The Aawkward age nonetheless analyzes the English character with great subtlety. The Awkward Age, which is highly praised for its natural dialogue and the subtlety of the sensation that it conveys, illustrates Conrad’s remark that James never dwells in deep darkness or in strong sunlight. But he feels deep and bright every gentle shade.
The story of a glorious American who, through hard work, made a fortune and went to learn how to relax and laze in the open spaces of the Old World. In particular, he came to Paris, and this city, as is known, is a rather romantic place, according to the public. And, ironically, the practical Newman in this city was smitten by a certain widowed Madame de Center.
The Reverberator is a short novel from Henry James. Comedy traces the complications. which leads when unpleasant, but true stories about Paris family fall into the American scandal sheet of the name of the novel. George Flack is a Paris correspondent for the American sheet scandal called reverberator.
In this story, a mother allows her only child, a seven-year-old boy, to die of diphtheria only so that he will never be subjected to the corrupting influence of the books written by his father, which she deeply condemns. Anyone who imagines motherly love and at least once saw the torment of a child restlessly darting in his crib, fighting for every breath, would never have invented such a monstrous story. The French call it litt’erature. By this word they denote works creat...
“Soldiers Three” is a series of fascinating stories by the great English writer and poet Joseph Rudyard Kipling. A collection of short stories written in 1888 provides a glimpse into the life of “tommies,” as the English soldiers called it, in Afghanistan. They fool around, complain and talk about their daily lives - against the backdrop of the war and sunset of colonial England.
The novel is complicated, it’s true. Long, ornate sentences, philosophical speculations of the characters, complex in their structure and further awareness of the phrase.. but.. this and not only the novel represents the uniqueness and sophistication. Restrained and at the same time shocking, harmonious and scary real. Did you know that among the higher aristocracy there are wolves in sheep’s clothing?
Isabel, the main character of the story, knows the charm of marriage with a worthless person. Her fate – the confluence of fatal circumstances. Being a dowry and finding herself in Europe, she refuses to quite worthy applicants for a hand, and having received a fortune, she links life with the rogue Osmond, who married her only to provide a bastard daughter, Pansy, born of a courtesan, a decent existence. Illusions are crumbling, there is no hope for happiness, but Isabelle...
This is the biography of Henry Morgan, the pirate admiral. In his youth, he spent several years in slavery, later became famous as a skilled warlord and vice-governor of Jamaica. The central theme of the novel – ingenious assault, lightning capture and ruthless looting of the Golden Cup – so called Panama, which was the richest city in the West Indies.
Isabel, the main character of the story, knows the charm of marriage with a worthless person. Her fate – the confluence of fatal circumstances. Being a dowry and finding herself in Europe, she refuses to be quite worthy applicants for a hand, and having received a fortune, connects life with the rogue Osmond.
„Brentwood” is a romance novel of a young woman adopted by a well to do couple. Marjorie Wetherill had always known she was an adopted child; her adoptive parents, the Wetherills, whom Marjorie loved deeply, had made no secret of it. But when she faces her first Christmas alone after her parents’ deaths, she starts to wonder about finding her first family. A letter among Mrs. Wetherill’s things gives her the key to start a search that will change her life. Is Marjorie stron...
„North of 36” is another magnificent novel by the author of „The Covered Wagon”. This is just a good old-fashioned western about the first cattle drive from Texas to Abilene. Emerson Hough (1857-1923) was an American author best known for writing western stories and historical novels. Hough’s literary career grew out of his taking camping trips and writing about them for publication. His body of work eventually included 27 novels and hundreds of short stories and articles. ...
Kipling’s greatest strength was the author of short stories. And this thematic collection of stories about the British Raj is one of the best attempts to bring together some of his best works. This includes The Man Who Will Be King, The Phantom Rickshaw, and many other favorites. But, first of all, this is connected with several short stories of Kipling about three military men in the army, Mulvani, Lirida and Other.
The main character had some rivalry with the main character had some kind of rivalry with George Korvikm. He did more things than the main character, and earned more pence, although there were chances for ingenuity. The main character was crazy about the work of Hugh Vereker, therefore he accepted an invitation to a party where he would meet his favorite author.
