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With their penetrating psychological insight and their emphasis on human dignity, respect and forgiveness, Dostoyevsky’s early short stories contain the seeds of the themes that came to his major novels. „Poor Folk” is a short novel focused on a powerful exchange of letters between two bright and introspective individuals living in difficult circumstances in 19th century Saint Petersburg who are in love, yet fight poverty with every inch of their breath. Bound to never be a...

Based around the Gordon riots of 1780 as seen through the eyes of the simple but good-hearted Barnaby Rudge. This is Dickens fifth novel and it was his first attempt to write an historical novel and was inspired by the Walter Scott’s novels. It is the most neglected, but most rewarding tale of treachery, forbidden love, abduction and the dangerous power of the mob. Barnaby Rudge is a half-witted young innocent simpleton who is devoted to his talkative raven, Grip. When he g...

A set of melodramatic love stories, first published in 1917 by the hugely successful English writer of popular romances. This collection contains five of Ethel M. Dell’s best short stories: „The Safety Curtain”, „The Experiment”, „Those Who Wait”, „The Eleventh Hour”, „The Place of Honor”. In „The Safety Curtain”, a dragonfly-like dancing girl is „rescued” by a subaltern when he offers her a marriage of convenience and takes her to his station in India. But she hides a myst...

Aleksandr Petrovich lives through a spiritual re-awakening that culminates with his release from the prison camp. The narrator has been sentenced to penalty deportation to Siberia and ten years of hard labor for murdering his wife. Published in 1861, „House of the Dead” is a semi-autobiographical work based upon Dostoevsky’s exile to Siberia where he was punished with „hard labor” after he was initially convicted to be punished by death by firing-squad for his involvement i...

„The Brothers Karamazov” is a passionate philosophical novel set in 19th century of Russia that enters deeply into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, and reason, set against a modernizing Russia. The plot of the novel revolves around the murder of perhaps one of the most despicable characters ever created, Fyodor Karamazov, and the investigation and trial that follows, which swirl around t...

Written in the form of an autobiography, it describes the life of the eponymous narrator Robinson Crusoe. After surviving a terrible shipwreck, Crusoe discovers he is the only human on an island far from any shipping routes or rescue. At first he is devastated, but slowly, with patience and imagination, he transforms his island into a tropical paradise. For twenty-four years he lives with no human companionship – until one fateful day, when he discovers he is not alone... „...

While „The Battle of Life” is one of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Books – his annual release of a story just before Christmas – this one breaks the tradition by not being concerned with Christmas. Rather, its subtitle, „A Love Story”, reveals more of the plot. The setting is an English village that stands on the site of a historic battle. Some characters refer to the battle as a metaphor for the struggles of life, hence the title. This novel basically depicts the battles one ...

Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novels and stories delve deep into the mysteries of the mind. Characters grapple with the most basic questions of existence, including what it means to be moral, what it means to love, and what it means to be human. Exploring many of the same themes as in his longer works, these small masterpieces move from the tender and romantic „White Nights”, an archetypal nineteenth-century morality tale of pathos and loss, to the famous „Notes from the Underground...

A predecessor to such monumental works such as „Crime and Punishment” and „The Brothers Karamazov”, „Notes From Underground” represents a turning point in Dostoyevsky’s writing towards the more political side. In this work, we follow the unnamed narrator of the story, who, disillusioned by the oppression and corruption of the society in which he lives, withdraws from that society into the underground. This story is an exposé of the irrational forces which underlie all human...

Written in a time when criminal biographies enjoyed great success, Daniel Defoe’s „The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders” (aka „Moll Flanders”) details the life of the irresistible Moll and her struggles through poverty and sin in search of property and power. Born in Newgate prison and abandoned six months later, Moll Flanders’ drive to find and hold on to a secure place in society propels her through incest, adultery, bigamy, prostitution and a resource...

This is a story about the adventures of the youth of the regency from the lower reaches of the British nobility in the harsh and capricious world of the Caribbean Sea, complete with pirates, romance and daring Spanish girls, as well as a few last minute escapes – the clichés of romantic fantasies about adventures. There are several excerpts from Conrad’s beautiful memories. At that time, slavery was the basis of the Caribbean economy, and the hero for some time is the head ...

Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic. This charming collection of sketches from Victorian literary master brings together a number of pieces that were originally published in various popular periodicals of the era. „The Mudfog Papers” describes the local politics of the fictional town of Mudfog. It also describes the delusions of its mayor Nicholas Tulrumble, his disastrous attempts at putting on a public show and the meetings of its Society for the Advan...

Is murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose? Meet Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Raskolnikov convinces himself that his motive for the murder is to benefit mankind. His struggle with himself and those around him becomes a battle of the individual against society, radicalism against tradition, and ultimately the will of ma...

With a page-length title promising thrilling adventures in exotic locations, „Captain Singleton” is often viewed as an attempt by Defoe to capitalize upon the success achieved by „Robinson Crusoe”, which had been published a year earlier and had already merited a sequel. Defoe here offers a searching exploration of society from the point of view of its outcasts. The narrative describes the life of an Englishman, stolen from a well-to-do family as a child and raised by Gypsi...

Originally a regular magazine written entirely by Charles Dickens from April 4, 1840-December 4, 1841, „Master Humphrey’s Clock” uses an elderly gentleman named Master Humphrey as a frame for a number of stories. He is a lonely, crippled old man who lives in London. He keeps manuscripts in an antique clock by the chimney. He decides to start a little club, Master Humphrey’s Clock, at which the members – eventually six in total, including Mr. Pickwick – would write and read ...

„A Tale of Two Cities” is the second historical novel by Charles Dickens and it is one of his most tragic works. The plot centers on the years leading up to the French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. The novel, first and foremost, follows several characters including Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated British barrister w...

This is the story of a sea captain named Wally, who suffered a financial catastrophe at the end of an outstanding career. All he wants is to leave his only daughter some money to help her cope with her unsuccessful marriage, so he is investing his last 500 pounds in an old steamer owned by his chief engineer, a man named Massy. Massy – a desperate man who won the money to buy his ship in the lottery.

First published in 1923, this is a magnificent story about an ill-treated but fiercely proud heroine. A young lady meets a mysterious stranger at a farm called Tetherstones, where Druids in ancient times used to perform their human sacrifices. The master of Tetherstones is a large brute of a man, more gladiator than farmer, and the heroine finds herself strangely attracted by him. Is a new start possible for either one of them or will the past win out? A tale of tempestuous...

This is an exciting, atmospheric work that works on several levels: partly a story of tropical adventures, partly a melodramatic novel, partly a psychological thriller, partly a criticism of the empire. Axel Heist lives on an island in present-day Indonesia with a Chinese aide Wang. Heist visits a nearby island when a women’s group plays in a hotel owned by Mr. Schomberg. Schomberg tries to impose himself sexually on one of the band members, Alma, later named Lena. She runs...

This is a collection of small stories. The events of all four stories develop in the sea. Although these stories and inherent supernatural phenomena, but there are no ghosts. Three stories of four show us a rude hero who does not want to be revealed deeply. The other, Partner, shows what happens to you if you are NOT a rude individualist.

Conrad stresses that the narrative clearly shows that the duel really benefited two. Combat competitions made every job and strive a little harder, forced the will to survive and win in a personal fight as seriously as the desire to survive the bloody years of the Napoleonic war. Both are officers in Napoleon’s army, and both are „to the core”.

There are collected 3 stories. One of the stories has a distinctly ironic accent. In „Smile of Fortune”, the young captain landed his ship on a tropical island. He is met by a trader named Jacobus, whom he regards as luck. Then he falls in love with the girl Jacobus. By luck, the captain arrives on another island, where there is hunger, and he can sell potatoes.

This is a story about a young pastor who decides to go to his newly appointed ward in disguise, to find out what factors in the community repel all pastors working there before they leave the community. As the secret is revealed, we meet many citizens of the community and become familiar with their problems and misfortunes. The pastor becomes an integral part of the community he seeks to serve when he is accepted.

This book is somewhere morally difficult to read. It describes the travails of women. Peter Willems, a Dutchman by birth, a poor boy, leaves his miserable, joyless home in order to seek a better, more prosperous future. The sea will be a salvation for the boy. on the ship, he will find his home and his comrades in life.