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Books > Fiction > General & literary fiction > General
Young, handsome and fabulously rich, Jay Gatsby appears to have it
all, yet he yearns for the one thing that will always be out of his
reach, the absence of which renders his life of glittering parties
and bright young things ultimately hollow. Glamorous, dangerous,
hopeful and desperately in love, Gatsby's naive dreams can only
lead to destruction.
Invited to an extravagantly lavish party in a Long Island mansion, Nick Carraway, a young bachelor who has just settled in the neighbouring cottage, is intrigued by the mysterious host, Jay Gatsby, a flamboyant but reserved self-made man with murky business interests and a shadowy past. As the two men strike up an unlikely friendship, details of Gatsby's impossible love for a married woman emerge, until events spiral into tragedy.Regarded as Fitzgerald's masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of American literature, The Great Gatsby is a vivid chronicle of the excesses and decadence of the "Jazz Age", as well as a timeless cautionary critique of the American dream.
The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm are among the best loved and
most famous in world literature. This volume features more than
forty of their best-known fairy tales, lavishly illustrated with
line drawings and colour plates by Artur Rackham.
In this dazzling debut novel, a hidden and nearly forgotten magic—of
Reforging pencils, bringing the memories they contain back to
life—holds the power to transform a young woman’s relationship with her
grandmother, and to mend long-lost connections across time and space.
Monica Tsai spends most days on her computer, journaling the details of
her ordinary life and coding for a program that seeks to connect
strangers online. A self-proclaimed recluse, she's always struggled to
make friends and, as a college freshman, finds herself escaping into a
digital world, counting the days until she can return home to her
beloved grandparents. They are now in their nineties, and Monica
worries about them constantly—especially her grandmother, Yun, who
survived two wars in China before coming to the States, and whose
memory has begun to fade.
Though Yun rarely speaks of her past, Monica is determined to find the
long-lost cousin she was separated from years ago. One day, the very
program Monica is helping to build connects her to a young woman, whose
gift of a single pencil holds a surprising clue. Monica’s discovery of
a hidden family history is exquisitely braided with Yun’s own memories
as she writes of her years in Shanghai, working at the Phoenix Pencil
Company. As WWII rages outside their door, Yun and her cousin, Meng,
learn of a special power the women in their family possess: the ability
to Reforge a pencil’s words. But when the government uncovers their
secret, they are forced into a life of espionage, betraying other
people’s stories to survive.
Combining the cross-generational family saga and epistolary form of A
Tale for the Time Being with the uplifting, emotional magic of The
Midnight Library, Allison King’s stunning debut novel asks: who owns
and inherits our stories? The answers and secrets that surface on the
page may have the unerasable power to reconnect a family and restore a
legacy.
Follow the spiritual journey of an 'ordinary' woman, from housewife
and mother, through divorce, tough times and financial hardship, to
finding her true self, her power, her creativity, and the goddess
within. Her anecdotes and memoirs are sometimes serious, often
humorous, sensitive and passionate. A must for anybody embarking on
their own voyage of discovery. Kay Milton is a Counselor, Tutor,
Holistic Therapist, Reiki Master and Animal Healer. She has been
following a spiritual path for the last fourteen years. She lives
with her animals in a small Essex village
Originally published in 1951, The Hidden Fairing presents one man's
moral choices, and their consequences, against the background of a
society impressed by material success and divided by class and
religious prejudices. Growing up on a croft in the remote Highland
village of Barnfingal, Bartle MacDonald is shown little affection
by his dour widowed mother. Consequently, he enjoys the benevolent
attention of Lady Wain, whose annual presence with her family in
the Big House brightens his world. He is also imaginatively excited
by his grandmother's strange stories, shared in secret, about her
past on the island of Wrack. These stories form a bond between them
that later, for good or ill, influences Bartle's major life
choices. Academically gifted, Bartle progresses to Glasgow
University where he excells in Mathematics and, thanks to Lady
Wain's patronage, he is offered a prestigious research post.
However, Maysie Wain's high-handed rejection of his marriage
proposal forces Bartle to realise that he can never really belong
in her world, and he declines the position and the brilliant future
he thought it promised, in favour of obscurity as a village
dominie. Finally finding a form of contentment after a life
peppered with disappointments, his equanimity is shattered by an
echo from his past. But, like the other gifts he has received, is
this latest 'fairing' a punishment or a reward?
A novel by Stephens. Truly unique, it is a mixture of philosophy,
Irish folklore and the neverending battle of the sexes all with
charm, humour and good grace.
An adventure story/satire criticizing hypocritical mores and
institutions of the Victorian Age.
'A bookshop is a first-rate place for unobtrusive observation,' he
continued. 'One can remain in it an indefinite time, dipping into
one book after another, all over the place.' Mr Richard Dodsley,
owner of a fine second-hand bookshop on Charing Cross Road, has
been found murdered in the cold hours of the morning. Shot in his
own office, few clues remain besides three cigarette ends, two
spent matches and a few books on the shelves which have been
rearranged. In an investigation spanning the second-hand bookshops
of London and the Houses of Parliament (since an MP's new crime
novel Death at the Desk appears to have some bearing on the case),
Ferguson's series sleuth MacNab is at hand to assist Scotland Yard
in an atmospheric and ingenious fair-play bibliomystery.
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was an English novelist and
short story writer during the Victorian era. Much of her childhood
was spent in Cheshire, in Knutsford, a town she would immortalise
as Cranford.
Jacob Hochstetler is a peace-loving Amish settler on the
Pennsylvania frontier when Native American warriors, goaded on by
the hostilities of the French and Indian War, attack his family one
September night in 1757. Taken captive by the warriors and grieving
for the family members just killed, Jacob finds his beliefs about
love and nonresistance severely tested.
Jacob endures a hard winter as a prisoner in an Indian
longhouse. Meanwhile, some members of his congregation the first
Amish settlement in America move away for fear of further
attacks.
Based on actual events, Jacob's Choice describes how one man's
commitment to pacifism leads to a season of captivity, a
complicated romance, an unrelenting search for missing family
members, and an astounding act of forgiveness and
reconciliation.
This sequel to "The Three Musketeers" and follows events in France
during La Fronde, during the childhood reign of Louis XIV, and in
England near the end of the English Civil War, leading up to the
victory of Oliver Cromwell and the execution of King Charles I.
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was an English novelist and
short story writer during the Victorian era. Much of her childhood
was spent in Cheshire, in Knutsford, a town she would immortalise
as Cranford.
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