Showing results by narrator "Kendra Murray" in All Categories

When Hollywood auctioneer Emsley Wilson finds her famous grandmother's diary while cleaning out her New York brownstone, the pages are full of surprises. The first surprise is, the diary isn't her grandmother's. It belongs to Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh's sister-in-law.

The collection contains eight of Shakespeare’s best loved comedies. Each exhibits the vigour, humour, and optimism of the young master before he turned to the gloom and bitterness of the great tragedies.

What started out as a couple of blog posts blossomed into a following of over 1,000,000 people who have all read and been touched by Mowry's stories. The most extraordinary thing he found when writing about his experiences is that the most common comment about his work is OMG that's me. You are telling my story. I don't feel so alone now.

Together with The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most magical plays. One night, two parties creep from Athens into the surrounding forest. One includes sweethearts Lysander and Hermia, fleeing from Athenian law and the disapproval of Hermia’s father to get married. In pursuit is Demetrius, the suitor of Hermia favored by her father, and the doleful Helena, formerly affianced to Demetrius.

Queen Marguerite de Navarre was one of the most powerful women of her age. Her masterpiece, The Heptameron, is a collection of some 72 stories told by five gentlemen and five ladies who find themselves stranded in an abbey. Proposed as an edifying way of passing the time while a bridge is being repaired, the tale-telling - as well as the conversations that follow each story - quickly becomes a battle of wits between the sexes, with tales concerning illicit lovers, romantic conquests, lecherous monks, manly honor, and women's virtue.

Duke Vincentino, the ruler of Vienna, fears that under his mild sovereignty, the people may have become lazy and lax. He decides to “go over cover” in the disguise of a monk and appoint his deputy, Angelo, who is a reputed paragon of virtue, as temporary ruler. On assuming power, Angelo inaugurates draconian provisions regarding sexual propriety. One of the first victims of this new regime is young Claudio, who has impregnated his lover Juliet, and is accordingly sentenced to death.

Gertrude Stein held a unique position at the center of the modernist movement. She was a novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in America, she moved with her family to Paris where she ran a Paris salon frequented by many famous historical figures, such as Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henri Matisse, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson, and Sinclair Lewis.

Emily Dickinson was one of the most reclusive of all poets. She spent much of her life in seclusion in her father’s house in Amherst, and only a handful of her 1800 poems were published in her lifetime. Credit for the posthumous publication of her work must be given to her editor and friend Thomas W. Higginson, who reported that, in spite of the voluminous correspondence which passed between himself and Dickinson, he only met her twice in person.

“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad … “So begins this historical tale of romantic adventure. Andre-Louis Moreau is an orphan and cousin of the beloved Aline. He is raised by his godfather, the Lord of Gavrillac, and matures into an educated lawyer—while Aline sets her mind on marrying the rich but dishonorable Marquis de la Tour d’Azyr. But when Moreau’s closest friend is killed by the Marquis in a duel, Moreau vows vengeance. After publicly denouncing the aristocracy and stirring up the crowds, Moreau is forced to go into hiding.

In As You Like It, a wicked Duke expels his virtuous brother, the lawful ruler, from his domains. The banished Duke takes refuge with his followers in the Forest of Arden, where they live as free a life as did Robin Hood and his merry men.

Much Ado About Nothing appears to have been written about 1599, shortly before As You Like It and Twelfth Night. The action combines two narrative threads: the spirited comedy of the courtship of Benedick and Beatrice, and the somber tale of confused love between Hero and Claudio. The first is a creation by Shakespeare and the second appears to have been drawn from an Italian source, either by Bandello or Ariosto. The action takes place in Messina. Eponymous lovers Hero and Claudio seem to be ideally matched and nearly everyone is looking forward to their impending marriage.

About Reawakening: Unlike many of their acquaintances they stayed in love and they stayed married for many years. Jim was now an old man, even by earth’s standards, when he suffered the fatal coronary. He left his young wife a childless widow. She mourned. She grieved. She never remarried. Jim was her only love. Linda grew old as her husband before her had grown old. She died a peaceful death. And then it happened....

Who knew death could be so eclectic? Relish this mesmerizing murder mystery mash-up of short stories. Murder and mystery have been the staple of literature and films for years. This anthology of short stories will thrill and entertain you. Some will also make you laugh out loud. Others will stop and make you think.

As the generating force of its plot, Twelfth Night uses a device which has since become a staple in comedy: gender confusion. Viola and her twin brother Sebastian, are shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria, a country ruled by the melancholy Duke Orsino. The twins are separated and Viola is led to believe that her brother has perished. She disguises herself as a male under the name of Cesario and makes her way to the ducal court, where Orsino employs her as a messenger, to communicate his love to the reclusive lady, Olivia—who is not willing to return his affection.

Caroline Marcum thought she'd put the great mistake of her life behind her when she left Wellfleet, but is forced to face it when she returns to her childhood home on the bay to care for her dying mother. Ridley Neal thought he'd put his past--and his prison term--behind him when he returned home to take over his father's oyster and clam farm in the harbor. Casual acquaintances long ago, they connect again during a fierce nor'easter.

Ripped of her neuroenhancements and left to die, Anne Demming has lost her skills and her memory. The med center where she wakes up is succumbing to violence in the city outside, and the planet is in chaos. It is a crisis she may have caused on the most valuable planet in the star system. Q-7 is the only known source of a rare element expected to power a new world of advanced technology. And while the people of Q-7 starve, Trade Council allies are coming to take the prize...at any cost.

First published in 1909, A Girl of the Limberlost is a novel by American writer and naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter. This classic of Indiana literature is a sequel to Stratton-Porter's earlier novel Freckles. Wholesome, sensible, and beautiful, the heroine, Elnora, is also compassionate, self-reliant, and intelligent. Neglected by her mother, Elnora reaches through this hardship toward education, friendship, and love. There are no shortcuts and her hard work brings joy to herself and all those she loves.

Halfmoon Ridge is a tale of when the one you love is right before your eyes and they still cannot see the real you. Not until the family makes some business changes to the dude ranch do the couple really get to know one another. The couple have been working side by side for years, but now, as two grown adults, feelings develop between them. Are they practical with an entire family surrounding them and with them already running a business together? The family gets tired of staying behind the scenes waiting for the couple to figure out their feelings for one another.

As a serial killer terrorizes the city, Detective Danny Roberts finds himself facing a nightmare of his own when he is thrown into a secret, macabre world of vampires and dark forces. Awakening with an unquenchable thirst, Detective Roberts turns to the bottle, but discovers that now only blood will satisfy him. When a mysterious text message arrives, Danny finds himself face-to-face with Mistress, a vampire investigator known as a Wolf Hunter.

Private Investigator Mallory Dimante has no time for a pro-bono cold case. Focused on developing the detective firm she’s building with her partner, Jake Steiner, she needs work that can keep them and their new Seattle houseboat afloat. But she can’t say no when she comes face-to-face with the victim of a devastating acid attack.