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Jack London was born into abject poverty in the slums of San Francisco during the winter of 1876. His writing was to reflect the hard life he lived, perpetually chronicling men facing the wild as he did throughout his life. After his eighth grade year, poverty forced London to leave school. This did not stop him, as he furthered his literary knowledge and skill at the Oakland Public Library, borrowing books and educating himself. London faced great...
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Aylmer is an inventor, the greatest of his age. But his heart is torn between his devotion to science and his love for his beautiful wife, Georgiana, whose appearance would be perfect were it not for the small red birthmark on her cheek. Unnaturally obsessed with the blemish, Aylmer sets out to erase it from his beloved's face-and discovers that his heedless quest to master Nature has disastrous consequences. A Gothic romance both chilling and...
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Excerpt: "A Tale intended to be after the fact. Being the experience of four men from the sunk steamer "Commodore". None of them knew the color of the sky. Their eyes glanced level, and were fastened upon the waves that swept toward them. These waves were of the hue of slate, save for the tops, which were of foaming white, and all of the men knew the colors of the sea. The horizon narrowed and widened, and dipped and rose, and at all times its edge...
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Published after the author's untimely death, this 1904 collection includes stories that originally appeared in publications between 1901 and 1903. The title story was made into the film A Corner in Wheat. Also included are "A Bargain with Peg-Leg," "Two Hearts that Beat as One," and "The Dual Personality of Slick Dick Nickerson."
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Comprising of seven short stories, Old Friends and New by Sarah Orne Jewett explores the lives of the residents of small New England towns, both rural and oceanside. Beginning the collection, A Lost Lover follows the love story of an elderly woman named Horatia Dane. After rumors of her love life begin circulating around the town, Horatia reveals her side of the story, a heart-breaking tale of a lover lost at sea. In A Sorrowful Guest, a young military...
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Jewett again showcases her uncanny ability to capture the day-to-day life of regular New England folk in this engaging collection of stories published in 1890. Included among the selections is the evocative tale "A White Heron," the poignant sketch, "Marsh Rosemary," and "The Dulham Ladies," an enduring portrait filled with delicate humor.
11) Soldier stories
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Excerpt: "'Mary, Mother av Mercy, fwhat the divil possist us to take an' kape this melancolious counthry? Answer me that, Sorr.' It was Mulvaney who was speaking. The time was one o'clock of a stifling June night, and the place was the main gate of Fort Amara, most desolate and least desirable of all fortresses in India. What I was doing there at that hour is a question which only concerns M'Grath the Sergeant of the Guard, and the men on the gate."...
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Published in 1852, this collection of short stories was the last to appear from the author in his lifetime. It includes a number of notable stories, among them "Ethan Brand," in which a man discovers "the unpardonable sin," "The Man of Adamant," in which a hermit undergoes a horrifying transformation, and "My Kinsman, Major Molineaux," a dark depiction of America at the time of the Revolution.
14) Country by-ways
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This 1881 collection of eight stories and sketches, inspired by Jewett's rambles about her home town of South Berwick, Maine and the surrounding countryside, showcases the author's affinity for detail. Among the works included are "River Driftwood," "From a Mournful Villager," "An Autumn Holiday," "An October Ride," and "A Winter Drive."