LITMIR.BIZ

The first of two sequels written for «The Three Musketeers,» Dumas' beloved characters return for more adventurous duty in «Twenty Years After.» As the title suggests, two decades have elapsed since D'Artagnan and his friends have prevailed over the evil machinations of Cardinal Richelieu and the icy Milady. However, danger and political intrigue still abound in both France and England, where the former is on the brink of civil war and the latter is nearly in the control of Cromwell. Add to these situations the scheming Cardinal Mazarin and the malevolent Mordaunt, son of Milady, and the retired Musketeers find themselves whisked out of retirement and directly into the chaotic swirl of stratagems, conflicted loyalties, and the effects from the passage of time in this impassioned fight for Queen and country.

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Originally published between 1838-1847 «A Harlot High and Low» continues the story of Lucien de Rubempré from Honore de Balzac's preceding novel «Lost Illusions.» Central to the tale is the pact made between Lucien and Vautrin in which Lucien will arrive at success in Paris if he agrees to follow Vautrin's instructions on how to do so. A love affair between the beautiful Esther van Gobseck and Lucien creates a conflict for their plans of bringing Lucien to his desired exaltation though. When Vautrin realizes that wealthy Baron de Nucingen has fallen in love with Esther he conspires to use the Baron's affection with Esther to help advance Lucien. What follows is a series of tragic consequences. Another chapter in Balzac's magnum opus, «The Human Comedy,» «A Harlot High and Low» is at once a biting commentary of French aristocratic society and examination of the criminal underworld in which Vautrin is so very well at home.

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"Summer" is the story of the sexual awakening of the young woman, Charity Royall. Charity, the daughter of mountain moonshiners, is adopted by a poor New England family and falls for Lucius Harney, an educated young man from the city. «Summer» is the story of a young girl coming to terms with her feelings and sexuality in an environment of overwhelming social pressure in early 20th century America.

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"Kidnapped" is the story of David Balfour, who travels to meet his uncle and collect his inheritance following the death of his father. Betrayed by his family, David finds himself kidnapped and in a fight for his life. David escapes his kidnappers with the renegade Alan Breck and is soon in the middle of the struggle between the Scottish Highlanders and English Rule. David sets out with Alan against almost impossible odds to evade his captors in the middle of a war to find safety.

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"Dracula" is the novel that introduced the fictional creature known as the vampire to millions. It is considered by many as the single most important work in the gothic vampire horror genre. «Dracula» while not the first appearance of the vampire in literature is certainly the work that is most readily identified with the vampire genre and has spawned countless imitations and references. The novel is set sometime in the late 19th century and begins by being told from the perspective of Jonathan Harker. Harker is a young English lawyer who is traveling to the castle of Count Dracula to perform some legal services for the Count. Harker upon meeting Count Dracula finds him a strange and eerie man and will soon learn his dark secret.

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"A Tramp Abroad" is Mark Twain's non-fiction European travel book. As Twain travels with this fictitious friend Harris through Germany, the Alps and Italy many humorous situations and reflections upon those situations are detailed. A classic work of travel literature, «A Tramp Abroad» shows Twain at his satirical best.

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The classic travelogue of one of America's most famous authors, Mark Twain, «Following the Equator» was written when having fallen upon hard times financially, Twain found himself compelled to take a tour of the British Empire in 1895 and write about it. This is that account, published in 1897; it is a classic example of Twain's ever vigilant observational wit. He addresses such important and still ever timely topics as racism, imperialism and religion.

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Emile Zola wrote the following in the preface of his first installment to the Rougon-Macquart series: «The characteristic of the Rougon-Macquart family, the group which I propose to study, is their unbridled passions, that great revolutionizing element of our age, inciting to excessive self-indulgence. Physiologically speaking, these appetites are the gradual outcome of certain nervous and sanguineous modifications which manifest themselves in a race of beings, as a consequence of some previous organic lesion, and which determine the sentiments, the desires, the passions of each individual of the race according to his surroundings; in short, all those natural and instinctive manifestations of human nature, which, in their results, assume the conventional names of virtues and vices… This work, which will comprise several episodes, embodies in my mind the natural and social history of a family under the Second Empire. And the first episode, 'The Fortune of the Rougons,' may, for scientific purposes, be very aptly entitled 'The Origin.'» The monumental work of Zola's magnum opus begins here in this volume which is drawn from the unexpurgated 1886 translation of Henry Vizetelly.

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"The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today" is the collaborative work of Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner that satirized the era of political greed and corruption that followed the American Civil War. This period is often referred to as «The Gilded Age» because of this book. The corruption and greed that was typical of the era is exemplified through two fictional narratives; one of the Hawkins family, a poor family from Tennessee who try to get the government to purchase their 75,000 acres of unimproved land; and of Philip Sterling and Henry Brierly, two young upper-class men who seek their fortune in land as well.

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"Abbé Mouret's Transgression" (La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret), written in 1874, is perhaps the most powerful and poetic of all Zola's tales; it is that in which fantasy bears the greatest part, and in which «naturalisme» for a while disappears. The opening chapters describe a profligate and almost pagan village in Provence, and here «naturalisme» is at home, and in its proper place. The fifth novel in Zola's «Rougon-Macquart» series, «Abbé Mouret's Transgression» is the sequel to «The Conquest of Plassans,» in which we are first introduced to the main character, the neurotic young priest Serge Mouret. He becomes the parish priest for the village of Artauds, where the villagers have no interest in religion. This test to his faith brings the priest to a nervous breakdown. As he begins to recover he finds that he has lost all memory of who or where he is. This novel pits the faith of religion against the universal desires of love and sexuality. Presented here in this edition is the «Suppressed English Edition» originally published in France in the late 19th century.

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