It only seems in the book that people can always deceive themselves, and life cannot be regulated on the „scientific” principles that fall on Gordon’s shoulders as the main character. „Crazy” scientist Gordon Wright calls Longville in Baden-Baden to judge whether he should marry Angela. After a couple of years, Longville meets Angela again at a French beach resort and realizes that he loves her.
A group of people is a powerful mixture of competing ambitions, and its idealism finds little satisfaction in agriculture. Instead of changing the world, Blithedale community members individually follow selfish paths that ultimately lead to tragedy. Hawthorne’s tale simultaneously mourns and saturates a rural idyll, not unlike the history of America in the 19th century as a whole.
In this story, Henry James continues his favorite theme – Old World vs New World. An American woman with a turbulent past, agitated, spontaneous, somewhat vulgar, but beautiful and not devoid of mind, sets out to join the European high society. For this, she tries to marry a young English Baronet on herself, a very stiff and cold man, but spellbound by that which he cannot understand. But this situation absolutely can not allow the mother of the baronet, a real English lady...
In the novel The House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the founders of American literature, once again, after a series of short stories and the famous Scarlet Letter, addresses the Puritan past and present of his homeland, New England. Legends and legends from national and family history, animated by the author’s fantasy on Gothic themes, add up to the chronicle of the age-old confrontation of two families, which is implicated in greed, perjury and a tribal...
Septimus Felton talks about the thirst for eternal life. Gothic, and sometimes irresistible, is the last book of this author. He changes the roles of the characters and spreads the story, which becomes mysterious and ambiguous. Inside the novel is a story about a bleeding shadow, like a collection of what is in the book.
The image of a young American woman is central to the story „Madame de Mauves”, which prefaces the „Portrait of a Woman”. Deceived by the wife of an impoverished French aristocrat who married her for her wealth, she won a moral victory over him, displaying, unexpectedly for him, intellectual subtlety and complete spiritual independence.
This story is told during the great plague of London. A fantastic and historical tale begins with the story of Sir Norman Kingsley about the mystical La Masque, he ends up visiting her, and soon certain visions come to life in her presence. But how does a woman, supposedly dead, come to life and how can such a dead man suddenly disappear?
During the absolutism in France, the young clog-maker Thibaudt has a deep desire to belong to the aristocracy. One day he saves the life of a wolf, who fled from the baron Jean de Vez and his hunting party. A while later Thibaudt imagine his amazement: the wolf transformed himself into a human and offers him a pact. The wolf promises to grant Thibault’s wishes in exchange for a hair on his head. As Thibault wishes harm upon more and more people, the hairs on his head become...
”The Secret of One Night” tells about the life and love of three young women: Cyril Hendrick, daughter of a handsome, beggar, bastard; her best friend Sidney Owenson, a naive heiress; and Dolly De Courcy, an energetic actress. Both Cyril and Sidney are engaged, although everything is not as it seems in any case. Sydney’s gold miner is stupefied by Dolly, and Cyril is satisfied with her aunt, whom Cyril calls „the most humble, vicious old woman on earth.” The Secret of One N...
After „The Three Musketeers” and „Twenty Years After” the adventurous story of Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D’Artagnan continues! Against a tender love story, Dumas continues the suspense which began with „The Vicomte de Bragelonne” and will end with „The Man in the Iron Mask”. Can it be true that the King is in love with the Duchess d’Orleans? Or has his eye been caught by the sweet and gentle Louise de la Valliere? No one is more anxious to know the answer than Raoul, son o...
„Madame Bovary” is a novel by Gustave Flaubert, often considered his masterpiece. Emma Bovary yearns for a life of luxury and passion of the kind she reads about in romantic novels. But life with her country doctor husband Charles Bovary in the provinces is unutterably boring, and she embarks on love affairs to realize her fantasies. But even her affairs bring her disappointment, and when real life continues to fail to live up to her romantic expectations, the consequences ...
This swashbuckling yarn is the continuation of the story in „Memoirs of a physician,” „The Queen’s necklace,” and „Six Years Later”. „The Countess of Charny or, The Execution of King Louis XVI” is the seventh in Dumas’ series on the retelling of the French Revolution. Known as one of the important early figures in the burgeoning genre of historical fiction, Alexandre Dumas spent much of his life chronicling the social and political unrest that utterly transformed France – a...
