Memoirs of a Novelist (Hesperus Modern Voices)

Literature & Fiction

WOOLF, VIRGINIA

Literary

Hesperus Classics

Meet the five eccentric Harvey sisters, Morgan, Pandora, Cressida, Thisbe, and Teresa, in this enthralling, heartwarming, and ultimately moving period novel from 1953, perfect for fans of Dodie Smith
The five Harvey sisters are unconventional, unschooled, and oddly named by their famous detective writer father and fragile mother. Still living in the comfort of the rural family home, apart from Pandora who has done the impossible and managed to bag herself a husband, the eccentric sisters are largely left to their own devices, living at a distance from the outside world. So when Gregory turns up on their doorstop unexpectedly one afternoon, his car having broken down, Morgan declares it fate and welcomes the somewhat stunned Gregory into the female dominated household. Plied with tea and toast he is rather flabbergasted but captivated by Thisbe in her slightly inappropriate skiing trousers, Cressida's desperate attempts to hide the stockings and snow boots in the room, and Morgan's blunt honesty. The excitement of Gregory's visit disrupts the sisters stable world, making them question their secluded existence. However, Mrs. Harvey is not at all pleased by the blossoming friendship and new acquaintances Gregory brings into the girls lives. Can the close family unit stay together in the face of change? Tutton has created a world abound in wonderful period detail, populated with lively, likeable characters you will long remember after turning the last page.

Guard Your Daughters

Tutton, Diana

Genre Fiction

A unique civilian's eye-view of World War I, depicting, through heartfelt letters from an American woman, a fascinating before and after picture of a French community in disarray
What looked impossible is evidently coming to pass . . . I silently returned to my garden and sat down. War again! This time war was close by—not war about which one can read, as one reads it in the newspapers, as you will read it in the States, far away from it, but war right here—if the Germans can cross the frontier.
A Hilltop on the Marne is a collection of letters written by Mildred Aldrich, an American expatriate who had bought a country farmhouse near Paris in the spring of 1914. Writing to her friends back home, she describes her idyllic life in Huiry, the minutiae of her farmhouse and her daily life. Ignoring the panicked pleadings of friends that she return to the U.S. As the political situation in Europe darkens, Aldrich stands firm in her decision to stay in France and her village, come what may. As war breaks out she looks out over Marne valley at the armies moving, hears the cannonade in the distance and watches as soldiers of all nations march down the lanes in turn. Aldrich's narrative goes on to describe the subsequent events of the war until America's entry into the fray and, returning to her narrative after the war, she described the process of rebuilding local life.

A Hilltop on the Marne: An American’s Letters From War-Torn France

Biographies & Memoirs

Aldrich, Mildred

Leaders & Notable People

A fascinating and disturbing dystopian vision from a neglected sci-fi master, imagining an all too terrifying alternate ending to World War I and its implications for the human race The year is 2041. Since the end of WWI, Berlin has been an enormous subterranean city, home to 300 million citizens who have never seen the sun, and presided over by the autocratic Hohenzollern dynasty. Every aspect of life is regimented; from controlled rations that are issued on the basis of work-for-food, to a press that works exclusively under the auspices of the Information Service. Christianity has been abolished and all breeding is carried out on the basis of strict eugenic principles. Lyman De Forrest, an American chemist, discovers a way of neutralizing Berlin's defenses and, assuming the identity of a dead German man, enters the city to discover its hidden truths. The first outsider for decades to enter the forbidden metropolis, he is horrified to find a society where women are kept in isolation for breeding or the pleasuring of high status men. Can De Forrest escape this living tomb? Published shortly after the end of WWI, this tremendous example of early dystopian science fiction is thought to have been the inspiration behind Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

City of Endless Night

Hastings, Milo M.

United States

A Tangled Web

Follow the tangled web of relationships and emotions of the Dark and Penhallow families in this endearing classic, from the author of Anne of Green Gables
Aunt Becky's will is proving problematic. She has left the most precious of her possessions, an antique jug, to one of her beneficiaries—but has stipulated that the person may only be identified after a year has elapsed, once all of the family members have striven to live up to Aunt Becky's ideals. But the Dark and the Penhallow families are complex and numerous indeed—over three generations, 60 members of the Penhallow family have married 60 members of the Dark family, creating a tangled web of relationships and emotions. What lengths will family members go to to win the heirloom, and can anyone live up to what Aunt Becky would have wanted? The tumultuous and intertwined personal and love lives of the Penhallows and Darks makes makes for entertaining reading in this cleverly crafted novel, characterized by Montgomery's piercing evaluations of character and skill of description.

