Historical Tragedy

A year ago, Dovie Larkin's life was shattered when her fiance committed suicide just weeks before their wedding. Now, plagued by guilt, she has become a fixture at the cemetery where William is buried, visiting his grave daily, waiting for answers she knows will never come. Then one day, she sees an old woman whose grief mirrors her own. Fascinated, she watches the woman leave a letter on a nearby grave. Dovie ignores her conscience and reads the letter—a mother's plea for forgiveness to her dead daughter—and immediately needs to know the rest of the story.

Described as the 'most beautiful princess in Europe', and a woman 'capable of arousing profane passion', this is the story of a woman whose life combined privilege and tragedy, love and riches, conviction and courage, humanity and inhumanity.

In The Eating of the Gods, the distinguished Polish critic Jan Kott reexamines Greek tragedy from the modern perspective. As in his earlier acclaimed Shakespeare, Our Contemporary, Kott provides startling insights and intuitive leaps which link our world to that of the ancient Greeks. The title refers to the Bacchae of Euripides, that tragedy of lust, revenge, murder, and "the joy of eating raw flesh" which Kott finds paradigmatic in its violence and bloodshed.

Elsbeth Munford is set to marry the man she loves until an accident destroys her life. Her beauty tainted by ugly scars, Ellie resigns herself to a life of spinsterhood. Frederick Lancaster, brother to the Marquess of Elmridge, returns home from war. A hero in the eyes of others, he is haunted by nightmares. Unable to make his peace with the past, Frederick retreats into the dark until his brother dies and he not only inherits his title, but with it the obligation to produce an heir. When two damaged souls find themselves tied to one another, will they pull each other under?

Simple, potent, and direct to the heartstings, this mix of traditional and original tales draws the listener into a transformational journey of the soul. These six stories exemplify the meaning of true love, the selfless acts that accompany it, and the consequences that can follow.

Step into a world of ancient wonders and heart-wrenching drama with "Escape from Pompeii: A Journey of Love and Tragedy." This captivating historical novel transports you from a quaint Bavarian village, where Anya, a young Celtic beauty, is brutally ripped from her loving home and family, captured by soldiers, and marched into Rome to be sold in the city’s slave market. Follow her plight as she’s purchased and enslaved by a powerful aristocratic family where she’s determined to survive the degradation and humiliation of slavery and servitude.

Kathleen Green longs for a child of her own. Her work with the orphan trains only serve to heighten her need. When tragedy strikes, will she get the child she always wanted? Will the cost be worth it?

"The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play and among the most powerful and influential tragedies in English literature, with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others." The play seems to have been one of Shakespeare's most popular works during his lifetime and still ranks among his most-performed. It has inspired writers from Goethe and Dickens to Joyce and Murdoch, and has been described as "the world's most-filmed story after Cinderella".

Things are always odd and strange in Metamora, but when the proprietor of the curiosity shop, Odd and Strange Metamora, hosts a spring carnival showing off his collection of oddities, the day goes right in the garbage - or rather, out of the garbage when a raccoon overturns a trash can in the middle of town scattering human bones around the park. When it's discovered that the remains date back over a century, rumors start to run as rampant as the pack of furry bandits taking over the town at night.

Almost 7,000 fans eagerly packed into the Ringling Brothers big top on July 6, 1944. With a single careless act, an afternoon at the "Greatest Show on Earth" quickly became one of terror and tragedy as the paraffin-coated circus tent caught fire. Panicked crowds rushed for the few exits, but in minutes, the tent collapsed on those still struggling to escape below. A total of 168 lives were lost, many of them children, with many more injured and forever scarred by the events.

Molly McKenzie is only eleven years old when her abusive father beats her to within an inch of her life. Escaping from the hovel she calls home, Molly is found by kind fisherfolk, sick and near death. With them she experiences the love of a family for the first time and, even though life is hard, she is content. Time passes and Molly’s looking ahead to a future with the boy she loves, but then a terrible tragedy rips her life apart. Once again she’s cast adrift in an uncaring world, but Molly is made of stern stuff and is determined to survive.

