English Renaissance

When Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain in 1519, he believed he could get to the Spice Islands by sailing west through or around the New World. He was right, but what he didn't know was that the treacherous voyage would take him three years and cost him his life.

In this rambunctious satire, Wallace Thurman, one of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance, takes his fellow artists and critics to task. The setting is a buzzing apartment building in 1930s Harlem, where avatars for the likes of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, and Thurman himself come together to push past old boundaries and test out new ideas. But the heat of this collective energy soon threatens to consume them all, as wild parties, jealous rages, and intellectual conflicts turn the literary circle into an out-of-control hothouse of personal drama.

From the end of the Baroque age and the death of Bach in 1750 to the rise of Hitler in 1933, Germany was transformed from a poor relation among Western nations into a dominant intellectual and cultural force more influential than France, Britain, Italy, Holland and the United States. In the early decades of the 20th century, German artists, writers, philosophers, scientists and engineers were leading their freshly unified country to new and undreamed of heights, and by 1933, they had won more Nobel prizes than anyone else and more than the British and Americans combined.

Sabina Rossi's forced marriage comes to an abrupt end during the infamous Pazzi Conspiracy. Wealthy beyond her dreams, the young widow is free to pursue her passions - with the utmost discretion, of course. The patriarchal society of Florence is full of secrets, and women who don't follow the rules suffer dire consequences. An unexpected betrayal leaves Sabina facing a potential scandal. Now, she must pick up the pieces of her shattered life and save her reputation.

In the vibrant era of the Renaissance, a hidden world of ancient wisdom and profound magic stirred within the hearts of philosophers, scholars, and audacious thinkers. Whispered teachings attributed to the legendary Hermes Trismegistus promised to unlock the secrets of the cosmos, the power hidden within the human spirit, and the pathways to divine transformation. Journey back to the dazzling age of the Renaissance and delve into the minds of brilliant figures like Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola. Explore the Hermetic revival of Plato, a philosophy intertwined with the belief in a ...

A thirst for learning and a passion for astronomy draw an extraordinary young woman deep into the intellectual maelstrom, political complexities and religious extremism of Renaissance Florence. This beautifully crafted novel will appeal to listeners of Karen Brooks' The Good Wife of Bath and Pip Williams' Dictionary of Lost Words.

Gianni is only twelve and thus the most insignificant member of a Florentine merchant family in Medici times; but his life already seems clearly mapped out. In the early days of Italian Renaissance, however, the future is anything but certain. The loss of his fiancée is just one of the things that do not go according to plan. Gianni's path leads him through the beginnings of the art of printing, the workshops of sculptors and artists, up to the politics of Lorenzo the Magnificent. All the while, he is haunted by the same mystery: what truly happened to his young bride who disappeared ...

My name is Katherine Parr. I’m thirty-one years old – already twice widowed. I love a man I can’t have. I’m to wed a man no one would want. He has cast aside two wives and watched another die in childbirth. Two more have had their heads struck from their bodies, on his order. What will become of me as Henry VIII’s sixth wife? I will have the king’s ear. With that comes power. But power means danger in the Tudor court.

THE END OF THE WORLD HAS A NAME!!! And Arthur Fields knows it. But first this alcoholic novelist must get sober. The end of the world has a name and Tricksy Travis knows it. But first this underground LA poet must win the heart of the woman he loves. The end of the world has a name and Tral Corliss knows it. But first this story teller in the nuclear wastelands must find a way to defeat the giant monster, Godera. DRAGONMOTH AND RUNNING SNAKE is too long, too weird, and way too personal to be a giant monster story. But it is. And the end of the world has a name.

It is generally accepted that the European Renaissance began in Italy. However, a historical transformation of similar magnitude also took place in northern Europe at the same time. This "Other Renaissance" was initially centered on the city of Bruges in Flanders (modern Belgium), but its influence was soon being felt in France, the German states, England, and even in Italy itself. Following a sequence of major figures, Paul Strathern tells the fascinating story of how this "Other Renaissance" played as significant a role as the Italian Renaissance in bringing our modern world into being.