„The Three Musketeers” (French: „Les Trois Mousquetaires”) is a historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. Set in 1625–1628 when France is under threat, it recounts the adventures of a young nobleman named d’Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. Although d’Artagnan is not able to join this elite corps immediately, he befriends the three most formidable musketeers of the age – the mysterious A...
The bonds that tie family together are among the strongest on earth. But what of those between two brothers born as Siamese twins? The „Corsican Brothers” is a richly drawn tale of fraternal love and revenge. Alexandre Dumas weaves the compelling story of Siamese twins who are separated physically but never in spirit. They have a truly remarkable psychic link, and can feel each others pains and triumphs. When one of the brothers is murdered, the other leaves Corsica for Par...
Into a compellingly real portrait of nineteenth-century Russian society, Dostoevsky introduces his ideal hero, the saintly Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin. Returning to St. Petersburg from a Swiss sanatorium, the gentle and naïve epileptic Myshkin, the last, poverty-stricken member of a once great family and regarded by many as an idiot, pays a visit to his distant relative General Yepanchin and proceeds to charm the General and his family. Here he sees a picture of Nastasya...
Set out for a rollicking good time with Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), the renowned French author who created timeless classics such as „The Three Musketeers”, „The Count of Monte Cristo” and „The Man in the Iron Mask”. „Les Compagnons de Jehu” („The Companions of Jehu”) tale is based loosely on a historical account of a band of young aristocrats-turned-highwaymen that continuously steals the money of the Directoire in order to finance the restoration of monarchy and who foug...
Having returned safely home, Robinson Crusoe marries and starts a family. Peace is not for Robinson, he hardly hangs out in England for several years: thoughts about the island are haunted him day and night. He even buys a farm, intends to engage in rural labor, to which he is so accustomed. After the death of his wife, nothing else keeps him in England, Robinson is overcome by the old wanderlust, and sets out with his faithful companion Friday to see his island once again....
„The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain” is an 1848 ghost story by Charles Dickens. It is the final novella in Dickens’ series of five Christmas Books, the first and best known of which is „A Christmas Carol”. For Victorians these ghost stories began to be associated with Christmas time, and the end of the year. In this story, Dickens narrates the hair-raising experiences of a teacher of chemistry Redlaw. As the protagonist dwells on his past sorrows and mistakes, a phanto...
”Rescue” is not just muscular descriptions of a boiling sea or some kind of intrigue or action. Konrad decisively decides things like lengthy / nuanced conversations. But, as in all his books, „Rescue” is darkly intense, much more happening under the surface than even the characters think. This is not an easy book to concentrate on. Tension, uncertainty about what will happen next, a gloomy atmosphere – all this is alive and overwhelming.
„The Inheritors” is a little-known book of two main British writers. The plot is based on a political scheme to undermine the British Empire, based on a Congo-like colonial enterprise and manipulated by journalists. The main character claims that she is from the Fourth Dimension and works to replace the human race.
Hawthorne’s use of the language is magnificent, and the premise was interesting. We get acquainted with the love triangle between the heiress of Ellen, the immature student Edward and the painful scientist Fanshaw, and everything starts to go south after the villain enters. The pacing of this novel goes beyond the strange and not in a good way. After the first half of the novel, all expectations disappeared, even the idea that the search for the abducted girl had just begun...
This is a fun collection, the second of Hawthorne, Greek myths slightly rethought and retold for children. These are famous stories with a rather friendly perception. Antey has some friends who are called „pygmies”, but it seems that their height is about six inches. But they are going to avenge him after Hercules killed him, and Big X good-naturedly accepts the loss. Theseus still kills the Minotaur, although the beast seems to be a kind of miserable soul, but does not lea...
An early collection of fairy tales. Some of the subtle, almost subconscious problems that Hawthorne faces with female sexuality. Like the stories, these plays often do not follow the traditional dramatic arcs that can disappoint, but Hawthorne is always more interested in character than plot, so you just need to abandon any expectations of high drama and sometimes enjoy the amazing revelations that come from his attention to atmospheric details.
