Literature

Kaleidoscope: Poems in Bloom delights the senses through beautifully descriptive poems in concert with vivid watercolor images, to create a richly evocative visual experience rarely seen in volumes of poetry. The author's forty two poems reflect her passion for language and her keen observation of the flowering world both in the countryside surrounding her tiny village on the Greek island of Crete, and in the Minnesota of her youth. Following nature s seasonal flow, Kaleidoscope begins with a bouquet of springtime wildflowers, from the shy wild orchid that waves its tiny butterfly wings to the scarlet fringe of poppies adorning the fields of April and May. It then continues on to summer, honoring the survivors of searing heat ( nettles, thistles, thorns / those tough denizens of drought) and finally celebrates the turn to autumn. In Crete this is a time of ripening oranges and olives and also of new growth, as the long-awaited rains inspire the return of the pale pink cyclamen and the first glimpse of anemone, that tiny scrap of indigo silk. Unique among contemporary poetry books, almost every page of Kaleidoscope boasts a complementary watercolor image. Created by the talented artist Joan Elkins, these forty eight fluid images reflect the vibrant and fleeting life of flowers that inspire the poems themselves. The reader is invited to walk along with poet and artist and savor their shared visions of the flowering world.

Rudyard Kipling's epic rendition of the imperial experience in India is also his greatest long work. Born in India and growing into early manhood, Kim wants to play the "great game" of imperialism. He is also spiritually bound to the lama, an old ascetic priest. As the two men become fired by a quest that takes them across the country, Kim tries to reconcile these opposing impulses. A celebration of their friendship in an often hostile environment, Kim captures at once the opulence of India's exotic landscape and the uneasy presence of the British Raj.

Octavia E. Butler's ground-breaking masterpiece, with an original foreword by Ayobami Adebayo. 'The marker you should judge all other time-travelling narratives by' GUARDIAN'[Her] evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human' NEW YORK TIMES'No novel I've read this year has felt as relevant, as gut-wrenching or as essential . . . If you've ever tweeted "All Lives Matter", someone needs to shove Kindred into your hand, and quickly' CAROLINE O'DONOGHUE--In 1976, Dana dreams of being a writer. In 1815, she is assumed a slave. When Dana first meets Rufus on a Maryland plantation, he's drowning. She saves his life - and it will happen again and again. Neither of them understands his power to summon her whenever his life is threatened, nor the significance of the ties that bind them. And each time Dana saves him, the more aware she is that her own life might be over before it's even begun. This is the extraordinary story of two people bound by blood, separated by so much more than time.

Portée par le développement de la presse, apparaît en Grèce, à la fin du XIXème siècle, une éclosion du genre de la nouvelle qui s’enracinera dans la littérature du pays et qui y demeure florissant. A côté de l’étude mœurs et de l’écriture réaliste se fait jour chez certains nouvellistes, sous l’influence de modèles étrangers comme Poe ou Maupassant, un attrait pour les diverses formes de l’irrationnel. C’est surtout au cours de la période qui va de 1880 à la fin des années 1920 que prend place dans les lettres grecques une «⁠ ⁠Grèce de l’étrange », envers du décor de l’image solaire et du ra­tionalisme généralement associés à cette terre méditerranéenne. La présente anthologie vise à donner un aperçu de cet aspect méconnu de sa littérature. Constantin Cavafis A la lumière du jour ♦ Nicolaos Episcopopoulos Ut dièse mineur ♦ Andréas Karkavitsas Le corail noir ♦ Ioannis Kondylakis Le chat noir ♦ Napoléon Lapathiotis L’ami mystérieux ♦ Pavlos Nirvanas Histoire d’un crime ♦ Alexandre Papadiamantis L’île d’Ouranitsa ♦ Zacharias Papantoniou Le faucon blessé ♦ Constantin Théotokis Caïn ♦ Dimitrios Vikélas Philippos Marthas ♦ Démosthène Voutyras Le chant du pendu

In La Vita Nuova, Italy's greatest poet recounts the famous story of his passionate love for Beatrice. The drama of their relationship unravels through stunning poetry and prose in this, one of the most celebrated love stories in history. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. From the first time the poet sets eyes on Beatrice, he proclaims that ‘love quite governed my soul’ and his devotion to her knows no end. By recalling each meeting with Beatrice this short book is at once a heartfelt account of youthful love and a religious allegory. La Vita Nuova serves as an important precursor to Dante’s masterpiece, The Divine Comedy. This edition is the English translation by Dante Gabriel Rossetti from the original Italian. It was first published in The Early Italian Poets in 1861 and then reissued in 1874 by Dante and his circle. It was met with great acclaim acknowledging Rossetti’s skill as a meticulous and poetic translator.

