European Fiction

Katherine Woodville's sister never gave her a choice. A happy girl of modest means, Kate hardly expected to become a maker of kings. But when her sister impulsively marries King Edward IV in secret, Katherine's life is no longer hers to control....

Captain Marryat's The Children of the New Forest is a wonderful tale in narrative, historically rich and quite fascinating. This story of adventure, treachery, and love takes place during the English Civil War, when fellow countrymen are found enemies, and are set against each other, Roundhead and Cavalier, Parliament and the King. Many hoped for the same thing: justice. But, for a long time, neither could find it. In the midst of all were the Beverlies, the family of a faithful Cavalier, who died in service of the king.

This book is considered a prophetical novel foretelling the advent of nuclear weapons. A constant theme in Wells’ work, such as his 1901 nonfiction book Anticipations, was the role of energy and technological advance as a determinant of human progress. The novel opens with this: "The story of mankind is the history of the attainment of external power. Man is the tool-using, fire-making animal...."

La veille de Noël. Tous s'affairent aux préparatifs. Mais, préférant la solitude à ces fêtes joyeuses, Ebenezer Scrooge refuse les invitations.

Olivia Denis is a content young wife with a carefree life in late 1930s London. Then her world is shattered with the violent death of her husband, Reggie. The police want to call it a suicide and close the case, but Olivia knows Reggie couldn't possibly have fired the fatal shot. Further mysteries surface surrounding her husband's death. Did the trustworthy Foreign Office employee betray government secrets? Was his murder linked to the death of a German embassy clerk the same night? And who searched their flat?

In this audio story based on Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings, Tinker Bell meets a winter fairy named Periwinkle and together they explore the mysterious winter woods! Listen along as they discover a secret about why their wings sparkle and glow!

A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman and Hall and first released on 19 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visitations of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come.

A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public, commonly referred to as A Modest Proposal, is a Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously by Jonathan Swift in 1729. Swift suggests in his essay that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling children as food. By doing this he mocks the authority of the British officials.

Cinderella shows a young schoolgirl that there is much more to being a princess than parties and fancy clothes. Listen along as Cinderella teaches a young girl what it truly means to be a princess.

Award-winning, best-selling author Edwidge Danticat taps her exceptional storytelling gifts for this memoir of the two men who raised her. When the author was only four years old, her parents emigrated from Haiti to New York in search of a better life, leaving their daughter in the care of her uncle Joseph. A peaceful pastor in Port-au-Prince, Joseph raised Edwidge with the love and devotion of a father, despite facing many hardships in politically turbulent Haiti.

This "lost race" novel begins as an exciting African adventure. Leonard Outram is a British adventurer who is in Africa seeking his fortune. He becomes part of the rescue of a Portuguese woman from a large slave camp. Leonard, his companion Otter, and the girl set off and find the people of the mist. They then impersonate gods and priests with the hope of getting the people's hoard of jewels.

The story is set in the Ptolemaic era of ancient Egyptian history and revolves around the survival of a dynasty bloodline protected by the priesthood of Isis. The main character, Harmachis (the living descendant of this bloodline), is charged by the priesthood with overthrowing the supposed impostor - Cleopatra - driving out the Romans, and restoring Egypt to its golden era.

Mary Jekyll’s life has been peaceful since she helped Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solve the Whitechapel Murders. Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, Justine Frankenstein, and Mary’s sister Diana Hyde have settled into the Jekyll household in London, and although they sometimes quarrel, they can always rely on Mrs. Poole. But when Mary receives a telegram that Lucinda Van Helsing has been kidnapped, the Athena Club must travel to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to rescue yet another young woman who has been subjected to horrific experimentation.

Dans un trois pièces d’une cité de Créteil, deux femmes, une mère et sa fille, vivent en huit-clos, hantées par les souvenirs de l’occupation et de la seconde guerre mondiale. La mère souffre de démence et croit qu’elle subit toujours les persécutions de Pétain ou de Darlan. La visite d’un huissier venu faire un inventaire avant la saisie de leurs meubles provoque les récits imbriqués de leurs vies respectives. Devant l’homme de loi impassible, les deux femmes vont se livrer à de furieux monologues aussi hilarants que monstrueux.

Les bouleversements de la première moitié du vingtième siècle - révolutions et guerres meurtrières, génocides, cracks économiques sans précédents - ont profondément transformé les bases même de la pensée européenne. Jusque là conquérante, positive, défrichant sans relâche ni lassitude les territoires de la pensée ou les derniers mystères du monde, elle se met à douter d'elle même et plus encore du sens même de l'existence.

Emmy Award-winning storyteller Bobby Norfolk brings his electrifying energy to world folktales (African, Eastern European, Appalachian, and Irish traditions), to the delight of all ages. From Anansi, the African trickster, to Jack, the bumbling, lucky, persevering Everyman of traditional stories, Norfolk's characters instruct while they entertain.

The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (père) completed in 1844. It is one of the author's most popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. Like many of his novels, it was expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet. The story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815–1839: the era of the Bourbon Restoration through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France.

Dans ce roman, on découvre une société dominée par le plaisir et l'argent, le milieu du théâtre parisien au 19ème siècle et de la prostitution, celui de l'aristocratie et de la grande bourgeoisie.À travers le personnage de Nana, jolie fille du ruisseau, prostituée et comédienne sans talent devenue célèbre courtisane, Zola décrit la déchéance d'une femme, et celle de la bonne société qui lui apporte ses amants, mais aussi la fin du Second Empire, qui se rue avec insouciance vers la guerre et la débâcle.

Automne 1943. Abigaël, 16 ans et désormais orpheline, trouve refuge en Charente, dans la ferme de son oncle paternel. L'accueil n'est pas très chaleureux, car sa nouvelle famille voit d'un oeil méfiant l'arrivée de cette citadine un peu trop curieuse et vive d'esprit. Bien malgré elle, Abigaël se retrouve vite au coeur des activités de la Résistance et mêlée à de dangereux secrets. Prise dans la tourmente de l'histoire et de ses sentiments naissants pour Adrien, un jeune réfractaire au STO, elle n'a pas d'autre choix que de grandir rapidement.

"Lorsque "L'Assommoir" a paru dans un journal, il a été attaqué avec une brutalité sans exemple, dénoncé, chargé de tous les crimes. Est-il bien nécessaire d'expliquer ici, en quelques lignes mes intentions d'écrivain ? J'ai voulu peindre la déchéance fatale d'une famille ouvrière, dans le milieu empesté de nos faubourgs. Au bout de l'ivrognerie et de la fainéantise, il y a relâchement des liens de la famille, les ordures de la promiscuité, l'oubli progressif des sentiments honnêtes, puis comme dénouement, la honte et la mort. C'est la morale en action, simplement."