Dr. Dolliver, a worthy character of great antiquity. A person’s desire for an immortal existence, an attempt to satisfy which would be stated in various ways: first, through the selfish old sensualist, Colonel Dabni, who greedily grabbed the mysterious elixir and took his draft so that he died on the spot; then, through the plain old Grandir, longing to live for Pansy; and, perhaps, through Pansy herself, who, having come to enjoy some kind of ennobling love, would like to ...
At the center of the novel is a group of four characters. These are two young American artists, Hilda and Kenyon, who were brought to Rome by a thirst to comprehend the secrets of art, and their friends – the artist Miriam and the young Donatello, who are introduced into this circle not by a passion for art, but by love for Miriam. Everyone is struck by the similarity of the count with the famous statue of Praxiteles, depicting a faun. Most importantly, this similarity is n...
Amazingly conveyed the characters of the era and characters, suffering and atonement, sin and clogging of society. The plot of the story is simple – a married woman, whose husband has been absent for two years, gives birth to a child. In Puritan society, where the concept of „"personal life"” does not exist, the people are in deep shock from what happened, but mercifully decides not to kill the woman, but to punish with shame. The letter „"A"” now shines on her chest....
The novel „Doctor Grimshawe’s Secret”, in which a specific eerie coloring is attached to one particular house, still existing in Salem and adjacent to the old cemetery on Charter Street. This mood was expressed in giving a certain amount of mystery, magic or horror to events that are basically not supernatural. An interesting novel for mystery lovers.
„The Possessed” (also known in English as „The Devils” and „The Demons”) is the greatest novel ever written about the politics of revolution. It is a social and political satire, a psychological drama, and large scale tragedy. Published in 1871, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel foretold with uncanny prescience events that would occur almost fifty years later during the Bolshevik Revolution and the Communist tyranny that followed. Inspired by the true story of a political murder th...
A book with some gothic trends in the beginning. Dark and stormy night, terrible secrets, fainting of women and orphans. The December night was wet and wild around Thetford Towers. A strange, massive, old house built during the time of James the First by Sir Hugo Thetford, the first baronet of the name, and as strong and strong now as it was then. The December day was overcast and gloomy, but the December night was stormy and wild. On this stormy winter night, the last of t...
A child of Irish immigrants, writer May Agnes Fleming was born in Canada and has lived in the United States in recent years. The exciting romance novel „The Actress’s Daughter” contains many elements that contributed to Fleming’s popular recognition: strong female characters, complex plot twists and many dark intrigues. On Christmas Eve, and the main characters this time cast a spell on the weather....
There was nobody on the road except herself. Late time – after all, it was almost midnight – and an increasing storm kept pedestrians at the door of that gloomy March night. From time to time she passed cottages in which lights were still burning, but most of the houses were shrouded in silence and darkness. And still during the night, and the storm, and the gloom, – the wanderer answered, with ruthless rain beating across her face, cold explosions – from her thin shabby cl...
A good, old-fashioned story that would appeal to any fan of Jane Austen or Bronte. This takes place in St. John, NB. There are enough love interests, mysterious meetings, solemn balls and the necessary beautiful bouncer to pat all the hearts of young ladies. Indecision and murder provide the backdrop for this gothic novel.
Set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch during 1829–32, and widely considered the greatest of Victorian novels. It comprises several distinct (though intersecting) stories and a large cast of characters: Dorothea Brooke, the heroine, idealistic but naive; Rosamond Vincy, beautiful and egoistic: Edward Casaubon, the dry-as-dust scholar: Tertius Lydgate, the brilliant but morally-flawed physician: the passionate artist Will Ladislaw: and Fred Vincy and Mary Garth, ...
George Eliot’s (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans) first full-length novel, „Adam Bede” paints a powerful portrait of rural life, seduction, faith, self-deception and redemption. First published in 1859, this innovative novel carried its readers back sixty years to a time of impending change for England and the wider world. The story follows the rural lives in the fictional community of Hayslope – a rural, pastoral and close-knit community in 1799. Adam Bede is a carpenter who...
