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A classic John Buchan story of espionage during World War I. It contains several familiar Buchan elements: a motley cast of characters, Great War intrigue, the use of disguises and linguistic talents, the concept of gaining inner strength from a beloved spot in nature, man against the forces of nature in less benign settings, a race against time and evil, and sacrifice for a greater good. This is the epic story of one man’s courage. Adam Melfort released from jail just befo...

John Buchan (1875-1940) was a Scottish novelist and historian and also served as Canada’s Governor General. His 100 works include nearly thirty novels, seven collections of short stories and biographies. But, the most famous of his books were the adventure and spy thrillers, most notably „The Thirty-Nine Steps”, and it is for these that he is now best remembered. „A Lodge in the Wilderness” (1906) is a quasi-novel about an imaginary conference arranged by a multi-millionair...

Fabuła dramatu „Król Lear” odwołuje się do legendy o mitycznym królu Brytanii. Władca, ojciec trzech córek, staje przed decyzją o podziale majątku. Postanawia obdarować córki stosownie do ich miłości, którą okazują ojcu, niestety daje się zwieść pozorom. Wierzy słodkim słówkom starszych córek, a młodszą niesłusznie wydziedzicza. Złe decyzje doprowadzają królestwo do ruiny, a odrzuconą miłość trudno odzyskać.

Farsa Szekspirowska oparta na motywie bliźniąt, które ciągle ze sobą mylono. Bliźnięta rozdzielone w dzieciństwie, dwaj identyczni chłopcy, którzy nie wiedzą o sobie nawzajem, a w dodatku nagle pojawiają się w jednym mieście – z tego musi zrodzić się prawdziwa komedia omyłek. Utwór pełen humoru sytuacyjnego, który rozbawi do łez największych maruderów.

„Miarka za miarkę” Williama Szekspira to utwór odwołujący się do wątków biblijnych – skąd autor wywiódł m.in. tytuł – i w ich kontekście przedstawiający kontrast pomiędzy władzą polityczną a sprawiedliwością. Wybory bohaterów sytuują ich po określonych stronach odwiecznego sporu, a czytelnika skłaniają do refleksji nad kwestiami winy, kary i nagrody za czyny.

Udramatyzowana kronika życia angielskiego króla Ryszarda II, sprawującego rządy w latach 1377–1399. Punktem wyjścia dla utworu jest spór między dwoma królewskimi poddanymi, który to spór król ma za zadanie rozstrzygnąć. Obu poddanych król skazuje na wygnanie, jednak jeden z nich wraca na czele armii, uderza zbrojnie i koronuje się jako nowy król Anglii – Henryk IV.

Kronika życia potępianego przez wielu króla angielskiego Ryszarda III, stanowiącego przez długie wieki ucieleśnienie wszelkiego zła. Szekspir podzielił ten pogląd, przypisując swemu bohaterowi liczne zbrodnie i przedstawiając go w najczarniejszych barwach. Uzasadniał w ten sposób jego obalenie i przejęcie władzy przez kolejną dynastię – Tudorów, którzy władali Anglią w kolejnych wiekach.

Tytułowy Otello jest Maurem i dowódcą weneckiej armii. Poślubia on córkę weneckiego senatora Desdemonę. Za sprawą intryg i sugestii sfrustrowanego życiem Jagona, chorążego weneckiej armii, zaczyna wątpić w lojalność swojej żony i daje się opętać obsesyjnej zazdrości. Choć motywacje Jagona nie zostają ujawnione, jego szatańskie działania doprowadzają do bolesnej tragedii.

Considered one of Wells most successful attempts at a social novel in the vein of Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray, Wells’s tale is a panoramic view of an unravelling society. A semi-autobiographical satire of Edwardian advertising and patent-medicines. The story follows the life of a young man, George, and his Uncle Edward. Edward invents an elixir called TONO-BUNGAY and hires his nephew George to help build the company. The medicine becomes a huge commercia...

„You Can’t be Too Careful” is a sketch of one way of life – the life path, cowardly man, in fear, made a lot of dirty tricks. He never forgot that „necessary caution”, and helped unleash the Second world war. He believed everything he was told, he did what he was told. Not it is done by world Affairs, he was only a humble and law-abiding. But he relied all those who would, in the words of wells, „to increase the amount of the world’s evil”. He was one of the men who develop...

„The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman” is a novel set in the era surrounding the days of women’s suffrage. The story revolves around the wife of a baking magnate who goes into hiding after his female employees go on strike. Although the hero of this novel Sir Isaac Harman didn’t think much of the suffragette movement, his female employees certainly did, and he thought it prescient that he too should do his bit for women’s rights. His wife totally agreed, so he locked her up. Howeve...

