Literature Tragedy

A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness and death.

Get ready to lose yourself in this collection of tragic stories from our authors that will fill your heart and tear it out at the same time. Sometimes a happy ending is not possible despite our best hopes, and things end in a way we never anticipated. Prepare to have your heart strings pulled and your resolve tested as these heart-breaking stories of love and tragedy leave you spinning.

"Action" - it's the first word on a film set, and a word that is haunting Dane Orson. But what kind of action can he take if evidence of his father's murder came from a ghost? And what if every institution and wise man in town is protecting the man who did it? In this inventive adaptation of Shakespeare's greatest drama, the prince is now a child of Hollywood, and the villain, one of Movieland's most powerful producers.

Personne ne connaît vraiment Vanda, cette fille un peu paumée qui vit seule avec son fils Noé dans un cabanon au bord de l'eau, en marge de la ville. Une dizaine d'année plus tôt elle se rêvait artiste, mais elle est devenue femme de ménage en hôpital psychiatrique. Entre Vanda et son gamin de six ans, qu'elle protège comme une louve, couve un amour fou qui exclut tout compromis.

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.

Jane Hamilton, award-winning author of The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World, is back in top form with a richly textured novel about a tragic accident and its effects on two generations of a family. When Aaron Maciver's beautiful young wife, Madeline, suffers brain damage in a bike accident, she is left with the intellectual powers of a six-year-old.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. A Christmas Eve party at Clevere Hall ends in tragedy when the host is found stabbed to death. Major Ceely certainly wasn’t short of enemies, but who hated him enough to commit the crime?

From The New York Times best-selling author of Bird's-Eye View comes this twisting saga of a family changed forever by tragedy. When the husband and wife team of Walt and Jocelyn Gaines travelled to South America to contribute their archaeological expertise at a newly uncovered Mayan site, no one could have predicted what would happen next. Fallen Idols is a riveting novel of uncommon discoveries.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother.

David Wilson is called "Pudd'nhead" by the townspeople, who fail to understand his combination of wisdom and eccentricity. He redeems himself by simultaneously solving a murder mystery and a case of transposed identities.

When peddler John Durbeyfield learns that he may be a descendant of a noble family, he sends his oldest child, Tess, to “claim kin.” Blindly ushered into harm’s way, the strong-willed yet untinctured peasant girl is not prepared for the blighted course her life will take. Nor for those whose destructive desires will determine her fate, and force Tess to make only the most desperate of choices. From her tragic loss of innocence through betrayal and revenge, Tess’s struggle for survival challenged the era’s mores and the cruel indifference shown women in Victorian society.

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.

To the world it seems obvious: Kaylene Adams killed her daughter before taking her own life. Attorney Emilie Wesley knows a different story: Kaylene would never hurt anyone and was looking for a way out of a controlling, abusive relationship. Her death shakes Emilie’s belief that she can make a difference for women in violent marriages. Self-doubt plagues her as she struggles to continue her work in the wake of the tragedy.

Love triumphs despite tragedy and jealousy. Dreams are shattered. Bonds are broken. Deception creates chaos and doubt. Will relationships withstand the crush of betrayal when the truth is discovered? A summer wedding promises love and opportunity while an autumn union brings misery and distrust. When lives intertwine, and an affair is uncovered prompted by a malicious motive, Kyle and Casi attempt to rise above the drama, desperate to preserve their unique bond. Casi falls victim to a trauma that crushes her confidence as she is forced to keep secrets and defend the people she loves.

April May is intrigued by the fog-shrouded lighthouse where a troubled woman lost her life a decade earlier. When the woman’s sister chooses to re-examine the past, secrets are revealed that threaten the peaceful town and its residents.

When Celine Lowry leaves Viewpoint, Virginia for the west with her husband and four children, the last thing she expects is to lose her whole family and be captured by Indians. Thinking that her life might be over, she’s surprised when she gets a second chance at love with a recently widowed man too.

Tragedy, Yet, Triumphant is a collection of poems and short stories by twin sisters Loretha Wallace and Loretta Wallace Ellis. Their poetry reflects their deep faith in God, keen appreciation for humanity, love for family, and enduring spirit to dream big and stand tall.

Ten years king, Malcolm sits on an uneasy throne. If Malcolm’s mind is haunted by the ghosts of his royal father (“gracious Duncan”) as well as the thane and lady who so bloodily betrayed him, Malcolm’s soul is sickened, as was Macbeth’s, by the witches’ prophecy that from Banquo’s seed would spring a line of Scottish kings. Macbeth, Part II, draws bold the tragedy of a powerful man undone by the terrors he imagines and the truths he fails to see.

An American Tragedy is a 1925 novel by American writer Theodore Dreiser. He began the manuscript in the summer of 1920 but a year later abandoned most of that text. It was based on the notorious murder of Grace Brown in 1906 and the trial of her lover. In 1923, Dreiser returned to the project, and with the help of his wife, Helen, and two editor secretaries, Louise Campbell and Sally Kusell, he completed the massive novel in 1925.

Colton Bradford never believed in love at first sight. And then, Rain Maxwell walked through his buddy's front door. He knew there was something special underneath the shy, guarded exterior and was determined to find out what it was. The problem? Rain had devised her own set of life rules and “Never get involved with a band mate” was right near the top of that list. She allowed Colton into her heart as one of her closest friends, but pushed him away at the mention of anything more.