The day was very hot. The crew lay in groups, idly, near the deck. The captain – a stately man of about forty or so – stepped up and down a quarter of the deck – now letting his eyes wander around his people or give them some order. His companion was young, three to four years younger than him, with a frank beautiful face and laughing brown eyes. His look of careless ease was very different from the proud stock of his companion, but some secret connection of sympathy bound ...
Anyone old enough to have friends they haven’t seen for many years knows how difficult it can be to get everyone together again. And when you do, it’s never quite the same. That’s the theme of „Twenty Years After” (1845), Alexandre Dumas’s sequel to „The Three Musketeers” that is a supreme creation of suspense and heroic adventure. This story follows events in France during La Fronde, during the childhood reign of Louis XIV, and in England near the end of the English Civil ...
Set in Paris during the French Revolution, „The Mesmerist’s Victim” tells the story of two star-crossed lovers whose romance blooms at an extremely inopportune moment in European history. Will they be able to find happiness together, or will they be swallowed up in the tumult of radical political and social change? „The Mesmerist’s Victim” is the second in Dumas’ fictional series on the French Revolution. The story continues the tale where „Memoirs of a Physician” left off....
„The Royal Life Guard – A Historical Romance of the Suppression of the French Monarchy” is a historical romance of the suppression of the French monarchy. France had been changed to a limited monarchy from an absolute one, and King Louis XVI had solemnly sworn to defend the new Constitution. But it had been remarked by shrewd observers that he had not attended the Te Deum at the Paris Cathedral, with the members of the National Assembly: that is, he would tell a lie but not...
Although the shortest of George Eliot’s novels „Silas Marner” is a cherished masterwork and a moving story of redemption by the one of the Victorian era’s most accomplished novelists. Published in 1861, the author charts the life of the cataleptic, miserly weaver Silas Marner. Arriving in insular Raveloe after a wrongful expulsion from his Calvinist community in the north, Silas is a foreign and outcast figure, left alone to accumulate a useless fortune through his loom in ...
This is a goose bump story. In early October, on one stormy night, when the wind blew into a storm, and rain fell on her. The main character walked in all the rain from the station. This helped her strike a mortal blow. But she would still die. She didn’t want anything but to return to the old house and die.
Mr. Gordon Carill marries Miss Rosamond Lovell, and then discovers that she is not the daughter of Colonel Lovell, but a girl with a low birth rate and a bad reputation, who was a concert singer. She is unusually beautiful, she is only eighteen years old, and the dark experiences of her past life, to put it mildly, had to hurry. In horror, she leaves her husband, who then pursues her.
What makes this work so unusual is that it tries to mimic the format of a legal report covering a fictional trial of Pickwick, who is accused of breaking a promise to marry his mistress. In a large number of quotes from the source text, Fitzgerald explains some of the factual materials. Having some experience in legal matters, Fitzgerald can also indicate where Dickens’ knowledge of the British legal system is accurate and where it may deviate slightly from the true state o...
An adventure is something that happens outside the course of ordinary life. We can’t go on an adventure all the time, but an adventure story will take you right to that adventure. With no time to scout for a library, now these books are at our fingertips. „The Hero of the People” is the fifth book in the fictional series on the French Revolution by the famous French author Alexandre Dumas. Alexandre Dumas is known for penning many masterpieces of historical fiction, includi...
Set against the turbulent years of the Napoleonic era, Alexandre Dumas’s thrilling adventure story is one of the most widely read romantic novels of all time, along with „The Three Musketeers”. The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book, an adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness. It centers on Edmond Dantès who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune, and sets about exactin...
French author of famous swashbuckler novels Alexandre Dumas again chooses 18th century France for his milieu. No musketeers in this one, for it is the Queen, Marie Antoinette, who needs defending. Set a few years before the deluge of the French Revolution this plot is convoluted beyond belief; schemes, counter-measures, vicious personal agendas, love-struck young people, royal revenge and ecclesiastical machinations – all are present. Fans of historical fiction will love „T...
Set at the height of the „tulipomania” that gripped Holland in 17th century, this is the story of Cornelius van Baerle, a humble grower whose sole desire is to grow the perfect specimen of the tulip negra. After his powerful godfather is assassinated, the unwitting Cornelius becomes caught up in deadly political intrigue and is falsely accused of high treason by a bitter rival. Condemned to life imprisonment, his only comfort is Rosa, the jailer’s beautiful daughter, and to...
