Letters Literature

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821 - 1881) is considered one of the greatest Russian novelists of all time. He was a unique and brilliant man, whose life and energy comes through in his letters which he wrote to his close friends and family. These letters have become a classic and, along with his novels, have been translated into 170 languages.

The subject of a New York Times best-selling biography and a Pulitzer-Prize winning musical, interest in Alexander Hamilton is at an all-time high. This carefully curated collection of Hamilton's writings gives the listener an intimate glimpse into the mind of our most misunderstood founding father. The smash-hit musical Hamilton presents its central character as a truth-telling immigrant boot-strapper who used his extraordinary intelligence to make good - but what was he really like?

The letter is a tribute to the servicemen and women who fought in the Afghanistan War. A letter to her son that every parent dreads. It is a letter from a grieving mother to her son to enable her to make sense of it all. The letter follows Karen and her husband during their last days as service personnel.

An immensely moving collection of letters on the theme of grief, curated by the founder of the globally popular Letters of Note website.

La première lecture d'une lettre de Mme de Sévigné remonte à 1645. La jeune Marie était âgée de dix-neuf ans. C'était chez Monsieur de Molac, gouverneur de Nantes. Depuis cette année, il est plus sage de renoncer à compter le nombre de fois où Mme de Sévigné a été dite à voix haute ; mais chaque fois, c'est la même magie. Magie des mots, magie des anecdotes piquantes et magie aussi du temps aboli. On pourrait se croire revenu dans un salon du Siècle de Louis XIV, entre la Cour et les Grands de ce monde.

In the summer of 1905, Katherine Arthur's mother arrives on her doorstep, dying, forcing her to relive a past she wanted to forget. When Katherine was young, the Arthur family had been affluent city dwellers until shame sent them running for the prairie, into the unknown. Taking her family, including young Katherine, to live off the land was the last thing Jeanie Arthur had wanted, but she would do her best to make a go of it. For Jeanie's husband, Frank, it had been a world of opportunity. Dreaming, lazy Frank.

1940. Cora Mayhew came to Paris to search for her birth mother and stayed to work for the resistance movement. When Cora's train is struck by Nazi bombs, the only thoughts on her mind as she staggers from the wreckage are to escape to return to her family, and to post the heart-wrenching letter clutched in her hand. Then a German soldier finds and saves Cora. Max Heller is nothing like she would have expected: kind, good-humoured and selfless. Cora can't help falling in love with him as he helps to plot her escape.

Italy, 1938: When Stella arrives in Florence, it’s love at first sight. She is wowed by the rolling hills dotted with olive trees, the buttermilk villas with shuttered windows and terracotta roofs that glow gloriously in the sunlight. Even the breeze holds the scent of freedom - freedom from England, where the shadow of her past haunted her.

World War I is in full swing, and Abigail Hudson is doing her best to keep the home fires burning while her husband, Jacob, fights for king and country. She tries to balance family life along with running The General Store in their village of Abbington Pickets. Abigail, expecting their first child, is adjusting well to her new role until something unforeseen happens. Writing to Jacob brings comfort to Abigail. His letters always lift her spirits. Then, his letters stop. What happened? Is he missing? Captured? Or worse?

Born in Liverpool, Malik was taken into care at the age of nine after his seafaring father became paralysed. He would spend his adolescence in a system that proved violent, neglectful, exploitative, traumatising and mired in abuse. Aged 18, he emerged semi-literate, penniless with no connections or sense of where he was going - until a chance meeting with Gil Scott-Heron. Letters to Gil will tell the story of Malik’s empowerment and awakening while mentored by Gil, from his introduction to the legacy of Black history to the development of his voice through poetry and music.

A giant in American journalism in the vanguard of "The Greatest Generation" reveals his World War II experiences in this National Geographic book. More than 100 of Cronkite's letters from 1943-45 (plus a few earlier letters) survive. They reveal surprising and little-known facts about this storied public figure in the vanguard of "The Greatest Generation". They chronicle both a great love story and a great war story.

