European Fiction

The Other Name follows the lives of two men living close to each other on the west coast of Norway. The year is coming to a close and Asle, an aging painter and widower, is reminiscing about his life. He lives alone, his only friends being his neighbor, Åsleik, a bachelor and traditional Norwegian fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in Bjørgvin, a couple hours drive south of Dylgja, where he lives. There, in Bjørgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter. He and the narrator are doppelgangers—two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life.

Premier volume du diptyque L'Eau des collines, Jean de Florette est l’histoire du père de Manon, le bossu qui s’est échiné en vain à chercher l’eau dans les collines. Ce roman provençal aux dialogues savoureux est lu avec verve par Vincent Fernandel.

From the author of Flint’s Island: The Lost Sequel to Treasure Island…. In this high-seas, historical adventure, 16-year-old orphan Peter Millet discovers that his wicked guardian, his uncle, had been a slave trader and was involved in the kidnapping of a young English girl. Peter teams up with an ex-slave, and together they must face mutiny and shipwreck in order to find the girl and return her to her father. “Add this to the increasing number of ‘thrillers’ in hard covers which match and sometimes excel the thrillers of TV and comic books. The background here is the slave trade ...

Jim, the first mate aboard a small steamer named the Patna, travels from port to port in the Pacific Ocean. When the ship hits floating wreckage, Jim and the crew are forced to abandon it, leaving hundreds of ethnic travelers onboard. However, Jim's reprehensible actions are soon discovered by the court, and he is compelled to face his guilt and redeem himself - a journey that leads him to a remote exotic location where he is revered as the Lord, "Tuan Jim".

The Ultimate Classics Collection: Volume One is a continent-hopping, century-spanning collection of 10 of the greatest classic novels ever written, from British, Irish, American, and German authors, read by a cast of incredible narrators including Joanne Froggatt, Stephen Fry, Jonathan Keeble, David Rintoul, and many more.

This varied, well-chosen selection brings onto one audiobook the best of Dylan Thomas. Here is the legendary recording of "Under Milk Wood", with Richard Burton and Richard Bebb as narrators; but here also are two radio productions he wrote before that great classic, and though interesting in their own right, they show how "Under Milk Wood" grew gradually in his imagination.

Under Western Eyes, Conrad's novel of political treachery and oppression, begins with a bomb that kills a hated Russian minister of police along with innocent bystanders. A young student named Razumov hides the perpetrator, then betrays him and becomes a spy among his exiled comrades. He faces a moral dilemma from which there is no escape. This masterwork, published six years before the Russian Revolution, is a chillingly accurate prophecy of what was to come.

The Man of Property, the first novel in Galsworthy's epic social satire The Forsyte Saga, introduces us to Soames Forsyte, a solicitor and prominent man of his important family. Accustomed to getting whatever he wants, he sets his sights with absolute determination on the beautiful Irene in spite of her pennilessness and her indifference to him.

When Nancy discovers that the expensive jewelry her husband's been buying isn't for her, she decamps from the Scottish countryside to her best friend Carmen's posh Chelsea town house to sort things out. Nancy finds herself in a surprising new world, where rock stars are nicer than you thought, social workers are not necessarily to be trusted, and the filthy rich are folks with problems just like you.

The Old Wives' Tale is broken up into four parts, and the lives of two sisters are laid bare: one timid and unassuming, the other romantic and adventurous. From working as children in their family's drapery shop to their later years, Constance and Sophia's journey through life could not be more different. While one travels the world and defies male expectations, the other becomes a dutiful wife and mother.

A slow snail tries to outwit a nimble fox in a race to see the king.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is a fascinating portrait of 19th-century Europe - disillusioned and ravaged by the wars of the postrevolutionary and Napoleonic eras. Our protagonist, whose breathtaking journey eerily echoes Byron's own life story, forgoes his destiny back home for the exciting unknown - the nature of humanity and the transformative effects of travel burst through the pages in four powerful cantos of Spenserian stanzas. Here is the poem that set Byron on his meteoric rise to fame in London society.

È il 1946 quando Amerigo lascia il suo rione di Napoli e sale su un treno. Assieme a migliaia di altri bambini meridionali attraverserà l'intera penisola e trascorrerà alcuni mesi in una famiglia del Nord; un'iniziativa del Partito comunista per strappare i piccoli alla miseria dopo l'ultimo conflitto. Con lo stupore dei suoi sette anni e il piglio furbo di un bambino dei vicoli, Amerigo ci mostra un'Italia che si rialza dalla guerra come se la vedessimo per la prima volta. E ci affida la storia commovente di una separazione.

Improve your Italian skills and grow your vocabulary with these 10 entertaining Italian short stories! The best part of learning a new language is experiencing the culture and diving into activities that will enrich your life and vocabulary. The best way to learn a new language is by reading/listening, and in this Italian book, each captivating story will engage your mind and help you improve your Italian.

A mythical man known as Nightmare haunted young children for years. Until he became real. DCI Harry McNeil knows the legend all too well. Growing up in the Highlands, Nightmare was on his and every other child's mind as they went to sleep. Then, Nightmare claimed his first victim. A young girl, found dead in an abandoned cemetery with the words, I am Nightmare, carved into her chest. Two more victims, the same words carved into them. Then Nightmare disappears. Now, years later, there have been reports of graffiti being sprayed around Inverness and on graves in old cemeteries.

John Keats was largely unappreciated during his lifetime and died in Rome at the age of 26. Most of his 150 poems were written in just nine extraordinary months in 1819. This selection contains some of his finest works, including the principal "Odes", "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", "Old Meg", and "Much Have I Travelled".

Remembrance of Things Past is one of the monuments of 20th century literature. Within a Budding Grove is the second of seven volumes. The young narrator, experiencing his youthful sexuality, falls under the spell of a group of adolescent girls, succumbs to the charms of the enchanting Gilberte, and visits a brothel where he meets Rachel. His impressions of life are also stimulated by the painter, Elstir, and his encounter with another girl, Albertine.

In this epic and haunting series a young man's life is forever changed as, enveloped in the bohemian art world of the 1930s, he embarks on a journey of love, loss, and restoration. Jack has been praised all his life for his extraordinary artistic talent and is rarely seen without his sketchpad. However, in Jack's world art is considered a hobby - men are expected to have jobs that offer security and advancement. When tragedy threatens, Jack is torn: Should he follow the well-laid plans for his future or pursue a path set to disappoint his family and which offers only uncertainty?

Que celui qui pourrait écrire un tel livre serait heureux, pensais-je, quel labeur devant lui ! Pour en donner une idée, c'est aux arts les plus élevés et les plus différents qu'il faudrait emprunter les comparaisons ; car cet écrivain, qui d'ailleurs pour chaque caractère en ferait apparaître les faces opposées, pour montrer son volume, devrait préparer son livre, minutieusement, avec de perpétuels regroupements de force, comme une offensive, le supporter comme une fatigue.

La familia de Pascual Duarte vio la luz en 1942 y tuvo un enorme impacto en el panorama literario español del momento. Primer libro de Camilo José Cela, supuso un valioso punto de partida para la narrativa española de posguerra. La vida trágica de su arquetípico protagonista, gobernada por la más salvaje violencia, era un comentario indirecto sobre la barbarie padecida por los españoles durante la recién concluida Guerra Civil, al tiempo que daba carta de naturaleza a una tendencia literaria renovadora, luego conocida como «tremendismo».