Charles Dickens’ work is ranked among the finest writing in the Western canon, and the author specialized in seasonal stories to warm the hearts of his adoring fans during the holiday season. Dickens’s relationship with Christmas extends far beyond the success of „A Christmas Carol”, with five short Christmas books and countless slighter stories on a festive theme. In all of them he uses Christmas as a time to wake up the dozing conscience of the prosperous urban middle cla...
„Uncle’s Dream” is a somewhat comic small-town society tale. It satirizes Petersburg society with an emphasis on the evils of gossip. When the aging Russian Prince, Prince K., arrives in the town of Mordasov, Marya Alexandrovna Moskaleva, a doyenne of local society life, takes him under her protection, with the aim of engineering his marriage with her 23 year old daughter Zina. Yet with many rivals for the hands of both parties, events are not guaranteed to run smoothly. In...
The d’Artagnan Romances are a set of three novels by Alexandre Dumas telling the story of the musketeer d’Artagnan from his humble beginnings in Gascony to his death as a marshal of France in the Siege of Maastricht in 1673. It is May 1660 and the fate of nations is at stake. Mazarin plots, Louis XIV is in love, and Raoul de Bragelonne, son of Athos, is intent on serving France and winning the heart of Louise de la Valliere. D’Artagnan, meanwhile, is perplexed by a mysterio...
„The Man in the Iron Mask” is the final episode in the cycle of novels featuring Dumas’ celebrated foursome of D’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, who first appeared in „The Three Musketeers”. Some thirty-five years on, the bonds of comradeship are under strain as they end up on different sides in a power struggle that may undermine the young Louis XIV and change the face of the French monarchy. Unbeknownst to D’Artagnan, Aramis and Porthos plot to remove the inept king ...
Decades later after „Uncle’s Dream”, Dostoevsky wrote „The Permanent Husband”, also known as „The Eternal Husband” (1890). It is one of Dostoevsky’s most perfect works. Classical in form, it presents his most profound exploration of mimetic rivalry and the duality of human consciousness. A love-affair drama that is both tragedy and comedy, that follows complicated relationships, remarriages, and unrequited love. Told from the point of view of a rich and idle man who is conf...
The d’Artagnan Romances are a set of three novels by Alexandre Dumas telling the story of the musketeer d’Artagnan from his humble beginnings in Gascony to his death as a marshal of France in the Siege of Maastricht in 1673. It is May 1660 and the fate of nations is at stake. Mazarin plots, Louis XIV is in love, and Raoul de Bragelonne, son of Athos, is intent on serving France and winning the heart of Louise de la Valliere. D’Artagnan, meanwhile, is perplexed by a mysterio...
Inspired by Dostoevsky’s own gambling addiction and written under pressure in order to pay off his creditors and retain his rights to his literary legacy, „The Gambler” is set in the casino of the fictional German spa town of Roulettenburg and follows the misfortunes of the young tutor Alexei Ivanovich working in the household of an imperious Russian general. He begins gambling to win enough money to become a rich man and therefore win the favor of the woman that he loves. ...
Alexandre Dumas’s 1846 novel, „Captain Paul” is based on life of John Paul Jones, a captain in the American Navy during the revolutionary war. This epic adventure is written in best traditions of Duma’s work featuring numerous desperate battles, true love, brave heroes, devious villains, and intrigue. This tale of high adventure and daring-do is highly recommended for fans of Dumas’s work, and would make for a fantastic addition to any bookshelf! One of the most widely read...
„The Forty-Five Guardsmen”, by Alexandre Dumas (1894), the most celebrated of French romance writers, is in two volumes, and is the third of a series known as „The Valois Romances”. It basically deals with Diana de Meridor and her servant Remy who find a way to take revenge upon Duc d’Anjou for his heinous betrayal of Bussy d’Amboise. Historically it commences with the execution of Salcede and the arrival of the Forty-Five at Paris and deals with the Guise intrigues, the ca...