When Miss Julia received a phone call from her attorney, she could have never in her wildest dreams imagined what he was about to tell her. She was in a will and she had been granted guardianship of two small children—her brother's grandchildren, two young girls. But her brother had been dead for thirty years.

Life is going well for Maria. Welcomed into the Saward family, she has secured herself a job as a maid for Queen Alexandra and is living with her family in a beautiful cottage on the Royal Sandringham estate. The luxuries and privilege associated with the royal family are a far cry from the poverty and suffering she endured before, though the royals, like the nation, are tightening their belts. But when a mysterious relative turns up, seemingly on the run from the law, Maria's new-found happiness could be under threat.

Susan Cameron, a young Missouri woman, arrives in Wyoming Territory determined to homestead on her own. Her nearest neighbors, Ellen Watson Averell and James “Jimmy” Averell, operate a small road ranch not far from the Oregon Trail on homestead land formerly grazed illegally by Albert Bothwell’s cattle. Ellen purchased a small herd of cattle and brand, but Bothwell claimed the Averells were operating a rural brothel and that Ellen took calves for her “favors.” Trouble haunts Susan, her veterinarian friend, Michael, and the Averells from the moment Susan attempts to take possession of her new homestead land, culminating in the hangings of both Ellen and Jimmy Averell by six prominent cattlemen, who then spread vicious lies in their controlled Cheyenne newspaper, calling Ellen “Cattle Kate.” The mystery deepens when the cattlemen are brought to trial and all the witnesses to the hangings have died or disappeared and Susan and Michael are kidnapped by hired gunmen...

Centered upon one of the most surprising and dramatic battles in American history, Darkness at Chancellorsville recreates what began as a brilliant, triumphant campaign for the Union - only to end in disaster for the North.

"King Lear" is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, depicting the gradual descent into madness of the title character after he disposes of his kingdom giving bequests to two of his three daughters based on their flattery of him, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is derived from the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king; after the English Restoration, it was often revised with a happy ending for audiences who disliked its dark and depressing tone, but since the nineteenth century, Shakespeare's original version has been regarded as one of his supreme achievements.

It's fall 1987, and life as normal is ending for the Malone family. With their sterile Dallas community a far cry from the Irish-American Bronx of their youth, Pat and Anne Malone have reached a breaking point. Pat, faced with a debilitating MS diagnosis, has fallen into his drinking. Anne, his devoutly Catholic wife, is selected as a juror for a highly publicized attempted murder trial, one that raises questions - about God, and about men in power - she has buried her entire life. Together, they try to raise their only son, Daniel.

Two very different girls from this tight-knit community join up as ARP Wardens to do their bit for the home front. Violet Simms lives with her controlling, widowed mother who runs the local pawn shop. At just 20-years-old, Violet longs for friendship, love and escape. It seems her dreams might come true until tragedy strikes on one of the very worst nights of the Birmingham Blitz. Grace Templeton is the eldest in her family of 10 children. Spirited Grace is determined never to become burdened by child bearing and drudgery like her mother.

Quella della "Spedizione Donner" è una storia vera che ancora oggi risveglia paure ataviche e curiosità morbose. Rimanda al 1846, quando una carovana di pionieri diretti in California rimase bloccata per mesi dalla neve nella Sierra Nevada. Alcuni di loro morirono di stenti dopo poco tempo. Altri, stipati nello spazio soffocante dei carri, portati alla follia dai morsi del freddo e della fame, si abbandonarono al cannibalismo. Quasi nessuno si salvò.

It's 1915 when young Bess Ravenhart, recently widowed, leaves her baby son, Frazer, with her mother-in-law, Cora, while she sails from India to Britain to set up a home. But Cora has no intention of returning Frazer to his mother's care. Though Bess makes a new life in Edinburgh and knows the joy - and pain - of motherhood with further children, her heart always aches for the little boy she left behind. When Frazer travels to Scotland 20 years later, it seems Bess' dreams of a reconciliation will come true.