eastern Europe have risen to become Empires and fallen underfoot to others. Their literary tradition has always been strong and vibrant, bold and beguiling. Within the many cultures and societies the narrative of the human condition is told in many startling and beautiful ways.Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an...

There is something about the number 3.The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two.Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes.Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore them...

Franz Kafka was born on 3rd July 1883 in Prague, then in Bohemia, the eldest of 6, into a middle-class Jewish family.Life for the young Kafka and his passion for literature was often made an ordeal by his over-bearing and domineering entrepreneur of a father.In 1889 Kafka was sent to the Deutsche Knabenschule, an elementary school in Prague. His father would only allow him to be educated in German-speaking schools and even went so far as to limit visits to the synagogue to ...

Anton Chekhov is amongst the most vaunted of authors. His tales can take a small fragment of a person’s life and turn it into a narrative of unrivalled and compelling power. This volume perfectly illustrates Chekhov and his miniature masterpieces.1 - The Top Ten - Anton Chekhov2 - The Bet3 - Vanka4 - Misery5 - The Lady with the Dog6 - The Kiss7 - The Death of a Government Clerk8 - Volodya9 - The Student10 - Abo...

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born on 29th January 1860 in Taganrog, on the south coast of Russia.His family life was difficult; his father was strict and over-bearing but his mother was a passionate story-teller, a subject Chekhov warmed to. As he later said; ‘our talents we got from our father, but our soul from our mother’.At school Chekhov was distinctly average. At 16 his father mis-managed his finances and was declared bankrupt. His family fled to Moscow. Chekhov remain...

There is something about the number 3.The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two.Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes.Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore them...

The stereotypical image of a poet is one of unknown talent starving in a garret and who’s faithfulness and legacy to the art is discovered only after their death.In some cases this is undoubtedly true, but Poets being human and with the same building blocks of physical and mental health as the rest of us, also had the same afflictions and problems as the rest of us.The long roll call of names and the truncated legacies that were left behind is filled with these lost talents...

Two women connected by the same musical soul are transposed across time into each other’s world by the mysterious forces of a priceless 18th-century cello. A story of music, history, and love that finds a way to conquer the barriers of time.In the final instalment of the Song for a Lost Kingdom trilogy, Adeena Stuart and Katharine Carnegie search for the music neither can complete on their own.Finding themselves living three centuries apart and eac...

There is something about the number 3.The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two.Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes.Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore them...

Adeena Stuart is cellist in 2019 who finds herself living the life of another woman in 1746 Scotland, fighting to save a doomed man – the father of the woman's unborn child. Adeena is an alluring musician driven to compose and perform.But it’s not until she somehow becomes Katharine, an 18th century cellist and composer herself, that the music inside both women finds its timeless perfection.Their composition, Song for a Lost Kingdom, transfigures the heart of James Drummond...

George MacDonald was born on December 10th 1824 at Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.The MacDonald family had proud and long historical roots. His father, was a farmer, was a direct descendant of one of the families that suffered in the infamous massacre of 1692 when the Campbells set upon the MacDonalds.George grew up with the Congregational Church, with its atmosphere of Calvinism to which George never really attached himself. A story often told is that the young George on ...