Children's Books

Montgomery., L. M.

Classics

The original landmark story of the gladiator Spartacus, a masterpiece of vivid storytelling full of adventure, suspense, cruelty, and romantic intrigue 
Rome, 73 BC. Kleon, a Greek slave, wakes early, cuts his master's throat, and flees south by a back road, clutching a copy of Plato's Republic. His destination is Capua, where he hopes to join the burgeoning rebel army of Spartacus, an escaped gladiator. So begins the definitive telling of one of the most famous stories in history. Spartacus and his companions, having defeated every Roman force sent against them, are plundering the countryside and gathering to their ranks thousands of fugitives, brigands, and itinerants. They seek to create a new world, one where men are not owner and owned. But they must first escape Italy, and the vengeful Roman legions already marshalling against them. Brutal and uncompromising in its depiction of the ancient world, Spartacus masterfully evokes the violence, hope, and despair of the war that shook Rome to its very foundations.

Spartacus

Gibbon, Lewis Grassic

British & Irish

A beautiful new edition of this timeless family favorite, following the lives of the four March sisters—pretty Meg, tomboy Jo, shy Beth, and vain Amy—as they grow into young ladies in 19th century New England
The four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, live in Concord, Massachussetts, with their beloved mother while their father is stationed far away as an army chaplain. Although not well off financially, they are nonetheless well known in the neighborhood for their charitable work. The girls amuse themselves at home with imaginative fun and games, including performing plays and writing sketches. They are the picture of a loving family and each daughter has her own part to play in it. The March girls are so deftly and vividly drawn that everyone who reads this book will identify with one sister in the story, whether they are reading Little Women for the first time as a child or rereading it for the 100th time as an adult. Includes an extended character profile of Meg.

Little Women

ALCOTT,LOUISA MAY

The third book in the Little Women quartet sees headstrong Jo, now grown-up and married, setting up a school with all the rewards and troubles that follow
After her marriage to Professor Friedrich Bhaer, Jo uses the money from her inheritance from Aunt March to set up a school at Plumfield. Their latest arrival is Nat Blake, a timid orphan boy whose life so far has been spent playing the violin to make money on the streets. Nat joins the 10 other children at the school—a gang made up of neglected children, orphans, and also Meg's twin boy and girl. The touching friendship and camaraderie between the group is expertly described. The peaceful equilibrium of the school is troubled though when Nat introduces Dan to the mix—the latter then leads the boys into experimenting with drinking, smoking, fighting, and playing cards. Moving and poignant, Little Men is far from saccharine and emotions run high throughout, particularly with the death of a prominent character towards the end of the tale.

Little Men (Little Women)

In the fourth and final book in the quartet, the boys from Plumfield have grown-up, but young men face as many troubles as children do, and they are all still "Jo's boys"
Jo's Boys follows the progress of the Plumfield Boys (Jo Bhaer's idyllic school), 10 years later. Now college students, the boys have evolved into complex creatures. Falling in love and making their way in life, they are faced with trials and tribulations. Emil's career as a sailor runs into trouble as he is shipwrecked on his first voyage as second mate. Dan goes west to seek his fortune but soon finds himself in prison, but also in love with the unobtainable Bess—Amy's beautiful daughter. Nat embarks on a musical career in Europe and thus leaves behind his Daisy. Tommy takes on medical school. Throughout it all Jo presides over her brood, counseling, comforting, and guiding her "boys." Touching, moving, and tumultuous, this is Alcott's writing at its best, with the reader heavily invested in her complex characters and their fate. Includes an extended character profile of Jo.

Jo's Boys (Little Women)

A stunning new translation of Mahmoud Darwish’s intertwining poetic narrative, presenting a profound portrait of the Palestinian people, the human condition, and Darwish’s own hopes and dreams Since Mahmoud Darwish's death, his poetic writings continue to be read by an audience in awe. This is a collection of autobiographical poetry designed to give an insight into the wider human condition. Darwish explores the meaning of life, identity, and the impact of exile. Hailed as the most important Arab poet of the modern day, Darwish's voice has come to represent a generation and the Palestinian people in the midst of the tense political situation in the Middle East. While Darwish explored themes of lost Eden, exile, and life after death, he resisted classification as a spokesperson for the Palestinian cause, and refused to use his art for purely political ends. Darwish's was a nomadic existence, much of it spent in international exile, and these experiences lent his writing a cosmopolitan edge—they partake of a worldwide mythology.

Why Did You Leave the Horse Alone?

Darwish, Mahmoud

Poetry

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