Victorian Countess Amelia Amesbury’s secret hobby, writing an advice column for a London penny paper, has gotten her into hot water before. After all, Amelia will do whatever it takes to help a reader in need. But now, handsome marquis Simon Bainbridge desperately requires her assistance. His beloved younger sister, Marielle, has written Amelia's Lady Agony column seeking advice on her plans to elope with a man her family does not approve of. Determined to save his sister from a scoundrel and the family from scandal, Simon asks Amelia to dissuade Marielle from the ill-advised gambit.

After surviving the accident that took her mother's life, Claire Broussard worked hard to escape her small Louisiana hometown. But these days, she feels something lacking. Abruptly leaving her lucrative job in Chicago, Claire returns home to care for her ailing grandmother. There, she unearths a beautiful sculpture that her great-grandfather sent home from Paris after World War II. At her grandmother's urging, Claire travels to Paris to track down the centuries old mask-making atelier where the sculpture was created.

At a point in her life when she thought marriage and family was beyond her reach, Teddy found the love of her life, Colin, in a surprising way thanks to mother nature and a Notre Dame friendship. She had an idyllic life with her husband and children for more than twenty years, creating precious memories out of life's ordinary moments. When hard times hit the family, their collection of Christmas letters helps them treasure what is important.

Katherine Arthur and her family are back and it’s time to collect the money Mrs. Mellet left them in her will. The tidy sum will allow the family peace of mind and a future that’s stable and fulfilling. But when things don’t go exactly as planned, Katherine steps up to do more than her share. Hired as a kitchen mistress, her intuition (with the help of a mysterious recipe book), cooking prowess, and work ethic make her the perfect partner for the enigmatic, wealthy woman next door. Then Aleksey Zurchenko arrives.

It's April of 1997 in Erie, Pennsylvania, and an unsolved crime has just shattered Rosalyn's life. To cope with her heartache, she begins writing a series of private letters to Nova in her journal, where she confides a shameful secret about the night before it happened. In her anguish, Rosalyn recounts the recent dreams that still haunt her, recording them as poems, just as her grandmother had taught her as a young girl. But after she moves to New York City and her letters progress, Rosalyn begins to realize that her dreams are delivering her a series of clues.

Mark Twain's life, art, and writings continue to captivate readers and provide insight into the American experience. His humorous storytelling, memorable characters, and biting social commentary have secured his place as one of the most important and influential figures in American literature.

Poor orphan. Simpleton. Harder to tame than the wind. He hears what they call him. But he listens to the presence his father promised would never leave him. Yisroel finds his way to those who nurture his healing gifts and rare compassion - until he embraces a destiny he cannot yet fathom nor deny any longer. Honoring women, children, and the poor as his teachers. Celebrating life's simplest deeds as worship. Praying with joyous abandon. Loving without condition. Yisroel's "irreverent" practices threaten the established authorities, among them an embittered rabbinic leader.

Salento, Italy, June 1934: A coach stops in the main square of Lizzanello, a tight-knit village where everyone knows each other. A couple gets off: The man, Carlo, a child of the South, is happy to be back home after a long departure; the woman, Anna—his wife—is a stranger from the North. She is as beautiful as a Greek statue, but dubious. Salento is her husband’s hometown, and while it’s only logical to him that they move back after inheriting land and house in the wake of an uncle’s passing, Anna is unsure of the role she’ll have here. What kind of life awaits her?

Radical Hope is a collection of letters - to ancestors, to children five generations from now, to strangers in grocery lines, to any and all who feel weary and discouraged - written by award-winning novelists, poets, political thinkers, and activists. Provocative and inspiring, Radical Hope offers listeners a kaleidoscopic view of the love and courage needed to navigate this time of upheaval, uncertainty, and fear in view of the recent US presidential election.