Of all Somerset Maugham's novels this is the most entertaining and arguably his best ever. Rosie is a barmaid with a heart of gold and a skeleton in her closet. Maugham's portrait of her makes his novel fairly glow with witty observations of the contemporary literary scene. Features Willie Ashenden, who resurfaces in Maugham's Ashenden.
Eight hundred women and children begin a 1,200-mile journey on foot across Japanese-occupied Malaya. At journey's end only 30 will still be alive. This is the story of one woman, of her ordeal, and of how she was saved by the sacrifice of an Australian soldier. It is a story of rare individual courage in the face of certain death, and hope in the face of despair.
If you happen to find a map in a dead buccaneer's sea trunk, you can't very well ignore it, not if you are Jim Hawkins and his friends Dr. Livesey, Captain Smollett and Squire Trelawney! But even with a map, buried treasures are not easy things to come by. At the start of his grand adventure, setting sail on the good ship Hispaniola, the young Hawkins is a hesitant, querulous boy, too easily beguiled by his own fancy. By journey's end he will have faced murder, mutiny, and mayhem-and in the process, become a man. Narrator Neil Hunt brings to life the characters Robert Louis Stevenson made so memorable: Black Dog, Blind Pew, Billy Bones, George Merry, Israel Hands, and Ben Gunn.
As a fictionalized account of the tumultuous career of Paul Gauguin, W. Somerset Maugham's classic story captured the hearts of a generation. First published in 1919, it provided just the exotic antidote a war-weary world desired. At first, Charles Strickland's life was unremarkable. A stock broker in London, he dwelled quietly with his wife and two children. All who knew him described him as "very dull." How shocking it was, then, when he abandoned this respectable identity to wander the world, make a home in Tahiti, and become an unconventional artist who captured passionate images of primitive life.
Soon after the publication of The Moon and Sixpence, hordes of young men fell prey to the dreams and wanderlust of its hero. They, too, would leave comfortable middle-class lives for the lure of far off, exotic lands. This stunning, unabridged narration by Neil Hunt will transport you into the artist's world of vibrant dreams and possibilities.
“So many people have written and claimed that their families were the original of the Forsytes,” wrote Galsworthy, “that one has almost been encouraged to believe in the typicality of an imagine species.” It is the Spring of 1920, 34 years on from the beginning of the Saga. “ Young Jolyon” is married to Irene after her divorce from Soames, and they now have a son, Jon. Soames has re-married and has a daughter, Fleur. A new generation of Forsytes comes of age and the Saga continues.
The three novels that make up this trilogy have long been recognized as masterpieces of 20th-century literature, and Galsworthy as one of its leading exponents. But don’t let that be the reason you put off listening to this wonderful work. There are passion and lust in these pages, high art and low comedy, and unthinking violence that ride alongside ever-correct manners. Scandal, tragedy, despair, rape, accidental death, marriage, remarriage and a healthy leavening of births all unfold against a rolling backdrop of a world war.
The three novels that make up this trilogy have long been recognized as masterpieces of 20th-century literature, and Galsworthy as one of its leading exponents. But don’t let that be the reason you put off listening to this wonderful work. There are passion and lust in these pages, high art and low comedy, and unthinking violence that ride alongside ever-correct manners. Scandal, tragedy, despair, rape, accidental death, marriage, remarriage and a healthy leavening of births all unfold against a rolling backdrop of a world war.
World War II has finally played itself out, and the British are leaving India. Through this vortex is spun a fictional plot of terror and politics that illustrates all-too-well the curse that still plagues India today. You can almost smell the mixture of dust, oil, and human sweat as the train pulls into Bhowani Junction.