For Mr Britling, eccentric and vivacious writer, the summer of 1914 consisted of long, hot days and luxurious house parties with a host of international guests to entertain him. And when he tired of this, he hopped across the channel where his devoted mistress was patiently waiting. But all this was about to change as Germany began marching into Belgium and Europe no longer provided the easy diversion he had so enjoyed. „The World of William Clissold” is a 1926 novel by H.G...

This novel is a great document illustrating the anticipation of comings of the 20th century. This early H.G. Wells’ tale is about a 20 year old man who has a job as a Drapers Assistant, a job which he is probably too old for. Loaded with poor self esteem and a second class status, poor Mr. Hoopdriver takes a ten day holiday. On this holiday he falls for a young socialite named Jessie who is rebelling against her stepmother and society. She soon falls prey to a married man t...

H.G. Wells is an English author best known as a sci-fi writer, though he is also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, but in this 1917 novel, H. G. Wells weaves a more intuitive tale, about a bishop haunted by strange dreams and visions that challenge his faith. Lyrical, poetic, and verging on stream-of-consciousness in places, this little-read work of one of the most enduringly popular writers of mo...

Mr. Wells builds novels out of ideas as other men build them of imagery and emotions. H. G. Wells takes us on a very entertaining and profound journey via a character named William who insists on living life nobly and thoroughly. Starting in his boyhood, and throughout his life, it produced profound adventures, yet also make him ridiculous, and even inspiring. It is a passion for courage, for personal nobility, for service to others, for self-sacrificing, all for the social...

H.G. Wells is best remembered as a central figure in the development of the science fiction genre. However, much of his literary output was more conventional in nature, and he published a number of novels dealing with interpersonal relationships and social themes. H.G. Wells was so charmed by Margaret Sanger that he based „The Secret Places of the Heart” on his time with her. The novel is a thinly-veiled autobiography that depicts an English gentleman, Sir Richard Hardy, wh...

About a political idealist who changes his colours and engages in a sexual adventure. A successful author and Liberal MP Richard Remington appears to be a man to envy. But underneath his superficial contentment, he is far from happy with either his marriage or the politics of his party. „The New Machiavelli” describes the disarray into which his life is thrown when he meets the young and beautiful Isabel Rivers and becomes tormented by desire. At first, he struggles to resi...

Although most famous for his sci-fi, Wells’ best work often deals with ordinary people having big thoughts in picturesque settings. „The Passionate Friends” is a fine representative example of this. Wells uses the changing relationships among childhood friends as the media for his thoughts on human relations on personal and global scales, and of what it all means. On the death of his father, Stephen Stratton writes a long and deeply personal letter to his son, hoping that, ...

An intriguing HG Wells work, not of the sci-fi variety, which details a man’s struggle to find himself and get along with his world. Published in 1910, this novel is the story of Alfred Polly, a generally non-descript member of the English lower middle class. The story begins when he is thirty-five years old, miserably unhappy with his life, both his circumstances and himself. In other words, he is a man with a badly muddled sense of reality who, sick of the life that he le...

This story is essentially the history of the opening and of the realisation of the Great War as it happened to one small group of people in Essex, and more particularly as it happened to one human brain. „Mr. Britling Sees It Through” begins with a lighthearted account of an American visiting England for the first time, but the outbreak of war changes everything. Day by day and month by month, Wells chronicles the unfolding events and public reaction as witnessed by the inh...

Often called the father of science fiction, British author Herbert George Wells literary works are notable for being some of the first titles of the science fiction genre. „Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island” is a 1928 novel by H. G. Wells. It tells the story of a young Englishman Arnold Blettsworthy who, after being betrayed by a business partner, is advised to go travelling in an attempt to recover from his severe disillusionment. During the voyage the ship is wrecked and...

This novel is split into two parts, „The Utopographer in the Garden” and „Advent”. The former is set on the Italian Riviera where the novel’s central figures, a British couple, The Rylands, entertain guests. The latter, written largely in the form of letters between the couple during the husband’s trip to London, provides commentary on British political landscape of the 1920’s. A pretty good book, detailed discussions on Socialism, Communism, Utopia and so on. This novel wa...

„Marriage” is a surprising story about relationships and people by science fiction legend, H.G. Wells. It features two protagonists: Marjorie Pope, the oldest daughter of a carriage manufacturer whose business has been ruined by the advent of the automobile, and R. A. G. Trafford, a physicist specializing in crystallography whom she marries against the wishes of her family at the age of 21. The novel traces the history of their relationship, which begins when an early airpl...

Mr. Lewisham is an ambitious young teacher who has grand plans for his future. Indeed he has written up a Plan or Schema as he calls it and has committed himself to daily study to improve himself. We follow him as he moves to London and becomes a student. He also gets married and the later part of the novel is about how his naive beliefs about himself and the world survive this transition. „Love and Mr. Lewisham” is the story of a young man who seeks to better himself and a...