Ebooki to książki, których treść została zapisana w formie elektronicznej. Są nazywane również e-książkami, publikacjami elektronicznymi czy książkami elektronicznymi. Ebooki można odczytywać na komputerach i laptopach, ale są one przeznaczone głównie do czytania na urządzeniach przenośnych takich jak smartfony, tablety i przede wszystkim czytniki książek elektronicznych. Ebooki posiadające swoje pierwowzory w formie papierowej są jej odwzorowaniem. Posiadają wszystkie elementy obecne w „tradycyjnej” wersji, takie jak okładkę, ilustracje, spis treści, przypisy itp.
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Czytanie powieści historycznych stało się w ostatnim czasie popularne na całym świecie niewątpliwie za sprawą serii powieści o rodzinie Bridgertonów Julii Quinn - co jednak przesądza o ich popularności?
W księgarni Woblink w tej kategorii znajdziecie powieści o wielkich władcach (jak słynna seria "Królowie przeklęci" Maurice'a Druona), mitycznych bohaterach (jak na przykład liczne powieści o królu Arturze i Rycerzach Okrągłego Stołu) czy powieści historyczno-fantastyczne (twórcą tego terminu jest Teodor Parnicki, autor między innymi dzieła "Srebrne orły"). Odkryjcie tajemnice powieści historycznej, sięgając po książki papierowe, audiobooki lub ebooki dostępne na Woblink!
W powieściach historycznych, na tle wydarzeń historycznych pojawiają się zarówno postaci fikcyjne, jak i postaci historyczne, przeżywając różnego typu przygody, rozterki i radości. Książki wchodzące w skład tej kategorii przedstawiają różne epoki i okresy historyczne. Akcja powieści historycznej może rozgrywać się od starożytności, jak na przykład "Quo Vadis" Henryka Sienkiewicza, przez średniowiecze, dziewiętnasty wiek aż do czasów I i II wojny światowej.
Znaleźć tu możemy utwory wchodzące w skład kanonu literatury polskiej i europejskiej, jak Trylogia Henryka Sienkiewicza, a więc jego "Ogniem i mieczem", "Potop" oraz "Pan Wołodyjowski" czy „Trzej muszkieterowie” Aleksandra Dumasa, a także zbeletryzowane biografie takich osób jak genialny malarz postimpresjonistyczny Vincent van Gogh („Pasja życia” Irvinga Stone’a) czy zapomniana przez świat nauki Mileva Marić („Pani Einstein” Marie Benedict).
Do popularnych podgatunków powieści historycznej należy także z pewnością zaliczyć romans historyczny - opowieść, w której punktem centralnym jest uczucie pomiędzy dwojgiem ludzi. By je obronić, muszą oni mierzyć się z przeciwnościami losu spowodowanymi m.in. rozgrywającymi się w tle wydarzeniami historycznymi. To często równocześnie książki wojenne - należy do nich na przykład cykl "Lwowska odyseja" Magdaleny Kawki. Składają się na niego powieści: "Pora westchnień, pora burz", "Powrót z piekła", "Nowy początek" oraz "Trudna radość", które na Woblink dostępne są jako audiobooki oraz ebooki.
W serwisie Woblink.com znajdują się także opowieści o starożytności, (np. trzytomowy cykl Roberta Harrisa – „Cycero”, „Spisek”, „Dyktator” – o starożytnym Rzymie, którego bohaterem jest wybitny mówca i polityk Marek Tulliusz Cyceron), legendach arturiańskich („Trylogia arturiańska” Bernarda Cornwella) czy II wojnie światowej i obozach zagłady (bestsellerowa powieść „Tatuażysta z Auschwitz” Heather Morris), a także kryminały („W cieniu prawa” Remigiusza Mroza) i romanse historyczne („Nieproszona miłość” Julii Justiss).
