Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

Ali Tepeleni, Pacha of Janina, rose to power during the early 1800s in one of the Ottoman Empire’s most unruly territories (Albania). His ferocious imposition of will was limitless, earning him the sobriquet of “the Lion of Janina.” As the mauling and murder of innocents sustains the lion, so did it sustain Ali Pacha’s rule. Thus, the range of celebrated crimes that Dumas describes in this essay are as vast as Ali Pacha’s ambition – an ambition rooted in his mother’s callous advice that “success justified everything, and everything is permissible to him who has the power to do ...

A lesser known novel by the sensational English novelist, Charlotte's Inheritance opens in Paris in a dilapidated boarding house let to students by a scarcely adequate landlady. Enter Gustave, a young provincial, arriving in Paris supposedly to study law, but in reality as the proposed husband of the dour and unattractive daughter of his sponsor. Unable to tolerate the life arranged for him, Gustave quits the boarding house but recommends it to a mysterious young English widow who approaches him for assistance. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

The Charles Dickens 200th Anniversary Collection comprises short works previously unrecorded for LibriVox - fiction, essays, poetry, letters, magazine articles and speeches - and each volume will be a potpourri of all genres and periods of his writing. This first volume was released on Dickens' 200th birthday, February 7th 2012 and further volumes followed during the anniversary year.Volume 1 includes short stories including, amongst others, The Holly Tree, the first part of Holiday Romance and three pieces from Mugby Junction.Some items requiring a little further explanation are Prince Bull, ...

Originally published in serial form in 1879-80, “The Brothers Karamazov” is recognized as one of the very greatest masterpieces of world literature. It is the last and finest novel of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who died before writing a planned sequel. The story is organized initially around the efforts of adult sons to deal with their cantankerous and exasperating father. More important, they also have to deal with the problem of how to live in a world where it is difficult to be sure of the truth — whether that be “truth” about others, about oneself, or about deep questions such as faith,...

Understood Betsy is a 1916 novel for children by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. The story tells of Elizabeth Ann, a 9-year-old orphan who goes from a sheltered existence with her father's aunt Harriet and cousin Frances in the city, to living on a Vermont farm with her mother's family, the Putneys, whose child-rearing practices had always seemed suspect to Harriet and her daughter. In her new rural life, Elizabeth Ann comes to be nicknamed "Betsy," and to find that many activities that Frances had always thought too demanding for a little girl are considered, by the Putney family, ordinary ...

This scene of 'Domestic Bliss' is from Poems of Cheer by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. (Pub 1914) - Summary by David Lawrence

This is a self-contained story-arc over eight chapters from the pages of Steele Rudd's book "Back At Our Selection". The Synopsis: After being a shy bachelor for a number of years, Dave (Dad Rudd's second eldest son) has finally got married. To a "Girl from Town" named "Lily White". When she first arrives at "Ruddville", she and Dave's sister Sarah get on wonderfully. But after some months, friction between the two young woman sets in, and Dave and Lily seek to have a separate house of their own on the extensive Rudd property. But Dad, though now a prosperous farmer, started out with his wife ...

Daren Lane, a World War I veteran, returns from the battlefields of Europe to the American Midwest. In Middletown USA, he encounters a postwar Jazz Age society whose revelers are tired of hearing about the war. Lane attempts to stem the tide of hedonism and debauchery that is sweeping the town with mixed results.

Only 15-years-old, Eleanor Vane is very happy with her lot: educated in an expensive finishing school in Paris, the apple of her father's eye, and disposed to be kind. Of course there are things missing: she does not remember her mother who died when she was young. But at least she has her father... Until he unexpectedly dies. Now Eleanor is at the mercy of her half-siblings who were never in touch with her, and the rest of the world who would consider her an orphaned beggar. Sent to work as a lady's companion to an old friend of her late father's, Eleanor might, just might, be able to win a ...

Chapters XV through XIX of "Our New Selection""The wheat was in, and Dad decided to take a trip to Brisbane. For seven or eight years he had been thinking of that trip, but something or other always came to prevent his going. According to Dad himself, the farm would suffer if he went away for a month; there would be no one to look after it, no one to manage. According to us there would be no one to look on while the cows were being milked; no one to stand in the paddock all day while the hay was being raked and carted and stacked; no one to fuss round and be a nuisance to Dave while he sold a ...