Eve is a recovering drug addict, who was just released from prison to a female Christian halfway house. She signed up for the halfway house not to recover but to learn how to stop using drugs so often. Eve has no intentions of staying clean until she meets Reverend Washington. Reverend Washington's wife dies during childbirth, and Eve seduces the newly widowed reverend until she becomes his new wife and the mother to the reverend's three young children. But Eve is very resentful of the deceased Mrs. Washington and plots to make her husband's first wife look like a lying adulterer.

In this trenchant twentieth-century satire, George S. Schuyler—fearless provocateur of the Harlem Renaissance—asked: What if there were an invention that could turn everyone’s skin pork-belly pink? Would the plague of white supremacy subside? Would Black people be able to avoid persistent social and economic prejudice? Would the entire arbitrary notion of race become a thing of the past?

Clive Ranger was born into a war that has raged on for generations. Across the galaxy, families have been torn apart and cities have been razed. But Clive may be the one who shifts the tide of the rebellion that has risen up against the evil Coalition. The Coalition has locked away countless men and women utilizing them as slave labor across the galaxy. Clive is one of these unfortunate souls. However, he isn’t alone. Most everyone in the prison has their own scores to settle against the Coalition. After all, it was the Coalition that killed their families, friends, and everyone they ...

In Navola, a city-state dominated by a handful of influential families, business is power, and power is everything. For generations, the di Regulai family—merchant bankers with a vast empire—has nurtured tendrils that stretch to the farthest reaches of the known world. And though they claim not to be political, their wealth has bought cities and toppled kingdoms. Soon, Davico di Regulai will be expected to take the reins of power from his father and demonstrate his mastery of the games of Navolese diplomacy. But in Navola, strange and ancient undercurrents lurk behind the gilt and grandeur.

Leonardo da Vinci has long been celebrated for his consummate genius. He was the painter who gave us the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, and the inventor who anticipated the advent of airplanes, hot air balloons, and other technological marvels. But what was the connection between Leonardo the painter and Leonardo the scientist?

Deceived into leaving Haiti and Cuba by Mr. and Mrs. Vega, Billie and Carmine are confronted with a harsh reality once on American soil. The teens realize they are sex workers for the Pricey Pussy Empire, and the couple who lured them to the US actually run their own division for the underground flesh-for-sale operation. Billie and Carmine will suffer through human indecency, cruel punishment, and sexual assault in hopes of breaking the chains of captivity. There is an expensive price tag attached to vengeance, and once it is theirs, they may just end up paying with their souls.

In the wake of her father's death, Rose Newlin finds solace in her work as a book restorer. Then, one rainy Connecticut afternoon, a struggling painter appears at her door. William Lomazzo brings with him a 16th-century treatise on art, which Rose quickly identifies as a palimpsest: a document written over a hidden diary that had purposely been scraped away. Yet the restoration sparks an unforeseen challenge when William - a married man - and Rose experience an instant, unspoken attraction.

Listen to this audiobook now and unlock the door to Europe's magnificent past, vibrant present, and promising future!

A riveting love story with a captivating mystery at its heart, Mistress of the Sun resurrects a fascinating female figure from the shadows of history, and illuminates both the power of true and perfect love and the rash actions we take to capture and tame it.

T his is an alternate history novel, set in current times, and depicts events leading up to the second American Revolution. After COVID nearly kills him, Jack Harper cashes out of his frantic life in Silicon Valley, and embarks on a quest for a simpler life. An unexpected event lands him in a small northwest Nebraska town for a long weekend. The tree-lined streets of the town are lovely, but the many empty homes show that the town is dying. A serious lack of opportunities and good jobs are sending the young people away. Jack planned to write a blog article about small towns dying in the ...