Showing results by narrator "Anne Flosnik" in All Categories

This Very Short introduction explores the major themes of Austen criticism through close analysis of her major and minor works, with particular emphasis on the literary, social, and political backgrounds from which the novels emerge, and with which they engage. Thomas Keymer combines critical introductions to each of Austen's six major novels with an exploration of the key themes in her works.

Thomas, Duke of Castleton, has every intention of wedding a prim and proper heiress. That is until he sets eyes on the heiress' cousin, easily the least proper woman he's ever met. His devotion to family duty is no defense against the redheaded vixen whose greatest asset seems to be a talent for trouble.

A young, inexperienced governess is charged with the care of Miles and Flora, two small children abandoned by their uncle at his grand country house. She sees the figure of an unknown man on the tower and his face at the window. It is Peter Quint, the master's dissolute valet, and he has come for Miles. But Peter Quint is dead....

Of all the widows of Lyttlefield Park, Elizabeth Easton seems least likely to remarry. Although many gentlemen would love to get to know the charming Mrs. Easton better, she is devoted to the memory of her late husband - which is why she’s so shocked to be overtaken by passion during a harvest festival, succumbing to an unforgettable interlude with the handsome Lord Brack.

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, tells the story of Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and Toad. The story takes place along a peaceful riverbank surrounded by lush meadows. Mole is originally from a neighboring meadow, but one fine spring day he ventures away from his home and finds the magical life of the river awaiting him. Mole quickly becomes fast friends with Water Rat, a polite and civilized creature who invites Mole to live with him while he teaches Mole the secrets of river life.

Once, all power in the Vin Lands was held by the prince-mages, who alone could craft spellwines and who selfishly used them to increase their own wealth and influence. But their abuse of power caused a demigod to break the Vine, shattering the power of the mages. Now, fourteen centuries later, it is the humble Vinearts who hold the secret of crafting spells from wines, the source of magic, and they are prohibited from holding power.

The Stalin Epigram is a masterful rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, one of Russia's greatest poets of the 20th century. His heroic protest against the Stalin regime---particularly his outspoken criticism of the collectivization that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation---finally reached its apex in 1934. When he composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a 16-line poem, secretly passed from person to person through recitation, the poet was arrested.

At a dinner party in the posh London suburb of Greenwich, Miles Garth suddenly leaves the table midway through the meal, locks himself in an upstairs room, and refuses to leave. Neighbors and friends slowly gathers around the house, and the story of Miles is one told from the points of view of four of them: a woman in her 40s called Anna, a man in his 60s called Mark, a woman in her 80s called May, and a 10-year-old child called Brooke. The thing is... none of these people knows Miles anything more than glancingly.

There are two sides to Holly Krauss. One is successful and happily married, and the other takes walks on the wild side and makes reckless mistakes. When those two sides collide, her world spirals out of control. She thinks that she is being stalked and that threats lurk around every corner. Are her fears due to paranoia or is the danger real? The people closest to her soon run out of patience and there may be no one to catch her when she falls.

A serial killer haunts the streets of Manchester, targeting vulnerable working girls in the dead of night. His signature: a tangled lock of hair in his victims' throats. As the body count rises, pressure mounts for the Greater Manchester Police and the National Crime Agency's Behavioural Sciences Unit. For Senior Investigator Joanne Stuart, the race is on to catch the twisted killer before he strikes again. With DCI Gordon Holmes on her back and the press following her every step, Jo will stop at nothing to bring the murderer to justice.

Philip Hawksbury, the Earl of Rothermere, obeying his father's dying wish, hies himself to Scotland to offer for one of the daughters of Alexander Kilbracken, the Earl of Ruthven. Frances Kilbracken, informed of the earl's arrival and his mission, disguises herself as a bespectacled dowd so she won't be the one selected by the young earl. But choose her he does, and for all the wrong reasons.

Frances Hodgson Burnett's favorite theme in her fiction was the reversal of fortune, and she herself knew extremes of poverty and wealth. Born in Manchester in 1849, she emigrated with her family to Tennessee because of the financial problems caused by the cotton famine. From a young age she published her stories to help the family make ends meet. Only after she married did she publish Little Lord Fauntleroy that shot her into literary stardom.

The daughter of an infamous art forger, Chloe Somerton grew up poor. Desperate to aid her sisters, she'd picked a pocket . . . or two. Now circumstances have changed, and Chloe has a chance to marry a young, wealthy lord. Only his mentor—a dark, dangerous duke—stands in her way. The duke knows about her past, and she'll do anything to keep him from telling.

From his impoverished childhood in a working-class English family and determination to educate himself at any cost to his complicated marriages, love affair with socialism, and the serious ill health that dominated his twenties and thirties, H. G. Wells's extraordinary early life would set him on a path to become one of the world's most influential writers. In this remarkable biography, Claire Tomalin paints a fascinating portrait of a man like no other, driven by curiosity and desiring reform, a socialist and a futurist whose new and imaginative worlds continue to inspire today.

Eliza Somerton has a dangerous secret. As the daughter of the infamous art forger, she's rebuilt her life under a new name. But when an old forgery goes up for auction, her father's enemy, Grayson Montgomery, outbids her and presents her with an unimaginable choice: help him find her father or he'll ruin her. For years, Grayson, the Earl of Huntingdon and one of London's top art critics, has sought justice. His well-laid plans finally come to fruition when he learns of his enemy's beautiful daughter. But Eliza possesses a sensuality and independent spirit that weakens his resolve....

Catherine Coulter's medieval melody continues with this audiobook, the second in the Song Series. Lord Graelam de Moreton is willing to accept his new bride, Kassia, as she appears - innocent and guileless. But appearances can be deceiving....

The Paxtons are shipbuilders in Baltimore. Alec Carrick is an English nobleman who wants to buy them out. Genny Paxton isn’t at all what she seems. She dresses like “Eugene” and wants to build her own sailing ships without male interference. Alec, a man of great insight, knows exactly what lies beneath those britches. He gets Genny’s goat more times than she can count. This is a love story filled with wit, humor, and outrageous circumstance. It’s got more unexpected spins than a roulette wheel.

Kate Bergeron is the beautiful and mysterious former mistress of a cloth merchant... and the latest beauty to capture the interest of the Prince of Wales. Mired in a disastrous divorce, the Prince attempts to distract attention from his next amorous pursuit by ordering Grayson Christopher, the eligible Duke of Darlington, to pretend to London society that he is having an affair with Kate.

This riveting war story introduces us to beautiful Kate Zweig, the English widow of a German surgeon, and Claus Murphy, an exiled American with German roots - two lovers with complicated loyalties. In 1918, Kate and her husband, Horst, are taken for spies by Russian soldiers and forced to flee their field hospital on the eastern front, barely escaping with their lives.

Raised in the backwater province of Crowthorne, Cara finds her fate bound to a system she despises and a goddess she no longer believes in. When it becomes clear that the heir to the Elbian throne has found disfavor in the eyes of the goddess, Cara is ordained by blood to take her cousin's place as heir apparent.