Frustrated with life in the tenements generally and the negative influences on his children specifically, a father decides to move his family to the country, where they live off the land and breathe fresh air. - Summary by David Gore

Esther wurde von ihrem Onkel aufgezogen. Sie leben in Susa; das weit weg von Israel liegt. Esther wird Königin. Eine Intrige wird verhindert, als sie durch ihren Mut ihr Volk vor dem Tod schützt. (Zusammenfassung von Anza)

In this dramatic reading of the classic epic Ben Hur, rediscover the wonder of three wise men who travel through the wilderness together. Thirty years later, Judah ben Hur accidentally looses a tile upon the head of the Roman governor and is sentenced to the galleys for life. When he escapes, he is caught up in his thirst for revenge against his accuser, Messala, and his search for the Messiah of his people, the King who is to come. As Judah learns more about this King, however, he begins to realize that the kingdom he is searching for may not be found in what he can see and the revenge he is ...

The adventures of Tyltyl and The Fairy Berylune. Of all the girls he knows, who does he love the most? Read on to find out. - Summary by Michele EatonCast List:Gaffer Tyl: Alan MapstoneNeighbour: Alan MapstoneThe Miser: Algy PugJalline: Annie MarsAimette: Belinda LovedayRoselle: Matea BracicChild: Jenn BrodaBelline/Child: Joanna Michal HoytThe Great Ancestor/Daddy Tyl: Wayne CookeMummy Tyl: SoniaRosarelle: Kelly S TaylorMytyl: Lauren-Emma BlakeLight: LydiaNarrator: MichaelMaggsMilette: MinnieSmallest Child: Mira WilliamsAnother Child 1: Jim LockeThe Shape/Destiny: Andrew GaunceBeryllune the ...

The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It is often considered, along with The Three Musketeers, as Dumas's most popular work. The writing of the work was completed in 1844. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from the plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the historical events of 1815–1838 (from just before the Hundred Days through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). The historical setting ...

The Egoist is a tragi-comical novel by George Meredith published in 1879. The novel recounts the story of self-absorbed Sir Willoughby Patterne and his attempts at marriage; jilted by his first bride-to-be, he vacillates between the sentimental Laetitia Dale and the strong-willed Clara Middleton. More importantly, the novel follows Clara's attempts to escape from her engagement to Sir Willoughby, who desires women to serve as a mirror for him and consequently cannot understand why she would not want to marry him. Thus, The Egoist dramatizes the difficulty contingent upon being a woman in ...

Iceland is the home of the Saga, a form of literature which includes the telling of the story of a hero’s life and adventures in a fixed, regular form, and which is usually intended for recitation, though the Saga is never set in the customary versified style of poetry. A large number of these Sagas, relating to Iceland, Greenland, North America, and the Norse countries, still remain, and among them the Frithiof Saga, narrating the stirring adventures of that hero of the Northland and Viking of its seas, is one of the most beautiful. Its subject is noble, heroic, and free from exaggerated ...

Inspired by the real life story of Caroline Norton, a friend of the author's, this book tells about a lively woman who is trapped in a miserable marriage. Yet Diana is not one to give up in her quest for love, happiness and fulfillment. - Summary by Stav Nisser

In his mid-70s, Philippe Aubert de Gaspé took on the project of recording the culture and heritage of French Canada, especially that of the late 1700s, the world of his youth. The result, published in French in 1863, was the historical fiction "Les Anciens Canadiens (literally, “The Canadians of Old”).In this book, inspired by the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott, Aubert de Gaspé collects the customs, traditions, folk tales, superstitions, and songs of the Quebec people, weaves in memories of life in his own ancestral home, and sets all this within the momentous historical events ...

First published in 1893, this novel came to question many subjects which were considered taboo. Through a few interconnected plots and sub plots, the story examines the role of women and the different opportunities women and men had. Through the twins of the title, a girl and a boy, and through two other ladies we discover the Victorian world in a different light. What does a woman have to do if, after marriage, she discovers very unsettling things about her husband's past? Yes, society expects her to stay with him and honor the marriage. But what if she is not willing? What are women expected...