Jak napisać dobrą powieść osadzoną na tle wydarzeń z przeszłości? Wiedzą to najlepiej autorzy powieści historycznych, tacy jak wspomniani już Henryk Sienkiewicz czy Teodor Parnicki. Znane polskie powieści z tego gatunku tworzył jednak rzecz jasna nie tylko Sienkiewicz - dość wspomnieć Karola Bunsha i jego wielotomowy cykl znany jako "Powieści piastowskie". Współczesnym czytelnikom znana jest również zapewne twórczość Jacka Komudy (poprzez na przykład jego "Samozwańca. Polacy na Kremlu") czy Elżbiety Cherezińskiej, pisarki specjalizującej się w powieściach dotyczących historii Polski w różnych okresach dziejowych. W ofercie księgarni Woblink znajdziecie książki Cherezińskiej o zjeździe gnieźnieńskim („Gra w kości”), rozbiciu dzielnicowym („Korona śniegu i krwi”), II wojnie światowej („Legion”), a nawet o wikingach (saga „Północna droga”).
Nie sposób nie wspomnieć także o innych twórcach tworzących wyjątkowy świat powieści historycznej, takich jak Ken Follett i jego "Świat bez końca", Umberto Eco i "Cień róży" czy Julian Fellowes i jego "Belgravia". Warto czytać powieści historyczne i dzięki nim dowiadywać się wielu ciekawych rzeczy o historii oraz życiu osób w dawnych czasach
Szczególną odmianą powieści historycznej jest powieść biograficzna, skupiająca się na życiu jednej bądź kilku postaci (wtedy ich losy przedstawiane są równolegle). Historia tego gatunku literackiego sięga starożytności i żywotów sławnych ludzi tworzonych przez Plutarcha czy Swetoniusza, a także średniowiecznych hagiografii. Powieść biograficzna opiera się z reguły na istniejącej dokumentacji i potwierdzonych śladach życia osoby lub osób, które są jej podmiotem. Tam, gdzie brak faktów najczęściej pojawiają się hipotezy i fikcja literacka. Takie elementy znajdziecie chociażby w powieści biograficznej "Pasja życia" Irvinga Stone'a - historii życia Vincentego van Gogha - czy w "Hrabinie Cosel" Józefa Ignacego Kraszewskiego.
W Polsce w ostatnich latach pojawiło się wiele ciekawych dzieł z tego gatunku. Polecamy m.in. "Ja, Tamara. Powieść o Tamarze Łempickiej" Grzegorza Musiała, powieść "Lenin" Ferdynanda Antoniego Ossendowskiego czy autobiograficzne dzieło Elizy Kąckiej "Wczoraj byłaś zła na zielono", dostępne na Woblink także jako ebooki.
Ważne miejsce w historycznej literaturze polskiej zajmuje powieść wojenna, a więc skupiająca się na losach postaci, które muszą mierzyć się z rzeczywistością konfliktu zbrojnego. Do popularnych współczesnych polskich powieści historycznych tego typu należą m.in. dzieła Ałbeny Grabowskiej (takie jak "Stulecie winnych" czy "Najważniejsze to przeżyć") oraz Joanny Jax (seria "Na obcej ziemi" czy powieści takie jak "Nadzieja w spiżarni ukryta"). Książki te dotykają z reguły tematów trudnych i opowiadają o wydarzeniach, o których niejednokrotnie chciałoby się zapomnieć. Bogdan Bartnikowski napisał książkę pod tytułem "Nocą przychodzi śmierć", opowiadającą o zapomnianej historii z małego miasteczka na Podlasiu, która miała miejsce w trakcie II wojny światowej. Z kolei "Kobiety" Kristin Hannah rozgrywają się w czasie wojny w Wietnamie.
Z pewnością trudno mówić o obszernej literaturze historycznej bez wspomnienia o wielu książkach skupiających się na Królu Arturze, w tym dziele "Excalibur Trylogia arturiańska" Bernarda Cornwella. Postaci historyczne często same dostarczają niezwykle bogatego materiału, na którym opierają się najsłynniejsze powieści historyczne. Liczne ich przykłady znajdziecie zarówno w literaturze polskiej, jak i zagranicznej.
Wśród szerokiej oferty współczesnych powieści historycznych również kryją się perełki. Polecamy sięgnąć po "Dżentelmena w Moskwie" Amora Towlesa czy "Złodziejkę książek" Markusa Zusaka.
Wejdźcie w świat powieści rozgrywających się w przeszłości - na Woblink szeroko otwieramy jego bramy, wybierajcie spośród wielu książek papierowych, audiobooków lub ebooków.