European Fiction

In The Wisdom of the Shire, Noble Smith sheds light on the life-changing ideas tucked away inside the classic works of J. R. R. Tolkien and his most beloved creation—the stouthearted Hobbits. Drawing on The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and other tales of Middle-earth, Smith shows how a snug hobbit-hole is actually just a state of mind and how even the smallest person can have the valor of a Rider of Rohan.

Throughout Proust's life, nine of his short stories remained unseen - the writer never spoke of them. Why did he choose not to publish them along with the others? One possible answer is that he was developing his themes in preparation for his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time; another is that the stories were too audacious - too near to life - for the censorious society of the time. In these stories, published here for the first time, we find an intimate picture of a young author full of darkness and melancholy, longing to reveal his true self to the world.

Charles Strickland, a conventional stockbroker, abandons his wife and children for Paris and Tahiti, to live his life as a painter. While his betrayal of family, duty and honour gives him the freedom to achieve greatness, his decision leads to an obsession which carries severe implications.

Rainbow Valley (1919) is the seventh audiobook in the chronology of the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, although it was the fifth book published. In this audiobook, Anne Shirley is married with six children, but the audiobook focuses more on her new neighbor, the new Presbyterian minister John Meredith, as well as the interactions between Anne's and John Meredith's children.

Ambroise, Arwen et Flore ne se connaissent pas, mais ils reçoivent tous les trois une invitation pour un séjour en Laponie. Sur place, ils découvrent le point commun qui les a réunis : un fantôme surgi du passé. À partir de cette révélation, rien ne se déroule comme prévu. Sous les aurores boréales, les retrouvailles avec celui que l'on n'attendait plus vont bouleverser leurs vies. Quelles sont les années qui comptent dans une existence ? Qu'est-ce qui importe, ce que nous vivons ou ce que nous faisons ?

Mars 1937. Le Mount Castle, un cargo républicain transportant trente tonnes d'or de la Banque d'Espagne et faisant route pour l'Union soviétique, s'est réfugié dans le port international de Tanger, où un destroyer franquiste le détruira s'il tente de reprendre la mer. Falcó reçoit pour mission de s'y rendre, de convaincre le capitaine du Mount Castle de changer de camp s'il veut sauver son bateau et son équipage, et de récupérer ainsi l'or républicain.

In a magisterial work, Jaan Puhvel unravels the prehistoric Indo-European origins of the traditions of India and Iran, Greece and Rome, of the Celts, Germans, Balts, and Slavs. Utilizing the methodologies of historical linguistics and archaeology, he reconstructs a shared religious, mythological, and cultural heritage. Separate chapters on individual traditions as well as on recurrent themes—god and warrior, king and virgin, fire and water—give life to Comparative Mythology as both a general introduction and a detailed reference.

While the Battle of Berlin in 1945 is widely known, the horrific story of the Halbe Kessel remains largely untold. In April 1945, victorious Soviet forces encircled 80,000 men of the German 9th Army in the Halbe area, South of Berlin, together with many thousands of German women and children. The German troops, desperate to avoid Soviet capture, battled furiously to break out toward the West, where they could surrender to the comparative safety of the Americans.

In Preface to Paradise Lost, the Christian apologist and revered scholar and professor of literature closely examines the style, content, structure, and themes of Milton’s masterpiece, a retelling of the biblical story of the Fall of Humankind, Satan’s temptation, and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Considering the story within the context of the Western literary tradition, Lewis offers invaluable insights into Paradise Lost and the nature of literature itself, unveiling the poem’s beauty and its wisdom.

Considered to be French novelist Victor Hugo's masterpiece, Les Miserables, which was published in 1862, is a sprawling historical and philosophical epic that covers from 1815 through the Paris Uprising in 1832. Notable for its many subplots and digressions from the main storyline, the novel's stated aim is a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, which can be seen most clearly in the story of the central character Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who struggles to shake the sins of his past and become a good man.

This audiobook includes unabridged recordings of all George Orwell's greatest non-fiction: three full-length books, a collection of his most well-renowned essays and the complete collection of his poetry.

La nuit, chacun la voit, la vit, la sent, l'apprivoise à sa manière. De celle de Guyane, trouée d'un faible lampadaire sous la lueur duquel, enfant, à la faveur de la moiteur et du silence, elle allait lire en cachette, à celle qui lui permettait de régler ses comptes avec les péchés capitaux que les religieuses lui faisaient réciter dans la journée, la nuit a souvent été, pour Christiane Taubira, une complice, une alliée, une sorte de sœur intime, un moment particulier.

In Loving Mr. Darcy, Darcy and Lizzy venture away from Pemberley to journey through England, finding friends, relatives, fun, love, and an even deeper and more sacred bond along the way. Having embarked on the greatest adventure of all - marriage and the start of a new life together - now the Darcys take the listener on a journey through a time of prosperity, enjoyment, and security.

À la suite de la mort de son épouse, Jean Macquart, désespéré, personnage principal de "La Terre", reprend du service dans l'armée. Incorporé dans le 106e de ligne, il y est caporal. Ses hommes le respectent. Lors de la guerre franco-prussienne de 1870, il ne peut qu'assister impuissant à l'effondrement de l'Empire et à la déroute de ses armées.

Remembrance of Things Past is one of the monuments of 20th-century literature. Neville Jason’s unabridged recording of the work runs to 150 hours. Marcel's obsessive feelings of possession for Albertine have forced her to flee. It comes as a terrible shock and is followed by further destabilizing news about other friends.

Paris, Alger, Tel Aviv, Saint-Petersbourg. De 1964 à 2007, les rêves des Incorrigibles Optimistes embrassent quatre décennies qui portent en elles toutes les promesses de la Terre et toutes les Terres promises.

G. K. Chesterton was a journalist, playwright, poet, biographer, novelist, essayist, literary commentator, editor, orator, artist, and theologian. Orthodoxy is his great apologia for the Christian faith, which was prompted by a serious attack in 1903 against Christianity by well-known newspaper editor Robert Blatchford.

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so he may find new blood and spread the undead curse. It then relates the epic battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

"J'ai commencé ma vie comme je la finirai sans doute : au milieu des livres. Dans le bureau de mon grand-père, il y en avait partout ; défense était de les faire épousseter sauf une fois l'an, avant la rentrée d'octobre. Je ne savais pas encore lire que, déjà, je les révérais, ces pierres levées : droites ou penchées, serrées comme des briques sur les rayons de la bibliothèque ou noblement espacées en allées de menhirs, je sentais que la prospérité de notre famille en dépendait..."

"Brother, you have often declared that you would not end your days in slavery. I see no possible way in which you can escape with us; and now, brother, you are on a steamboat where there is some chance for you to escape to a land of liberty. I beseech you not to let us hinder you. If we cannot get our liberty, we do not wish to be the means of keeping you from a land of freedom."