The flaxen-haired beauty of the childlike Lady Audley would suggest that she has no secrets. But M.E. Braddon's classic novel of sensation uncovers the truth about its heroine in a plot involving bigamy, arson and murder.

Notes and Introduction by David Ellis, University of Kent at Canterbury. With its four-letter words and its explicit descriptions of sexual intercourse, Lady Chatterley's Lover is the novel with which D.H. Lawrence is most often associated. First published privately in Florence in 1928, it only became a world-wide best-seller after Penguin Books had successfully resisted an attempt by the British Director of Public Prosecutions to prevent them offering an unexpurgated edition. The famous 'Lady Chatterley trial' heralded the sexual revolution of the coming decades and signalled the defeat of Establishment prudery. Yet Lawrence himself was hardly a liberationist and the conservativism of many aspects of his novel would later lay it open to attacks from the political avant-garde and from feminists. The story of how the wife of Sir Clifford Chatterley responds when her husband returns from the war paralysed from the waist down, and of the tender love which then develops between her and her husband's gamekeeper, is a complex one open to a variety of conflicting interpretations. This edition of the novel offers an occasion for a new generation of readers to discover what all the fuss was about; to appraise Lawrence's bitter indictment of modern industrial society, and to ask themselves what lessons there might be for the 21st century in his intense exploration of the complicated relations between love and sex.

The first book in M.C. Beaton's charming Poor Relation series. What do you do if you are of noble stock, but impoverished, and living in London with a certain style to maintain? One has to work... but One's relatives will be appalled when One turns One's hand to trade - and opens a hotel, The Poor Relation, offering employment to others of the same social standing and in the same awkward situation. This is precisely what Mrs Fortescue decides upon and, together with friend Colonel Sandhurst, transforms her decrepit Bond Street home into a posh hotel, offering guests the pleasure of being waited upon by the nobility. So with the help of other down-and-out aristocrats they do just that - and London's newest, and most fashionable! - hotel is born... much to the dismay of the Duke of Rowcester, Lady Fortescue's nephew, who is convinced his aunt's foray into trade will denigrate the illustrious family name!'Romance fans are in for a treat' - Booklist'[M. C. Beaton] is the best of the Regency writers' - Kirkus Reviews

Beautiful, flirtatious, and recently widowed, Lady Susan Vernon seeks a new and advantageous marriage for herself, and at the same time attempts to push her daughter into marriage with a man she detests. Through a series of crafty maneuvers, she fills her calendar with invitations for extended visits with unsuspecting relatives and acquaintances in pursuit of her grand plan. As the plot unfolds, characters are revealed and the suspense builds -- all through letters exchanged among Lady Susan, her family, friends, and enemies. Described by her rivals as the "most accomplished coquette in England," amply endowed with "captivating deceit," Susan proves to be a remarkable figure, devoid of any redeeming qualities, whose intrigues and devious machinations ultimately lead to disastrous results. "Lady Susan" is a magnificently crafted (and frequently provocative) novel of Regency customs and manners, which has become a readers' favorite among the author's shorter works. Austen enthusiasts and students of English literature will delight in its wit and elegant expression.

These three short works show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of social classes and settings. The early epistolary novel "Lady Susan" depicts an unscrupulous coquette, toying with the affections of several men. In contrast, "The Watsons" is a delightful fragment, whose spirited heroine Emma Watson finds her marriage opportunities limited by poverty and pride. Written in the last months of Austen's life, the uncompleted novel "Sanditon", set in a newly established seaside resort, offers a glorious cast of hypochondriacs and speculators, and shows an author contemplating a the great social upheavals of the Industrial Revolution with a mixture of scepticism and amusement. Margaret Drabble's introduction examines these three works in the context of Jane Austen's major novels and her life, and discusses the social background of her fiction. This edition features a new chronology.